Babies, babies and more babies!

Why is it that my goats will wait all weekend and then decide to go into labor Monday morning when I am getting ready to leave for work?  I fed this morning and everyone looked the same as they have and then I had to go back into the barn to get something and 2 of them were lying down straining.  So I stayed with them and Cinnamon my silky doe had triplet girls.  She did fine with the first two but the last one was breach so I helped pull her and clean her face so she wouldn't aspirate.  Meanwhile Peaches is across the barn in another stall in labor.  I was running back and forth between the two.  After Cinnamon had her 2nd kid, I went and pulled Peaches baby.  A bouncing little boy!  She has only ever had singles so I figured she was done.  I am over helping Cinnamon with her 3rd baby and hear a bellow from Peaches so I run over and she is having another one, this one is a girl!  I couldn't be happier with their coloring.  My registered bucks have been throwing the prettiest babies I have ever had here.  How in the world will I decide who to sell?

YIKES!!!

Well thank goodness none of my goats kidded during that horrible storm we had last night.  I made a trip to the barn right before it hit us to make sure no one was in labor.  I have 10 does put up inside in case they decided to kid during the monsoon rains.  We got 6 inches of rain and hail and very high winds with a funnel cloud being sited very close to us but all is well.  Today Tuesday had triplets and Violet had twins.  I will post pictures as soon as I can.  I know this will make my new friend Patty happy since she bought Blue Bell's buck last weekend and needs a buddy to go with him.

And yet another baby

Sunday I thought I would have a nice quiet day and be able to catch up on housework and clean out my stalls and rotate goats in that are getting close to kidding.  Well I got the stalls cleaned and went out to gather up 2 that I knew were close but had no idea of the actual date since I didn't witness the mating.  Blue Bell was in the process of having a baby and all the other goats are running around her thinking I am going to feed them so I picked her up to carry her to the safety of the barn (good thing my goats are little and only weigh about 40 lbs.) and just barely got out the gate when she popped him out onto the ground at my feet.  Whew, I got him dried off and into a stall and all is well.  Meanwhile I was expecting some people to come look at goats and when they showed up I think there were 10 of them.  I showed them around and let the kids play with the babies and then had more people come to pick up their little goat.  Needless to say I did not have a quiet day nor did I get my house cleaned.  Oh well, I do enjoy meeting people who love goats and we all had fun.

More babies

Last week was really stressful with 2 snowfalls that equaled 8 inches and having to come home early Monday and Wednesday because of the hazardous driving conditions.  I couldn't get to work on Thursday and then Friday I came home to find that Periwinkle was finally in labor.  I sat in the barn in the frigid temps for 4 hours with her.  I finally figured out that something must be wrong for her not to have had them by then but she is shy and didn't really want a pelvic exam from me.  I had left my phone in the house on the charger so couldn't call Jerry to come out and help me so I was crawling around on my knees trying to hang on to Peri who is trying to run from me with my other hand inside her feeling for the baby.  What fun that was!  I could tell it was breach and I couldn't find any legs.  Finally after what seemed like hours but was probably only 20 minutes, I managed to get a leg and pull it out and then I could find the other leg and got it out.  He shot right out after that.  We were just recovering from that stress when the twin came.  He was coming the right way BUT his front legs were back instead of forward.  Oh well I got them out and they are beautiful little boys.

Rescue mission

This is not about my goats but I also rescue dogs and rehome them when my husband won't let me keep them! ha  Last week I heard about a YorkiePoo that needed a new home.  I asked my parents if they wanted him and they did so I spent all week taking him to the groomer's and then to the vet to be neutered and to have all his health records updated.  In between all this we got 5 inches of snow and the roads were too hazardous for me to get to work one day.  Saturday we took Ziggy to his new home in Tennessee where he is going to have a wonderful life and has a sweet little brother to play with.

ZIGGY

ZIGGY AND XERXES

Bottle feeding

What a chore it has turned out to milk Fudge twice a day.  It takes 15 minutes to get 4 ounces from her.  After that, she lays down and refuses to give anymore milk.  Pixie is enjoying the 8 ounces of supplement though and I can tell she is starting to grow finally.  I am going to have to go to Plan B which is to have Tater's boys go to their new homes in Clarksville TN this weekend and then I will start milking Tater and see if she will produce more milk.

The temps dropped into the 20's last night so all the babies have gone back under heat lamps until it warms up later this week.  No wonder our electric bill was $300 this past month!