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Jezebel had two doelings this afternoon! First one is all dark chamoisee like her mother. Second is chamoisee with a blaze face and a white splash on one side. They were four days overdue and good-sized. Both weighed about 8.5 lbs. They're very strong babies and were up and nursing within a few minutes. Jezebel needed some help delivering. The first one was breech with hocks presenting. The second kid was in the normal position but her huge head was holding things up and Jezebel has a bad habit of barely pushing during labor. This is her fourth delivery and she's never been very tired after giving birth because she's never done any work--I have to do it! They say, "Pull the kid with the contractions." What contractions??
Our other issue is milk. Jezebel seems to come into her milk later each time she kids. This time around she's got barely any. She drank at least three gallons of water this afternoon so I'm hoping at least some of that will transform into milk by tomorrow. I massaged her udder with hot compresses this evening to hopefully stimulate her production. In the meantime, I supplemented the kids with some colostrum I froze from Nubbin last year. I'll offer them some more just before bed and give Jezebel another hot compress massage. Hopefully she'll be producing enough by tomorrow.
We're sticking with the Beatles theme and named these two "Penny Lane" and "Lovely Rita". We'll call them Penny and Rita of course. I'll have more photos tomorrow.
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Gah! Mama Jezebel is keeping me on my toes! She still had hardly any milk today, but no sign at all of mastitis. Her udder is not big like it's holding milk that she can't let down so it's kind of weird. So made an emergency run to Pueblo to buy a few bales of alfalfa, some lactation supplements at the vitamin store, more probiotics, Calf Manna, and a shot of oxytocin from the vet. Hopefully between all that stuff I can get this girl to start making milk. Most goats give me the opposite problem--too much milk for new babies, and I have to milk them down for a couple of weeks until the kids catch up. In the meantime, I got the babies to nurse off Tigerlily a couple of times today. They didn't want to and neither did she, but we managed and I felt satisfied that at least they were full. And it's not like Jezebel is making NO milk, it's just not enough to keep the kids full.
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Very cute kids! I hope Jezebel starts making milk soon; thank goodness Tigerlily has stepped in.
Happiness is a baby goat snoring in your lap
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04-10-2018, 09:32 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-10-2018, 09:32 AM by Taffy.)
I have a friend who's name really IS named Penny Lane!
I hope Jezebel begins producing milk soon!
If you end up having to bottle feed them here is the formula I use.
1 gallon whole milk (homogenized)
1 can evaporated milk (I like the Carnation brand)
1 cup buttermilk (Bulgarian Style whole - it comes in a small "milk jug" looking container)
Take the gallon of milk, and pour out about 1/3 and set it aside
Pour in the 1 can of evaporated milk and the 1 cup of buttermilk into the gallon then pour to the remaining milk that you set aside until you reach the top. Mix gently each time before making up a bottle.
Goatberries Happen!
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Thanks Taffy! Hopefully I won't need to use it. Tigerlily was supposed to dry up but as with last year it's proving a struggle, so for now I have goat milk. Jezebel was totally empty again this morning morning. The kids are keeping her absolutely drained dry. Still no signs of mastitis or anything else wrong with the udder so I'm a bit mystified. It feels like the mammary tissue is gradually starting to grow a but more, so hopefully that's a good sign that she's revving up. She's making enough that the kids aren't starving. They are bouncing and lively this morning, but still not satisfied. So I put them on Tigerlily again today. Rita is a little hog and wanted to drain Tigerlily's udder, but I didn't let her. She's already heavier than Penny even though they came out the same size. I need both babies to get enough to keep them healthy, but not so much they stay full. They need to keep working Jezebel's udder. That, more than anything, should encourage the milk to come in. I'm still doing hot compresses several times a day, and I started her on an herbal supplement for women who are having milk supply issues. Hopefully it does some good because it wasn't cheap!
I'll have to get some new photos today. Rita's ears are doing hilarious things at the moment. They looked like cow horns at first because they shot straight out to either side and then curled straight up at the tips--so cute!! But now one of them is curling even more dramatically upward while the other is now flopping down.
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Alright, lots of baby goat birthday pictures coming up!
A bright new Penny pops into the world!
What a cute little bundle!
Phil has her dried off in no time.
Nan helps her find the milk bar.
And what's this? A little sister!
Mama's tired. Jezebel took a brief power nap here with her head on her flank and baby Rita shaking her wet head and looking curiously at the world around her while her hind feet had yet to make an entrance and the umbilical cord was still attached.
Enough napping! Time to inspect this second newcomer!
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I got to help dry this one off.
Doh! Here comes mama to make sure I do a good job.
Apparently I missed a few spots.
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Well it looks like Jezebel is finally making an udder. Not much milk yet, but at least the mammary tissue is enlarging now to give me hope. The kids seem satisfied tonight too even though the udder is completely drained. Yay! I did not have them nurse off Tigerlily tonight. Gonna bring them in for a movie later this evening.
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How cute! This is what a neighbor woke up to Sunday. Two boys, half Boer half mancha.
Happiness is a working goat
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Oh how sweet! Love the funny little elf ears!
And guess who has milk this morning!! The babies nursed to their satisfaction and there was still a little milk left in Jezebel's udder. Of course, now she also has the poops from me feeding her so much grain, alfalfa, supplements, and vitamins. But I think I can safely cut her grain back now and ease up on some of the other stuff too. Yay!
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