Black Mesa Kidding Schedule

(Click on any of the goat names in the table below to open their detailed lineage pages. Click in the "Result" column to go to that diary entry.)

Kathryn's 2011 Goat Kidding Diary

Kiddings will be listed below chronologically with the most recent first. Begin at the bottom of the page for the complete season's story.

This Ends Our Kidding Season

5/4/11 We had 34 does kid this year giving us a total of 80 kids. 47 does and 33 bucks, making this our first "doe year" ever. Usually it's the other way around. We did lose a few kids and also lost a doe, but in general it was a very good, busy, interesting kidding season. We have kept 10 doelings and 2 bucklings for our own herd development and sent kids off to Alaska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Washington State. Quite a few actually are staying in Arizona, too. We thank everyone who has shown faith in our animals and brought them into their herds or starting new herds with them. We hope you are as blessed with these animals as we have been.

Our new breeding schedule will be posted around the end of July. Please check it out then and put in your reservations early. Pricing is subject to change as our animals earn production awards or other titles throughout the year. Prices for reservations placed before the price increase will be honored.

Thanks for reading my kidding diary. I hope it was interesting and helpful. See you all next kidding season!

Tarragon Has Trouble

5/3/11 This morning Terry was standing in the barn right where the kidding pens used to be. We had taken the pens down last week to get ready for our linear appraisal that will be happening soon. So I put Terry in one of the kids' pens out next to the dairy building. She thought that was fine and starting baby talking and digging, nickering to her belly, and licking on anyone that visited her. Right after morning milking I went out to sit with her. I had reviewed her diary entries of previous kiddings only to be reminded that Terry has always needed help at kidding time. Well, "Hope Springs Eternal" as one saying goes and I really was hoping that this year would be different. Then again, isn't one definition of insanity to expect a different outcome from the same situation?

At 8AM I had David hold Terry while I checked inside to see what was going on. I felt a foot at the cervical opening. So I got out of there and waited. Around 8:30 Terry started into hard labor but then stopped. I had David hold her again while I checked. I felt a leg and a head in the birth canal. But as I was removing my hand, Terry pushed hard. Old brown blood gushed from her. Possibly a quart or maybe more. There was a lot. Then she pushed out what looked like a dark afterbirth bubble. I thought that was odd since I knew there was already a kid in the canal. When I felt the bubble I could feel that there was a kid inside of it. Usually a "kid bubble" is clear or slightly tinted. But this one was discolored - a nasty brown. I broke the bubble and worked to pull the kid out. I had very little expectation of the kid being alive since the birth sack was so degraded. Surprisingly the 5.9# black doeling with white splash was alive! David cleaned her nose and mouth, covered her in a towel, then came back to help me with Terry.

Since there was obviously a problem we felt it was better to get all the kids out quickly, then work on drying them off. Unfortunately the next kid had it's head tucked under its belly, making it impossible to come out. I worked for well over an hour to move the head into an alignment with the birth canal but wasn't able to do it. I had the two front legs pulled out, but just could not get the head to follow. I had Terry lay down, stand up, move this way and that, but still couldn't find the right combination to get that head where it needed to be. By this time I was pretty sure that the kid was dead and probably had been for awhile. It had a rubbery feel to it and didn't respond as a live kid would. I thought about calling my vet and having him do a C-Section to get this kid out. I was mostly worried about Terry. Our kidding season mantra is "Healthy Mommas, Healthy Babies". Mommas come first, and I feared for this momma's life as I worked to get this very large, dead kid out of her.

My mentor, Sandy, once told me that sometimes when the head won't come into position it is necessary to move the legs back into the doe, making it easier to get a hold of the head. So I pushed the legs back inside of Terry and had David push upwards on Terry's belly in order to move the kid closer to my hand. That did the trick. I was able to get a good hold of the head and move it into the birth canal. As an added bonus a front leg also came along for the ride. I pulled the big 9+ pound doeling out by her head and one leg. She had been dead for at least a few days. I suspect that Terry had been injured which is why she had so much old blood in her uterus and the kid had died.

Terry's surviving daughter is doing well. As an "only child" she is getting special attention and a lot of in-home loving. Terry pulled through the ordeal in surprisingly great shape.

