More Kids

Well, just when I think I might know a little about animal husbandry and goat kidding, the goats have shown me that I don't know as much as I think I do.  I was congratulating myself on pinpointing the exact date of the first goat's kidding, but I'm completely off on all the other goats.  Daisy the Nubian kidded yesterday, the 12th.  She's the only one I thought I wasn't sure about.  I had estimated she was due either on the 3rd or the 11th and was supposed to be the last to kid.  Ha.  None of the other goats have kidded yet.

In previous years, Daisy has always had triplets and sometimes some of them die.  I wanted to try my best to be there at her kidding so that I could make sure the babies survived.  It was a long ten days of checking on her every 2-3 hours.  Finally, when I checked on her at 7:40 in the morning, it was obvious that she was in labor.  So, except for a few quick dashes to the house for a bite to eat, I stayed in the barn with her until the kids were born...

  the first one, a male, at 1:45 (not quite dry and trying to suck my finger*)

and the second one, a female, at 2:00.

  No triplets this year?!  Too bad, because I have a buyer for two of this doe's little girls.

 * Daisy's teats are so enormous that it's hard for the babies to suck right away.  So, each year, as soon as they start trying to nurse, I help them by holding the teat at an angle that is easier for them to get their mouth on.  I have learned that this is as good as bottle feeding them, without the actual hassle of bottle feeding.  They end up associating me with feeding and it makes them very sweet and tame.

I call this wide load Boer doe Buttercup, but Buddha or Butterball, might be more appropriate.  She has got to be at least two feet across.  Even though she is pregnant, there is no reason why this goat should be this big.  She's pretty enormous during the summer when all she gets to eat is pasture.  I think if a Boer breeder sees this, I might get hated on.

And, here's Evil the Kiko.  I can't believe how big her udder is this year.  It looks like she could be carrying a kid or two just in her udder.

She'll probably have her babies tonight.  Some signs that labor is imminent:

(1) udder fills up.

(2) the spot right in front of her hip bone hollows out (you can see that in this picture, see the indentation right in front of her hip, below the spine?)

(3) doe hunches up like she's going to urinate, but doesn't

Two New Goats

Since Billy was so lonely, we decided to get him a pal as quick as possible. On Sunday afternoon Tom went to the Canton First Monday Flea Market and bought a little goat. He was told that it is a Nubian, but I'm pretty sure she is not. She's a little white goat with light tan markings similar to a Boer goat and she has some funky ears - long and pendulous like they are supposed to be, but they turn up at the ends.

I think I'll start my flower themed names with her and call her Pansy.

After Tom got that goat, I happened to check Craigslist that same evening and found a registered Nubian nanny. I went to see her this morning and bought her. I think her name should be Hyacinth.

Hyacinth is as affectionate as Billy. When I put her in the pen with Billy and Pansy, both Hyacinth and Billy were jostling for a place to stand next to me. Neither wanted the other to be near me. This resulted in a head butting contest which was hilarious to watch.

They would both stand their long ears straight up, which made them look like little donkeys, then they'd rear up on their hind legs and come crashing down, butting their heads together. After watching that scene for a while, I decided that if I left, they might be able to work out their differences. I watched them from the house and they did stop butting heads soon after I left. In a short time, they were all happily grazing together.

The building in the background is the previous owner's new barn. Ours will look similar to that. She chose the same colors as me so that our properties would kind of look like one big place and everything would go together.