Kids

Of both varieties! We love to see new baby goat kids at our place, and this is an especially cute little one. Sometimes a baby goat comes into the world to a mother that just doesn't get it. She steps on the baby while trying to get to the corn. She walks away and leaves the baby shivering in the cold. She doesn't recognize when her baby is weak and sick. She lets other goats bully him. She won't stand still while he tries valiantly to stand up on wobbly legs and nurse. We end up bottle feeding those poor little ones until they are stronger. Sometimes they make it and sometimes they don't.

But this kid  belongs to a nanny that really knows how to mother. Her entire life is wrapped up in taking care of her little one. She instinctively knows that her baby needs her like he needs air to breathe. She does whatever she must, to make sure her baby is safe and happy at every moment. She fretted over him for hours after he was born, licking and nudging and encouraging him. When we let the rest of the heard out to green pastures later that day, she stayed in the pen with him so he could nurse. Now that he is a few days old, she still hurries while she grazes so she won't be far from him for long. And she watches him while she eats, as he rests in a bed of grass. She's obsessed.

He's doing great, of course. Thriving under the tender care of his obsessed mama. Wish every kid had a mama like that.