Marlyn Makes Some Beautiful Girls

4/24/11 It's Easter morning but the chores still have to get done. I checked on Player who just kidded a few hours ago, fed the animals, and got the does milked out. At each "shift change" in the milking parlor I checked on Marlyn who was in the kidding pen having mild contractions. After milking and cleaning up the parlor I grabbed a cup of Iced Chai Milk Tea and went out to hang with Marlyn. Around 10 AM she started into hard labor. But no groaning or moaning or bellowing for the refined Marlyn. She worked silently. After a few sessions of hard contractions I decided to check inside her to be sure the kids were in good birthing position. I felt a head in the birth canal but no feet. Reaching in further I tried to get the matching feet to go with the head but it was hard. There were many feet to choose from. I found one leg that seemed to belong and pulled it into the birth canal. I pulled more and the head followed. I felt around one last time for the other front leg and found it coming along with the rest. Once both legs and head were engaged in the birth canal it was pretty quick work for Mare to push out the lovely white 8.2# doeling.

After this darling was dried off I checked back inside of Marlyn. Again I felt a head but no feet. I was able to reach in and find both front legs. Out came a lovely, splashy 7.5# brown doeling with quite the Jacob's Pride flip to her ears. Nice looking, sturdy kids. Marlyn is looking fine and milking well already.

Happy Easter to all.

Player Finds a Game

4/24/11 Player was scheduled to kid back on April 20th. That was when we had helpers here. But Player not only waited until it was just David and I on the ranch, but also until 2 in the morning!

For some reason at 2AM on Easter morning I jumped out of bed and into my barn clothes. I told David that I needed to check on Player even though the barn camera was aimed right at her and she seemed to be laying comfortably. As I headed out the door David, who was watching the video monitor, shouted that Player had just delivered a kid! I ran double quick out to her pen and found a crumpled body squished between Player's backside and a bale of straw. We have a joke around here that a doe is only serious about kidding when she plants her butt right up against a wall or fence or straw bale. It seems universal. Anyway, I pried the kid out from between mom and the straw bale and cleaned out the mouth and nose. Luckily, the 8.6# doeling was just fine. She hardly waited to get dried off before claiming the world as her own. This is one strapping big, feisty, and splashy kid!

An Elegant String Of Pearl's

4/21/11 Kathryn here, back at the keyboard. It's been great fun reading the entries of the guest bloggers, seeing the events through their eyes. I've had a wonderful time working with Hazel and Wendy. They have made this last round of kiddings go smoothly and they have helped out here greatly. Besides birthing babies, they laundered the kid towels, fed kids, restocked the kidding kits, toted grain and hay, checked goat butts, cleaned the milking parlor, and fed 14 year old Blue, one of our LGD's, his special goat milk breakfast. Wendy even caught a 6 foot long gopher snake with her bare hands as it headed into the does' area then drove it half a mile away in the Polaris Ranger to "rehome" it. Hazel worked so hard that one night she fell asleep in a chair next to the kid pen, too tired to even go to bed. David and I really appreciate their work and have enjoyed their company.

Since Mariah kidded late last evening it was about midnight before I finally got to bed. It was very hard work dragging myself awake when the sounds of hard labor came over the baby monitor at 2:30 AM. I woke David up, jumped into my barn clothes, and ran out to the doe barn. Pearl already had the first kid on the ground - sort of. There was a tangled mess behind her. An upside down, twisted up 6.0# buckling still laying in a pool of amniotic fluid. I feared I was too late to save him. I grabbed him out of the puddle and cleaned out his mouth and nose. He started to breath! By the time David and Hazel arrived the little guy was on a feed sack and I was rubbing him as dry as I could. I really am not great with the kids - not like David and Hazel, anyway. I prefer to work with the doe and let the experts handle the youngsters.

It looked like another kid was coming quickly so David took over working on the first born kid while Hazel got ready for the next kid. Out came a blonde 5.4# doeling in proper nose and toes position. Hazel cleaned her up. I bounced Pearl's belly and could tell that another kid was going to be coming soon, so David finished buffing the first born and put him into our "kid carrier". Hazel again set up a landing zone for the next kid while David took charge of the blonde kid.

Pearl pushed and out came a brown 5.4# doeling, again in nose and toes position. Hazel had her work cut out for her since this kid was plenty slimy and needed lots of cleaning, but Pearl came over to help lick her baby clean. Since they had the kid situation under control I got Pearl a bucket of warm molasses water which she drank down quickly. Then I bounced Pearl's belly again just to confirm that she was done. She was NOT! I felt another little body in there! Soon a fourth kid entered the world - head first with one leg folded back. She is a brown 7# girl with lots of dramatic white splashes.

