Yesterday may have started off well, but it ended very badly. The kids and I left for town about 11:30am and everything was fine. When we got home shortly before 1pm we discovered Molly had died during our absence. Needless to say, we were all shocked and heartbroken by her unexpected death.
I have no idea at this time what might have caused her death. The breeder I purchased her from a couple of years ago is taking her body to the Vet College near us to have it autopsied in hopes of finding out what might have killed her.
Now poor Mame is suddenly finding herself beset by FOUR babies clamoring for her attention. She is fairly tolerant of Molly’s babies (Ramie & Rudy) hanging out with her, but she won’t let them nurse. I have been bottle feeding them and so far that is going ok, other than it really ties me to the house.
It was heart wrenching this morning when I went to feed them and then turned them out in the paddock for the day. They were running around calling and searching for a momma they will never see again.
Last night was the first night I shut the new kids away from their mommas for the night. I know some folks like to start milking when the kids are one week old, but I prefer to start at two weeks to ensure a healthy start. I do what is called “share milking” where I shut the kids up at night, milk the does first thing in the morning and then turn the kids out to be with momma all day.
This morning was clear and cold with some weak sunshine. I started off with Molly and she danced around a bit on the milk stand, stepped in the milk and did all the usual things a first time milker does. She finally settled down and I milked a cup from her before turning her back into the paddock. That was no where close to milking her out so she is shaping up to be a good producer.
Next up was Mame’ and she managed to squeeze out the gate and take off, when I was putting Molly back in. Had quite the time rounding her up again, but did finally get her on the milk stand. She wasn’t nearly as cooperative as Molly, and after milking about a 1/2 cup and wearing more than that (I milk in in a rain jacket for reason!) I turned her back out with her hungry babies.
Hopefully in a few weeks time they will become as acustomed to the routine as Allie is, and just run to the milk stand and hop up on their own, and stand still. Until then I will just have to keep getting up a little earlier to account for the extra time that chores are now requiring.
Kids and Momma's after this mornings milking
On another note, “Rainie” has been renamed “Ramie” by my hubby so that she can be referred to as Doe-Ray-Me. Fits into the word play we started with “Stormy the weather” last year.
I am behind with my baby updates – sorry about that! On Tuesday, Molly copied her sister and had triplets outside in the rain, two boys and a doe. One of the boys didn’t make it, but at least this time the doe lived. The doe, named Rainie, is the largest of the four babies and has a beautiful coat.
I knew she was in labor and spent the night out in the kidding shed. When hubby left for work I came inside to warm up eat a bite and have a cup of coffee. Twenty minutes later the neighbor called to tell me “your goat is outside having her babies!” So once I again I missed the delivery.
All four babies are doing well and since we got a bit of nicer weather (high overcast) they were all outside playing today and I managed to snap so pretty good pictures of them.
Ricochet playing peek-a-boo
Reggie fits under a chair with plenty of room left over.
Rudy is starting to come out of his shell and play with the other kids
I am happy to report that Reginald (Reggie) is doing markedly better this morning. He is now walking, and actually walked out onto the porch of the kidding shed to survey the big world.
Ricochet (Ricky) is living up to his name, and is a bouncy, inquisative boy with quite the personality.
After the rocky start on motherhood, Mame’ is doing much better. She does tend to pay more attention to Ricky, but she is doing better about taking care of Reggie and responding when he calls. She was so engorged this morning that I milked her a bit and she stood still for me without any sort of restraint at all. Hopefully that will be the case when I finally get her up in the milk stand as well.
I took the above video about 2am while I was out sleeping with the goats.
Mame’ had triplets sometime early this morning. I discovered them wet and cold on the ground when I went out to do chores. One was already dead and one was quickly going down hill. I rushed them inside, warmed them up with a blow drier and then held her and forced her to let them nurse.
I didn’t check the gender of the deceased baby, but the other two are bucklings. Both are doing better, although I’m not sure that the smaller of the two is going to make it through the night. Compared to his brother he is very weak and barely able to stand. His brother on the other hand is literally bouncing off the walls, and is probably going to end up with the name Ricochet (Ricky for short).
Mame’ is showing more and more signs of readiness, but so far no kids. Temperatures at night have been in the upper 20’s so I have opted to get up and check on them several times during the night rather than sleep in the kidding shed.
