It has been a really good week. I wasn’t wrong when I said it was a rollercoaster. From the joy just before Easter with the newborns. To the traumatic tragic end of Tiny’s life. To this, a beautiful, sunny week with two sweet little ones.

Oh and it turned out it wasn’t two boys. Large is actually a girl. That surprised me. I thought the big and brave one would be a boy for sure. But nope. A big, bold girl. And the slightly smaller Medium is a real mama’s boy. Large barely bats an eyelid at being picked up. While Medium usually calls for mama. They are both super cute, though. And have scent glands. Which is apparently rare and because they aren’t pure boers.

The playground was closed for Easter on Monday, but the rest of the week it has been lovely and springy. Almost warm and with lots of sunshine. It has been nice to be there every day and spend long hours there. I always feel a little guilty, especially when I only go two times a week in the cold winter, when I leave the goats. It’s nice to be there so much and really feel part of the goat family again. Not just enjoying the time with the babies but also with the other goats. The little ones get the most attention of course. But they are all very important to me.

It’s fun to see the kids grow. Tuesday was their first day out in the pen. Staying close to mom mostly. Then Wednesday they started exploring more. And then started running and jumping around crazily. And on Friday they really started climbing on me and nibbling at my coat. And all those things that make it superfun to sit with them.

There’s still a teacher conflict in Denmark, so lots of school kids with extra free time have been by to see the babies. And everyone loves them. Most of them are scared of the bigger goats, though. So I get lots of chances to help the (human) kids when they come in the pen. That always makes me happy. The attention is a little much for Mio sometimes, though. You can tell when she gets a little annoyed or frustrated or nervous. She starts making those concerned mommy sounds. And if kids keep crowding her babies then she sometimes lashes out. Swinging her head to butt or bite at them. Some of the kids get completely scared by that because they think the huge goat is attacking them. Others just laugh and step away. She doesn’t chase after them or anything. Just sends the message “get away from my babies now”. The staff had to put a sign up on the gate to the pen saying that people aren’t allowed to go in without permission, so not to stress the little ones constantly. Luckily I still have permission to go in!

The other goats all have their own ways of reacting to the new arrivals. Mia seemed mildly curious at first. Of course she was very sad the first days when she had to be separated from her mama. Now they aren’t separated anymore but it’s obvious that Mio is spending her time with the new ones. And Mia seems to be adjusting fine to that. Starting to spend more time with the other goats. She seems a little annoyed that the new kids get all the attention, though. Not butting them but sometimes pushing them away a little when they get upclose.

Bob isn’t a fan. He demands respect. He will chase them around the pen if they come too close. And sometimes when I sit with them on the bench he’ll come over and try to chase them away too, but unlike Mia he can’t just get them to run away. Because they’re so small that I have a good hold on them. So he’ll try to chew or paw at them. You can see in one of the videos how he made one of them yelp out loud. I feel a little bad that I have to hold his mouth away or push him off the bench. But I do make up for it and he gets his share of attention. I like “roughhousing” with him. Having him jump up on me, grabbing a hold of him, pushing him away and then he comes back with a wagging tail hoping for raisins. He has to be careful when he’s after the kids, though. If Mio sees it then retaliation swiftly follows. If you have watched the videos where I feed the goats you know how she can growl at the others. And if Bob has a go at her babies she’ll growl like that too and come full force butting and pushing him away. He doesn’t learn, though, Bob. Keeps doing it.

Kamel has learned. She will also butt her head at the kids if they come too close. But she doesn’t chase them or seek them out. She seems to realise that she’ll get in trouble with Mio. Sometimes she’ll be sitting down and the kids will come over to her. And you can almost tell that she’s thinking “oh great, now Mio will be here shortly” so she gets up and walks away. Some might say she’s too lazy to be chasing the kids around. People keep asking if she’s pregnant too. But Per and Sigrid keep saying that she’s not. “She’s just fat”. Rude! She’s definitely the mellowest of the goats. You can see in a couple of the videos how she’s sitting in the sun making tired groany sounds. I thought it sounded like she was tired and pregnant. But I guess not. I’m surprised that after all that time with Preben around she hasn’t gotten pregnant. Quite a conundrum. I heard Sigrid asking Kurt if he had a buck. Maybe they’ll try again. She also told me that it was too bad Kamel wasn’t having babies because it would have been good for her to have someone to care for. That’s exactly what I was thinking. I think having a baby would help settle her in the flock and make her more confident. She has gotten better since I started working with her, though. She doesn’t shy away from me as much. Often asking for treats and scratches. There was a group of international students who came by and a couple of them came into the pen to see the little ones. And Kamel snuck up behind them and sniffed at them. I think you can see that in one of the videos. And she let them pet her too. But I still would like to see her have babies some time.

I think that’s all the writing. Let’s get on with pictures and videos. Lots of them. It’s been great being with the goats so much this week but also draining with all the human interaction and my back horribly hurting and just being out and about for so long every day. And then coming home so tired with not much time and with tons of pictures and footage to edit and upload. My work never ends! I had no time to exercise until the weekend. Managed 106 minutes yesterday and 111 minutes today on the bike. Have to keep that up too. Anyway, on with pictures.