I got Pearl a second helping of molasses water which she drank a good amount of. I milked her out, weighed the kids, and clipped and dipped their navels. What a great bunch of healthy, active babies. Great work, Pearl! Pearl is looking wonderful and milking well already.

The Four Kids in order of their appearance

Good Job Mariah

4/20/11 My testing is over and now I back at the Ranch! This is Hazel once again! Hurray! I’m back for a few more days. J

Now, Mariah’s birth was the most exciting for me for two reasons: 1) I have a Mariah girl reserved and 2) I did pretty much everything! My mom had been hoping to witness her birth but a few hours after she left me here there were babies everywhere. I must admit though, I feel kind of bad that in the days she was here only one girl gave birth to twins as where seven popped with a total of 16 kids when I’m here.

Kathryn had been watching Mariah and Pearl all day and at seven p.m. she put them in the kidding pen. I guess while I was gone, Mariah had a false alarm at 3 a.m. so at 9:30 p.m. when we saw her pushing on the camera I expected another alarm that shouldn’t have been called. I started whispering “girl, girl, girl ” to her while we waited, I sure hoped it worked. Soon Mariah went into hard labor. We waited.

“Girl, girl, girl”

Kathryn had me check her birth canal and I felt the bubble and popped it, then one hoof and a head was all I felt. Kathryn told me to wait. I waited. Have I told you I hate suspense? I gave the foot a little tug and Mariah pushed. I waited.

“Doe, doe, doe”

Kathryn found the other foot and let me and Mariah work it out. I pulled, she pushed. Out came a brown, belted 8#er, I guided it to the cleaning area and cleaned the mouth out . . . I checked . . . a boy. I deslimed him then passed him to David. When Mariah let me bounce her, my hopes went up again, there was another in there!

“Girl, Girl, Girl!”

We waited and I checked and we waited and I checked, a foot! A little tug here and there and finally a smaller brown 7# DOE came out. I was thrilled. I dried her then bounce Mariah again, Kathryn and I both felt a lump but we weren’t really sure it was a kid. We decided to wait and see. This waiting was different for me, there was a girl and I would really have a herd one day . . . . . everything I had hoped for was a little closer to reality.

Mariah made it clear she was done so we dipped the twins navels in iodine, checked them over then cleaned up. My life was a better place, the kids were strong, Mariah was happy. J

Mariah buckling on left, Doeling on right

Dominiska's Demanding Duo

4/20/11 Greetings! This is Wendy. My daughter Hazel had state testing today and yesterday at school, so I’m trying to follow in her pioneering footsteps as a guest-blogger for Kathryn’s kidding diary and I am trying to live up to the legacy of Amanda and Hazel, in terms of helping out around here!

I’ve gotten a lovely induction to the idyllic life of a BMR goat and the hectic life of their Manager and The Cheese Maker and some of the various chores needed to keep the place running. However, things have been slow on the goat-baby-birthing front. We’ve done lots of watching and waiting, and waiting and watching, and more watching and more waiting and a false 3AM alarm for Mariah and back to bed and more waiting this morning…

Kathryn’s words at the 12:30PM goat-butt-check (which did not indicate imminent labor on anyone’s part), were, “Well, at least we’ll be able to eat lunch in peace.”

Not fifteen minutes later, as we had all sat down to eat, Dominiska went into hard labor in the kidding pen. We were at the pen in seconds, and Kathryn and David walked me through what to expect and the procedures of when a kid came out: Lay the kid on the feed bags, CLEAN OUT ITS NOSE AND MOUTH with paper towels. (Clean the mouth like you were checking a choking victim for an object in his mouth – with a sweeping motion of your finger to clear an obstructed airway). Keep using fresh newspapers to get the slime off the kid and to dry it. When one paper gets saturated, nest it under the kid and grab a fresh newsprint paper and keep going. Don’t worry about hurting the kid, because the rubbing and movement are good to stimulate the kid. When the kid is mostly dried, get another paper towel and wipe out the kid’s ears very well.

We were ready.

