Introducing the 2019 Goat Kids!
Kidding season was a whirlwind this year!
This was only our second kidding season (last year we gave the girls a year off), and by far the busiest. We had four pregnant does deliver ten kids, seven of which were girls.
First up was Sweet Pea, one of our original does from Sunflower Farm. She was pretty overdue by the time she gave us her beautiful triplets, who arrived big and healthy during the May full moon. Lily, Rosemary, and Jack hit the ground bouncing - and Jack hasn't stopped once since. I was so thrilled at the wide color pattern of Sweet Pea's kids, and for the dairy farmers among you, she has been killing it with a huge udder and excellent milk production.
As I was helping Sweet Pea dry off her kids, Bliss abruptly went into labor which was a bit surprising for me. I turned my attention to her and while her delivery was fairly short it wasn't the easiest. Her first kid was stillborn and this threw her and myself off. But more kids were coming so we both had to move on quickly. While she cleaned off one kid, I had to dry off the other for her and help it breathing. She had some struggles the first night and day, I think looking for the third kid, and her babies had a lot of difficulty starting to nurse. They were also tiny, only half the size of Sweet Pea's triplets. But after about 24 hours they got the hang of it, and by now they're as bouncy as any goat kid should be - although still on the small side. Janis and Roxy are both black and white, Roxy with blue eyes and Janis with brown.
Four days later I went out to the barn for evening chores and Mary Jane had just delivered her twins! I'd just been in the barn moments earlier so it must have been a very fast delivery, and they were up and running around pretty much from the start. We had a few minor issues with Mary Jane being an overly attentive mother, nibbling on her kids' ears, but otherwise everything was easy as pie with her. Sid and Nancy are both reddish brown and white, Nancy with the most stunning blue eyes.
And finally our herd matriarch, Tater, delivered one week after Mary Jane. Tater is a stunningly beautiful and poised goat, but she's always been a very hands-off mother. She rejected Lucky two years ago (admittedly, Lucky was smaller and in far tougher shape than any kid we had this year). She delivered three beautiful kids and cleaned them off and was happy to have them nurse, but she wouldn't go to them if they cried - I think she's figuring they can find her if they're hungry. And the two girls do, but the little boy has needed some help getting going. We're hoping to re-intigrate him with the herd quickly, but at the moment he's being bottle fed. Unlike Lucky, he is big and healthy otherwise, so we hope he'll thrive. Tater's two girls are Siousxie Siousx, a black and white girl with moonspotting, and Sheena, who is a beautiful white and light brown mix. Her boy, Casey Jones, is reddish brown and white with his dad's blue eyes and his mom's wattles (our only wattled kid this year).
It is great to have a successful kidding season under our belts and I'm looking forward to fresh goats milk in the next few weeks. I'm also looking forward to catching up on my sleep at some point in the future!
While the 2019 kids we're selling are spoken for, I do have a waitlist for 2020 which would also put you first in line if anyone can't take a kid this year, so feel free to email me with queries about goat kids.