It's pretty warm* so I brought the baby goats out earlier than yesterday.
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In a normal year, I'm very careful about monitoring exactly when the goats are fertile and when they are exposed to the buck, so I have a very good idea of the due dates. This year, due to my big sabbatical trip, I had a very limited window of time to make sure the goats would have their babies AFTER I got back, and take away the buck from the herd before I handed them off to the farmsitter.
So. Chaos. #BabyGoatCountdown
@sundogplanets
Long ago when I was a kid, we knew the exact date the billy mated each nanny, but they were left to deliver when they felt they were ready (usually we could see behaviour change).
I don't remember any time human intervention was necessary for birth, they is one of the good things about goats :-). -
I'm honestly not sure where the #BabyGoatCountdown is sitting. 2 mamas have had babies. I have 9 more goats, who in theory could all be pregnant, because they were all with the bucks.
Because I don't have a goat vet and I'm learning as I go, here are some educated guesses:
-I'm 90% sure 5 of them are pregnant, but I apparently have no idea what their due dates are (even though I thought I did. Oops.)
-I'm 75% sure 2 more of them are pregnant.
-I'm 99% sure 2 of them are not pregnant.@sundogplanets Here speaks a true scientist. Love you!
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It's pretty warm* so I brought the baby goats out earlier than yesterday. They mostly followed their mamas, but needed some extra encouragement** to get over the snowy part.
*for Saskatchewan. Just slightly below freezing.
**I had to pick them all up and carry them.
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
Your goat threads remind me of...
https://youtu.be/dzkEQ5YDUF0?si=sYKxjr2W6ap01moC -
It's pretty warm* so I brought the baby goats out earlier than yesterday. They mostly followed their mamas, but needed some extra encouragement** to get over the snowy part.
*for Saskatchewan. Just slightly below freezing.
**I had to pick them all up and carry them.
@sundogplanets lovely photos
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In a normal year, I'm very careful about monitoring exactly when the goats are fertile and when they are exposed to the buck, so I have a very good idea of the due dates. This year, due to my big sabbatical trip, I had a very limited window of time to make sure the goats would have their babies AFTER I got back, and take away the buck from the herd before I handed them off to the farmsitter.
So. Chaos. #BabyGoatCountdown
It occurred to me that I could calculate a sort of #BabyGoatCountdown "expectation value" for how many goat babies this year. Last year I had an average of 1.5 babies per goat, so using my pregnancy probabilities above (very scientific haha) I'd expect 9 more babies this year (for a total of 14 babies). Let's see how that prediction turns out.
The 5 babies so far are happily napping in the sun, not doing any math at all.
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It occurred to me that I could calculate a sort of #BabyGoatCountdown "expectation value" for how many goat babies this year. Last year I had an average of 1.5 babies per goat, so using my pregnancy probabilities above (very scientific haha) I'd expect 9 more babies this year (for a total of 14 babies). Let's see how that prediction turns out.
The 5 babies so far are happily napping in the sun, not doing any math at all.
Beautiful!
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It occurred to me that I could calculate a sort of #BabyGoatCountdown "expectation value" for how many goat babies this year. Last year I had an average of 1.5 babies per goat, so using my pregnancy probabilities above (very scientific haha) I'd expect 9 more babies this year (for a total of 14 babies). Let's see how that prediction turns out.
The 5 babies so far are happily napping in the sun, not doing any math at all.
@sundogplanets
Dibs on the all black kid.
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It occurred to me that I could calculate a sort of #BabyGoatCountdown "expectation value" for how many goat babies this year. Last year I had an average of 1.5 babies per goat, so using my pregnancy probabilities above (very scientific haha) I'd expect 9 more babies this year (for a total of 14 babies). Let's see how that prediction turns out.
The 5 babies so far are happily napping in the sun, not doing any math at all.
@sundogplanets lazy bums, they gotta get helping you on your astrophysics calculations

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It occurred to me that I could calculate a sort of #BabyGoatCountdown "expectation value" for how many goat babies this year. Last year I had an average of 1.5 babies per goat, so using my pregnancy probabilities above (very scientific haha) I'd expect 9 more babies this year (for a total of 14 babies). Let's see how that prediction turns out.
The 5 babies so far are happily napping in the sun, not doing any math at all.
@sundogplanets I have no idea how good baby goats are at math but I hear rabbits can multiply very well.
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It occurred to me that I could calculate a sort of #BabyGoatCountdown "expectation value" for how many goat babies this year. Last year I had an average of 1.5 babies per goat, so using my pregnancy probabilities above (very scientific haha) I'd expect 9 more babies this year (for a total of 14 babies). Let's see how that prediction turns out.
The 5 babies so far are happily napping in the sun, not doing any math at all.
@sundogplanets that's how we (accountants) do forecasts, we love averages... at least I do

