Gabby Finally Gets (Them) Out
Little Gabby is our resident escape artist. A Nigerian Dwarf doe who interprets a fence as a nice tummy rub on the way into greener pastures, Gabby stands less than two feet tall and has no trouble working her way through holes the size of tissue boxes. Even while hugely pregnant.
Gabby has been locked in a kidding pen on and off for weeks because she looked so gigantic and uncomfortable I felt she was due any moment. I’d freed her several times when I needed the pen for delivering moms or cold babies. While the other does had already produced their kids, Gabby was still busy escaping from the pasture and wandering around next to the road. Of course, once she delivered, I realized why she was late.
Back in November, Gabby had insisted on running away from Pepe, the stinky and amorous Nigerian Dwarf buck intended for her. We’d planned for early April births and split the various couples of sheep and goats into breeding pastures with little “love shack” shelters just big enough for a few animals. But Gabby repeatedly squeezed under the electric fence and I finally found her hanging around the Angora buck’s pen. I popped her in there, thinking she was likely already pregnant, but if not I wouldn’t mind her breeding with Oreo. Truth is, I was plain tired of finding her outside, and the Angora was in a very secure pasture.
Sure enough, her babies popped out yesterday afternoon with curly hair and floppy Angora ears. They were also slightly larger than typical Nigerians, which would explain why Gabby has looked ready to burst for a month. And adorable! Nigerian Dwarf babies (and adults, really) are pretty much nature’s most irresistible animals, with looks that could perhaps only be improved on by the addition of some darling Angora ringlets!
Introducing Trumpet (some white) and Tiny (more black). It is quite disturbing that these babies are just born and both looking out of the fence already. They’ve got their father’s ears and their mother’s wanderlust!
