Oh, She's Talking About Goats Again: Kidding Season

This is our 5th kidding season. Every one up to now has been uneventful (except for some birthing assistance needed with one doe that used to live here). Everything always went according to procedure (except us, we waited with utmost excitement, and once birth was eminent, we were one the phone calling friends and grand parents). Oh, I'm talking about goats still.

And then there was this year! All is well that ends well, but we did have the fortune to experience a few common issues that we had been previously spared.

1. Now we know why Millie (the cow in the goat suit) has not stopped giving us a half gallon of milk a day, in spite of our efforts to dry her up. She quite simply did not get bred. OK...well at least we've had milk all winter. And now that I think about it in December she had a slightly bloody show, my guess is that she came back in heat again. Alas, the Buckaroo had been long gone. That can happen. And maybe Millie is one of those goats who go for years keeping in milk. That can happen, too.

2. We have always had our kiddings in the late spring. Last summer I thought that it would be a good idea to try for earlier freshenings. Hoping for a mild winter, and actually having one still caught us off guard, as my impeccable record keeping (counting 5 months on my fingers) failed me. I was two weeks off, and we had babies! Then it got cold here, of course. These are Bonnie's babies. Nubian/LaMancha. Both Peter and Cottontail had her short stubby ears.

3.  Lydia was on time, er, well, now we started watching for her. She acted quiet and moody so we figured she would be next. Her ligaments were soft and you could almost bring your fingers together around her tail bone. But, we still missed it! And this is where, as a first time freshener it is good to be there at the birth. This greatly improves your relationship with the doe and is very good for the kids to be handled, and also to see if she has trouble giving birth. We weren't there, so we did the best we could. They were over a half an hour old.

 For some reason Lydia left on of her kids, Floppsy (well named for his Nubian ears and lack of leg strength). I strongly suspicion that barn stress was to blame for Lydia not bonding well with both kids. She wasn't isolated and she is a very timid goat, easily bullied, and may have had trouble in birthing. I also noticed that she didn't talk to her "babies" like the others does do. Once she was isolated in her own little room she relaxed quite a bit and started her mothering, but it just didn't click all the way and eventually she completely rejected Floppsy. We thought for sure he wouldn't make it. I managed to milk enough colostrum from Lydia's 1 1/2'' teats to bottle feed him thru. but he just wouldn't stand up.

 Bryon brought him in with us that night and held him a long time to get him warm. Floppsy had started wheezing and stretching back his head. The kids were in tears. It didn't look like he'd make it.

In the middle of the night he decided to make a go for it and live, by the next morning he looked pretty good. For the first three days he stayed inside and when he started hollering we put Lydia in the milking stand and let him feed. We are still doing this, but he happily lives in the barn, it was his choice, loudly declaring that he had enough of Timothy hugging him.

I wish I had more pictures, it was so cute, Timothy and Floppsy.

This is our solution. It's extra work but it is still easier than bottle feeding. I talk about the benefits of dam raised kids here.  Lydia does not let him feed but she does not other wise abuse him, so we asked her to at last baby sit!

Next week I'll start separating the goats from their mothers at night so that I can begin morning milking the new mothers.That will probably be another adventure!