Bad Maggie

Looks like Maggie has kicked her babies to the curb! When I went to check on the babies this morning both just laid there and did not move nor cry. I called the goat lady and she said that was not a good sign. I went to her house and got a bottle that is fitted with a goat size nipple and she filled it with raw cow milk. I feed the babies half of the bottle at 6.45am. I had to pry open their mouth, but once the nipple was in, they latched on and sucked hard, but then would pull off and milk would go flying.

This is Abby checking out one of the babiesBoth of the babies are girls. No names yet.

After feeding the babies I went to the Farmers Market. There are 48 vendors this year at the market but today, only 14 of us showed. I think that was because it was bitter cold this morning. I set up my table and shivered. I got hailed on and rained on. But, all I need to do is sell four more bars of soap and I will have paid for my spot for the season! I know it does not seem like much but I sold nine bars today, and I left at noon. I was so cold and wet from the hail and rain and the wind! Oh that wind just would not stop, I got wind burned. I even wore my winter jacket but I should have put on winter boots and hat and gloves!

There was a Amish lady selling baked goods. She was busy! From what I gathered from the other vendors is that she makes the big bucks! I thought that it was funny though, she wore plastic gloves so her hand would not touch the food. But she never took them off and put new ones on and she handled money and touched all kinds of stuff. She even put in the fingerless gloves over the plastic gloves.

When I got home I fed the rest of the milk to the babies. They did pretty good this time, and it was nice to see then up and moving and making all kinds of noise. Goat lady said I needed to milk Maggie so I did! Maggie and I had a "Come to Jesus meeting" and I got her on the stand. She was acting up so I tied her head short to stand. And milked her! She has very small teats. I could only get two fingers on them. It was nerve wracking! Maggie kept kicking and pulling and pushing and I elbowed her and told her to knock it off. And this is really the first time I have milked a goat.

Goat lady also told me that I needed to "strip" her of all milk, but I could not do it. My right hand cramped so bad! I was holding the milk bowl with my left and milking with the right. I could not set the bowl down as Maggie would keep stepping in it and stuff and I don't think that I can aim a teat yet! I did get about three cups of milk. That must be pretty close. Maggie is not in full production yet.

Maggie's tiny teats.

Bowl of goat milk that I milked.

I will heat the goat milk up this evening and feed it to the babies. This will be better for them then the cow milk, but they really needed some food this morning so I'm glad that the goat lady helped me out.