The kidding season here at Juniper Hill Farm is fully underway. We have had 12 healthy kids born, starting in mid January and the latest addition coming just a few days ago. So far, 7 bucks, 5 does, not too bad. Last year we had an abundance of little does, but this year is more as expected.
The season started with a set of Quintuplets (yes that's 5) and ended with a rare single birth. The single, we call Goliath, is a buck that looked like he was a month old, at birth. Out of the sixty or so kids that have been born here in the last 5 years, he is by far the biggest I've seen. I'm glad I was there to help his mom Brownie with the delivery.
We are now bottle feeding 10 of the kids, which makes meal time a little crazy at the barn. We really like handling the kids and by bottle feeding we are fully aware who is eating good and who may not be. I'm glad to say that right now all the kids have a real good appetite. The kids are also beginning to eat second cut hay and trying a little grain if they like.
Their moms don't seem to mind the kids moving to the kid pen. It gives them a chance to eat and relax without being hounded for another meal. I milk each of the does and feed their milk back to the kids. In a couple of weeks we will begin saving some milk for our own use, which is the goal of this operation.
I'll post some more photos soon. Thanks for visiting.
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