[Beeducked]

Well it has been a busy 24 hours or so. In the evening of Sunday night Blossom, my first goat to be due was starting to look like she might be thinking about starting so I sat up with her. By 2am she had decided that it was probably just wind and would go to sleep but by then Eira, the next to be due was more considerate and decided that as I had sat up so long she would go into labour and in very quick succession produced 2 lovely kids, a girl (brown spotty) and a boy (dark brown/black). Not sure I've ever seen an animal look so horrified and shocked and she just back pedalled from them in near panic!











She slowly seems to be getting the hang of it but has odd moments when she will suddenly lash out at them and then go back to nuzzling them which is a bit anxiety provoking. Don't want to have to take them off her and she does seem to be settling. 


Then and just past midnight this morning when to check them and Blossom had decided to get on with it and had already had a tiny little girl who is pretty feisty and doing well. The much bigger boy followed. Sadly lost a third big girl.





Blossom is very attentive but they seem to be having a bit of difficulty latching on as her udder is so big and pendulous. I have milked her out a bit to make it easier for them and tubed them to make sure they got colostrum in the first hour or so and hoping they will all get the hang of it.


Just one more to go and hopefully Rosie will be a bit more obliging time wise. Think we are looking at tomorrow or the day after. She's due today but her ligaments have just started to soften so don't think it will be today.


Now off to check the ewes again!

[clydesdaleclopper]

Oh that spotty one is lovely 

[Beeducked]

She's definitely my favourite so far, she's gorgeous. She's still getting the hang of her legs  and when she wobbles her ears wiggle like she using them for balance!

[Beeducked]

Sadly Mum also really prefers the girl and her attacks on the boy have been getting more and more vicious over the day. She now has gone from just butting him every now and then when he's eating to actively chasing him and trying to catch him with her horns. He is now too scared to go to her to feed.    Luckily he has taken to the bottle in a heartbeat (the clue was when he started sucking on my fingers when I picked him up to get him away from his mum).

[Penninehillbilly]

Blossom is very attentive but they seem to be having a bit of difficulty latching on as her udder is so big and pendulous. I have milked her out a bit to make it easier for them and tubed them to make sure they got colostrum in the first hour or so and hoping they will all get the hang of it.

my girl is the same, babes don't have the sense to go down to the end of the teat and just keep sucking the hair, or me. It seems everytime I get one of the latched on Bramble steps forward. can get frustrating so I tied her up last night while i got them latched on, but i'm sure they must be getting something while i'm not there ? ? ?.
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Just seen your update, aren't mummy goats strange?

Love Spotty girl, more like apache though (a 'patchy'?      [size=78%])[/size]
I was up till 4.45 Monday morning with Bramble so I know the feeling :-)
Sorry to hear about the third girl, but a 2 hour gap? I'd have wandered off as well.

[Polyanya]

Gorgeous! Best of luck with them 

[Beeducked]

my girl is the same, babes don't have the sense to go down to the end of the teat and just keep sucking the hair, or me. It seems everytime I get one of the latched on Bramble steps forward. can get frustrating

Sorry to hear about the third girl, but a 2 hour gap? I'd have wandered off as well.

Yes, the frustration is hard, just want them to be happy and healthy (and preferably with mum!). To be fair it has only been a bit over 12 hours!


Thanks for the sympathy, still feel bad but it is what it is, feel guilty for just heading off to bed.



Eira is a funny goat. Utterly friendly with humans and happy in the herd but has not taken to motherhood well (although I guess I should be pleased she has taken to at least one of them). It has become clear that she must have been bottle reared (I got her when she was 18 months old and it never occurred to me to ask), when I go out with a bottle for the kid she tries mugging me for it! It is very clear she knows exactly what it is despite certainly not having seen one here for almost 2 years!


Blossom and hers are still not quite getting the hang of it but it is less than 24 hours (feels a lot longer when you have only had 6 hours sleep in the last 48!   ). Will keep tubing them as needed and hopefully they will all get the hang of it. Think last years completely easy and problem free kidding has lead me to a false sense of security!

[Lesley Silvester]

I was wondering how things were going. They look lovely.

Think last years completely easy and problem free kidding has lead me to a false sense of security!

At least you had some practice with a difficult kidding with mine last year.

[Beeducked]

Well hopefully you will have a much better year this year!


Excitingly we have lift off!





A bit of bullying and some tube feeding to keep her going but she has finally got the hang of it!
So relieved, although already have one on the bottle would much rather as many as possible are raised by their mums. Not sure her brother is quite the full shilling. I'm starting to think about taking him to the vet. He seems to have trouble controlling his front legs. He is getting around and a greedy little fella but when he is getting up he kind of heaves himself up, flinging his front legs to get them under him and then he's off. Does seem to be getting better but slowly.

[Anke]

I wouldn't make any hasty decisions re the boy with the wonky legs, if he was squashed up inside he may need a few days to get himself sorted. As long as he gest his fair share of milk, I will most likely sort itself out....

[Beeducked]

You're absolutely right. He was making slow progress up until late afternoon and then suddenly he just seemed to get it and is off. Not quite as coordinated as his sister but certainly getting there and not really worried about him now.

[Lesley Silvester]

I'm looking forward to meeting them all.


Caldi is not showing any signs of being in kid yet, other than not coming back into season. I was a bit worried that there was no udder development but have heard from other keepers that their goats were late rather than early on.

[Beeducked]

She's still got 2 months to go, hasn't she? Hopefully she is just a bit of a late bloomer! Although Rosie obviously still has her bag from her previous kidding it has only just started filling up in the last couple of days and she is a day over today. Guessing she will kid soon as her ligaments have just vanished. Blossom's udder had been huge for weeks before she kidded.

[Lesley Silvester]

She's due mid-June so just over two months. I keep looking at her as she's walking away from me.

[Beeducked]

Fingers crossed 


We finished kidding last night. Rosie, my favourite girl had a big single boy which is disappointing as she was the one I really wanted to have a girl. Not sure I will kid her again as she is 8 but we will see.


We have finished with 5 in total. 2 girls and 3 boys. Would have been 3 and 3 but for Blossom's girl that died.
We have the one brown spotty one and the the rest are all very similar - dark brown to black with white to tan legs and facial stripes. Eira clearly thinks her spotty girl is the little princess and far to got to play with all of the others as she keep having a go at all of them. The rest of the mums are far more chilled out.