Sigrid in the middle, with two girls that we were helping get to know the goat babies.

Mio inside with her babies. When they’re all tired from running around and plaing they eventually go inside and rest in the shade.

I love when they’re so small that you can hold them both at the same time.

Medium striking a pose.

It looks like Large just woke up from a trippy dream. While Medium is not disturbed.

Happy, little smiley goats in my arms.

Guiding her babies around the pen.

Looks like Medium took a nosedive there.

Holding the babies while Mio keeps watch.

Medium pulling a funny face.

Tabletop fun. Or tablebottom I guess, since it’s upside down..

Sif, in the arms of Bodil, meeting Medium, in the arms of Sigrid. Sif is crazy about the kids. Bodil says that she insists on going by the playground on their walks. And the couple of times we held up one of the kids for her she was quite thrilled and licking and sniffing at the baby. Very sweet.

Bob, Kamel and Mia enjoy some quiet time while the babies get all the attention.

Hans the handyman is building a new hayholder for the goats. And Bob is helping.

Hans and Sigrid working on the new hayholder, while Kamel rests her feet on the cinderblock. I put it up there with the wooden plank leading up to it. So the kids have something to jump around on. They quite like it. And Medium especially seems to enjoy sitting on the block itself. Often in amusingly odd positions. See below.

Look at that ear. Horizontal. Medium has crazy ears, like Mia did. Sometimes they stick out like TV antennas, sometimes they fall back like bunny ears. Love them.

Fun and games.

Look at those sweet faces.

Bob decided to sit down under the hatch. I was half expecting the babies to jump out on him. But Mio got him chased off before they came back out. You can see that in one of the videos too.

Sigrid, the kids and the goats admiring the finished hayholder.

What a fancy new hayholder we got!

Bob takes it for a test drive.

Medium found a funny position to sit down.

And a couple of boys came over to pet him.

And videos.

First off Tuesday. The babies a week old and taking their first steps outside in the great, big world. Starting with the pen.

—

And Wednesday. The kids really starting to run and jump and play with each other. Lovely.

—

And Thursday. Even more fun as the kids slowly get more adventurous.

—

And finally Friday. The kids even more courageous, starting to climb on me now.

And that’s all. Phew! I know it’s a lot. I won’t blame you if you skip some.

Now ahead to a new week. Hopefully the rollercoaster will keep going upwards.

Last week was something of a rollercoaster ride from absolute joy to traumatic sadness.

Mio had babies. On Wednesday I joked on Facebook that I was going to go ask her if she could wait until after the Easter holiday, because the playground would be closed. But it turned out I would not get the chance to ask her that because when I arrived at the playground she had already given birth to three lovely, little Easterbunny babies. I hadn’t been there Tuesday, but Sigrid said that she’d known on Tuesday that the babies would come. And when she checked on the goats Wednesday morning there they were.

When I got there they had closed off the goat house to give the new ones some peace. But I was let in so I could be with them. Two boys and a little girl. They were different sizes, so I nicknamed them Large, Medium and Tiny. And Tiny really was tiny. Small and weak compared to her two brothers. Sigrid asked me to keep an eye on her, to see if she was drinking from Mio. They were worried she wasn’t getting any milk. I did see her a drink a little, though. So she was getting some. It was a lovely day. Just sitting with Mio and the babies. Mia was howling outside either because she didn’t like being seperated from her mama, or because she thought maybe they were being fed inside and she wasn’t getting anything. But it was a great day with people coming to see the new babies and everything seemed good apart from the concern about Tiny’s size and strength. Well, you can probably guess where this is going.

The real problems started Thursday. The playground was closed for the holidays but Sigrid had swapped shifts with the guy who was supposed to come feed the animals and we had agreed on what time she would come so I could show up too. Get a couple of hours with the babies while Sigrid did the feeding and chores. While I was sitting with them I noticed that Mio wasn’t letting Tiny drink anymore. The day before it had been a question of whether Tiny was managing to get anything, but now Mio was actively preventing it. She was pushing her away, even butting her and sending her half flying at one point. She was rejecting the little girl. I told Sigrid about it and she could tell there was something wrong too. We tried forcing Mio to let Tiny drink from her. Basically I had Mio in a headlock to stop her from moving away and Sigrid coaxed Tiny to drink. We did that three times and did manage to get a lot of milk in her. It wasn’t easy, though. Mio is strong as heck.

