Kidding Season - Another Kid

I've got some good news and some bad news tonight.  Let's start with the bad.  On Sunday, Bunny gave birth to twins.  The largest one was born dead.  The youngest was very small and weak.  For the past four days we've worked hard to pick her up, put her on Bunny's teats, and encourage her to suckle.  I was going through this process five or six times a day.  She'd drink and show some strength.  She was never able to get up on her own, make her way to the dinner table and drink milk.  Last night I noticed she was getting weaker.  I worked with her and gave her encouragement, but my efforts proved to be ineffectual.  By late this afternoon she died, and I dug a hole with a shovel and buried her.  I've buried several goats this year.  Tonight when I got back from the Beekeeper's meeting, I could hear Bunny crying hauntingly as she looked for her baby.  C'est La Vie (and death).

Bunny's unnamed doeling - RIP

Let's switch to the good news.  Agnes is another momma goat.  She's the only goat on the farm with horns, and she uses that to her advantage, bullying all the other goats.  She's mean.  But she is a good momma, always delivering healthy babies, strong and vigorous.  Coming on the heels of Bunny's situation, we were hoping for a better outcome with Agnes.

It's Agnes' time to shine

Tuesday afternoon I went to the barn to gather eggs.  As I rounded the corner, I was greeted by a surprise.  Agnes had given birth to a big black baby goat.  She had cleaned her baby up, and it was up and walking.  Since Agnes had not had a gender reveal party, I checked the little goat's equipment and it's a little buckling.  We'll name him Kit!

Without any assistance from me, Kit immediately started nursing and got his dose of colostrum, giving him the best shot of health moving forward.  That little dude drained one teat in no time flat.

I always like to get proof the babies got the colostrum.  "The proof is in the pudding," they say.  That saying is literally true.  I checked Kit's "pudding," and it is bright orange.  Yep, he got the good stuff digested.

Kit is jet black and full of spunk and energy.  He'll be a welcome addition to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.

We've always said that if you are discouraged or depressed, the best thing for you is to sit down and watch baby goats hop around playfully in the pasture.  It's sure to put a smile on your face!

Bunny's Baby

I'm re-reading James Herriot's books and am in the middle of "Every Living Thing."  He's talking about lambing season and going out in the countryside in the cold, windy weather to help ewes deliver in problem pregnancies.  Most of the farmers didn't have any enclosures and he delivered lambs out in the cold.  He said his hands and arms would get so raw from washing his hands so much and the wind whipping on his skin, chapping them thoroughly.  

It makes me happy for us in kidding season for goats, for when we begin to see their bags 'bloom,' we bring them inside the barn.  Even though it's not cold, it isolates the expectant mothers from nosy cows and chickens who won't give them a moment's peace.  Bunny is named bunny because she has a pink nose and a white stripe down her face, giving her the appearance, somewhat, of a bunny.  Bunny's bag has bloomed.  It is tight.  She is close.

She delivered twins Sunday afternoon, right before church.  Here is the smallest kid, a doeling, that Tricia is making sure that she gets a belly full of colostrum.  It's very important that they get this.  The baby is very weak and frail.  We worked with her for a while until her sucking reflex or instinct kicked in.

Unfortunately, her twin, also a doeling died during birth.  Tricia said that she was still in the sack and thinks she may have suffocated.  She was bigger than her twin sister by a long shot.  So yes, we buried yet another goat once we got back from Evening Worship services.

Bunny's baby girl is solid black with a white spot on her head and on her left foot.  We're working hard with her to try to get her to get up and get active and nurse on her own.  So far, it's slow going.  Hopefully, things will get better day by day.

Little goats are the cutest thing!

Here is Bunny and her baby, yet unnamed - we're still thinking.  Any ideas?

Agnes, another goat of ours, is now on the clock.  Her bag is growing, but I don't think she'll kid in the next day or so.  I'm watching her closely.  Tonight I milked out the rest of Bunny's colostrum that her baby didn't drink, and we'll freeze that for later use, should we ever need it.

It's Kidding Time!

Springtime is exciting!  Hens laying more eggs, grass is growing, foliage on trees is a vibrant green.  And, goats begin to kid.  Tricia keeps close tabs on the goat family.  Agnes seemed to be first in line.  When I arrived in the barn, I was greeted by odd sounds coming from within.  Agnes was in labor, pushing, digging holes in the ground.  She was in obvious pain.  We watched as another contraction came on, followed by another.

