January 27th

We had a cold rain last night, freezing rain a little north of here, but just wet and cold for us. They are calling for snow tonight, but nothing major, just a dusting.

Kolin fell asleep at school nap time today for the first time this year. When I got there they told me he had only been asleep for 20 minutes so I hated to wake him, but eventually I did. This could make for an interesting evening of shopping for wood floors and dinner out. Hopefully we won't have any major melt downs before bed time.

All eight of our kids are doing great. All are nursing and playing. All the nannies send their kids under a trailer in the barn and then they go out into the pasture to graze. It's really cute to see all of them piled on top each other sleeping. I'll try to get a picture but it's dark under there so I don't know how it will come out.

We have named all of the kids. Skit had Hipster and Ace. Molly had Junior. Sam had Cracker and Jack. Samantha had Jay, Kay and Elle. We will keep Hipster, Kay and Elle and sell the males after they are weaned.

There has been a steady parade of visitors to see the kids; Sherry and her friend, Gay, Brandy and her family, friends from church and some of Konrad's coworkers. Kolin's teachers want him to bring a picture on Thursday. I might just pack up a kid and bring it with me when I pick him up. Surprise!

In other, totally unrelated news, I was quite pleased with the Bachelor's picks last night. My personal front runner's are the Canadian and the Dallas cheerleader. Any one else watching? And Kolin and I are anxiously awaiting Wipeout which will air during half time and after the Super Bowl. It's hilarious, tune in if you can.

Well, that's about it for today. Hope you are having a great one!

Boys and Kids

Kolin & Kaden with the triplets .

Kolin & Kaden with Sam's twin boys.

Kisses for the baby

Samantha's Delivery

This is Samantha giving birth to her second kid, she had triplets.
I got to watch this birth, obviously, and Konrad made it home from work just in time to see the birth of the third kid. He said the bag around the kid was very thick and he tore it open around her nose and mouth so she could breath. We had 6 kids born in one day, very exciting times on the Rocking K Ranch! Below is another video, a continuation of the above video, so just seconds after birth. The kid is still wrapped in the sack, trying to break free. She gets out just fine, no need to worry, but she is snorting and blowing the birth fluids out of her nose and mouth. Samantha eventually turns around and completly frees her baby and cleans her up.

This Must Be Some Kind Of Record

What a HUGE day of little blessings at the Rocking K Ranch! It all started yesterday afternoon when we noticed that one nanny goat appeared to be laboring. We checked on her repeatedly and at 2:30AM Konrad found a healthy male kid beside his mother, Molly. Here is a picture of Molly's kid.

This morning I packed the kids up a few minutes early so I could go check on the goats before taking Kolin to school. I quickly saw Bugsy and April, then I drove around and found Samantha off by herself, a sign of labor, but I couldn't find Sam. I stopped the car and went into the only unoccupied stall left in the barn and Sam was in there with a kid on the ground! I had a couple of minutes to spare and it looked like she was still laboring so I decided to wait and see if more kids were on the way. I got to see the 2nd twin be born but then had to rush Kolin off to school. I came home and checked on them. Mother and kids were doing fine. Here are a couple pictures of mother and twins.


Kaden and I worked outside a lot today. Anticipating the release of Skit and her kids into the pasture, we moved Bugsy and April to the back pasture, carried water to all the animals and fed the new mamas. We ran some errands and went back home. I decided to go and check on Samantha before I left to pick up Kolin. I found her in a corner outside the barn with another kid on the ground! Just to catch you up, that is #4 so far for the day! She appeared to still be laboring so I stuck around. I watched her give birth to her second kid while on the phone with Konrad. He was on his way home from work. I told him to hurry, I didn't think she was done. He arrived, we switched places, I left to go get Kolin from school, and he stayed to watch the laboring. When I got home there were three healthy kids. We think there are 2 females and 1 male. Here are a couple pics of Samantha and her triplets.


and I can't not include another picture of my favorite little girl, Hipster, born Sunday 1/18/09.

Video of the Skit's Twins Moments After Birth

Here is couple seconds of loud bleating from our new kids. They are about 30 minutes old in this video.

8 Hours Old

Male twin


below-Mama Skit and Female twin behind her
below-Mother,Sister and Brother. You see that the male is a little taller than the female. He is a bit more active also.

Hipster

KIDS!

Our goat herd increased by 30% this morning! Skit had twins, one male, one female. Konrad was able to witness the birth of the 1st kid, the female. He called Kandy who was asleep and she made it down in time for the 2nd birth. It was really cool to watch new life arrive on the Rocking K Ranch. Both kids nursed and Skit appears to be mothering them up very well. We moved them into a clean barn stall a few moments after birth.
This is the kids moments after birth.
To the left are the kids about 15 minutes old, just moved into the barn. Below is the female paint that Konrad named Hipster. We will keep her and she will hopefully become a nanny in our herd.


and here is one happy farmer!