Some new and exciting news for us here at the Meadows is the new addition of Tripping Billies Delilah to our herd!  She is a beautifully coloured doeling out of one of the Prairie Wood bucks that were imported last year and is the half sister to our dear Maisie!  Thank you to Bashert Farms for allowing us to add yet another of your babies to our herd and for the use of your photo on our site!  Delilah will be coming to live with us on June 1.  We are very excited to meet her and see how she gets along in our rapidly growing herd!

Yesterday we drove the Campbellford to Bashert Farms where our friends were caring for and housing our new buckling for us during his quarantine.  José was imported from New Mexico and has travelled a long way to get to us.  We are very excited to have him here with us as he is moonspotted and will hopefully pass that gene onto his offspring.  He is still only a few months old and has much growing and filling out to do before he is ready to start breeding.  We look forward to watching him grow!

We started weaning Orion and Cassi last night.  The first night went well actually with minimal crying.  The babies sure were hungry this morning though and quickly enjoyed a very large breakfast with their mom once they were reunited!  With the first night past us, I am sure we can continue to work through this difficult process with them.  Cassi especially needs to seperate
from Bonnie as she is becoming as wild as her Mom which we just can`t have.  We want her to become as friendly and easy to handle as the rest of the herd so while she is being weaned we will continue to work on her handling.  We hope to show her as well in the months ahead!  Orion is being prepared to leave for his new home in the next week or so.  We will miss him here but know he will have a very important job where he is going.

The May long weekend is here already and Geordon and I are busy getting so much stuff done around here!  Goat show season starts for us next weekend with the Schomberg Spring Fair.  We are planning on showing Carmela and Maisie there next weekend - if we don't chicken out that is!  Today, the girls got their hair cuts so they will be ready to dazzle the judges!  What a difference in Carmela!  She really is a beauty and I forsee her doing really well there next weekend.  Maisie it seems, under all that hair, is a tiny wee little doeling!  She actually looks more like a lamb running around right now.  Neither one seemed to mind getting clipped too much.  I think they both feel a lot better now that they can stay cooler!
In other news, we go to see Debbie and Shane at Bashert Farms tomorrow to pick up our new buckling that was imported from New Mexico!  We are really excited to be bringing him home finally!  It will also be wonderful to finally meet Debbie and Shane after all these months of dealing goats and never having met in person yet!  Pictures of our Prairie Wood's Noway José will come soon!

So, another month has passed and I have failed to write here regularly. I think I am changing my commitment to this blog idea to one update a month. If I can do more than that will be a bonus!
This beautiful little baby pictured here is of Tripping Billies Loo, our newest addition. Thanks to Bashert Farms for the use of their photo! Little Loo and her brother Boo were unexpected surprises to their farm and we just had to have this little darling! This is the same farm where we purchased our dear Carmela from. They make such wonderful beautiful babies there! Loo, who will need a new "barn name" due to us already having a Lucy, will come home in March. We are almost
certain her new name will be Maisie Loo, and we will call her Maisie :o)
The
rest of the animals are all doing well as are all of us. Winter has been strange
this year and although I feel cheated of my winter, I will be happy to see this
one leave.


  

There has been a lot happening around here in the last week or so. With the loss of Trixie we have bravely decided to continue moving forward to ensure that the rest of our herd is safe and more secure. We have constructed a new enclosure we will use as our "playpen" and "breeding pen". We also built a new 4 stall goat barn which will give us plenty of room for spring kidding and a safe refuge if our goat paddocks flood like they did this last spring. We are still putting the final touches on the barn and when it is done I will put photos on here.

Today I made the long drive to Campbellford to pick up Carmela! I have had my eye on this little doe since I first saw a picture of her. She is a beautiful little girl with blue eyes, and a white coat with brown spots. She is very tiny, feminine and LOVES people! I am so grateful to Debbie and Shain at Bashert Farms http://www.bashertfarm.com/for agreeing to sell her to me! She will be a wonderful addition to our breeding program in the years to come and I have high hopes of
showing her next year! More pictures will follow as I find some time to take some good ones in the next few days!