Not pregnant

No, not me....!  :)

Not Bessie either.  The vet was just out, and she is "open".  So, I get to watch for the signs, and listen for her steer calf (male) to bellow more than usual, and try to call the vet in that crucial 12 hour window when artificial insemination would be most likely to be successful.

That puts Bessie's next calf being born in July/August 2016, at the earliest.  Not the worst timing, so we'll take what she is able to manage!

Jonny-Boy (the steer) was very vocal about a week ago, which would have been about the right timing to call the vet, if only I'd been paying closer attention.  I thought he was just scenting the lovely dairy Holsteins about half a mile away and across several corn fields, and still holding out hope that Bessie MIGHT have retained a pregnancy from before her incident(s).  

Zaney the goat is probably pregnant, and today I consulted with her breeder (including photos of Zaney's bulgy sides and back end)  We both think she is pregnant with a Moose Tracks baby, due in December.  Rather than a Red Corvette baby, which would have been born this week.  

A sporty car vs. an ice cream flavor...  

This week vs. 2 months from now...  

Which do you think I was hoping for?!!!  :)

Oh well, there should still be piglets, either by the end of October (Rose, the American Guinea Hog first-timer) or the middle of November (Bea, the AGH experienced sow).  Or both.  I'm thinking that if one is actually not pregnant, I won't feel too badly about it.  Two litters in the barn during early winter will be a lot to manage.

And one of our American Chinchilla rabbits has pulled fur for a nest.  There should be no rabbit babies for at least a week, because of when the male was put into the colony, but...the American Chinchilla girls have never pulled fur before now.  One had babies and didn't make a nest, a few months back.  Seven perfect babies cried for their mother, and neither one had milk, or acknowledged that she had abandoned her kits.  I made a nest for them, hoped that the mom would recognize that these were HER offspring, but....they died in 3 days.  

So, fur pulled for a nest!  This is progress!  

I'm hoping for Violet to be the fur-puller, getting ready for babies.  Otherwise, she has been here for almost 2 years with no pregnancy and no friendliness towards either of our two males.  It's time to not feed an unproductive rabbit....and that means a one-way trip to the chopping block at the butchers'.  :(

Thinking positive....

Rabbit kits:  sometime in the next 2 weeks.  Hoping for chilly weather to hold off just a bit longer.

Piglets, one litter (end of October), one litter (mid-November).  One or both would be great.

Goat kid (or kids if it's twins!):  beginning of December!

While all of that is going on, Bessie meets the "stuff" that the vet keeps in the portable deep-freeze, the sheep ewes meet the rams, the goat does meet the buck(ling), and the third American Guinea hog young female meets the boar in late December.

And then....we take that much-needed break between autumn births/breeding, and when the birthing starts again in March.

Whew!  Maybe I can get some organizing done in the house while the barn waits for spring clean-up and the beginning of birthing season.  Or hibernate and catch up on some sleep!

 

Laura