Ups and Downs

Farm life, even small scale hobby farm life, has its ups and downs. Sometimes it seems more downs than ups. Kidding season started off poorly with a bad kidding which ended with both the kid and the doe dying. Then a few days later a surprise set of triplets were delivered with no issues other than the doe decided that, out in 2 degree weather, was the perfect place to have her babies.

Barcelona (the mom) Buttercup, Humperdink, and Westley.

Humperdink

Westley

A few days ago one of Samantha's does needed an emergency c-section. Thankfully the two kids were delivered alive and healthy; a buckling and a doeling. We have an amazing vet who understands how and why we do things. She takes all of our successes and all of our failures to heart and stands beside us in all of them. She's practically family and we love her dearly. We thought we were going to lose the dam, but this morning Jessie was perky and eating hay. While we are not yet out of the woods with her, we are cautiously optimistic.

Anyonewanna Peanut and Andre the Giant at less than 24 hours old.

Samantha and the babies do homeschool in the basement (aka goat ward).

Justin helps to feed the babies.

Jessie stood and walked to her hay!

Another recent "up" comes from in the house, rather than in the barn. Abigail is engaged! Her fiance is Justin (seen in the above pictures) and he is wonderful. He got a crash course in goats during the c-section and managed to not faint, or be sick, while helping to pull the babies out. He's a hard worker, loves God, and adores our Abby, which are really what matters most. A Summer 2015 wedding is the current plan.

With five more goats left to kid between now and the beginning of June, I know we will have many more ups and downs. I am hoping for more on the up side rather than the down side, but God teaches us in all things to lean on Him. So we continue on, leaning on Him for our wisdom and understanding.

Baby Pictures

Triplets

Paski with Moeeka

Koca

Triplets

Bokmakiri and Kwaito

Barcelona

First Baby Goat

Our first baby goat of the season!
Abby's Tails Paladium gave birth at 1AM to a 10.5 pound buckling. Friends of ours have a new grandchild arriving from Ethiopia. so Abby has decided to name this goat Abby's Tails Ayib. Ayib is a type of cheese from Ethiopia.

Baby Goats!

Sunday morning we welcomed 8.5 pound Abby's Tails George Bush. His dam, Rose Barry Maggie is the oldest doe we have ever had, at nine years of age. She is our "original"; the one who started this whole adventure eight years ago. She has yet to give a doeling! George is already spoken for as a pet whether, so he gets lots of extra handling from the girls to make sure he is friendly and socialized.

Sunday afternoon 4-M Gateway Moeeka gave birth to twin seven pound doelings! Abigail and I were discussing names with a homeschool family that stopped by to see the birthing. While the names Monica and Hillary were mentioned, we decided we really didn't want to be explaining the names to children! In the end, Abby chose the wives of John Adams and John Quincy Adams: Abby's Tails Abigail Adams and Abby's Tails Louisa Adams. Abby believes she'll be keeping Abigail, but only if her other does produce bucks. If they produce does, she'll have a tough decision to make as we only have space for her to keep one doe from this year's "crop".

Abigail (red collar) and Louisa

Abigail

Louisa (showing us her "show pose"!)

George

Lucy's Kidds!

Lucy kidded yesterday afternoon. When I left for work she was starting to contract and I called Sally to let her know that I was leaving for work and Abby would be on her own. Lucy for the last two years has had a difficult time kidding and prefers to lie down, scream, and not push her kidds out. I wanted Abby to have someone on back-up just in case things didn't look good.

Sally generously offered to come over and sit with Abby and Lucy. At around 12:30 I got a call that Lucy was in serious labor but not really pushing. We decided to give her some calcium. About a half hour later I was informed that she had pushed out a doe and was about to have another.

Calcium, or Callie, and Fluorine, or Flo, are doing very well. I am so thankful that I have such wonderful friends (Ski's and Jones') who are willing to drop everything and help out!

More New Babies

Okra was taking her sweet time yesterday and so by 5PM we gave up on the idea of her kidding before the next morning. We set up the baby monitor and I sat down to read.

Until 7:15PM all was quiet in the barn. Okra wasn't making a sound. All of a sudden she starts calling, loudly! I announce that it's time and made one quick phone call to Kate who was heading over here anyway, to tell her to hurry. The girls all scrambled to grab up our birthing towels, bulb syringe, and lubricant. Rachel and Samantha were very happy since now they didn't have to go to bed.

