Kidding Season Over

The last doe delivered this past Tuesday night.  It was a difficult delivery.  Bouquet was a single birth.  The single births are always the worst.  The kids are larger and more difficult to extract.  Every single birth delivery we've had, has required assistance. Bouquet was the hardest.  She'd been in labor for most of the day, then, as evening (with thunderstorms on the horizon) set in, she kept wandering off into the darkest corner of the paddock with the least amount of movable space, and the last bits of debris from the corncrib raked into a pile.  We'd lead her into the goat shed, where a heated lamp was burning - and she'd immediately head for the door.  Finally, even though some moms were still outside, we shut the door - and waited, and waited and waited.  For an hour and a half she panted and paced.  She'd lay down and push, with no results, then get back up and pant and pace some more. Finally, close to 10:30 p.m., she laid down and her water broke.  Ada was there too - even though she'd rather have been in bed and asleep.  I needed her on standby. Once the front feet started to crown, we could tell we had a problem.  The front of the nose was tucked right between the white little hooves. I would need to pull.  Because of all the amniotic fluid I couldn't get a grip - so, rather than risk having Ada run into the house to get a towel, I told her "Take your shirt off and give it to me."  That "order" was not met with squeals of joy! I knew she had a camisole on underneath, and I needed something for traction to get this baby out - so she complied. Ultimately, Ada had to hold Bouquet down as well.  She was a big help! A healthy baby doeling was delivered, and an exhausted mom, finally able to rest.  This was a good learning lesson for Ada, as well.  Without her shirt, I couldn't have gripped the front feet.  She felt very good knowing how important her help was - and, after three washings, her shirt is as good as new!

 

The other four had delivered earlier in the month. Babysbreath had two little bucklings, all on her own, on the 15th of April, Ginger surprised us with triplet doelings on the 20th, and Belinda delivered twin doelings on the 25th, also without assistance.  Ginger's triplets were a first for us, as was her first kid being breach.  All went well with assistance, however, and thankfully, all eight of the new kids are thriving.

 

Now we can get down to thinking about milking - and cheesemaking.  If the weather cooperates and I can get the milk room ready, I should have my first batch of chevre in the fridge in another week.  We are very excited about that proposition.