January ‘08

Well January marks the start of a new year and amongst the many hopes and plans for the year ahead are further fencing of wood/crag land and a nice dry summer. One of the aforementioned plans we will be looking for donations/sponsorship towards and the other we shall just be asking for everyone to send warm happy vibes to mother nature for ;o))

As with all winter months the additional feeding and bedding required adds heavily to the workload ........which plays havoc with the bone and muscle structure of the goat’s slave & master.

February ‘o8

In line with the ending to January’s notes I felt compelled to compose a short ‘poem’ -

“Ode To Animal Carers In Wet & Windy Weather”

The wet and windy weather is here again

Back on with the wellies and waterproof gear

Please Mother Nature show mercy for all ‘men’

As the winds and the rain pound us from the rear

The bales and the feed bags are heavy

Through the puddles and mud we must plod each day

And at night wearily comfort ourselves with a warm bevy

As we await news of dry weather coming our way

Our bones and muscles are so tired and sore

Oh news of a good summer we sure would adore ......

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During this month we welcomed two new arrivals to the sanctuary, a 7yr old male pygmy and a 1yr old mixed breed male. They settled in quite fast and soon decided that they would prefer a change of scenery or perhaps it was their companions they weren’t impressed with as when I went out feeding one day I discovered they had moved down to the boys in the woods during the night. Nothing like choosing your own neighbourhood I suppose ;o))

On the 23rd of the month we welcomed yet another male to our ever growing family

.. say hello to Charlie, the first orphan to arrive this year...he sure loves bottle time

The 27th happily brought us the first girl born in 2008 at the sanctuary ..

... ain’t she a cutie pie ............

The honour of naming this wee girlie went to an avid supporter and fan of the goats here at the sanctuary :-

Siobhan Fitzgerald, of Longfield in Cashel, Co Tipperary

and she chose the very apt name of “Bainne” for her

Thanks Siobhan :o))

March ‘08

On the 5th of the month I think somebody was playing with some kind of voodoo doll as things were absolutely hectic. At lunchtime there was a lot of crying coming from one of the fields and upon investigation I discovered a nanny had given birth to twins, this was the first set of twins to be born so one would have thought there would be great joy and celebrations but not this was not to be the case as their mum had literally given birth and ran off without even cleaning them .... poor poor babies ;o(

Clean towels were fetched and they were cleaned off and placed onto some nice warm hay but still not sign of their mum coming to get them ....... it was essential to get some milk into them as they were approx 3 hours old at that stage so off I set with them all wrapped up in a blanket in my arms and some formula milk was prepared and a little bed for them by the warm stove in the sitting room ....... you can imagine what must have been going through the minds of the resident dogs upon seeing the latest infringement of ‘their’ space ;o)) Following nursing them a further search for their mum took place but she couldn’t be caught despite all efforts to trap her. The new arrivals quickly went from the status of first born twins to orphans .............

Unfortunately the camera was on the missing in action list so no newborn photos of them got taken but here they are at just over 2weeks old in their ‘day-pen’ ......

Another birth also occurred just a few hours after the twins were born, this time it was a much smoother arrival into the world, welcome please ... ‘Ita’s Daughter’, the first coloured kid born ....... she’s waiting patiently for a name, as is Princess’ daughter who was born on the 9th and Pebbles’ daughter who was born on the 14th ... we intend to hold a ‘naming raffle’ for the three girls during April as part of our 2008 fund raising initiatives ; o))

On a final note for March there were obviously a few of the goats sending ‘tree falling’ vibes to one of the storms during March as a tree heavily laden with ivy fell and once it was cut up the goats got working on it straight away. I think it is safe to say there were a lot of satisfied stomachs that day ;o))

April - June ‘08

Apologies for the lack of updates but as with a lot of best made plans sometimes the ‘universe’ throws a few spanners into the works to throw you off track...... hopefully things will move towards the lighter side of life again soon

Due to the computer suffering a breakdown and being out of action for over a month whilst it was being shipped from one place to another for much needed repairs the fundraising raffle to name the girls never came to fruition so brains will have to be put into motion to come up with another idea as due to the constant rising feed prices it is going to be an expensive winter ;o(

In April we had some new arrivals ..... cheeky orphan lambs, they can be seen on Our Sheep page. We have also bid farewell to quite a few of the residents over the past few weeks and so far all the reports are that they are all enjoying their new lives at their new homes. Some of those who have gone to pastures new are:

Sir Victor Blackwater & Snowflake - living together in Golden, Co Tipperary

Rachel - living in Co Cork with Maggie May who had been adopted from Cottage Rescue

Murphy & Bob - living near Inagh, Co Clare

Charlie & Todd (one of Pebbles twins) - living in Co Mayo

Shannon - living in Ennistymon, Co Clare

Ita & her daughter - living in Co Galway

Oisin - living in Co Tipperary

Our hay meadows are growing nicely and we have all toes, fingers, arms, legs, etc crossed that we do not suffer the same ill fate weather-wise as we did last year. The barn has been emptied to make way for this years ‘harvest’ and so once we see a few good days in a row forecast it will be all systems go.... according to the talk around the co-op store it looks like being the end of July.

July ‘o8

Well thank the ‘goat-god’ the hay got saved in beautiful dry weather and so the goats stomachs will not be empty this winter ;o)) No chances were taken this year ...... the minute the bales came out the back of the baler they were gathered into trailers and stacked immediately into the barn and it paid off as the day after we were finished the heavens opened and I don’t think we saw dry weather again until August.

August - November ‘08

Apologies for the lack of updates over the past few months but there has been much to contemplate and decisions to be made which will mean some changes coming into being :o() We had two new arrivals on the 23rd of November who came from the ISPCA Centre in Longford ........ Cinders the goat (when she stands she continuously hops from one front foot to the other as if dancing on coal cinders) and Cuddly Cathy the sheep. It was originally thought that Cinders’ hopping from one foot to the other was due to footrot but having had her feet pared and filed twice it is now felt that it is just a type of habit as there is no physical condition visible that could be causing it ....... The good news for Cinders is that her little ‘oddity’ is not that off putting and she will be heading off to her new home on the 2nd of December to keep another goat company who recently lost her companion ;o))

December ‘08

On The 19th of December Mother Nature Hit Us A Very Hard & Cruel Blow

All Donations Towards Rebuilding Of Our Barn Will Be Very Gratefully Received

And Can Be Sent By Paypal

Or By Post To - Armargos Goat Sanctuary, Rockforest, Tubber, Co Clare

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