We're Kidding

Well, Gypsy finally popped yesterday. Actually, it wasn't as sudden as a pop, but it was almost as shocking and exciting. I say that because she had four babies!

There were three girls and a boy. We have never had a goat that had four babies before. We invited our friends to come over and watch, so altogether, Gypsy had eleven people watching. Don't worry, she loves people, and it doesn't seem to disturb her when we are there. Goats are very social animals. It was so fun to anticipate and guess how many she would have---she was so huge! While we waited, we noticed that Sophie was also in labor. Sophie had two live kids (boys) and then an hour later when the party had broken up, she gave birth to one kid (also a boy) that looked like it had died a little over halfway through gestation. Katie was still outside and alerted us to what had happened.

Remember our little orphan goat that we were bottle feeding? He got named Joey, Joe Joe, or Joseph. We put him by Sophie while she was birthing, and she started licking him! We were hoping she would adopt him completely, but she didn't end up doing that. But he is old enough that he is spunky and can sneak a drink when he wants it. We fed him a few times with her in the milking stand so he could get the hang of it, and now he gets as much as he wants. He has to come from behind, though, because if he goes under her tummy in the regular nursing position, she smells him and kicks him off. Anyway, no more bottles for Joe Joe. Here is Joey with his new brother, who is bigger than he is!

These guys are so cute!