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Thursdays
and Fridays at 7:49 am and 5:00pm Hosted by Andy Griffin of Mariquita Farm in Watsonville. |
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This is Andrew Griffin of Mariquita Farm with Life On The Farm. We’ve had twelve baby goats born this week. In general goats don’t require a lot of help birthing, but I like to be on hand in case there’re complications. Goats have a gestation period of about 150 days. Since my does range freely with the buck it’s rare that I know the exact day of conception for any given goat. I do keep track of the day that I introduce the buck into flock so I know the outside date that I need to pay attention to. As the birthing season draws near I prepare a maternity ward with fluffy straw in a shed by my house. There’s a power outlet there in case I need lights in the night time, even though I’ve noticed that goats usually kid during the mid morning. It’s the goat’s nature to kid in a remote, hidden spot where predators can’t find them. I don’t want to hunt through poison oak thickets to find the mother and see if she needs help, and I don’t want to risk having the newborn kids to get rained on. When I see a doe with a swollen udder and an irritable, impatient manner I pop her in the maternity ward. The next morning I usually hear the bleat of the new kid on the block. To view a photo gallery of pictures of this spring’s super cute crop of baby goats click on the Life On The Farm link at K.U.S.P. dot org. For K.U.S.P. this is Andrew Griffin. ----- More about Mariquita
Farm: Website More about Andy's writings: Ladybug Letter Website Andy's Vegetable Photo Gallery: hundreds of vegetable and farming photos |
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