Animal Profiles: The Kids
Basil’s first set of kids was born this past spring, and they are both beautiful. One is Sage, a buckling from Rosemary, and the other is Clover, a doeling from Tansy.
Sage shares his mother’s beautiful and unique cream & white color. It’s breathtakingly lovely. While he was a wild little goof when he was tiny, Sage has settled down significantly as he has hit his teenage stage. He is one of loudest goats, but oddly, tends to fade into the background in a group. If you are ever here handing out cookies, don’t overlook him. I suspect he is going to be a stunner when he grows up.
For now, he lives with Basil, and occasionally Fig, in the boy goat herd, but is still thoroughly attached to his mama. Their pens are right next to each other, and they will still sometimes lie next to the chain link by each other. Sage was just getting a little too interested in the girls to stay in the same pen, if you know what I mean. 😉 We normally run mixed herds of girls and boys, but for now, we have to keep the boys away from little Clover.
Speaking of Clover, it is time to discuss one of the mascots of the farm! Clover is the spitting image of Basil, but is thoroughly feminine in body type. Her life started off a little rough. While Clover’s birth was uncomplicated, she had a stillborn twin buckling that wasn’t born until 2 full days after her, a complication that is quite rare. We didn’t even know Tansy had another kid in there, as she’d shown all signs of being done.
Whether simple bad luck, or from in-utero exposure to her twin, Clover got sick when she was less than a week old. We had to bring her inside every night for an antibiotic shot, and give her some extra nutrient supplements by mouth in a bottle. On top of that, Tansy, who had started off a good mom, made an instant 180 when the buckling was born, and was no longer interested in her surviving kid. We had to put Tansy on the stanchion (a milking stand), and hold her still so Clover could nurse. Mark and I vacillated over whether we should make her a full time bottle baby. While bottle babies are a lot of fun, they don’t tend to be as healthy or mannerly as doe-raised kids.
After a harrowing week or two of injections, stanchion feedings, and other such happenings, Clover’s fever went away for good. It took time, but Tansy started taking on her mom role again too, and we were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
One might think that all the injections, temp taking, and such would have driven Clover to fear us, but it was quite the opposite. Clover *adores* people. She is one of the most laid back, sociable animals on the farm. She’s never met a stranger, whether they have cookies or not. She is universally loved by everyone who meets her, and has quickly become one of our most popular animals. Even the pizza delivery folks know us as the people with the friendly goats.
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