New Faces

I still need to download a few photos of B&T but I decided rather than waiting I might as well get these photos up. We have added a few new faces around here. Brandon turned 12 the end of January and received two Alpine goats for his birthday. He has been wanting goats for a long time and fell in love with these two when he and Travis were taking care of our neighbor's farm over Thanksgiving and Christmas (little did he know Alex and I had bought them for him in October, we knew he would love them). He used to get up at 6:30 am to go help the neighbors with their farm chores, now he has his own although he was a little disappointed that there isn't really too much to do right now. He is working on leading them around and getting Hermia (the doe) used to being handled so that when she is ready to be milked it should go smoothly. This is the female Hermia. She is pregnant and due the middle of April. Brandon is excited to start milking and see what the kid (or kids) will look like.

Puck is a wether (neutered male). This photo is from his old house when Trav and Bran where caring for them. He is very loving and very fun. I believe Brandon is dreaming of making a cart he can pull around the yard. Hermia again at her old home. She is the brown one in the middle.

Knowing the goats were coming and hearing the coyotes at night Alex and I (ok mostly I) had been talking about getting a livestock guarding dog. I decided on an Anatolian Shepherd and found one in southern Oregon. It was a long trip as we drove 4 1/2 hours each way to pick her up but Ester is defiantly worth it. She is 4 months old and about an inch or two shorter than Bree. She is not very used to people but knows and loves goats. Puck and Hermia took to her very quickly. She is sensitive and can easily be verbally corrected, it only took me telling her once to leave the chickens alone and she hasn't chased them again. On the other hand while she is excited to see us she will only let you touch her if she feels like it.

My plan is to have her loose in the yard in the daytime then sleep with the goats at night. I had Ruthann feed her for the first week we had her so she likes Ruthann and likes to follow her around. Ruthann and Frederick are so independent they don't usually stay right around where I am working and with all the trees we have I can't always see them. My goal is to have Ester stick with them when they are out so I'll know they are safe. I think that will work out well as she is interested in their play but for now she doesn't want to go too far from the goats so won't go into half the yard. I'm sure that will change with time.

Ester and Bree get along well. They play a bit but then both go their separate ways even when they are both out in the yard. Bree has always been that way around other dogs and Ester seems to feel the same. After playing a bit Ester goes to check on the goats while Bree goes back to hunting gophers (she has caught three so far).

Our other new addition is Clyde, a Rhode Island Red rooster. I love his crow. Ruthann's nickname is rooster and that caused a bit of a confusion to Frederick at first. The first day we had Clyde Frederick came racing inside with a huge grin and while jumping up and down declared "the rooster was lost in the forest and then I heard 'cock-a-doodle-doo' and there he was!"

Willow is our last new pet. She was a Christmas gift to me from Frederick and Ruthann (I'm pretty sure it was completely their idea, or would have been if they had only thought of it). She is fun and loves attention. Ruthann is trying to learn how to wrinkle her nose like a rabbit but so far she just makes strange mouth motions while pointing to Willow.