New Kids On the Block...(yes, every season I get to use this phrase)

We are up to 17 kiddos now, with just one more doe goat left to freshen!  It just so happens that my FAVORITE doe settled last this year, so I am still on pins and needles waiting to see her contribution to our kid group.  There have been 5 night births at very erratic times, varying from two days early to four days late, beginning some 3 weeks ago.  As of this writing, I am severely sleep deprived. 

"Stormcrow" is a quiet first-freshener who was assessed at 2 hr intervals, since she filled her udder or "bagged up", as we rural folks like to say.  Last night, I knew she would definitely kid, based on her behavior, so I ran up the hill to the barn in my long underwear at 8 pm, 10 pm (to feed kids), 1 am, 3 am, 5 am, and again at 6:15 am to milk and feed for morning chores.  Wouldn't you guess, that sneaky lady kidded sometime between 5:00 and 6:15 am.  All the recent moms attended the birthing girl, so kids were sparkling clean and wandering around for a random tit, when I arrived.  It was easy work to dip navels, milk out lucky bewildered doe and feed hungry kids before my children were ready for school.

My two first-fresheners both kidded unattended, but they are easing into milking time just fine.  In contrast, all of my older does were heavily assisted, so I am now very comfortable re positioning breech kids and exploring a doe up to my elbow.  There should be a word for spelunking a goat uterus...like "capcaving" or "goatsplelunk".  Both sound "maaaaaa-velous".    

Kids have arrived!

We've had three does kid in four nights!  It's been an exhausting week for me, but there are 10 more goat smiles greeting me in the barn every day.  Check out the 2016 kid page for photos.