Surprise!! It's a Boy!

On Friday I spent the day with one of my good friends. I got over to her house around 10am and we both had errands to run so we hung out for the day going from one place to the next. We finally got to the restaurant to eat lunch around 2pm. We went to see Indiana Jones after that. Within minutes of getting out of the movie my dh called me and said he wanted to let me know that our doe Miss L had been showing signs of labor during the day and she had pushed for the first time. I asked if by any chance he had put her in the nursery pen. We still had the last two does that kidded in there, with their four kids. He hadn't, but after I mentioned it he and Kev moved those does and their kids into the big pen, and moved Miss L into the nursery pen.

With goats, labor progresses fairly steadily. Once the dam begins to push, she should kid within half an hour. If not there are one or two things to consider. First of all, she is possibly having a calcium deficiency and that is causing her pushes to be less than effective. Secondly, the kid could be positioned wrong, or is tangled with its littermate(s).

By the time I got home she'd been pushing leisurely for about 90 minutes. I gave her another half hour and then gave her a dose of the calcium we keep on hand. I gave her a bit longer and decided I'd better have a check inside to see what was going on. I gave her a birthing trim (shaved the long hairs on her tail which were already covered with dried birth goop), washed her bottom very well and then washed my own hand carefully. I checked and the baby was positioned correctly, but she didn't seem to be pushing very hard -- unless I was massaging her perineum. Finally she got the head out and then stopped there. I got hold of the baby's head and carefully pulled. The baby was born and was very limp. I cleaned his face and he was making gurgling sounds so I decided to swing him to clear his lungs. I got hold of his hind legs using a t-shirt because he was still wet and slimy from being born and went around and around in circles about five times. Then I laid him down and wiped him again, and called Miss L over to start licking and bonding with him.

She had been nanny talking and licking us before her kid was born and she managed to rebond with us, and thought we were her kids the first couple days. She kept calling to dh and I, only happy when we were out near her pen.

After she kidded she was doing well, eating hay, drinking her "power punch" for goats (quick energy), and ate some grain. Her kid was very weak after he was born and attempted to stand up but he just couldn't do it. I went to bed around 11pm after I felt like Miss L was doing okay. I got up at 4am and went out to check on them, and he was still laying down, but seemed to be doing okay. I slept in and I finally got out to milk around 6:30am. When I got out there, the kid was up and walking around, and Miss L seemed to be doing okay, too.

Kev's rendition of Miss L's kidding

But that's not the end of my story.

I suspected that Miss Z, the doe who kidded last October 19th, the day before the wedding, was also pregnant. Usually I breed our does every other year but it has been crazy busy around here with both my dh and I working. For several years, I worked and he stayed home to run our little mini-farm, but he had to start working a couple of years ago so he hasn't had much time to do repairs. Our bucks broke out of the pen, jumping not only their fence, but the doe fence. Miss Z's milk supply had been decreasing but she gave me a pound on Friday morning so I thought she still had two to four weeks to go until she was due. I wrote down the day that the bucks broke into the pen but I hadn't checked my barn records yet.

I was busy with Miss L on Saturday morning, and when Miss Z wasn't hanging around waiting her turn to be milked I decided to just not milk her. After all she's only giving one pound of milk so she can go for a day in between milkings.

On Sunday morning she came in to be milked at her normal turn and as she jumped on the stand I noticed she had some goop on her back end, plus her bottom looked kind of red and a little swollen. I thought she must be starting in labor. I milked her, and noticed that one side of her udder was emptier than the other side. I mentioned to my dh that her kids were STILL NURSING and we needed to get them separated from her because I she was pregnant. He says, "Z's pregnant?! How did I miss that? I didn't know that!"

The bucklings that were in the nursery pen with their dams were chasing all the females in the doe pen. Our goats are Nubians and do not appear to cycle during the summer, so I wasn't letting myself get too freaked out. Some people claim that they have silent heats and there is still a chance they can conceive, but I've never tested the theory either way. That's all I need is a yard full of does pregnant by 4 month old bucklings... they are fertile as early as 3 months of age!

Since Miss Z was obviously in labor, we put her in the nursery pen along with Miss L (who gave birth on Friday, who also happens to be Miss Z's dam).

Kev and I went to church and dh kept an eye on everyone outside. He noticed the little bucklings were ganging up on our herd queen and she was whirling and twirling and headbutting them so he took her out of the big pen and put her into the nursery pen to protect her from the bucklings. Miss L was headbutting her daughter, Miss Z and really didn't want her in the nursery pen. Miss Z really wanted back into the big pen and stood near the fence line looking anxious. Dh decided to go ahead and put her back into the big pen since her mother was headbutting her and she seemed so eager to get back to the big pen. She also didn't seem too close to kidding, so he figured we could move her later on.

After Kev and I got home from church, the three of us went out and caught the four bucklings, got them banded and moved them to the buck pen to prevent them from harrassing the does. We were all over the yard, in the barn and all over the place catching those little bucklings.

Moving the bucklings into the buck's pen meant they were also getting weaned. I usually like to band the boys, then let them stay with their dam for a couple more days, then wean them. But they were really being brats so we just decided to get it over and done with.

That means I had to milk SIX does this morning. I've been milking three, now suddenly six. So I got up right at 3:00am and we went out to milk.

The two does that were in the nursery pen are still learning to come when called for milking, so we had to go into the pen and get them.

Finally it was Miss Z's turn. Dh was using his flashlight and looking around the pen and finally he spotted her on the other side all alone. He thought maybe she was going to have her babies - then - he realized she had a baby with her!!! I went over with the flashlight to have a look and the baby was all dried off and didn't act like a newborn at all. That is when I realized all of a sudden that she must have had him sometime on Saturday, and she was hiding him in the back of the barn. Now it made sense! The goop on her backside, the one side of her udder being empty. LOL! I grabbed her baby and brought him and his dam out and they are now in the nursery pen. I need easy access to them so I can do the buckling's disbudding when it's time. I keep chuckling to myself at the thought of how Miss Z got one over on me. And, I'm very grateful, because Miss L's kidding was pretty stressful and it would have been too much to have to be worried about Miss Z, too.

When I told Kev about Miss Z's surprise baby, he said when we were chasing the bucklings around, he saw Miss Z on the backside of the barn and she must have already had her baby by that time.

A public thanks to Kev for doing hoof trims on half of the goats today. Now we just have to get to the other half... thanks, Kev.


Until next time.