I came across a great website that is specifically about the care of Nigerian Dwarf goats complete with a very thorough section on kidding. Cornerstone Farm even includes diagrams and birthing pictures. Definately a beneficial site to Niggie lovers!
Both Mame’ and her half sister Molly have an estimated kidding date of March 23rd. This afternoon we got the shed that we use for kidding ready for them and moved them into the maternity pasture. I like to have them in the new paddock and housing a couple of weeks before they are due so that they have a chance to adjust to their new surroundings.
Both does are first timers, and I have to admit that I am starting to be a nervous nellie waiting for the blessed events to arrive. Mame’s ligaments are softer than Molly’s today, so I am guessing that she will go first.
Maybe I should start a pool with guessiments on when each of them will finally deliver!
Mame - two weeks before her due date.
Molly - two weeks before her due date
L-to-R: Allie (due in June) Molly and Mame watching Bekah
I wrote previoulsy about recieving a large number of left over Christmas trees to feed to my goats. They are making steady progress on demolishing the pile of trees, and after I dragged a new one into the pasture this morning I thought to take some before and after pictures.
Remember these are Nigerian Dwarf goats that stand less than 2 feet tall at the shoulder, so just imagine how much more quickly a larger goat could get the “recycling” done!
Before.... (with some after's in the background)
After - it took the boys two days to strip this smaller tree
A few weeks ago my sister came to visit during winter break from her PhD studies in Indiana. She offered to watch the kids over night for us, so that hubby and I could get away by ourselves for the first time since the kids came along.
The one catch was it involved her doing chores, and that included milking Allie. A very patient experienced milking Nigerian Dwarf goat. Janet’s first attempts at milking Allie resulted in some milk coming out, but I don’t think anything made it into the quart sized Pyrex measuring cup I usually use for milking. Allie finally had enough of all the nonsense and stepped into the milk.
Fearing our overnight excursion might be in jeopardy, I finally took my dad up on his offer to milk since he frequently brags about how he used to milk some 50 years ago. He came over with my sister to learn the routine, and things did not go well. My sister turned out to be the better milker. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time, and I so wish I would have had a video camera to record the three ring circus as they both tried to figure it out.
My sister did finally get the hang of it, and proudly showed off her newly acquired skill at least once more before she returned to the university.
So tonight, after putting up with my sister’s bragging my hubby finally agreed to have a go at learning how to milk. Maybe its a guy thing, but he didn’t have any more luck at it than my dad. Nigerian Dwarf goats are small, and there isn’t much “equipment” to work with when you are trying to milk them, so I’m guessing the larger mens hand may be part of the problem.
Ah well, at least he tried and I will keep trying to teach him how, in the words our four year old daughter, to be a “real farm boy”.
I hate doing chores in the rain more than the cold, especially when it is raining sideways! I think the animals, especially the goats, hate it more too since they are fed outside and have to stand in the rain to eat. Goats do not like getting wet!
My goats love to eat our fir trees, in fact we have had to wrap chicken wire around all of the tree’s in their pasture to keep them from completely girdling them. So my plan on Christmas day was to take the pick-up and collect a few of the free left over Christmas trees. But the truck wouldn’t start.
So the following day I decided I could at least fit some branches or a small tree in the back of the van and drove into town to see if there were any free trees left. I drove by the Teen Challenge lot just as they were starting to tear it down. I asked for branches, which they gladly gave me and in the course of the conversation, I persuaded them to deliver the entire lot of left over trees to my house. So now I have several dozen Christmas trees piled up by the goat pastures. The goats seem to be enjoying the new found bounty, and the larger trees will be cut up to fire wood to donate after the goats strip them. (We don’t have a fireplace or wood stove.) Certainly a better use than just out right burning the lot of them!
Maggie & Matilda don’t seem to like the rain all that much either and have holed up in their shelter for a good portion of each day. Unfortunately the wind has blown the haystack tarp a bit and rain got into a corner of the haystack and several bales are moldy and completely ruined. I’m not sure yet of the extent of the damage, and with the high winds we are having untarping and retarping isn’t an option until the winds die down.
I’m going to have to start regularly supplementing their feed with alfalfa pellets, an expense that wasn’t in the budget! Ah well, that is the life of a “rancher” there are always unexpected expenses and unexpected joys too!
