Filed under: Farm | Tags: Consider Bardwell Farm, Goats, Interns, Internship, Kidding, Milk
Consider Bardwell’s top milker has finally freshened! Dandelion gave birth to two healthy kids, a doe and a buck. These kids sure have a lot to live up to, including Dandelion’s sweet disposition.
Filed under: Farm | Tags: Consider Bardwell Farm, Goats, Interns, Internship, Kidding
Our does are expert kid-cleaners. They lick their newborns dry with precision and efficiency – our towels are no match. Sometimes the moms can get tough: they will paw a kid into position or pull at an ear with their mouths. This little guy’s mom tugged a little too hard on his umbilical cord, pulling off the protective membrane. He’s ok, but we gave him a dressing to keep his exposed umbilicus clean as it heals. Number 99 also happens to be our biggest kid yet: at 13 pounds, he’s a giant next to his kid peers.
Filed under: Farm | Tags: Barn, Cheese, Consider Bardwell Farm, Goats, Interns, Internship, Kidding, Manchester, Milking Parlor
Our kid count is up to 87, and more kids means more mammas. It’s about time we move back our barrier in the barn to make room for the milkers.
Almost half of our girls have freshened and on Friday we tasted the first milk of the season! Margot predicts the ladies will have a productive year. Our cheese makers are using this first batch of milk to make some delicious Machester.
Of course, more kids means more kid piles. And who doesn’t love a good kid pile?
Filed under: Farm | Tags: Cold, Consider Bardwell Farm, Feeding, Goats, Hay, Interns, Internship, Kidding, Oberhasli, Pasture
Our pregnant does on a very cold, wintery morning.
Filed under: Farm | Tags: Consider Bardwell Farm, Goats, Interns, Internship, Kidding, triplets
Goats typically have twins; occasionally they only have one kid, and sometimes they have triplets. Last kidding season, Margot and Alex reported only 8 sets of triplets out of their 86 does. Although our number of bred does this year is up to 90, we were still anticipating roughly the same percentage of triplets: that is, only a handful of trios in our estimated 180 kids. But there must be something in the air this season as 6 of our 8 freshened does have birthed triplets. If our does keep it up, we’ll have 250 kids on our hands by the end of kidding season!
Filed under: Farm, Uncategorized | Tags: Chicken, Chicken Coop, Consider Bardwell Farm, Interns, Internship, Kidding, Snow, Vermont, West Pawlet, Yoga
A couple of posts ago we said that our chickens can be timid and flighty during the daylight hours. It took the warmth of our kidding intern, Noah, to melt the heart of one of our Buff Orpingtons.
Filed under: Farm | Tags: Barn, Consider Bardwell Farm, Feeding, Goats, Interns, Internship, Kidding, Milk, Oberhasli, Sucker Bucket
Once the kids were comfortable on their wobbly legs, we moved those first doelings up to the kidding barn where they’ll be spending the rest of their adolescent days. The next hurdle: learning to feed from their “sucker bucket.” Our girls did an awesome job- with just a bit of coaching, they were latched-on to the bucket and gulping away after a mere few seconds.
We’re also excited to welcome Syrup’s heathy twins (a doe and a buck) into the herd! They were born today around 2:00 PM and will be joining the rest of kids in the kidding barn tonight.
Filed under: Farm | Tags: Consider Bardwell Farm, Goats, Interns, Internship, Kidding, nubian, Oberhasli
Our first two baby goats were born yesterday morning from Margot, the second goat due. The doeling kids are both very healthy and have been gulping lots of colostrum from their mother. We are anticipating a few more births this afternoon, Syrup is still in the running.
