The Goat Girls Get Their Yard Back

 I've had my goat girls just living in their pens for a few months and letting the horses have the whole barnyard... until yesterday. The horses are on one side of the barnyard and the goat girls on the other.  I've got 5 girls here now and they need room to run, 4 of them are bred, kidding season should start middle/end of February and go until May.  Sweet little Lily was running all over the place yesterday, it was so cute to watch her. 

Everyone gets alittle grain this morning

Happy Saturday. Its a beautiful, cold winter day here in Kentucky. I spent the morning out with my barnyard animals... my 9 month old filly, Fiona gets grain twice a day and this morning I made everyone happy by giving them all alittle as a treat, along with their hay and fresh water

Fiona and her chicken friends

Clue

 Flicka has a few friends helping her with her gain too

 The goat girls... Cocoa, Chloe, Lily, my friends goat and Ruby girl

Cocoa and Chloe

Cocoa is due in April and I think Chloe is due in March

 Okay this doeling (Nubian) belongs to a friend of mine, the poor girl had her ears chewed off by a dog this past summer, its awful I know but so glad she made it... she just looks funny now. 

 My friend brought her down yesterday for me to borrow, so I can break her to the milk stand and milk her if shes bred... my bucks will let me know.  If shes bred then this will be her first freshening. 

Silo and Ringo

Predicting Fiona's Height

I always wonder how tall Miss. Fiona is gonna be, her Dam is 13.2 and we have no idea how tall the Sire was since the Dam was already bred when a friend rescued her. I would like Fiona to be atleast as tall as her mom or alittle taller.  A friend shared this link with me Predicting yearling and foal height growth using String Testing and I did it this evening. 

 OOoo Fiona I just love you, lol

 Shes just like a human kid when you go to give her a kiss

Method #2 predicts that Fiona will be 14 hands...

We shall see

Goat girls get a bigger area

So many things new to be redone, a lot of the fencing has been up for about 5 years now and it was made to hold chickens in... not goats and horses, lol.  Anyways I've been making the goat girls stay in their little pen which was fine with just two goats but when ya add two more plus babies on the way it starts to get alittle cramped and I like my animals to have room so I got the bright idea of using my chicken pen and chicken house for the goat girls too, their pens are already attached.  While out in the barnyard yesterday afternoon/evening I cute a good size hole in the fence (chicken wire) and all four goat girls popped right into the new area... I know they were hoping to find some chicken feed!  Sorry girls I've been making the chickens really free range... I only have 7 chickens that sleep in my chicken coop so I have plenty of room to play around inside and fix it for the goats... its gonna make a nice place for them to kid and I can use it to separate the kids from the Does when I start milking 

Ringo and Silo were pretty interested in their new neighbors... none of the girls were interested in them yet.  Now I can see if anyone goes back into heat... all three Does should be bred. Lily is only 7 months old I do not plan on breeding her yet

The girls exploring their bigger area... Cocoa is still letting Ruby and Lily know she is the head boss, she wont let them eat from her pile of hay yet. 

The girls were all snuggled in pairs in their little goat house...

I think they look pretty sweet

Fiona 8 months old

 My sweet little Fiona is 8 months old, I love spending time with her everyday, even if its just 15 minutes she brings much joy to my life and she has come along way since being with me.  

 

Since I don't have a horse trailer to keep working with her on loading and unloading I'm using my little barn, it sits up off the ground so it works great for Fiona I lead her in and backed her out a few times. She makes me smile. I can't imagine not having her, Clue and Flicka in my life. Yesterday evening I just used a hay string to lead her into and back her out of my little barn. 

Such a good girl... 

She does back out, after awhile I was just letting her play and walk out on her own

 ~ I love this:

 Ultimately, you’re not teaching a horse to cross a tarp, bridge or water; you’re teaching a horse to have enough confidence in you to do what you ask him to do.

I've also been working more on lounging, 

we're doin pretty good

New goat girls... Ruby & Lily

Well I bought two more goats... 

a Doe (Ruby Girl is from a Star and Ringo breeding) and her 7 month old Doeling (Lily is from a Ruby and Silo breeding). My friend needed to sell them so I thought why not... Ruby girl hung out with my friends Alpine buck for a few days/week, she was in heat so hopefully shes bred and will kid in May 2015. I think my girls Cocoa & Chloe were happy to see other goats... Cocoa was letting them know she is the boss. 

 I think shes pretty cute and shes a sweet girl