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.

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

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

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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.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 7th, 2013 at 21:52 and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.