Meet Patch

Not only did the stomach flu virus enter our lives this weekend, we were also visited by something way cuter: a brand new baby buck. We named him Patch, and I’m sure you’ll be able to tell why. Patch is 3/4 Kinder and 1/4 Boer. More importantly, Patch is adorable {and comes from good milking lines!}. He was born on Friday night, so as I type he is only five day old. In these photos, though, he is less than 24 hours old.

Baby goats, just like many other mammalian babies, sleep a lot. We use the coffee cans you see pictured here as extra water containers, but it is also nice for scale, no? He is barely bigger than an oversized coffee can!

It was Charlotte’s first kidding, and she freaked out a little. She was scared of Patch at first, so, after getting advice from our dear friend, Mr. O., we had to hold Charlotte still and help Patch latch on. This was after leaving them alone together for about an hour and a half, but with no progress.

When Patch began to drink, it was like a switch flipped in Charlotte’s brain. Suddenly, she was vying for Mother of the Year. She immediately began to clean him up, and by morning he looked like you see in the photos–beautifully clean.

She still cleans him all day long, just in case.

Charlotte has been horribly wild, so imagine my surprise when she let me milk her without a fight. Even Reece, who is a dream goat when it comes to how tame and obedient she is, sat down and refused to budge on her first milking.

Charlotte is quite proud of Patch. I am amazed that she actually cares about someone other than herself.

This is our midterm break. I am starting to think these breaks are cursed. Last time, it was the chicken pox. This time? The flu. I was in bed with a high fever all day yesterday.

But the cuteness is a nice consolation. And the children are too distracted by Patch to pay attention to lessons anyhow. A-Age-Eight thinks she is training him to do tricks. I suppose she did teach him to climb the slide. He would have figured it out by himself in a week, but why waste time?

In other news, Reece is still pregnant, and will be for another week or two. In this photo, you can sort of see how huge she is, and she still has time to grow! I saw her lay down the other day, and her midsection started dancing around so much she finally despaired of ever being comfortable and got back up, poor creature.

Reece’s kidding should be easy because it isn’t her first time, so we aren’t planning time off; just shorter days.

Spring is in the air for sure. The trees in the orchard are blooming, and the first kid of the season is on the ground. God has been good to us.