Sheep and Goats!

Last week, I took two afternoons off work to take the animal husbandry classes at Calypso Farm. I'm not tempted to get more animals, but I think it is interesting to learn about them, and I like to visit Calypso.

There are only two goats there now. They let their old ones pass away since they had CAE, a disease that causes arthritis-like conditions in goats. So they started a new line of goats that are CAE-free. This first mama is called Canela, and she is very extroverted, opinionated, and pushy:


This is Remy, a wether sheep. He is very personable, so he got manhandled the most. Poor Remy! But he didn't seem to mind:


Hahaha that face:


I got to hold the BABYBEEs. When they were 6 days old, I had to show them to mama periodically:


But when they were 8 days old, she decided they were independent, and she wandered off and left it to them to follow her! Amazing.


Canela again:


This is Canela's yearling babe. She is also very personable. She posed on this stump:


"I am princess goat!"


Such a peaceful afternoon:


Canela again:


Lambs nursing:


Felix, the ram. He is the only ram at Calypso, and there are no intact male goats. They make behbehgoats using studs. Felix lives separate from the herd with his one wether buddy. You can pet him, but if you go into his pen, he would ram you. He is very pretty though, isn't he?


We learned how to trim hooves (Remy's, of course):


A pastoral scene:


The herd coming in:


More lamb photos because of course:


Eight days old, they can have some independence!


The farm cat eating a vole:


Then funnily enough, last week a local 4H chapter brought this four-month old baby goat to campus as a fundraiser. A goat in my office! His name is Ernest, and they did not wether him, so... I'm sure he won't be this sweet and pliant for long, but he may be a daddy one day!