The best laid plans

"All human plans [are] subject to ruthless revision by Nature, or Fate, or whatever one preferred to call the powers behind the Universe.” 

― Arthur C. Clarke, 2010: Odyssey Two

Plan: Charlotte and Emilene are induced to kid on Sunday. Mona Lisa, May and Macy are induced to kid on Monday morning-afternoon. That gives me Monday afternoon to get organized and I had the foresight to take Tuesday off to recover from a busy couple of days. 

Reality: Taking Tuesday off was the smartest part of the plan.

Sleepy..........

Sunday morning, Charlotte popped right on schedule with good sized twin doelings, one sundgau, one cou blanc. 

Sunday night, nothing. Emilene was still as big as ever, lounging, eating, lounging, eating. Zero distress, zero signs of impending labor. I had induced her on Friday at midnight so *theoretically* she should have given birth near noon on Sunday. I begin second guessing myself...did I miss with the shot? Considering I give a lot of shots on a daily basis, not likely. Was it a bad batch? No.....Charlotte gave birth right on schedule. I concluded that somehow I missed, pushed too fast, pushed meds subQ instead of IM, something...so I gave her another dose. I still checked her hourly and gave up a perfectly good night of sleep for nothing. 

Mona Lisa gave us an early start, quickly delivering twin bucklings at about 6:30am on Monday. Then it was a game of hurry up and wait until late evening when May delivered a single doeling. Of note, I was called in to work and the midwifery support staff did an excellent job and I arrived home to a fluffy, dry and well fed kid and May had given almost a half gallon of colostrum. 

Remember Emilene the tank? Still nothing. Macy? Nothing.  They were both as big as a house but had more interest in eating than delivering kids. By late, late evening, they just barely started to show some belly drop and their tails began to look 'unhinged'. Another night. Another night of hourly checks. This night I didn't even attempt the bed, just hunkered down on the couch with Tinder and Luna snoring  helping me keep watch.

Finally, at about 7:00 this morning, they panted, laid down and got to business - simultaneously! Emilene was now 48 hours *late* and Macy was 24 hours *late*. After fairly uneventful labors Emilene did not, infact, give birth to a hippopotamus but had triplets, 2 doelings and 1 buckling. Macy didn't want to be outshined, so she had triplets as well, 1 doeling and 2 bucklings. 

Everyone is warm, fed, dry and cozy. Including me. Just in time for another week of miserable weather. These little guys should be grateful to be in the basement!

Claire's babies from last week. Little Nugget still isn't strong on is feet so he is granted some additional cuddle time in the house. His sister, Calliope, watches over him and lets him sleep on her back. He is feisty, and despite his crooked little legs, he has a one track mind - food. He is so much smaller than the others he tries to poke around under the other kids bellies trying to nurse. 

Don't mess with my brother. . . 

Pile o Toggs.

Sleepy Toggs.

Toggs in motion. 

Now a break....until Saturday!

Waiting on a litter

Em gets the wide load award for the year.

'Goat-TV' is riveting for all, even the pups.

Cure for the snowstorm blues

We're stuck. Again. Here's to braving the weather, another day in paradise...

Kidding is in full force

The cold weather keeps things interesting! At this point I'm grateful for my sparkling milkroom as it gives us a little hideaway to warm up from working out in the main barn. Despite the cold, our does have been troopers, huddling under heat lamps, enduring shots and supplements and tolerating freezing water buckets. I think Elina gave me the stink-eye from the kidding stall as I sat watching her on 'goat-tv' from the warmth of my living room. 

Masquerade aka "Massey" was first of the weekend. She maintained her streak of 100% doe kids- to date she has never had a buckling! Two large, thriving girls who are wide and strong. She did, however, have a third doe kid who was stillborn and delivered upside down and with a little difficulty, it appeared as though the umbilical cord had detached a few days prior. Massey is doing fine, we are watching her closely and giving her antibiotics and plenty of treats to keep her healthy. 

