Morning Surprise

This morning I rose at 7:00 earlier than my family to do animal chores. It's lovely to be the first to step in the dew alone and enter the quiet refrain nature creates, if just for a few minutes. The sun brightly shone, but it wasn't sweltering quite yet. I peeked into the goat shed not expecting to find anything, because the goats usually leave to graze just after sunrise. However, I found Momma S'more lying on the ground, and right next to her standing was a wet,huge,strong, black baby buck. S'more called to me and him and stood to greet me. I saw that she was in process of delivering the placenta which means she'd just delivered the kid a little before. I stroked the moist fur of the blessed hot-off-the-press creature. I talked softly to S'more, "What a good mommy you are!" When I reached to pet S'more, she started madly licking my hand, and then she turned to tend her baby. This excellent caprine parenting was a stark contrast to Momma Sissy who recently needed days to be convinced that her offspring actually belonged to her.

So, what a marvelous morning surprise. Compared to Sissy's birth, we'd just hit the easy button.

I ran inside to announce the birth and grab the floss to tie off the cord. When the children saw the baby kid's size, they decided instantly to name him Chuck Norris. We put the big ole' boy next to his mother's udder which he licked. I cleaned up the birthing mess which was really easy. Then we all showered and went to church. Once we got home I put Chuck to his mother's udder again with no success, so I procured reinforcements. Buck came out to work his goat magic. First, he squirted the momma's milk into his mouth, but Chuck flat out refused to latch on. I blocked S'more, who was growing restless, while Buck offered his finger to Chuck to try out his sucking reflex. As you might guess, that ginormous kid could suck like a tornado whipping a house off it's foundation. It took some doing, but Buck finally coaxed the loudly protesting newborn to suck on his mother's teet instead of his finger. Chuck's eyes immediately flew wide open; he liked what he tasted. Apparently, S'more has some gourmet colostrum.

When I left the goat shed, momma was giving her son another sloppy tongue bath.

And all is well on the True Vyne Farm.