Chat
02-22-2018, 02:55 PM
Awesome! That's wonderful to hear! With four more kids to come, you should have at least one buck in there. Of course, all the dairy people want does and they get mostly bucks it seems like! I prefer bucklings too of course, but the most important thing is that they and their moms are healthy. Lotus is just getting to the age where she's the most fun. They're fun to hold and cuddle when they're under a week old, but after that they start running and leaping and caprioling and climbing on things. Our are three weeks old today and have been jumping on us for about a week now, which is really fun but also really messy when we have mud in the yard!
Are your other goats being fairly nice to the new baby? I've found that our goats are very good with kids. Most of the adult goats avoid tiny babies like the plague and won't interact with them at all for the first week. As the kids get stronger and bolder and begin to interact with the older goats, the adults tend to start laying down herd rules with them, but I've only had one doe that was downright mean to other goats' babies. She mellowed as she aged or I would have gotten rid of her for it.
Funny story - The day after Petunia's kids were born, Sputnik went into their shed while Petunia was outside. There was hay in the shed and Sputnik wanted it. The new babies were curled up in there and he didn't see them until he got all the way in, but as he reached for the hay he spotted them. A look of sheer terror crossed his face and then he whirled around and bolted out of the shed like someone had lit a firecracker under him. It took him about a week to start venturing into the shed while the babies were in there. All of my goats are like this to some degree. I used to worry about not having a good way to separate my does from the herd, but after watching the "skunk baby!" phenomenon it doesn't bother me so much.
If you have any questions or need to get someone on the phone for your next kidding, you have my number. I sent it to you on The Goat Spot (I have a different name over there). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this next one goes very smoothly and you don't need to help the doe at all. You could use a break!
Are your other goats being fairly nice to the new baby? I've found that our goats are very good with kids. Most of the adult goats avoid tiny babies like the plague and won't interact with them at all for the first week. As the kids get stronger and bolder and begin to interact with the older goats, the adults tend to start laying down herd rules with them, but I've only had one doe that was downright mean to other goats' babies. She mellowed as she aged or I would have gotten rid of her for it.
Funny story - The day after Petunia's kids were born, Sputnik went into their shed while Petunia was outside. There was hay in the shed and Sputnik wanted it. The new babies were curled up in there and he didn't see them until he got all the way in, but as he reached for the hay he spotted them. A look of sheer terror crossed his face and then he whirled around and bolted out of the shed like someone had lit a firecracker under him. It took him about a week to start venturing into the shed while the babies were in there. All of my goats are like this to some degree. I used to worry about not having a good way to separate my does from the herd, but after watching the "skunk baby!" phenomenon it doesn't bother me so much.
If you have any questions or need to get someone on the phone for your next kidding, you have my number. I sent it to you on The Goat Spot (I have a different name over there). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this next one goes very smoothly and you don't need to help the doe at all. You could use a break!