More mums and babies

Seems that Polly started the ball rolling as we have had a few more babies arrive during the week.  Incidentally, Polly and her two daughters are all doing really well.  I took the tiny girls to the vet this afternoon to be disbudded so now they have those weird green circles on top of their heads for a while!

Here they are fast asleep at tea time tonight.  I have already decided to name them PollyAnna and Fremlina after their parents.  PollyAnna after Polly as I was worried that we might lose her and so we needed to carry on the name.  Same for Fremlina ... my lovely old boy is getting very dodgy on his back legs and I don't know if he will be able to work later this year (yes, I know we said that last year!).  So, as this tiny girl is his first daughter of the season, I thought she should take her daddy's name.

Next new mum was our first goatling to give birth.  Young Lucretia did it all by herself yesterday morning and gave us one female and one male.  The boy is very pretty with a white splash on his forehead and across his back.  I have a feeling that these are the first grandchildren for our dear Norville (now in Somerset) but need to check all my pedigrees first before I send him a card!

Then our lovely Hebe had two boys last night:

She delivered them early in the evening and, as she is an experienced mother, we cleaned everyone up and left her to sort them out.  We did try to get the little ones to feed but they were not having any of it, and so I planned to leave them for a couple of hours before I tried again.  Most experienced mums can get their kids to feed by themselves and I was confident that Hebe could sort them out before I got back. 

However, when I returned to the barn, the babies were still trying to find their supper, despite Hebe's best efforts.  She was still standing up and looked absolutely exhausted.  She would not sit down until her babies had been fed!  So, with a bit of a struggle, I managed to get both boys fed - we did have a bit of a battle as they clamped their tiny mouths firmly shut, but we got there in the end!  I scattered lots of fresh straw around, gave Hebe a well-deserved banana and some warm water and watched as she finally lay down and went to sleep next to her babies. 

And finally - Willow decided that she was going to have her babies this morning.  We had a bit of a struggle to get the first female out but she was closely followed by her slightly smaller sister.  Again, Willow is an experienced and dedicated mum and she was soon on the case, cleaning them up and chatting away to them,

Maggie looks like she may be thinking about something tonight so as soon as I have posted this blog, I'm back off up to the barn to sleep in my trailer.  It was very cosy last night despite young Lucretia bleating every time she heard me move!

Night night everyone!  See you in the morning ...