03-18-2018, 06:29 PM
It was cold and windy outside today so I brought the babies into the house to play. We had so much fun watching them bounce on the couch, rock the rocking chair, and race up and down all the stairs. I'm excited to say that I'm almost certain now that these are Lightning babies. For a few weeks I thought they were Rambo's because I didn't see any Nubbin influence. The timing was exactly in the wrong spot to be able to know for sure. One week later and there would have been no question they were Lightning's because he was the only buck who had access to Petunia while we were on vacation last fall. Lightning is Rambo's son and looks almost just like him, so we know these babies have Rambo and Petunia. The question was whether Rambo was the father or grandfather. I was leaning toward Rambo for a while because I saw no "Nubbin brown" on these kids at all and the ears were quite long. Well now their ears are looking shorter and less floppy than they did at first, and I'm starting to see Nubbin characteristics pop through! She was Lightning's mama and had that lovely reddish-brown coat. Well now that our babies are starting to shed out their first baby coats, some of the buff areas are coming in "Nubbin brown". It's starting on the toes and Blackbird has some reddish-brown on her face now. I always thought Blackbird had a kind of Nubbin-ish look to her face, but I thought maybe I was imagining it or it might go away as she grew up. However, the Nubbin face is becoming more pronounced as she matures. So yay for Lightning babies! It's a relief to know for sure who the father is so I can fill out their ADGA papers correctly. I thought it had to be Lightning because I'm sure I would have seen Petunia come into heat while we were still home, but I was second-guessing myself because I was so busy running back and forth to State Fair during that last week before our trip. I don't think I even let the big bucks out of their pen during that time, but I was so busy I couldn't be sure I remembered correctly, and there was always the chance that Phil had let the boys out. So I've kind of been dithering about how to know for sure who sired these gals. But now that I'm seeing shades of Nubbin, I feel a lot more confident.