Dom was really straining, but not getting anywhere – no kid parts were visible exiting her birth canal – so Kathryn washed and gloved up (amniotic fluid is caustic) and lubed and checked inside Dom. She said that the situation was quickly heading into a ‘kid-wreck’. Poor Dom had two kid heads and one kid leg and a birthing bubble in the birth canal, and neither kid was yielding to the other. To complicate matters, the birthing bubble burst – this meant that there was no barrier separating the one kid from the other, and identification of who-was-who was much more difficult. While Kathryn worked to try to sort out the owner of the single leg, David and I held on: David held Dom and I held the lube bottle and felt rather like one of those nurses on M.A.S.H. who hands instruments to the surgeons as they do their work –More lube please. Towel. Get ready for a baby right over there...

Once Kathryn confirmed that the leg and the nearest head did belong to the same kid, she began to help Dom by pulling on the leg, while Dom pushed, and hollered. A black kid leg came out, and after Kathryn pulled and Dom pushed, a big black head with bold brown stripes emerged. Kathryn called for a paper towel and cleaned out the kid’s nose and mouth, giving Dom a bit of a rest. Then, with a good bit of effort on everyone’s part (except me – I watched), a tri-colored 7.2# buckling came sloshing out. From the get-go, the buckling was wriggly and already trying to find his feet, while I tried to dry him. To me, it seemed like Kathryn almost instantly produced the elegant brown doeling who was in nose-and-toes position for her entry into the world. That girl got handed over to David. David is a quick and thorough nose/mouth de-slimer, and kid drier and even though I had a lead on him with the first buckling, he had the doeling dry and fluffy before I had the buckling finished. Kathryn bounced Dom’s belly to feel for any other kids inside, but Dom was done. Kathryn milked Dom out, to get the colostrum for the babies. We weighed the kids, wrapped them in towels for the trip into the house and checked both for all the parts appropriate for their gender, dipped their umbilical cords in iodine (they squalled at that) and David went to prepare the kids’ first bottle.

As I sit here and write, David and Kathryn marvel about how INCREDIBLY vital and vibrant these two are – they must do their daddy, The Doctor, proud! These two were on their feet within 15 minutes of coming inside, and at three hours old have already ventured out of their pen and into the office to end up on Kathryn’s lap. And they are already LOUD!

Sort Of Speedy Spring

4/18/11 This is Hazel again, Kathryn suggested that I write this post since Spring Thyme was the last goat I got to help with before I had to go home. Poor me. :(

Anyway, we had been watching Spring for the last few day without any success. No fluid, not acting any weirder than normal, nothing. I hate suspense. Spring finally got serious today, we had put her in the kidding pen and for half a day some more of the same. Then around four PM we saw her cervical plug. Yet of course, her being a goat, she had to make it difficult! More of nothing. This was really getting old and we didn't really want to be late for milking.

The evil goat started pushing around fiveish (milking time) but when we went out and set up she stopped. More waiting. After a while of us sitting there watching her she laid down again and went into hard labor. Finally! Kathryn didn't need to help, a bubble came out and the little head with it, we looked and the kid looked back at us . . . . and inside the bubble we saw as the kid's little pink tongue licked out and in and out and in. We just watched, laughing, then Kathryn told me to break the bubble so she could get the kid all the way out. The bubble was gushy and I really had to pinch it to get the thing to pop. Out came a fine brown 8.6# buckling and before I had even finished cleaning him, Spring pushed out another kid! Fast worker that Spring Thyme! The second kid was a little 7# doe and almost a perfect copy of her mother! Spring helped us clean the two up then we left her to pass the placenta.

Spring Thyme made us late for milking despite her speedy birth. She's doing fine and the pretty little kids are great too!

Joy Also Has Two Bucks

4/17/11 This is Hazel and I have been helping around here for the last couple of days (as I’m sure you know). Joy was the latest goat-midwifery I’ve helped with. Once I had gotten Lacey in the kidding pen to pass her placenta Kathryn brought Joy over, we had been watching her all day and weren’t going to leave her out on the range after Lacey gave birth.

We ate lunch and checked the camera; Joy had a small after birth balloon. Quickly we got set up then Kathryn cleaned Joy and herself up then slid her hand into Joy (who wasn’t very happy about the situation). She said there was a foot and a head in the birth canal, she pulled and Joy pushed. The other foot was found and after a small struggle the head of the big, black, 8.6# boy slid out followed by the rest of him. I quickly deslimed and dried him the best I could.

