Spock, newly delivered. |
Abigail's kidding was nearly text book. Active contractions began at 12:15 and she was completely delivered by 1:00 pm. Abigail gifted us with two, 8 pound, perfect little bucks. Her first kid presented himself nose and hooves first. After a couple good pushes and not much forward motion, Sean applied a little traction on the hooves and within a few minutes, "Kirk" was completely delivered. Abigail took immediate interest in cleaning him off. I helped with a towel to speed the job before kid #2 presented. About 10 minutes after Kirk was born, his brother entered the world. We named him "Spock" because of his upswept eyebrow markings and long ears. He is stunning. With an anticipated season that could potentially give us 20 kids, we cannot keep them all, nor even most of them; I am sorely tempted to keep him based on his markings and character. He is all GOAT. While Kirk is happy to snuggle down with his Momma, or enjoy some warm milk when it walks by and naps the rest of the time, Spock wanders into whatever pen he pleases- to explore, to bounce upon on unsuspecting chickens or sleep in a goat pile with Rachel's kids or Jane's. Oh! You caught that, did you? Yes. Wednesday saw an explosion of kidding on the homestead. Between noon and 4:30 pm, we delivered 8 kids to 4 Mommas.
I grabbed my boots, camera, fresh towels, the goat kit and headed back to the barn. We thought Keziah had about a week to go before kidding, so she was still with the rest of the herd. When Sean got to the barn, Keziah was on the floor of the main stall, crying with contractions. Her mother, Rachel was standing over her, protecting her from the unwanted attention of the other does. When I got to the barn, Sean was furiously screwing in the panels of our kidding stall to make a separate space for Keziah to kid in peace. Between contractions, we assisted Keziah to her feet and helped her into the private kidding stall. Rachel was determined to follow her daughter. We didn't stop her. Rachel's presence seemed to help calm Keziah as much as anything we were doing for her. Rachel helped clear away the mucus discharge. She was quite the midwife, actually.
Don't think about resting now, I am about to be in labor, too. |
And, then Rachel began active labor. We decided to just let her kid in the same stall since it was both convenient and seemed to be acceptable to the does. In between contractions, watching Abigail's kids to make sure they were up and getting colostrum, watching Keziah and her kid, I glanced over to the other side of the wall and spotted Jane, panting. She couldn't also be going into labor, could she? Now? Right now? Her answer: Labor. Now.
Right now. The other does, having met foul tempered Jane when she is NOT in labor, decided to give her a stall all to herself and watch from the relative safety of the doorway to the main doe stall. Still, we felt it best to add a couple more panels and seclude her for her comfort and safety. No sooner were they added, both Rachel and Jane began straining and panting.
"Do you want to call Shea for the extra pair of hands she offered?" I asked Sean. Our friend, Shea from Gentle Meadow Goat Farm had offered to come out if we wanted more hands.
I couldn't really pay attention to Sean and Shea delivering Rachel's final kid, a lovely chamois doe, but it seemed that the delivery went quickly and without incident. Normally, we have time for one of us to be on the camera or video while the other catches a kid and helps dry it off. Once dry and standing, we weigh the kids, dip umbilical cords in iodine to help dry them up, and make certain everyone is getting colostrum. We have had multiple goats kid in one day. We have NEVER had them kid all at once, back to back! It was exciting. I'll say that for it!
When all was said and done, at the end of the day we had 4 happy Mommas and 8 healthy, perfect kids; 6 bucks and 2 does. We are very pleased to introduce you to our first kids of 2016. Most of these will be available for sale.
Kirk, 8 pounds, Lamancha buck, cauliflower ears |
Spock, 8 pound Lamancha cross buck |
Mason (left) Sanaan/Lamancha cross buck (full ears), black with white spots on the ear, 7 pounds Nyota (right) Sanaan/Lamancha cross doe (full ears) She is going to be paired with Spock, 8 pounds |
Lydia, Lamancha doe, chamois colored, 6 pounds. We are keeping her. Mason, for sale (see above) Nyota for sale (see above) |
Beautiful babies!
ReplyDeleteWow, you sure had a busy day. The babies are just so lovely!
ReplyDeleteWhat a day! Beautiful babies, so glad it all went well!
ReplyDelete