Popping Early

I went out yesterday afternoon to feed the screaming ingrates goats.

You'd think that since they know that they're going to get fed once I clip them to the fence that the little buggers would be thrilled for me to do so.  But no.  They run away from me like I'm the devil herself.

After getting almost everyone clipped up, I went looking for the two remaining stragglers; Lily and her daughter from last year, Clover.  I finally ran Lily down but Clover, who is normally one of the more cooperative goats when it comes to feeding time, wasn't around.  So I did a once-around the barn and saw her under the new lean-to.

With a kid on the ground.

Of course, I was going to meet up with a friend in town right after feeding the goats.  Not so much happening now.

I immediately yelled for Paul (and went into my usual semi-panic mode) and went into the barn to collect towels from the kidding kit, which of course, hadn't been re-supplied since the last surprise kidding two days earlier.  I found a few unsoiled towels and wiped the dirt off the new addition.  Clover had totally cleaned her kid off and was standing next to it.  She didn't appear to have any more kids in her so we picked up the baby and coaxed Clover into one of the kidding pens.  I made sure the kid was able to nurse and did a tail-flip.....a girl!!  I was thrilled.

I know, I know.  Every birth is a blessing yadda-yadda-yadda.  And honestly, the point of us having these Boer goats is to have meat in the freezer, so I shouldn't be unhappy about bucklings, but we're still trying to build up the herd so we need more females.

Dilly kidded three days early.  Clover kidded six days early.  Both had very, very easy kiddings.  And I wasn't able to tell, even up to just a few hours before, that they were about to kid.  Same happened with Pickles and Lily last year; early and easy births.

With my dairy gals, I'm pretty much spot-on with determining when they'll kid.  Which is very convenient as I can put them in the kidding stall just in time.  Not so early that they mess the stall up with too much pee & poop, but not so late that I'm dragging an advanced-stage laboring goat into the pen.

These Boers are a mystery to me.   I love the idea that I haven't had to really assist any of them like I do my dairy gals, but not knowing when they're gonna pop is a little annoying.  Had I fed the goats an hour earlier yesterday I would haven't been there for Clover's kidding.  I'm sure things would have been fine, but we were lucky that she decided to kid when it wasn't raining or storming.  Or when we were both gone from the homestead for five plus hours at the auction later that evening (no, I didn't buy anything......Paul was with).

We still have to figure out the back leg issue thing going on.  Fortunately, Daisy seems like a healthy little squirt.  Dilly's two kids are smaller, and we're still working on one of the bucklings back legs.  But everyone is eating and seemingly happy.  I'll be happy when I can get them out in the goat yard.  It's still going to be a few days because the yard is a poop-soup mess again and we're in the 30's at night.  So until it warms up, everyone is in their goat coats.

Our newest addition, Daisy (Clover's doeling)

The adopted bottle babies, Don & Joe.

Dilly's bucklings (the gimpy one in front).