11.12.2011

Ellen's Story.....

 Once upon a time when Eli and Ellie only had each other, and were not quite "at home" at their new destination (About An Acre), Ellie was carrying what would one day be the most rambunctious little goat at the farm: Ellen. This is her story. From start to the present day. She is only a mere seven months old, but what a sweet little life I have been able to capture with my camera.....
 Eli and Ellie have always been super close since the day the arrived at the 'acre'.....
 ....and little did we know that Ellie was pregnant when we got her.....
 ..until one day, in very late March, a little white cotton puff was out in the field with her!! She was such a great mom. She cleaned her right up and had no problem letting her nurse.  She was very protective of Ellen and always watched very closely when someone came to see the little baby Ellen...


 It was kind of sad because Eli was in another field fighting off a virus called 'soremouth' and so he didn't even know Ellen existed for a few months later....It was just Ellie and Ellen....
 It was almost as if Ellen was always smiling. You could tell that the wheels of mischievousness were already beginning to turn...

 I had a hard time thinking about anything else - this was the very first baby born at the 'acre'!

 Ellen had visitors as soon as the news spread that we had a baby! She was so affectionate and milked the visitors for all the attention she could get...always smiling for the camera and winning over the hearts of all who saw her.


 Soon after she was born, we decided to have her disbudded. Eli & Ellie had horns (Eli's were already massive and kinda dangerous) so we couldn't do anything about theirs at this point, but the liability with Ellie getting her head stuck in the fence or Eli accidentally hurting someone was enough and we decided not to have anymore horned goats...the process of disbudding had to be done within the first 10 days or so and takes all of 30 seconds. Granted that 30 seconds seems so much longer when poor baby Ellen is crying, but within 10 minutes, she was out playing like nothing ever happened.

 You can see here where the horns were cauterized. It just felt horrible to have that done, but I feel that in the long run it was the right decision.  Honestly, she was back to normal within minutes of having it done.
 Of course I had to coddle her and baby her afterwards just so she didn't forget how much I loved her!

 When Eli was all healed from his sickness (you can read about his journey here), everyone was reunited and Eli met his baby girl! The family sticks together and has since that day when they all met!
 It sounds unreal, but it is like they KNOW they are a family unit and Ellie sticks by Eli, and Ellen never lets her mama OR daddy out of her sight....


Sweet mama and daughter.......



 Ellen loves playing hard in the field and only gets really pooped when I work hard at it....
 Ellie loves it when Ellen is pooped - it gives Ellie a little time to herself....
 Pooped! Tuckered out! Time for a power nap!!


 Maybe too good of a mama....Ellen is STILL nursing at seven months!



 Ellen got a mild case of soremouth, but nothing like Eli......

 Daytime snuggles in the barn with the whole fam.......

Even though Ellen loves running with the other little girls, she feels most at home with her family....







 Ellen: "I LOVE my dad!"
Ellen's story will be continued on each coming blog as well as everyone else here at the 'acre'! Stay tuned for Misty and Milly's stories! Thanks for reading!

1 comment:

  1. I love goat stories and this one was right up there with the best I have ever read.

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