Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The "Too Cutes" are doing great!

Thanks to K for inspiring the term the "Too Cutes" to describe the Nibbles Horde. Wow what an arrival!

Feeder for scale - aren't they a scream? They sound like squeaky toys!

And thanks for everyone's will wishes - Nibbles and the Too Cutes (from the baby daddy "Too Short" aka "Just Tall Enough" aka "Too Pimp") are doing great. They drank Nibbles dry tho so I sprang to action, worked the phone lines, sealed the deals, and delivered two of the bucklings to their new home on Monday nite. We thank D for taking the babies and know that she will do a great job with them. We think we have homes for a few of the others so hopefully Nibs will have a more manageable number of Too Cutes to feed in the next couple days.
Like me to a tequila bottle.. this Too Cute latched on and had a couple of shots

My pal the Big Onion asked me how I handled all of this - with two shots of tequila before I went to bed, my friend, with two big shots of tequila.

Aren't they splashy? Such beautiful coloring!

Five kids is pretty unusual - I figured three was plenty but five is a "wow!" for sure. There was no way Nibs could nurse them all - or even remotely produce enough milk. And you know I'm not great at being an udder, so we had to think fast. The best choices were to either "pull" some of the babies (take them away from the momma) and make them full time bottle babies, or supplement all of them a little with milk replacer or just milk from the store in addition to being on Nibbles, or rehome them.

This little love would have had plenty of milk if I had planned better. 

Normally, if we had our act together, Debbie would have kidded first and we would have had plenty of milk for everyone's babies. But we were so excited to get Too Short here and installed at the Pimp Daddy - that it didn't work out how we thought. So we chose Option #3 and found some folks experienced with bottle babies - and one is a vet tech to boot. A perfect fit.

Look at that little face! Ooops! And a little poo also shhh...it happens.

Managing goat babies is a troublesome topic. Everyone has "their" way of doing it - some people like bottle babies, some people don't, some people do thus or such. Honestly there is no "right" answer so do what works for you. We believe in "letting momma do it" but we realize that folks around here want bottle kids. We'd normally let the babies be with Nibs for a while, transition them to bottles, then find new homes for them. But today proved that desperate times call for desperate measures.

We had a lot of the ol' switch-o-change-o going on today. We could not keep Dahlia contained in the stall in the goat house - and she really wanted to be with Nibs and the Too Cutes - which was not an option. Since we think that Debbie might be making an udder (hope hope hope) we didnt want to put Dahlia in with her as Dahlia's still milk-stealin'.... so once again the turkeys got the short end of the stick. We moved my little ducks in with the creepy meats, the turkeys over to where the ducks were, and Dahlia in where the turkey's were. Got that?

The ducks were mad, the turkeys were confused, and honestly I don't know what Dahlia thinks - that gal is crazy.

Tomorrow after I deliver the last of the bucklings to his new digs I'll have a better idea how Nibbles is doing. The Good Neighbors came over and declared Nibs "fit for active duty" and she looks pretty good. All of the babies got big drinks of her first milk, the colostrum, which is so important for their development.  So we are tip top for now.

Next, I need to milk Nibs out, evaluate how she is doing, and make sure the remaining babies are getting plenty of eat. We may end up feeding the remaining babies with bottles to make sure everyone gets plenty of eat. Of course the weather is working against us and we have an extremely cold nite - but we have the babies and Nibs in a great snuggle spot with heat lamps, fresh straw, and a draft-free spot.

The best line of the day was from my friend L who summed it up mightily... she said "only on your farm" could this happen. Yep. We couldnt make this up if we tried.

Happy Tuesday everyone - and oh gosh, don't forget to vote if you're part of SuperTuesday!

12 comments:

Wendy said...

Oh my. Too cute indeed! Glad you're getting the situation all worked out!

Autumn said...

Just WOW! Five kids!!! :)
I really loved raising Bill up from the bottle, but it has come with some advantages and disadvantages. When I have goats in the future, I'm going to let the goat-mama do all the work for me! ;)

Beth of the Rocks said...

"Too Cutes" is the perfect moniker!! So the one who's black with the little white stripe on his (her?) head? Kinda reminds me of that mean gremlin from the movie... I wonder if it's a portent of what's to come...

Dreaming of Chickens said...

Wow!! Five Too Cutes! That is crazy. They are just that though, too cute!! I'm with you on the tequila! I spent Sunday night and Monday morning at the hospital with my cousin who was having a baby. I was there for The Whole Thing!, and I handled it better than I though I would, but tequila would still have helped. Funny thing though, when she started complaining I told her about how Nibbles stands out in the goat yard and complains and that Nibs might have her babies at the same time! Luke was born at 12:27 Monday, so we were close.

Heavens Door Acres said...

I just can't get enough of all that cuteness! I wish I were closer...I need a little girl for my little man. He too is "too short" I think for my Alpine. Will have to see how this pans out, late May. And, for sure, " only on your farm", where chickens swim, battle dogs cry out their fearsome war cry, and axe wielding momma's hide the heads of hogs.

Coco said...

Congratulations! Glad everyone is doing fine.

Apply tequila as necessary.

Vickie said...

Those little Niblets ARE splashy! And Too Short IS Too Pimp Daddy for sure! They are so cute, and glad you found a place for everyone.

Chai Chai said...

Did you weigh the little ones when they were born?

Ohiofarmgirl said...

Thanks Wendy - it was a shock for sure!

I know, Autumn, can you believe it!?!? Not normal at all. wow!

Beth - you are not the first one to say that! ha!

DOC that is HILARIOUS! Congrats to your cousin and yep it was about at the same time. When she is stressed out tell her that she could have had five! ha! Give her hugs from Nibbles.

HDA, just another day in the life, baby... I swear I couldnt make this stuff up.

Coco - aint that right!

Thanks Vickie, we are glad they got such great homes. Here's hoping that the doelings place works out.

Chai Chai - weigh them? Oh honey, the hanging weight on these wouldnt be much at all - they'd only be about a "small plate' of bbq.. wait.. Weigh them for what?
;-)

David said...

Do the bucklings become ... uh, meat goats?

Leslie @ Farm Fresh Fun said...

Congratulations on your bsolutely adorable kids! I pray it only happens on your farm as I've been warned that several times this has happened where I bred to the buck... We're expecting our first kids and I'm more nervous than if they were foals as I have zero experience. Will check back here to keep learning! (And go buy some tequila just in case?) ;-)

Ohiofarmgirl said...

Dave - people want the boys for pets!

Leslie, you'll do great. Just read up on it at fiascofarm, stand back, and let the momma do most of the work. And yep, have some tequila on hand.

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