Welcome to Painted Hand Farm

Painted Hand Farm is a 20 acre Civil War era farm located in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. We raise meat goats, veal calves, turkeys and organic vegetables using humane and sustainable agricultural practices.

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Sunday, April 19, 2009

Babbies, Babies Everwhere!

We knew that Spot had her kittens two weeks ago. In the morning, she was a walking football, but later that day, she appeared obviously deflated. We hunted throughout the barn--in the hay mow, on the third level, under the lumber pile, in every nook & cranny hoping to find a nest of babies. The search widened to the basement, the sheds, the stock trailer and the front porch. Still no luck. We didn't think we'd see them until they would begin to expand their horizons. As I was sitting on the step up into the barn's center isle giving Delilah her bottle, Spot slipped out from under the wooden ramp up into the barn. She had revealed her hiding place. Sure enough, when I tipped up the ramp, there they were with their eyes fresh open, mewing curiously at the new world to which they had been exposed.
Shortly after the discovery of the kittens, Peaches went into labor. I was going to take her from the main herd over to the maternity ward when she decided she would rather plop right down in the tall green grass and have them on her own terms. Seeing as she's the matriarch of the herd and an all-around great goat, I obliged her. While I worked in the garden, she birthed a buck and a doe, each in excess of ten pound each! Peaches was one of our first goats and these will be her 28th and 29th kids. She and another goat are neck in neck for production. Carlisle will pull ahead if she has triplets this time, however, Peaches is still ahead in terms of kids weaned. Peaches has some dairy goat (Saanen is my guess) somewhere along the way and this batch of kids were born with wattles, the little danglely things on their neck.
Maddie loves the baby goats. Only five more years until she's old enough for 4-H!Emma's little squirt is growing like the weeds he's relaxing in on this warm, sunny day while his momma grazes.
Peach wasn't the only one to have twins. Her daughter, Phyllis also had a buck and a doe the day before.
The buck gets some na-na while his sister relaxes from the stresses of being born next to a shady round bale.

1 comment:

  1. I love all the kids - 2-footed and 4-footed! The solid kids are especially beautiful!

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