Today it is back to normal temperatures for March, in the 50's. The forsythia has just finished blooming, and this afternoon I started to prune them. They grow at the end of the driveway, and are so beautiful every year when they bloom, this large mass of yellow flowers, just when we are all getting antsy for spring. Leaves are a normal part of a donkey's diet, so I fed the cuttings to the donkeys tonight. In the morning there won't be much left, just a few pieces of branches. Tomorrow I will do the otherside. Forsythia blooms best on new growth, so every year I cut the 7 foot bushes down to knee height, to open them us so they grow back with lots of new growth. Next spring, they will be long sprays of gorgeous yellow flowers.  I took this picture over 10 days ago. The fence posts are in, but no boards yet,  where they are doing construction on the road. I hope Dowell will get some boards on tomorrow. Need that pasture.

The breeding season has started, there are two jacks in with a few jennets now. The rest are very noisy, as they want the jennets to know they are interested!

I can't believe how fast spring is this year! The trees are already leafing out, and I have yet to start my tomato seedlings for the garden. We have started to mow the grass, it was very tall and thick in the sunny areas, and needed to be mowed twice to chop it up. Tonight I saw a bat flying, so there must be plenty of flying insects for it to eat.

Came home from a great visit to our daughter's to find spring flowers all over. The forsythia are in full bloom, and so are the white flowering pear trees. The magnolia west of the house is opening, and the redbud outside my office window. This is very early, the earliest I can remember the forsythia blooming is  the last week in March. Today will reach 80! That is too hot for this early, I hope we don't have an unbearably hot summer. The grass needs mowing very soon. Good news is the donkeys that are out in pasture are deserting the hay quickly, as the grass is coming on strong enough to feed them, and is so much tastier!

Getting ready to start painting fence posts. The road is being widened, so we had to move the fence back. Dowell has been very busy these past few weekends. Those posts were 15 years old, and still sound. But we put brand new ones in anyway. Plan to paint the posts before putting the boards on, and it will take 3 coats of paint, I am sure. I can just about hear the sucking sound as the posts swallow the first two coats of primer! Bought the paint today, and now just to wait for a warm, dry day.

On top of that, the daffodils are in full bloom, the forsythia is about to bloom, and the crocus are about over. Spring is early this year. When you look in the fields, they are green!

The first foal of spring was born on March 8. 12 months and one week since breeding, which is a normal gestation. He is a very nice little spotted jack. Since both parents are "wooly" I expect him to be as well. This picture shows him the next morning after he was born. Both are a bit muddy, as his dam, Sing A Long decided to leave the lovely dry stall and have him in the paddock, in the rain. But it gave us a great name for him, Singing in the Rain! It's wonderful to see the foals get up and move along with their mothers so soon after birth.

When this family came to visit the farm, this jennet, Pink Phlox, came right up to the children. Here I can see that she is paying careful attention to the child on her back. Looks like a great home for all of them.

It is getting to be a busy time of  year. Now that spring is coming, we have lots of emails from possible clients. This past Sunday we spent most of the day delivering three donkeys to their new home. Three kids, and the donkeys are going to get lots of attention. I always like to deliver the donkeys to homes like that.

Still on foal watch, no leap day baby, and she still hasn't foaled. She is not late, the gestation can vary from 11 to 13 months, this jennet is now a little over 12 months from breeding, which is a normal length gestation.

No foal last night. That's normal. I am so excited about the first foals coming, I am so impatient to see them. But the foals come when the jennet and foal are ready, not on my timetable. I guess Leap Year Day doesn't mean anything special in the donkey world.

This morning I moved some young jacks to the stall at the end of the barn. The vet is coming this afternoon to geld a couple of them. I always move them hours before the vet comes, so they  have time to settle down, and just have some quiet time. It is so much easier for the vet to sedate/anesthetize them if they have been having a dull day shut in a stall. If I move them right before she comes, well, then they are excited and the medicine sometimes just does not  make them sleepy.