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It started snowing before the winter farmer’s market ended yesterday and it was very very cold. When we drove home from market it wasn’t even 20 degrees! In the end we only got around four inches of snow but put on top of the thick layer of ice it makes walking a challenge. The goats are spending much of their time inside where they can stay a bit warmer although the two alpines seem unscathed by even the coldest windchill.

We have been working with our young buck Morpheus for the past few days because he was showing signs of urinary stones. It is not uncommon for male goats to develop blockage of their urinary tract and they subsequently become very ill and die. Fortunately Morpheus is doing OK so far but he does seem uncomfortable and strains to pee. We are no longer giving him any grain and feeding him only grass hay in an effort to correct the problem. The vet also gave me a couple of syringes of a muscle relaxant in the hopes that any larger particles could be passed if he is relaxed. We will be watching Morpheus very closely. He is a very handsome young buck and we hope to have him around for breeding purposes for quite some time.

Less than one month until the goats will begin kidding.  In the first week of February we have fifteen does due to have babies… that will be one seriously busy week. This is our first year having kids born so early and we are hoping the weather will at least be a bit mild. It can get rather cold watching over a laboring doe in the middle of the night   . The remaining nine does are due to kid mostly in February and March with a few stragglers in April and the youngest of the does kidding in May.

The weather so far this winter has been grey and messy with fluctuations from cold and snowy to warm and muddy and the goats have been spending quite a bit of time in the barn and the barn yard. No walks down the hill on ice in over a month.

When I get my new photo editing software installed I will post photos of some of the pregnant does.