Baby Goats Anyone?

[Bakersdozen]

How precious! Nothing is cuter than a baby (insert mammal of choice here)! 

[The15thMember]

Murphy was our next doe to kid this year, and somehow we missed the birth again!  Since we missed it last year, Haley was checking on Murphy every several hours Wednesday, and even overnight Wednesday, and on Thursday she was checking every hour.  Haley checked on her after milking Prim at like 8:15 PM, and there were no signs of labor.  Murphy was just standing in the kidding stall eating hay.   Then we watched an hour of TV, and Haley went out to check again at 9:30, and there were 3 babies on the ground, the last one of which had just been born!  Haley said next year, she's just going to have to live in the barn for 48 hours if she wants to see the birth.    Once again Murphy did a great job by herself, and the babies who were born first were quite dry.   

Murphy had a girl who looks just like her who Haley named Arwen, like from Lord of the Rings, because someone on her goat forum desperately wanted Murphy's name to be Arwen, so much so that this person still calls Murphy "Arwen".    She also had 2 bucklings, a white one who we named Peter Lake, after the main character in Winter's Tale, and a caramel one who a repeat buyer of ours has a tentative reservation on, and Haley likes the names she chooses, so we're going to let her pick his registered name.  We are just calling him "Caramel" for now.  The boys, particularly Peter, were having some trouble drinking consistently on their own for the first 24 hours, but they finally got the hang of it last evening after Haley milked Murphy a little bit to relieve some pressure on her udder.  Here's some pictures of them.  You can also see Nova, one of our LGDs, in one picture.  Her and her brother Mason always park themselves at the barn when there are new babies, because they feel they need extra protection. 

[The15thMember]

We had our last batch of babies for this year born very early Monday morning.  Bella was the last doe this year, and it seemed like things were starting to get going late on Saturday night, so we were hoping that maybe for once we have kids born during the day on Sunday, but instead she kept us strung along until after 1:00 AM.  She had a white average sized buckling, a huge tan buckling (the biggest kid we've ever had), and a small tan doeling (the smallest kid we've ever had).  We are kind of on a Winter's Tale jag after naming one of Prim's kids Peter Lake, so we named them Pearly, Cecil, and Beverly.  Haley is worried about Bev being able to compete with the boys since she is so little, so she's been in the house all day trying to learn to take a bottle in the hopes that Haley can supplement her if need be.

[The15thMember]

Here's some pictures of Beverly in the house today.  She finally took the bottle around suppertime, once Haley tried a new style of nipple.  This is the first time we've successfully bottle-fed a kid, so Haley is very pleased.  Bev will come inside tomorrow too, just to be sure she's got the bottle down, and then hopefully she'll be able to take one whenever it's needed. 

[Bakersdozen]

I had this audience recently. I have two colonies located on this property. They entire area is overgrown with invasive honeysuckle that the homeowner has been battling for years. The colonies sure put on weight when the honeysuckle was in bloom. Yesterday I looked and the goats had eaten the area down to the soil. They were as curious as cattle. I think I counted 16 goats.

[The15thMember]

We have had a ton of trouble getting our does pregnant this year.  Some of them just wouldn't go into heat for some reason, maybe weather related.  Haley decided to not breed Bella this year and just milk her through, and Prim, Louise, and Murphy had several dates with a buck and then finally didn't go back into heat, so we were feeling pretty good about them.  Halo seems to never go into visible heat, so she lived with Duncan and his wether buddy Cecil for months, and we're starting to suspect she may be pregnant. 

But now Louise seems to be in heat this morning.    Haley is horribly disappointed.  Murphy is due in about two weeks, and obviously very pregnant, so we're locked and loaded for her, but everyone else's status is back up in the air now, and we've never had babies born in the summer, so we're not really sure if it's a good idea to try and breed again or not. 

[Bakersdozen]

This sounds like a soap opera. 
I know it's serious for you and your family. Raising goats sounds a lot like honey bees. There is so much to know and understand.

[The15thMember]

Plot twist: Louise now appears to be developing an udder!    So it seems like she maybe went into false heat the other day, and she actually is pregnant.  I swear, we're just not going to be sure until there are babies on the ground. 

[The15thMember]

Guys, you are not going to believe this!  We missed Murphy kidding AGAIN!    Her ligaments were gone in the morning, so Haley had been checking on her basically every hour, all day.  So she went out to check on her at 8:30 PM.  Nothing, she looked the same as she had all day; a little uncomfortable, that kind of dazed look in her eye that does about to kid have, no interest in food, but also no contractions, no pre-birth material, and not even laying down.  So Haley goes back out at 9:30, and on her way down to the barn she hears babies crying.  She gets down there and ALL 4 KIDS are on the ground, and the first one is mostly dry and trying to nurse!    We can't understand how she can even give birth that fast and with absolutely no pre-labor.  It's like she deliberately waits for Haley to be gone and then quickly gets them all out as fast as possible before anyone can see.  Needless to say mom and babies are doing very well, since this whole process is weirdly easy for Murphy.  She had 2 boys and 2 girls.  Pictures will be forthcoming.

