Wednesday, February 1, 2012

It is Imbolc, after all

One of Lemurboy's chores is letting the goats out to the pasture in the morning, and back into the corral in the evenings.

This evening he came running back to the house yelling "Baby goats! Baby goats!"

And indeed, there were baby goats!


We had 5 goats expecting, now we have 4! Since the billy runs with the rest of the herd, we had no idea of the actual date of conception, so we thought we likely had another few weeks. Today is appropriate, though. It's the pagan holiday of Imbolc - traditionally celebrating lambing and kidding time.

The kids are walking and nursing and so on like they're supposed to. I think that the size difference (it really is as extreme as it looks in the picture - that isn't foreshortening) is difference in genetic expression, not actual runt-iness - the dad is a pygmy, and the smaller one appears stockier than the larger one. I'm pretty sure the smaller one is a girl, and the larger a boy.

I don't think we're going to try milking this mama - she's by far the least friendly of the herd.

Another mama is showing signs that delivery is imminent. So exciting!