Goat-O-Rama Kids of 2020

[Nanno]

If anyone is around, Coral (a.k.a. "Fuzzy") is revving up pretty hard and will most likely kid in the next hour or less! I'm guessing from the size of her this past month that she'll have triplets!

https://www.ipcamlive.com/5cb9f57b71a34

[Nanno]

Nevermind... the sun came out and the temperature rose so we moved Fuzzy outside onto the clean grass and into the warm sunshine. In the meantime, while we were watching Fuzzy, Sadie just popped out a beautiful Sundgau doeling! I caught that birth just in time. Now I've got to go back out and see how Fuzzy is progressing.

[Nanno]

Sadie and her doeling are doing very well. It's a STRONG doe kid and the most beautiful sundgau I've ever seen. Jet black with snow white legs, etc. She's going to be a live wire I can tell and I'm going to have to keep a close watch on this one so she doesn't end up getting in trouble like Butterfly. She was 10#!

Coral (Fuzzy) delivered two big bucklings. The first was 8.5# and is a striking buckskin-colored cou clair. The second was 9# and another sundgau but with darker tan markings. Both are strong and healthy.

Mamas are doing great and love their kids. Now it's time for me to get some grub!

[Charlie Horse]

Cant wait to see the pictures!

[Nanno]

I've got so many cute pictures I've barely even had time to go through them, let alone post any! I've also gotten some recent video of Butterfly FLYING over rocks and skimming the ground. She was racing with George and was always a mile in front. She ran back and forth across the parking area a good half dozen times at top speed, leaping across the rocks at either end, before I decided I had to get the camera and film that fabulous display or athletic prowess. She's amazing. I'm going to compile the videos I took starting on May 8th when she could barely scoot along, and finish with the one I took today so everyone can see her progress. I just have to make time to do it.

Coral's babies are adorable. There's one I may just keep. He's got the CUTEST ears of any goat ever born here and I hope they stay the way they are. He's also very sharp-looking in other ways. We'll see how he grows out.

Sonic turned a leaf sometime last week and became super-duper friendly like all the other kids and fights with Zelda over any available lap. He insists on being picked up all the time, but he's soon going to be too big. George is already too big to get picked up and he's the roughest, rowdiest of the bunch. He's enormous and jolly and extremely bold. I think he's going to make a stellar packgoat when he grows up as long as no one spoils him into thinking he can run the roost with people. He's a boy that likes to be in charge, although he has learned caution. Messing with other goats' babies has landed him a few bites to his ears and tail. He's currently missing hair on one ear because some angry mama nipped him.

[Nanno]

Tigerlily FINALLY popped out a couple of rugrats in the wee hours this morning. Checked at midnight... nothing. Woke up at 3:15 a.m. and saw two squirmy bodies and waggy tails. The were up and mostly dry so it had probably been a couple of hours. It's a boy and a girl!

[IdahoNancy]

That must be a great relief, she is such a cutie with great drive to get well. Thanks for the story and all the pictures

[Nanno]

We ARE relieved and of course thrilled that Butterfly is doing so well. She's built like a little gazelle and her feet seem to barely touch the ground when she runs. I swear she runs faster than any of the other kids now, and she's jumping and caprioling with the best of them. She and George took a flying leap off a six-foot retaining wall the other day. She looked a little startled when she landed but was unhurt. The only thing she still doesn't do is she doesn't jump her front feet up on my knees when she wants to be held. Instead she stretches out one front leg and taps my shin while while gazing up pleadingly into my face. I wonder if standing on her hind legs is still uncomfortable or if it's physically difficult due to the tilted angle of her pelvis. Jumping seems to be no problem at all, so obviously her hind legs are able to stretch behind her, but maybe standing with no front leg support is a bit of a different thing.

I've been supplementing Butterfly's milk supply twice a day with extra helpings from Sadie and Coral's abundance. George is HUGE and hogging the lion's share of Skeeter's milk I think. Butterfly fights for her rights, but she's physically no match for George, so now she's getting extra from other sources. This gal has an incredible appetite!