[The15thMember]

Here's the pictures.  These kids' father is Arthur, who we just butchered, so we named most of the kids after King Arthur characters.  The white boy is named Lancelot (we've been calling him Lance for short, and I've also been calling him Cracker ), and the white girl is Guinevere.  The brown girl is named Mage, since King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is our favorite King Arthur movie, and one of the characters in that movie doesn't really have a name, she is just "the mage".  The black boy is named Gad, because in case anyone hasn't picked up on this yet, we have a tradition of naming the first male goat born every year after a tribe of Israel.

[Bakersdozen]

Thanks for sharing pictures of the babies. Those are the cutest things!

[The15thMember]

We may have had a breakthrough in the fertility trouble with the goats!  Louise has this habit where she will suck on or scrap her teeth on the gate; we jokingly call it "flossing".  She's kind of a wacko, so we figured it was just Louise doing Louise things.    But Haley noticed that Halo has lately been doing it too, and these are the two does we've had the most trouble breeding.  So Haley got to thinking, they only do this flossing behavior on galvanized metal, so was there some mineral they were looking for that is in the galvanizer that they could be low on?  Well, as you may or may not know, galvanized metal is coated with zinc, and a little research led Haley to discover that zinc levels are directly linked to fertility in goats!   

[The15thMember]

We have been waiting on Prim's babies all week, since we weren't sure exactly which day she was bred, and we had our first ever daytime birth this morning!  Prim was looking like she was getting close last evening, so Haley got up several times overnight to check on her and happened to see contractions start around 5:00 AM.  Everything progressed very slowly however, and by 8:00 not much had happened.  Haley decided to go in and make sure she was dilated and she was, so Haley went in all the way and discovered that the first kid was upside-down, so he was unable to enter the birth canal.  Haley repositioned him, and he was born within a few minutes and was followed by his brother in another few minutes.  Haley named them Simon and Neil, and no, it's not for Neil Simon, but after two characters from I Capture the Castle.  We will be keeping one of these bucklings to replace Phantom and Arthur, who were recently butchered, and the other is tentatively reserved by a previous buyer.   

[Bakersdozen]

Twins! Is it common to have multiples? Is that how you say it? 

[The15thMember]

Yeah, I've heard people say that.  Yes, for miniature goats it's most common to have 2 or 3 kids.  We've seen anywhere from 1 to 4 kids in one litter.  5 kids in one litter is quite rare, but it does happen.  I think the record for our breed is 7.   

[Bakersdozen]

Yeah, I've heard people say that.  Yes, for miniature goats it's most common to have 2 or 3 kids.  We've seen anywhere from 1 to 4 kids in one litter.  5 kids in one litter is quite rare, but it does happen.  I think the record for our breed is 7. 

Poor Mother!

[The15thMember]

Simon went home to his new owners yesterday, and we got a new buckling delivered to our farm this morning! His name is Mr. Dillon (as in, Matt Dillon from Gunsmoke), and he is from Kinder Korner, one of the top breeders in the country. We were able to get him delivered because the breeder was visiting family in our area, so the whole situation couldn't have worked out better.

He had to spend the night alone last night, as all his traveling companions had been delivered already, so he is pretty nervous and stressed. But he is eating and drinking and wanting to talk to the rest of our herd through the fence, so he should get settled soon enough. He keeps running out into his little paddock to see everyone, then getting nervous and running back into the barn, then building up his courage and running out to see everyone again.

In case anyone is wondering about his ears, he was born on an extremely cold night when the breeder wasn't home, so he lost his ear tips to frostbite. She kept apologizing for it, but we think it just makes him look even cuter!

[Bakersdozen]

How old is Matt Dillon? I think he's going to have lots of personality.
One of the most memorable calves from my childhood was one that was born in the worst weather. She was frozen to the ground. Dad got her up and brought her into the kitchen. We fussed over her and bottle fed her for a day or so. She was nipped a little bit too but she turned out to be a great mother to her calves.

[The15thMember]

We always feel lucky that we don't have horribly harsh cold where we live when it's kidding season.  Of course the does try to pick the worst night , but it can only be so bad here.  It's rarely in the teens, and we don't get a lot of snow. 

He is 6 months old.  He was acting pretty shy for most of yesterday, but after my sister gave him some leaves and he rapidly warmed up.  He'll spend a few days behind a fence so he can adjust to everything, and then we're going to actually move the main herd up to another pasture, and then move the buck herd into the main barn to meet him.  That way there will be lots of room for everyone to get to know each other, and as the new guy, he'll kind of have a leg up with the territory being his, as opposed to moving him into the rest of the boys' space.  We don't anticipate any problems with integrating him, as we have several bucks and wethers around his age, and Duncan, our adult buck, is very good with little guys, but this seemed like the best way to minimize Dillon's stress.