New Goat Kids?? :O
Posted By Jacque on September 21, 2008
I seriously have about 60 blog drafts going, and I am just now posting it, even though it is old news now!
Originally written August 18th.
New Goat Kids?? :O And, I put that in the form of a question, because I was shocked to find three new little goat-lings in the chicken pen this afternoon, of all places. Actually, I must give credit where it is due, and that goes to Eric, who heard some strange noises and heard the dog in a fit, and went to investigate, sore-had-a-nail-through-my-foot-3-days-ago and all. The next thing we heard was Eric yelling and going on to help!! HELP!!!! New kids!! Goats kidding!!
Now, we had two different kiddings last year, and the first one with Chloe was really pretty good. The second, Heidi’s, though, was not so good. I do not like surprises like this!
And, we make the mad run down to the barn, 100 feet away, to find the two “not pregnant” goats with 3 kids. One was stuck under the fencing, because the poor thing had tried to stand up and had her head wedged in pretty good. Eric and I lifted it up and got her out and dried off, and her mom was just licking her brother, so we put her near them. I showed her to Eamane, and she started cleaning her off right away. Boy, she sure took to them in a manner very unllike herself! She is about the most annoying goat I have known, so we are surprised at her being so good and motherly.
I had not even seen the goat born to Belladonna, but I was told he was just standing there, in the chicken coop. I was looking around for Keci, our pregnant goat, and I ask where she is, and she is out eating grass with the other two. She is the only one we knew would be kidding, and here, on the same day, at almost the same time, we have her ‘cousins’ kidding!! Goats!
Now, these girls are first-time fresheners, and big, fat babies too. These are the two who go crazy when they are left alone in the pasture, and Eamane has been known to cry until her voice goes!! She is down there, even now, being a good little momma goat. Belladonna, however, is not being a good mommy. We have had to feed the little boy, because she won’t do it herself. That means putting her on the milk stand, holding her stubborn body, feeding her beet pulp, and getting baby up there to nurse. Whew….. But, she is laying with him and cleaning him and talking to him – just not FEEDING him!
We were up until all hours of the night, because we had to make sure that the little Broken Arrow, Bella’s buckling, was fed every few hours. We got to bed early the next morning, and after 3.5 hours of sleep, we were up, ready to go down and feed him again. I was glad Eric went down with Jocelyn, so I could stay in the house with Loolie.
That didn’t last long, because, the next thing I knew , Eric was yelling AGAIN! Keci, the real pregnant doe was kidding! No kidding! Eric comes up, wakes up the other girls, and I run down to the barn again. She is kidding, alright. Jocelyn was worried that she didn’t look like she was dilated enough to kid, and we decided that, since we weren’t there the day before, and the girls did fine, that we would just wait it out. I was sure she would be fine, and I certainly was not ready for a remake of Heidi’s kidding last year!
When she started pushing, I did become concerned, because the two front hooves and the nose were coming out together, and after only seeing three good kiddings, I was not sure if that was good or not. At first, I wasn’t sure it was a nose or another hoof, which I KNOW is not good. And, you know… who has time to look it up in the Storey’s Dairy Goat book! Or online? lol As the baby came out more, I could see his tongue sticking out, moving, too, and that was funny. Keci pushed out her first buck, finally. Jocelyn helped with him, and I turned Keci’s head toward him, and she wasn’t interested yet. It was a bit breezy out, since she had to kid outside the door, instead of in the nice clean hay in the goat pen! We were worried about keeping them warm. I did decide that an August kidding beats a February, coldest night and deepest snowfall of the year kidding, though.
When baby #2 started coming, I was worried about it being so close to the barn. And the chickens just would not leave us alone! I tore the sac off of his nose, and Jocelyn wiped his nose down. Frankly, Keci had been so huge, that I was sure she would have at least three. I was surprised this was her last one. We moved Kid2 over, and when Jocelyn touched it, one of the sacs broke, and there was blood all over, and I had no idea if that was ok or not, if it had to do with the umbilical cord or not, so I found it to make sure it didn’t look like it was leaking or anything, and, while it looked bloody, it was fine, so I just held it for a minute, until Kid2 decided to try to move around. Of course, by this time, we needed to get them in the stall.
Rachel got some fresher hay, and they took the babies in while I tried to coax Keci in. She didn’t care. She wanted to eat. Go figure! We got her in there, and she decided she is also going to be a really good momma and is feeding the boys really well. Kid2 is a might small, though, I noticed, compared to all the others, and I wonder if Keci was really due or if he was not ready to leave the womb! Besides kidding on the worst night of the year, goats are also known to kid when another goat kids, even if they aren’t due! That is what happened last year with Chloe and Heidi.
This year is much better! No kidding box to keep the babies warm; they can snuggle right up to momma. No worry about the chill and the snow blowing in or the barn catching on fire because of all the heat lamps. No sleeping on a hay bale at 3am, keeping watch. I have heard that summer kiddings produce very sick kids, but, I think August is such a good goat-kidding month! 
See more pictures and read Jocelyn’s story about it: Yesterday I Had 7, Today I Have 12!
blessings!
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Congratulations on your new goatlings. Nice picture of one little goatie. Best of all, you’ll soon have milk for the refrigerator!
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Yes, they can sure multiply…when I was growing up we started out with two goats (my sister asked for one because she thought it “looked like ballet” when they were being shown – and I as the younger sister asked for one, well, because she got one), and we had more than 50 by the time I graduated from high school. Talk about a 4-H project! I’m just sayin….
sleep-depriveds last blog post..Puppy Love
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