Annie The Nubian Goat - Pregnant?

Earlier in the month IN THIS POST we talked about how all 3 of our Jersey cows are pregnant.  All three should calve before the year ends, giving us 3 calves to keep or sell and lots of fresh whole milk!

What we didn't talk about is another animal that we suspect is pregnant - Annie, our Nubian Goat. We brought Annie to some friend's who live on the Atchafalaya River who have a Nubian buck named "Iron Man."  Annie was on a long 'date' with Iron Man that spanned the time between December 3, 2014 through January 4, 2015.

Annie the Nubian Dairy Goat

While we don't have any definitive proof that she's pregnant, we do notice (we think) a mysterious bulge in her belly.  Goats' gestation period is 150 days.  If we count back to the earliest day that she might have bred to the latest, we get a range of due dates from May 2nd to June 3rd.  So that means she could be the first momma out of all of the animals on our little farm to give birth this year.

Annie looks just like her mother, Nellie,  with almost the exact same coloration. Now Annie was a single kid, but twins are pretty common in goats.  Goats can have from 1 to 5 kids, with twins being the most common.  At this point she just doesn't look that big, though.  If she is pregnant, it just doesn't look like she's big enough to be carrying twins, but what do I know?

Now Annie appears to be in great health.  Although the cows aren't very fond of her, she likes to go out into the pasture and graze with them.  She also really likes to get on her knees, poke her head through the hog wire and nibble on weeds growing just outside the fence.  There's lots of fresh clover that the cows can't reach and she capitalizes on her dexterity to reach it.

We'll start keeping our eyes on her very closely and ensure that she's getting the very best of goat pre-natal care.  We give her snacks of alfalfa pellets and then I've been cutting privet, oak and pecan tree branches to give to her.  She really likes eating the tender new leaf growth.  Hopefully, she is pregnant and will give birth to at least one healthy little one.  We're looking forward to her freshening with milk so that we can once again enjoy fresh goat kefir smoothies made with fresh fruit for breakfast.  We haven't had any of those since we lost Nellie in December.

We'll keep you posted and will of course show baby pictures when/if Annie kids.