Two tiny hooves emerged.  We always check to ensure they are facing the correct way.  We don't want to encounter breech.

It didn't take long for Agnes to push out the newest arrival on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  A brown goat!  How does that happen?  The doe and the buck look nothing like that.  I would guess that might be from a recessive gene, but I wasn't paying that close attention back in biology class.

Agnes' motherly instinct kicked in and she began cleaning up her baby.  She diligently licked and licked and gave the little one a proper spit bath.

I lifted up the little goat's legs and exposed two teats and no male 'equipment.'   It's a girl!  A little doeling.  How nice.

We left the barn and walked back to the house to allow the two of them to bond.  The baby was struggling unsuccessfully to stand only minutes after delivery.  She just needed a little time.  When we returned to the barn in 15 minutes, the little critter was up.  Baby goats are funny.  They always try to find the teats, bumping around the wrong end of the momma.  Tricia reached in and gave here some instruction.  Everyone needs a little help sometimes.  She quickly latched on and began drinking the nourishing colostrum which will give her antibodies and a good head start.

She didn't need any help after that.  The little doeling (as of yet, unnamed) was drinking to her heart's content.  We also spotted colostrum-tinged stool, confirming she's getting what she needs for good health.

We have several more goats whose girth is widening.  We'll be on watch for the next to come into labor.  Our goat herd is increasing.  We'll need to sell some of these little ones as they are weaned or they'll eat us out of pasture!

A New Kid for Agnes

Agnes' due date, according to what we had marked on our calendar, came and went.  We watched as her bag grew to large dimensions.  We were a little concerned, but she seemed to be acting normally.  Agnes is the only goat on the place that has horns.  She uses them to her advantage and bosses all the other animals around.  The only goat she gets along with is her doeling, Mocha, pictured below with all the spots.

This past weekend, when I went out to the barn to check on things, I found Agnes had just given birth to two kids.  The female was standing up and was already nursing when I arrived.  The male, however, was not.  He was a lot smaller than the female and had not gotten on his feet yet.  Agnes was licking him and getting him cleaned up.

Agnes continued grooming her kids, and I worked on getting the little buckling up.  He was so weak.  I put him on Agnes' teat, but he barely had a sucking reflex.  I even milked Anges out and tried giving him a bottle.  That didn't work either.  The doeling, on the other hand, was nursing like nobody's business.  Agnes went into labor again and delivered the placenta.  She promptly ate it.  That's what goats and cows do.

The little doeling has wattles, like Agnes.  Wattles are dangling 'tails' of skin that hang off of the neck of some goats.  The doeling's wattles are both black with white tips.  Scientists don't know what the purpose of wattles is.  They just dangle and look cute.

I would like to be able to give a happy report about the little buckling, but I can't.  I made my way out to the barn more times than I can count, trying to get the little fellow to stand or at least nurse on his momma.  But it was no use.  I began noticing that he was getting colder and colder.  Finally, the last time I went to work with him, I found him dead in the hay.  This is part of it.  We've gotten used to it.

The doeling is quite healthy.  She is spunky and strong.  She looks like she has white tube socks on her legs, with one sock being pulled up high and the other slouching lower.  She also has a white stripe running between her eyes and down to her nose.

She has a pink nose!  This is the first goat we've had with a pink nose.  Tricia said it makes her look like a bunny, so she named her "Bunny."  I think she likes her name.  In the photo below it looks like she's smiling!

Day by day she gets stronger.  Soon we'll be able to milk Agnes and Bunny will share some of the milk with us.  Until then, she's drinking a lot!

We keep our eyes on ol' Bunny.  The other animals, especially LuLu and Elsie, the heifers, are very curious.  They come and check Bunny out and like her with their long sandpaper-like tongues.  They are a little too rough with Bunny.  Agnes and Bunny sat down near the garden on a beautiful early spring day and soaked in the pleasant surroundings.

Welcome, Bunny, to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm!

Milking Agnes, the Goat

Agnes is our La Mancha goat.  She gave birth to Cupcake about six months ago.  We haven't weaned Cupcake yet, but that day is coming soon.  Last week we took blood samples from Agnes and sent them off.  We wanted to test for all the common diseases and things that could pass through the milk and get us sick.  We got the test back and Agnes got a clean bill of health.