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It occurred to me that I could calculate a sort of #BabyGoatCountdown "expectation value" for how many goat babies this year. Last year I had an average of 1.5 babies per goat, so using my pregnancy probabilities above (very scientific haha) I'd expect 9 more babies this year (for a total of 14 babies). Let's see how that prediction turns out.
The 5 babies so far are happily napping in the sun, not doing any math at all.
My partner just called from the barn. MOAR BABIES!! #BabyGoatCountdown
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It occurred to me that I could calculate a sort of #BabyGoatCountdown "expectation value" for how many goat babies this year. Last year I had an average of 1.5 babies per goat, so using my pregnancy probabilities above (very scientific haha) I'd expect 9 more babies this year (for a total of 14 babies). Let's see how that prediction turns out.
The 5 babies so far are happily napping in the sun, not doing any math at all.
@sundogplanets I wouldn’t want to know the pee-value of that many baby goats!

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My partner just called from the barn. MOAR BABIES!! #BabyGoatCountdown
@sundogplanets WOOTWOOT!!
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My partner just called from the barn. MOAR BABIES!! #BabyGoatCountdown
2 giant healthy babies! She had one real big one, who I moved to the barn (along with mama) and I assumed she was done. I toweled off the baby, cleaned up, checked on the other babies, enjoyed the sun, peeked back in to see how Mr. Big was doing, and the mama (named Glory) laid down and pushed out a second baby! Also quite big and healthy. Good job, mama!!
#BabyGoatCountdown is up to 7 babies for the season so far.
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2 giant healthy babies! She had one real big one, who I moved to the barn (along with mama) and I assumed she was done. I toweled off the baby, cleaned up, checked on the other babies, enjoyed the sun, peeked back in to see how Mr. Big was doing, and the mama (named Glory) laid down and pushed out a second baby! Also quite big and healthy. Good job, mama!!
#BabyGoatCountdown is up to 7 babies for the season so far.
@sundogplanets
Move to rebrand as #BabyGoatCountup -
2 giant healthy babies! She had one real big one, who I moved to the barn (along with mama) and I assumed she was done. I toweled off the baby, cleaned up, checked on the other babies, enjoyed the sun, peeked back in to see how Mr. Big was doing, and the mama (named Glory) laid down and pushed out a second baby! Also quite big and healthy. Good job, mama!!
#BabyGoatCountdown is up to 7 babies for the season so far.
Good job, mama goat and human helper! So great to see these pics.
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@sundogplanets honest question here: how many goats do you have or plan on having? Do you raise them? Sell them? (I'm genuinely curious). I think of this like a video game, if you let them alone their population would gradually increase on its own, right?
@gryzor Yeah, the population would increase, and get increasingly inbred. I sell a large fraction of the goats each year. My primary goal for the herd is home dairy, with secondary goals of excellent grassland management/fertilizer, and snuggling baby goats. I think my perfect herd size would be 12-15 adult goats.
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2 giant healthy babies! She had one real big one, who I moved to the barn (along with mama) and I assumed she was done. I toweled off the baby, cleaned up, checked on the other babies, enjoyed the sun, peeked back in to see how Mr. Big was doing, and the mama (named Glory) laid down and pushed out a second baby! Also quite big and healthy. Good job, mama!!
#BabyGoatCountdown is up to 7 babies for the season so far.
@sundogplanets
Woo Hoo! -
@sundogplanets honest question here: how many goats do you have or plan on having? Do you raise them? Sell them? (I'm genuinely curious). I think of this like a video game, if you let them alone their population would gradually increase on its own, right?
Well, the numbers would increase until the coyotes discovered them...
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It occurred to me that I could calculate a sort of #BabyGoatCountdown "expectation value" for how many goat babies this year. Last year I had an average of 1.5 babies per goat, so using my pregnancy probabilities above (very scientific haha) I'd expect 9 more babies this year (for a total of 14 babies). Let's see how that prediction turns out.
The 5 babies so far are happily napping in the sun, not doing any math at all.
@sundogplanets is it a cowculation?