April Update

Another milestone reached for the kids, and not without some trauma.  The three doelings got disbudded and Forest got banded.  Then the door to the outside world (i.e. the pasture) was finally opened up and everyone got to have a good romp outside.  And Chicky has rejoined the flock.  After some initial head-butting and jostling, things have settled down in the goat pen.

It's pretty hard to get 7 goats into one picture.  I don't see little Bluebell in this one.  And, there is always someone's backside pointing at the camera!

So here is just Daisy's little family, on the move!

For those of you who don't know what "Forest got banded" means, I will fill you in.  (Those of you who do know, feel free to skip this part)  That means he is in the process of being castrated.  Instead of going under the knife, the young animal has a very tight and strong rubber ring placed on his scrotum between his body and his testicles.  This cuts off the blood supply and the unwanted part shrivels up, dries up, and falls off.  What was a little buckling becomes a wether.  That would be like a bull calf becoming a steer or a colt  becoming a gelding.  As you can see in the photo above, although there clearly is some pain and discomfort at first, the little guys get over it very quickly.

There is a plier like device that one uses to put the band on.  Ours is sort of a family heirloom.  Here is a photo of it, and it's box.  If look closely, you can see the 20 cent stamp.  There is a catalog inside from 1952 and this device sold for $12.50, postage paid.  What I find interesting is that I can order practically the exact same device today for $14.95, which is an increase of 19.6% over the 1952 price.  The postage from USPS, the cheapest way I can ship it, is $5.44.  That is an increase of 2,620%!  Wow!

Little tomatoes are growing under the lights in the basement, and that lettuce is now transplanted into the beds in the greenhouse.  We had a nice spring downpour today, and over all it was a really, really nice weekend. Hope yours was too.  Until next time, be well folks!

Monday morning post script:  The frogs last night were amazing!  Saturday night, no frogs.  Sunday night, thousands... millions of frogs singing, calling, proclaiming their joy of life.  How do they manage to wake up all at the same time?  And, speaking of joyous sounds of spring, I am hearing a gobbler this morning too, a welcome sound to go with the last of the frog calls as the sun comes up!  What a great way to start the week!