Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Happy Summer Solstice!

It's been hard to go to sleep.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Mr. T








Rose kidded on May 31st. She was six years old, and had never been freshened before. This little guy was the only survivor of triplets.
Rose had seemed like she was going into labor on the night of the 30th. She lost her 'plug', and was very vocal. She was quiet most of the night. The next morning, she was having pushing contractions, but no water sack was appearing. So we called the vet out, and the she ended up inducing Rose. The vet also observed that Rose's cervix was not dilating, and she could only get two fingers in there.
The water sack finally appeared early in the afternoon, and she started pushing, but nothing happened. We waited an hour, and then called the vet again. Long story short, the vet pulled the triplets out with bailing twine, because Rose still wasn't dilated enough. The only alive one came first, and we named him Mr. T, for trouble and tenacity. If we register him, his official name will be Thistle.
Unfortunately, the only doeling and the other buckling were stillborn. It was very rough, seeing dead kids. I have wondered how I'd react if we had to deal with goat kids being stillborn or dying. even though, we were lucky that we got one kid (even if he was a buckling) and the mother survived.
Rose ended up rejecting her only remaining kid. I can't blame her. She was very out of it, and I don't think she would have been able to deal with him. So for now, he is living in the house and being hand raised. It is good that we have colostrum that a kind women donated.
We will never breed older first timers again, even if they come from champion lines.

And now for some very cute photos:


He also loves to sit on people's laps :)