So at that point we weren’t sure what was going to happen. Sigrid was going off to Copenhagen I think, for the holiday I guess. There was some talk of one of Sigrid’s friends taking Tiny home with her to bottlefeed her. To begin with Alice came in during the evening and fed her with a bottle and they were all left together. I came back in Friday morning and Tiny seemed to be doing a little better, although Mio was still rejecting her. But then things went really bad and I don’t feel like writing about that again, so I’m just going to copy my Facebook post about it:

So. I really thought I’d be coming home with good news today. Because Tiny seemed to be doing a little better. Mio was still rejecting her, but she seemed to be coping. We were going to leave her there and just come in with extra milk in bottles for her. Alice gave me my key to the playground and I stayed behind when everyone left after an hour’s time. There were a couple of girls who stayed too to cuddle the babies. When they left I staid for another couple of hours on my own. I was holding Tiny and when I sat her down she couldn’t stand on her legs. I picked her up again and she was struggling to breathe. Her little tongue started poking out and it was all wrong. I didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t breathing. I started like massaging her body and giving her mouth-to-mouth. But I don’t even know how to give mouth-to-mouth to a human, much less a little goat. I have no idea if I e ven did it close to right. She would draw a tiny, struggling breath every now and then but she was almost completely unresponsive. I didn’t have the phone number of any of the playground staff. But I did have Bodil’s number on my phone. I had to get a magnifier out of my wallet and I misdialled my brother I think before I managed to choose her in the menu. Inside in the dark, almost blind. I can’t read my phone menu and I didn’t want to put Tiny. And I was probably still panicking. Bodil said she’d call Sigrid and then she’d put her clothes on and come down immediately. She was there probably 5-10 minutes later. When she stepped inside I was still trying to give mouth-to-mouth. She took one look at Tiny and told me that it was over. No use. I’m not sure if she was dead but she was too far gone for sure. I just couldn’t give up until someone told me to, you know? We sat down on a bale of hay. I held Tiny. Stroked her back. Bodil stroked her face and was saying comforting things. And we just sat like that for a while. Trying to comfort her if there was still anything left of her senses. Bodil held my hand too. Gave me a tissue to wipe away the tears and snot. I held her little lifeless body in my hands. I don’t know if I have ever felt as bad before.
Bodil asked me if I needed some time alone with her. And I said yes. So she went outside. There were some kids outside, the two girls who had been inside with me earlier were there too. I heard Bodil tell them what had happened and tell them not to go in. And I sat with Tiny for a little. Told her I was sorry. Mio was making snorting sounds, like they do when there’s danger. She clearly sensed that something was wrong. She had licked Tiny clean earlier, but I don’t know if that was just because I spilled milk from the bottle over her… I don’t know.
Bodil came back in and hugged me. Sigrid hadn’t responded to the messages yet. She might be in Copenhagen already. So we couldn’t get in touch with anyone. We had to wrap her body up in the towel I had used to dry her earlier. And put her in the back of the room, where no one can get to her. I assume by now Bodil will have managed to get a hold of Sigrid and she will have contacted Alice and the others. So they’ll now. And take care of things. I was supposed to go in tomorrow again. But I don’t think I can now. It’s too much. Maybe I will stay home for Easter and go back when the playground opens again on Tuesday. Or maybe I’ll try to to go in on Sunday. I don’t know.
Bodil and i walked out together. Talked a little. She told me that she had known that Tiny couldn’t make it. That she was just too small and weak. Like she had been prematurely born. And she told me that she was glad that I had been there with Tiny when she passed so she wasn’t alone.

—

Yeah. So now it’s a couple of days later. I am starting to feel better. At least the worst shock is out of my system. I bought icecream and chocolate. I exercised and read. I installed retrogamebases. I am still sad, but just trying to forget the worst moments. Bodil has called to check up on me once. She is a wonderful woman, I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t been able to call her when it happened.

I’m going to go back tomorrow. The holiday will be over. I know seeing the goats will help me feel better. And there are still two little baby boys to help take care of. Hopefully they are doing okay. I just had to stay home for a couple of days to get over the worst.

Now I’m going to post a bunch of pictures. They were supposed to be super happy of course, now they are more bittersweet. But still lovely, I hope.

Mio with her babies. You can sort of tell the different sizes. On the left is Large. He is big and brave and outgoing already. White with just some brown on his ears and the sides of his face. On the right it’s Tiny and Medium. They look very much alike, apart from their sizes. They are both sort of dirty-white. The only other difference is that Tiny had a little brown tail. Looked adorable when it was wagging back and forth.

The little family again, this time with Large sitting on the right.

Mio looking at her babies.

Tiny’s brown tail turned to the camera. While Medium’s tail is the same colour as his body.

Little Large.

Shaping up to be the alpha male.

Me holding Large.

Little Medium.

Holding Medium.

Large sitting down. You can see the difference between Medium and Tiny there.

Large at the forefront again.

Medium and Tiny.

Tiny. Slightly weirdly positioned. She wasn’t very coordinated…

Tiny all scrunched up.

Tiny quiet time.

Holding Tiny.

Sigrid holding Large.

Mio and the kids.

me sitting with the kids.

Little Tiny.

Mia looking in on the new siblings.

And just finishing off with a couple of pictures of Mia from before the kids were born.

Hanging on the bench.

Looks like she’s trying to teach me how to yodel.

And a couple of videos. The first one is from Wednesday, the first day of the little babies. It’s almost 25 minutes, so quite long. Just a bunch of sweetness and cuteness.

And then a video from day two. Shorter but still cute.

And that is all. Back to reality tomorrow.