Chaos!

Well, it all started yesterday morning. There is good news and sad news. I'll get the bad news over with first. When we were feeding yesterday morning we found a very small, premature kid in the barn. Finally figured out which doe it was from - a Boer first freshener. She is the bottom-of-the-line goat and I would not be surprised if she got rammed in the barn by someone and that made her abort. Don't know.

The other sad news is that yesterday afternoon another Boer first freshener doe went into labor. We were not sure when she was due, so were hoping for some healthy, alive kids. Her labor was going really slow, so I gave her a couple shots of Calcium Gluconate to help make things a little quicker. It did help and the kid came out, but it was premature - no hair, closed eyes, and only lived for a short amount of time. I cried :(.

So, we still have not figured out why both of them aborted. Very sad, but it was God's will.

SO, done with the sad news, on to the good news. Now this morning seemed like complete, but somewhat-controlled chaos! We milked and everything was normal. Checked on all the does out when we fed them - no one was in labor or even close (looking). We came in and played with the other 5 kids for a little while.

Then my brother came knocking on the door, and he had 2 beautiful, almost dry, Boer-looking kids in his arms!!! Where did they come from?!? So I ran out and checked on the does. It was Bridget (a Mini Nubian), as she had placenta hanging out. The bucks had broke in a couple of times last year before we secured the fences more, and obviously bred someone. She must have been bred by the paint Boer buck who we thought couldn't breed (because he was the only Boer buck around at the time). . . strange! Well, she had 1 buckling and 1 doeling. I have to say Boer kids are the cutest kids around :)!

It's somewhat of a bummer that she was bred Boer, but I'm very glad to have alive, cute kids!

So, I was switching goats around in the kidding stalls, milking Bridget, getting a crate ready for the new kids, some of my siblings were trying to get them to take their bottles, etc. Then I looked in stall that Hug was in, and she was pushing hard and feet were out! Oh no! I yelled to them and we all went in, helped the first kid out - a beautiful buckling! Then another bubble came, and it was a cute doeling. The sire to these kids is Dreamy-Hollow's Parker. They both have super long ears and are very Nubian looking.

We sent the kids in and dried them, I milked Hug, cleaned her stall and put new bedding in it. And everyone is doing fine now. MoReen and Rhia are the other two that are due, in the stalls. And I think they are going to have them very soon also (they are both on day 149 today)!

I am wondering though if the cold weather that came in yesterday made them all go into labor, even the premature ones. Both of the Boer does that aborted are smaller and did not have a great start in life - we got them from someone and they were weaned early so not very big, and maybe their bodies were just not ready to carry a kid to full term (even though they are 1 1/2 years old)? Or the cold weather freaked them out and made them go into labor? Don't know. I just hope no one else aborts.

Well, that was my day. . . so far. I have to go now "comfort" the new Boer buckling as he is screaming. . . Boer bucklings are always SO loud!!

Have a great day,

Suriyah

this is a much better picture of LaWanda's white doeling,