Our first baby of 2011 was born last weekend. She is that luckiest of combinations: a single, female kid. Lucky for her because she got all her mother’s resources and will be big and healthy, lucky for us because we keep our does and sell our bucks.
Primavera, our first baby of 2011. Her mother is Unicorn, named for obvious reason - she’s magical - and her father is Elvis. Primavera takes after Elvis in coloring
We are bottle-feeding Primavera with her mother’s colostrum, before weaning her to goat-milk formula. Primavera will grow up with the next few girls to be born, raised by Annie at our Baby Goatland annex, before returning to the farm to begin their summer on our pastures. Primavera’s mother, Unicorn, is back with the pregnant older goats, marked with a band so that we remember to milk her by hand to obtain that precious first milk, full of nutrients and antibodies for the babies.
Rachel teaches Primavera to suckle Unicorn’s colostrum. The baby’s fur is damp from dribbling her milk at first, but she becomes adept very quickly, and will learn to drink from teats on a bucket of formula soon