We wanted to do a "test" milking in order to see what type of a milker she is.  Will she be calm?  Will she kick?  Goats have only 2 teats whereas cows have 4.  Pound for pound goats are very productive.  Their milk is naturally homogenized.  Unlike cows, where the cream rises to the top, goat milk and cream is combined and doesn't separate like cows.  Here is a look at Agnes' bag.  She has a nice bag full of milk.  We put her up on the goat milking stanchion and hobble her back leg to the stanchion with a lead rope.

I built this stanchion from plans that I found in a magazine many years ago.  It has held up well over the years and is a very useful tool to have.  We put Agnes' head in the head gate and close it around her neck.  As a result, she is unable to pull her head out.  We also feed her some sweet feed in the trough to keep her otherwise occupied.

Tricia uses a quart jar with a muslin rag rubber banded around the opening.  It acts as a filter to keep out dust, hay, hair and other particles we don't want in the milk.

Milking a goat is quick work - if the animal is behaving.  Annie, our Nubian goat, did not behave.  She was not a good milker at all.  She would kick and thrash about.  She would sit down.  Just horrible.  I thought many times about putting her on the barbecue pit.  However, she delivers beautiful baby goats.

Fortunately, Agnes is a good milker.  No shenanigans like with Annie.

Tricia is a diligent milk maid.  She is determined and serious in her work.  In no time flat she was done.  This is a little bit of the milk from Agnes the La Mancha dairy goat.  It is a lot whiter in color than cows' milk.  We put it in the fridge to chill it.

When it was chilled, Tricia asked if I wanted a taste.  I've never been a fan of goat milk.  It is great in keifer or cheese, but as far as drinking it?  To me, it always had a sharp taste.  However, that was Annie's milk.  I tasted it.  Pretty good stuff!  La Mancha goat milk is much better, to me, than Nubian.  I could drink this plain just like cows' milk.  Once we wean, we plan on getting all the milk and we'll make keifer and goat cheese.

I'm Not Kidding - But Agnes and Annie Are

Early spring.  It's kidding time.  Buckwheat did his job and bred Agnes and Annie.  On February 25th, Tricia let me know that Agnes would be the first to kid.  Here bag was growing larger by the minute.  Sure enough, in the evening Agnes starting acting funny, making strange noises.  We got her into the barn where she could be isolated from the others.  Soon she was laying in the corner crying.  It's her first kidding and it I can gather from all the racket that it is not a pleasant experience for her.

Soon things started moving, we could see something coming out.  Trouble was, we couldn't see anything.  Agnes was really crying with each push.  It didn't seem like there was any movement in the delivery.  We didn't know if the baby was positioned correctly or if we'd need to pull the baby out.

We've learned to be patient and let things take its course.  In most instances, they can (and will) handle most things on their own just fine, thank you very much.  We saw the head first and could see the tongue moving.  Once the head was out, the delivery progressed quickly.  

The baby seemed to be healthy and Agnes seemed calm and relaxed again.  It was a happy, peaceful time in the barn.  Most times we've had triplets or twins, this time only a single.  And it's a doeling.  We decided to name her Cupcake.

We'll have better photos a little later.  There is a problem with Cupcake, though.  She has a deficiency in Selenium and Vitamin E.  This results in really tight tendons on the front legs.  They are curled and she stands on her knees.  If you try to straighten her bent legs, they are very tight.  Tricia purchased some selenium paste and vitamin E and has been treating her.  This deficiency also contributes to an issue with nursing.  So Tricia is being the country vet to Cupcake and is also bottle feeding her with colostrum we have stored in the freezer.  Cupcake's getting better.  She was nursing on her own today, so Tricia will soon stop bottle feeding her.  We'll have updates and reports later.

Two days later, on February 27th, Annie gave birth to a single buckling.  He is a healthy little fellow, tall and playful, energetic and strong.  We haven't named him yet.  While he's healthy, unfortunately, Annie is not.  Annie is a big goat, a pretty goat - but she has had mastitis issues in her bag over the years.  She is 8 years old and her bag, although enormous, will yield no milk. 

So Tricia is bottle feeding the little guy several times a day.  He is strong.  Sadly, because Annie is unable to provide milk, he cannot nurse and considers Tricia to be his momma.  He's not really bonded with Annie.

Two little goats on the pasture.  You've "goat" to be kidding me!