Sunday 29 July 2012

Students go home ...

Well, the end of a very hot week.  About 1000 bales of hay in the barn so far.  Hurrah!!  Well done David.  Some of the taller goats have discovered that if they stand up right on their tippy-toes, they can JUST about reach the bales stacked against the corner of their barn.  Look closely in the far corner and see Cassie happily munching away!


Our vet student, Jo, has finished her time with us and went back home on Friday evening.  Apparently, she had tickets for Olympic badminton on Saturday ...  We thoroughly enjoyed having her here and, as Molly stayed with us again last week as well, it will be VERY quiet in the goat shed this week without those two around!

I think that Jo fitted in with us very well and I was pleased that I managed to feed her successfully for the two weeks without giving her food poisoning!  We are both very partial to a bowl of pasta and I was thrilled to find some dried pasta with a veterinary theme:


We had an enjoyable meal sorting out the various animals .... We really should get out more.  I blame it on sleep deprivation ...

One of Jo's final jobs on Friday evening was to give Sadie goat her last milk feed.  Sadie is the kid who would not feed from a bottle or a teat - she had to drink straight from a jug.  Well, now she is weaned.  Much to her disgust.  She had got used to having her jug of milk every evening and so there was much pitiful bleating last night when she only had her hard feed with the other kids.  She tried giving me a hard stare ... a pitiful bleat .. and then a very sad little face ... poor Sadie.


The grown-up goaties had a good week out in the field, especially when the electric fence came down and they were able to reach the hedge.  Yummy ...  It proved quite diffficult to get them back in for milking but eventually they all came running down the field:


The heat also made them especially naughty and here is a small selection of bad behaviour from last night:


A view from outside the parlour ramp.  Notice the black goat at the top of the ramp - Martha waiting for the door to open so that she can run back inside the parlour to check for any leftover food.


Willow and Magenta outside the parlour.


Diddi and Sibyl having a snack from the feed barrow.  They have already been milked and fed but ran back down the inside ramp to find the extra food.

The boys are enjoying their summer quarters out in the cattle yard.  Still eating well and eyeing up the ladies from a distance.  They are all ready for action when the time comes!


And before Jo and Molly left us, they decided on a name for our little Nubette.  Molly and I had thought that something exotic and Eastern would be appropriate and, for some reason, we both came up with 'Shakira'.  Mmmm ... Then Jo and I both thought 'Cleo(patra)' would be a nice name.  So, 'Cleo' it is.  Or 'Miss Cleopatra Shakira Nubian' as the students decided!






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