The Goat Drama Never Ends

Ted went out about 9:00 P.M. to do his last check on the does and found this pair, just born, out in the does’ pen. Their dam, Brook, is one we didn’t think was quite ready. They were still wet and quite cold and didn’t perk up as quickly as we wanted so we brought them in the house. It’s only three degrees outside! We’ve milked Brook and given each kid two ounces of colostrum. We’ll give them another two ounces in a little bit.

This is a doeling and her name is Frankie. Her core body temperature was low so she’s lying on a heating pad and we’ve been blow drying her. She’s warming up, though and is not as weak as she looks - just resting.

This big boy is Tommy. He’s doing well and is quite huge!

It always seems that some drama takes place on the coldest day of the year! Tomorrow will be in the 40’s and the kids will go back out to mama. Please, girls, no more kids tonight!

TWO HOURS LATER!!!!

No one ever listens to me!

I woke Ted up at 4:00 A.M., finally satisfied that the new kids were warm enough and feeling that they really needed to nurse their mama, and sent him back to the barn with them while I crawled happily into bed. He was gone a bit longer then I expected and when he returned, I heard “baaaaaaa”. I couldn’t figure out why he’d brought them back with him! “Two new ones!” he calls into the bedroom! Sure enough, when he went to put two back, there were two more.  This time, it was Meanie. 

Here they are after they’ve been dried, fed & given Goat Drench, and navels dipped. These are clearly ready to nurse and so, after just an hour, they are going back out. No names for them yet – two doelings – ClaireAnna was too exhausted to think about it. Kid total so far: 3 bucklings, 4 doelings. We're expecting more kids soon! Thank goodness we're not expecting any more cold weather for awhile!

(Names have been chosen. The white one is Olga and the red one is Piney.)

TWO HOURS LATER!!!

More kids! When Ted and Kate went to the barn to take the second set back to their mama, they found a third set of kids!

Third pair of the day.  These are Misty’s bucklings.  They are HUGE, healthy, and gorgeous!  They were born lively and vigorous but after a couple of hours with their mama, they were still icy cold and a little wet so we blow dried them too! The lighter one is Cowboy and the redder one is Justus. (After a friend with a red beard!)  Kid total: 5 bucklings, 4 doelings.

IT’S STILL ONLY 6 DEGREES!!!