Meet the newest additions. This little nubian is Bella (I know we already had a Bella, but hey, we like the name). She's a 1 year old doe with good genetics and very sweet disposition. She's a bit skinnier than we were expecting so we're taking this month to condition her and we'll breed her to Copper at the beginning of July. She's our replacement for Doby and our means of milk through the winter. She'll kid in Nov/Dec. Dulci will kid in Feb/Mar and Helen in June/July. Milk flowing all year and Helen still gets her nice long vacation.
Bella's a quick study too. After only 1 day of leading her to the milking table, she knows right where to go and the patches of nicest leaves when she's finished with her grain. Like the other goats, she doesn't much care for tethering. She doesn't like to be away from the other goats, even if it is so she can have the best forage without competition. I guess most anorexics do it for social reasons, right?
And this is Zuma. She's a Suffolk/Hampshire cross ewe. She's 5 years old. Her previous owner was a local middle school student and wasn't going to be able to continue taking care of her as she went on to high school. Zuma has been bred twice before and gave twins both times. She's a good bit bigger than our Khatadin sheep. The twinning genetics and the size hopefully coupled with Valentino's fast growing genetics and we have a winning combination. Zuma is also very sweet and tame. When she first arrived, she was scared and rather scary. The other animals ran when she came near. Now, they're exercising the we-were-here-first attitude and shoos her off the hay until they're done. We're working on keeping a collar on her and we'll soon tether her as well, but I want her to get used to us first. Scared animals are dangerous animals.
And meet our Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars. There were 10 of these guys on my fennel plants. They're missing now so I assume they've gone to metamorphosize. I hope so. Farm Girl would love to see a host of swallowtail butterflies dancing outside our living room window. And thankfully she's not skillful enough with her net to catch too many either.
And this is Zuma. She's a Suffolk/Hampshire cross ewe. She's 5 years old. Her previous owner was a local middle school student and wasn't going to be able to continue taking care of her as she went on to high school. Zuma has been bred twice before and gave twins both times. She's a good bit bigger than our Khatadin sheep. The twinning genetics and the size hopefully coupled with Valentino's fast growing genetics and we have a winning combination. Zuma is also very sweet and tame. When she first arrived, she was scared and rather scary. The other animals ran when she came near. Now, they're exercising the we-were-here-first attitude and shoos her off the hay until they're done. We're working on keeping a collar on her and we'll soon tether her as well, but I want her to get used to us first. Scared animals are dangerous animals.
And meet our Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars. There were 10 of these guys on my fennel plants. They're missing now so I assume they've gone to metamorphosize. I hope so. Farm Girl would love to see a host of swallowtail butterflies dancing outside our living room window. And thankfully she's not skillful enough with her net to catch too many either.
Oh I think Bella and Zuma are just Fabulous..both very beautiful ...
ReplyDeleteI will have to have Farm girl come over and see my Monarch caterpillars, every year they come and cover my Milk weed until there's not a leaf left..