Our First Kid - More To Come 2018

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Our first kidding was a nightmare which resulted in twins, one dead, and the other weak but is getting stronger. Our doe started having contractions but they were small and infrequent. My gut said something was wrong but my local goat people said she wasn’t in distress and it was probably fine. I found a kid trying to come out head first, legs back but I was unable to manipulate her back in or out. Luckily we have a great vet who came out at 1:30 am to assist and saved the second kid. With some sleep deprivation I was waiting for the kid to stand and nurse and it wasn’t until I checked the time I realized it had been way too long, hours. It was quite bizarre because it only felt like 30 minutes. Anyways I milked the dam’s colostrum and tube fed the doeling, since then it’s been a bumpy ride but she seems to be on the upswing. We’re guessing she was weak from the rough, and delayed delivery but don’t really know. She seemed to perk up after we gave some oral selenium so maybe some deficiency? The dam is a first freshener named Kivuli, full alpine. The sire is our now wethered Saanen named Kingsley.
We named this little one Lotus she was born approximately 8 pounds and full of cuteness!
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Here is the Sire Kingsley at a year old this January:

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And the Dam, Kivuli:

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We have two more doe's due to kid, one on February 24th and one March 3rd. We are praying that they go smoother.

[goatzrule]

So sorry that you lost one. Lotus is so cute!

[Nanno]

She's just precious! I hope she thrives. I'm sorry you lost the buckling. I hope your next kiddings go very smoothly. If this one was selenium deficient, I wonder if you would do well to give some selenium to your does that are due right now. Selenium absorbs into the bloodstream quickly so it might help the kids. I'm not sure about all of that but I thought I'd throw it out there.

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Yea I gave the rest of the does some in hopes if that is partially the cause it would help.

On another note, we let Lotus out with her dam and the other does in the sun today (first time we've seen a solid day of sun in what feels like months.) Next thing I know I was taking a picture of her as she curled up on the ground and a hawk dove in after her! Holy crap! Like really... I'm pretty sure we have the worst luck these days. It never made contact but sure scared me enough to put her and her dam back into the barn.

Anyone else have problems with large birds of prey?

[Nanno]

My goodness! We've got loads of hawks and even some eagles around here but I've not yet seen any come after our babies. But we keep livestock guardian dogs and I don't think they'd let a hawk mess with the babies. We have a lot of foxes here too, but like hawks they probably don't pose much danger to a kid more than about a week old.

I love the floppiness of the newborns' ears. I wish they'd stay that way! Maybe that's why I love the Alpine/Nubian airplane look.

[Nanno]

How's little Lotus doing? You've got another doe due this weekend right? I hope everything goes amazingly well.

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Lotus is doing great! She has been spending time with the rest of our does and learning about being a goat. It's so fun watching her think and learn about something like getting onto our cinder blocks and the spools. Or.... the electric fence, poor thing. She is very friendly and seeks me out for companionship and cuddles. 

Yes our next doe Echo is due on Saturday, she's a full sister to the doe that just kidded and may be bred to the same buck. (She escaped and had a fling with both Kingsley and Bagheera.) She's suppose to have twins and is pretty large around the girth. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she's got two little bucks in there and that kidding goes smoothly during daylight hours so that I don't have to worry about calling people at 2 am. And so I can sleep... Anyways, she's starting to get mushier around her tail but her ligaments are still tight. Our last doe to kid, Denali is due the following Saturday also with twins. But if we do end up with all doelings, I guess we'll just have to pick the best suited for potential packing in the future.

[Nanno]

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!

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Haha, it's so funny I feel like a rebel for wanting bucklings since the rest of the dairy world wants doelings. Lotus is just now figuring out how to jump at me, it's so cute but not for long when our ground becomes muddy again. It's really great to see her and her dam so active on the spools and blocks together too. I brought them out to the pasture area for an hour or so today and she was climbing a stump, and hopping all over the place. 
So far I let her out with her dam Kivu, auntie Echo, and Denali. My wethers Huck, Kingsley, and Pluto are kept separate because my does would get kicked out in the rain all night and had a hard time getting enough feed to maintain body condition. It must be the ages in my herd but they are ruthless. Echo and Denali are treating Lotus kindly, Denali has that "skunk baby" mentality going on but Echo, Lotus's auntie is giving some head "pushes" and nips. Overall they've been okay my biggest concern is them smashing her into the stall wall but I made openings or "kid hidey spots" so she would have a place to get away. 
Yes I got that message, thank you! I responded but forgot to click the reply button afterwards my apologies. We sure could use a break, between goat troubles and my grandmother's dementia life has been a bumpy ride lately. Hopefully it happens so quick and easy that when I go back to the barn after lunch there are a couple of kids cleaned and nursing. 

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[Nanno]

How is Echo looking?