Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Kidding Season

Kidding season is upon us. Margie is due March 10th, Lucy is due March 16th, Billa is due March 30th and Bertie is due April 2. We did well this year with our spacing; far enough apart, but not so far that we are kidding for months.

Kidding season means the does get checked for signs of kidding before breakfast, at afternoon feeding, and before the sun goes down. It also means that this nice weather we are having will end. It seems kidding always happens on cold, raw, wet, snowy days.

My hopes for this year are that I will walk out to the barn the kidds will have been born, dam will have dried them off, milked herself into the pail, heat treated the colostrum and fed the kidds, and she will have tied off and dipped their cords in iodine for me!

Seriously, I would just like them all to kidd on their own without any outside assistance. I can dry them off and tie and dip cords til the cows come home. I REALLY STRONGLY dislike having to assist in the birth. I have assisted several people with kidding their does. They all thanked me profusely and told me how great I did. They have no idea (well, until they read this they'll have no idea) the inner battle. It is at least 20 minutes of self doubt, questioning, rethinking, and rehashing. And that's all while I am in the process. I then spend the next three days wondering what I could have done differently, especially if things don't go well.

So hopefully in a few days I will be able to write about successful kidding!

2 comments:

Phyllis said...

I bet your instincts are far more spot on than you think. After all these years of kidding, you know how to keep your cool in even the most difficult births.

Anonymous said...

Self-doubt is just human, and WAY better than the frozen panic felt by those of us who have called you and your self-doubt for help!

You're our heroine!

Peter

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