[Nanno]

It's been a couple of weeks and I need to catch everyone up on all the exciting things going on here at Goat-O-Rama! Memorial day was certainly memorable. It was our first experience kidding out two does at once. I prefer when they kid one at a time so we can savor each one, but there is also something to be said for expediency. 

Sadie was the first to pop despite not looking anywhere near close. Sadie and Coral were both due on the same day, but Sadie looked as though she could hold out for a month while Coral was was huge and had looked ready to pop since early May. I was sure Coral was carrying triplets and would kid a couple of days early, but she kept holding out. Tigerlily was also looking pretty ripe and I was sure both of them would kid before Sadie. In fact, on Monday afternoon I locked Coral up in the kidding shed so I could keep an eye on her. She had separated herself from the herd and was nesting. I felt sure she would kid before dinnertime. 

I saw on the camera that Coral was starting to push so I headed out with the kidding box. When I got outside, Sadie was not with the herd. I found her lying down in a nest Coral had made earlier that day under a cedar tree behind the house, and her water had just broken. If I'd gone straight to Coral without first looking for Sadie I'd have missed her! I got her up and took her down the hill to some clean grass while Phil fetched the kidding box. A few minutes later, out popped a big black doeling! She was all of 10 lbs. and I couldn't figure out where Sadie had been hiding that much baby. I was expecting a little half-sized ball of fluff weighing 5 lbs. soaking wet.      
   

While Sadie was busy pushing her kid out into the world, I ran over and fetched Coral out of her shed so she could kid on the clean grass in the sunshine and fresh air--always preferable to a stuffy goat shed that I have to clean out afterwards! I also wanted to be able to keep an eye on both does at once. The downside to this was that Coral saw Sadie's new baby wriggling on the ground and immediately stopped her own labor and rushed over to help clean the new kid. Sadie didn't mind in the least    
   

In fact, Sadie was proud to show her new kid off to every gawker who happened to wander by. 
   

It was adorable and I took a couple of minutes to photograph the situation, but I could see problems arising. First of all, Coral had her own business to attend to which she was now thoroughly distracted from. Secondly, this kid would soon be up nursing and it would be confused about which mama to go to. And finally, Coral would probably try to take possession of Sadie's kid if I didn't intervene, and then we'd have an epic mama battle on our hands. So as cute as it was, I had to drag a protesting Coral away from the new baby and put her in the field on the opposite side of the driveway where she could start concentrating on her own family.  
   

Sadie was enamored with her beautiful daughter. She is a striking Sundgau--jet black with snow white markings and a tiny whorl of white hairs in the middle of her back. I named her Sunflower because her coloring reminds me of a sunflower seed.
     
   

Oops! Looks like Mama got a little carried away with the licking!
   

Sunflower was up on her legs almost instantly and started running all over the field before she even bothered to get her first drink. I could tell this was going to be a lively one!
     
   

Once again, Diana brought Emma over to greet the new babies.
   

[Nanno]

Meanwhile on the other side of the driveway, Coral had finally started working on her own project where Phil and I soon joined her.  
   

I've never seen a photo of myself delivering kids before. Diana had a great angle for some real action shots!
   

Coral was the only goat who needed help delivering this year, and I think it was a product of delayed entry. The kid was in the correct position, but I realised that Coral's water must have broken quite a while earlier. The distraction of Sadie's kid meant that by the time Coral finally sat down and pushed, the passage was getting dry and the little guy was stuck. Since he was in the right position, all I had to do was pull those long, hairy legs.
      

First kid was a cou clair buckling weighing 8.5 lbs. And he had wattles! 
   

Half an hour or so later, a 9 lb. sundgau brother arrived on the scene--also with wattles!!
   
   

Coral: Supermom. (I love that busy purple tongue of hers!)
   

Wattles!!!
   
   

The whole family.