The babies were born without incident, both in proper position, and quickly. Kate arrived about 5 minutes after they were born! Two doelings! And even better: NO WHITE SPOTS! We have named them Molybdenum (Molly) and Polonium (Polly). One of the doelings looks to be in contention for "the one we keep this year".

Dunkin, who is due today, is starting to look ready. Her ligaments are soft and she has some discharge. Of course this being her first freshening, it could still be days... Abby is really hoping for does with no white spots this time. Unfortuantely genetics aren't on her side as Dunkin has a white spot and, we bred her with the son of the buck we suspect is throwing the white spots. But thankfully Dunkin is considered a "grade" doe (meaning she is not 100% Oberhasli breeding) so a white spot does not make the kidds unregisterable.

New Babies!

Cobalt, the buckling, and Mercury, the doeling, were born this morning around 9AM. Both unfortunately have white spots on their heads. Mercury's is smaller and within allowable range for the breed. Cobalt's is not.
Okra is taking her time but it looks like she will kidd this evening. Dunkin who is due tomorrow, is not looking ready at all. Abby is predicting that Dunkin will be like her mother and kidd 4 days after her due date.

No Kidds Yet!

Still waiting for our goats to do their thing! Moeeka (Moe-eh-kah) is due today and Okra is due tomorrow. Dunkin is due on Sunday. They are all acting ready and Moe and Okra have both "dropped". This means the kidds have settled into position, giving the does a hollowed-out appearance.

We are sleeping with the baby monitor set up in the barn. This way we can hear what is going on in the barn. Abby has the receiver in her room. She also has a walkie-talkie and so do I. When she thinks she needs to investigate, she sends Nathalie up to wake me and tell me to turn on the walkie-talkie, while Abby heads out to the barn. Abby then radios me to tell me if she needs me or not. It's all very "Secret Agent" like!

The theme for this year for naming the goats is the Periodic Table! SO far the ones high on the list are: Molybdenum, we'll call her Molly; Barium, we'll call him Barry; Polonium, we'll call her Polly; Cadmium, we'll call her Cady; and Fluorine, we'll call her Flo. With potentially 14 babies this year we will need a lot more elements! Any suggestions with nicknames are appreciated!

Late night/Early morning

Last night I decided we would stay home from evening service at church since Sam was at work and Hannah was still a little draggy. Around 6:30PM the phone rang. Bridget was home by herself, her parents were out on errands, and her doe was starting to kidd. So I gathered my gear and went over to hang with her until either the doe kidded or the parents returned.

When the parents got home, we watched the doe for a bit. I decided I needed to get back home since the doe was obviously taking her sweet time about the whole thing. Since this is their second time ever kidding, I let them know that they could call me if anything didn't look right. Back at home, I curled up on the couch with a good book: http://animalvegetablemiracle.com/

About 10:20 the phone rings. "We have two sacs; not one. And no feet." Ruh-roh. I wake Abby to tell her I am leaving (Find out in the AM that while her eyes opened and she spoke to me, the child never really was awake).

I walk into the barn, and we do indeed have two sacs. We got that sorted out and the first kidd is delivered completely breech: behind first. The second kidd delivers real easy. A buck and a doe.

I hang around a bit to make sure everyone is good to go and finally get home to my warm bed around 12:30AM.

More kidds!

Two more babies born: bucks, of course. At least are sold and are being picked up today. I don't even have to come up with names for them! The birth was relatively uneventful. Both were about 8 pounds. The second was breech but we were able to suction out his mouth so he didn't inhale too much fluid.

Billa, Abby's doe which was bred to a Togganberg, is going to kidd any second so this post will be brief. I'll update when she kidds....

An 11 pound buckling!!! Mom and baby are doing fine. Abby is deciding on a name.

Another BUCK!

10 and 1/2 pounds! The delivery was a little rough. A lot of yelling by both the doe and me. At one point I decided I was going to pull and either the legs were going to come off or the kidd was going to be born. Thankfully the latter happened! His name is Cedars of Lebanon Jean Lafitte, since we have a pirate theme this year and all I saw for two hours were the kidd's feet!