Next up were Elina and Claire. Elina is stubborn as hell and kind of sneaky with her babies. This year, likely due to the cold, she was having a bit of a slow labor and with more difficulty than there should have been, she delivered a single buck kid. Generally we keep bucks with some of the dams to make life a bit easier but with the cold and his weakness after the struggle to deliver him, we brought him in to hand raise him. 

Claire rounded out the day with a surprise. She was looking quite rotund, so I was expecting twins, quite honestly I was grateful the breeding even took after the 'assault' and fighting to get her successfully bred! She settled down and pushed like a pro, after a bit of repositioning out tumbled a tiny little mini goat. I lifted it off the ground, cleared off his face as he flailed around and hollered and Rog and I looked at one another and said "What the hell is that?????" 

The average kid is about 7 lbs, this thing fit in one hand. We later weighed him and found that he tipped the scales at around 2 3/4 lbs. a few short moments later Claire delivered a normal sized two toned female and then a whopping large cou bland buck. This was weird on many levels as most first fresheners don't carry triplets, and most goats deliver large-medium-small, not the opposite. 

The little guy has a slew of names, Nugget, Peanut, Half-Pint. He has tendons contractures in his front legs and still working on walking correctly but otherwise is as healthy as the others. His size makes him cuter, as does scooting around with his butt in the air, tail-wagging furiously. 

Next weekend will be busier yet, expectant mommas include Macy, May, Mona Lisa, Charlotte and Emilene, who is as big as a house! I certainly hope the warmer weather promise holds true, right now we are being graced with 3-5 inches of ice pellets and snow pelting our windows and drifting deeply over the frequently plowed disaster of a driveway that plagues our home. 

3 for 3

Add 2 more girls to the roster! Luci gave us twin doelings, and to make it even better, it happened at 2pm instead of 2 am this time. . .

 



 



Isadora is not impressed. She says they're boring.

It's time!

Everyone is resting up. Tinder and Luna have a very important job of cleaning up the droplets of milk that inevitably spill when feeding the newborn kids.

Luna is shadowing Kaelyn, she's new here and has a lot to learn from her elders. Today she learned that baby goat ears are tasty! 

The plastic was lifted, the stands were installed. 

The new milk room was deemed complete! And just in the nick of time. 

The sink will be functional in the spring, it will be great to have cabinets that aren't caked with barn dust and dirt. The cats and goats are shocked by the *whiteness* and bright light hiding within. They've been peering through the windows  as construction moved along, now they creep in with awe and maybe a little apprehension before bounding forth, beckoned by the familiar shake of the grain scoop. 

The paper towel rack went up, the white board was hung and the coat hooks shined und the weight of our now unnecessary coveralls. As the clock ticked from its new spot on the wall. . . A fly tumbled down from the new light fixture. What???? A @$&/@@ fly? In zero degree weather. It was taunting us, surely a sign of things to come. 

After completing such an outstanding and perfectly executed milk room with the help of his dad, Rog earned a trip to Meyer hatchery to purchase a new incubator. Too bad I really don't want another dog. Usually dogs joining the family coincide with poultry joining the family. 

Yes, we can now proudly hatch our own little peepers to replace some of our aging laying hens. ' it's for a classroom project' he says. We'll see. . . 

The new kidding panels were erected into pens, the camera was placed and 'goat tv- 2014' commenced. It's exactly like our own sad, sick little version of the Super Bowl!

After keeping us waiting well past her expected delivery time, Luna gave us a 9 lb single doe kid who we named Isadora, which means 'gift from the moon' in Greek. She is doing great, Luna is acting like nothing even happened, she had a few vanilla valentine peeps to regain her energy today. Isadora is eating like a hog, I'm already dipping into my frozen milk stores. She will be in the basement pen for a while, Luci is next in line for Sunday of next week and she certainly can't goo outside by herself! Next project, make the walls of the pen higher- the way she's eating, I may come home tomorrow to find her lounging on the couch upstairs!