Again Kathryn went in and again only one foot and a head. The smaller, brown, 7.5# buckling came out faster and easier than the first after the other foot was pulled into the right position. Joy helped me clean this guy up then turned her attention back to her first born though I don’t think she was really helping. Both kids are doing great and so is Joy. These young does must think that the price of admission into the milking parlor is 2 bucks. :)

Lacey Has Two More Bucks To Add

4/17/11 Today was a busy day in the cheese kitchen. Right after morning milking we got right to work while the goat herd took a long walk to the north then settled in to nap under some bushes. We occasionally went out to check on the pregnant does but they all seemed fine. Just before we had our lunch I walked out to check them. I saw a very bloody back end of a goat! My first thought was that we had not cleaned up Brill very well yesterday. Then it dawned on me that a doe had just kidded. I ran to her and found her licking a baby. There was another kid there also. I grabbed up the two bucklings, did a quick check around in case there was a third, then ran back to the milking parlor. David and I worked to clean the boys up while Hazel went out to double check if there was another kid plus move the mom, which turned out to be Lacey, into the kidding pen to clean and get milked out.

The 5.2# brown buckling seemed weak and hadn't been cleaned off by his mom, the 7.2# strikingly red boy with white splashes was sturdy and fine. We got both fellas clean, warm, and fed, then we milked out Lacey and got her cleaned up. Then we locked the goats in their pen so that we could keep a closer eye on them and got back to cheese work.

Brill's Bountiful Bunch

4/16/11 After getting China's daughter cared for I checked inside of Brill to see what was going on. Her cervix wasn't dilated so we decided to let her work some more on her own. We went inside for a late dinner. Around 10PM I checked back inside of Brill and found that her cervix was opening. Since it was late (and in the best interest of the doe not to have me help them kid at 3 AM!) I massaged open the cervix and reached inside the womb. I found a head and one leg but couldn't coax the other leg into the birth canal. The ultra-spotted 6.7# doeling was born with one leg back.

Hazel worked to dry the girl off while I checked back inside of Brill. I found another head and one leg. The 7.8# tri-color buckling slid out pretty easily - with one leg back. Hazel and David worked with the kids while I bounced Brill's belly. I felt a hard lump indicating that there was another kid inside. Once the first two kids were dried and put in the kid carrier I reached inside of Brill and found a head and one leg. Yup, this 6.5# spotted boy was also born with one leg back.

Brill is a yearling and really had no business carrying triplets - what an overachiever. We are anxious to see how Brill develops in her new position as a BMR milker. She really likes the animal cracker treats that she gets when she is done in the milking parlor. Her kids are lovely and rearing to go.

China Doll's Darling Daughter

4/16/11 Brill has been SO ready to kid for awhile now that we figured if she sneezed we'd have to go retrieve the kids. This afternoon I put Brill in a kidding pen since I felt that her time was near. I put China Doll in the pen next to Brill just to keep Brill company. I suspected that China would kid soon after Brill did. Yup, there I go making predictions.

While David and I were doing the evening milking, Hazel watched Brill and China. Hazel is a very capable 12 year old, 6th grader from Show Low that is here for a few days to help us out. Just as we were about finished milking, Hazel call over the radio that there was goo. I went out and was surprised to find that Brill was sound asleep in her pen. The goo was from China's water breaking.

Hazel did a one finger check inside of China and felt hooves and teeth indicating a nose and toes delivery. Perfect! In short order China laid down and pushed out a lovely 7# red doeling with large poll spot and frosted ear. She was lively right from the start and charmed us all. China is a first time momma and is doing a great job of learning her new role as a BMR milker.

River Gets My Goat By Kidding Early

4/14/11 Did I happen to mention yesterday that Brill looked to be the next girl to kid? Why do I even try to make predictions? But our herd is a free range, active herd and sometimes things go wrong due to all of their antics, causing unborn kids to die and the does to kid early.

After morning milking we bring in the heavily pregnant does for lead feeding some grain. This helps the does maintain body condition through late pregnancy and gives me some up-close time to look the girls over. While lead feeding this morning I noticed that River wasn't with the group. I found her hiding under our dairy deck. The deck is just the right height to allow goats a place to hang out, but a bit low for people to maneuver under. I got River out from under the deck and brought her in for her grain. She was talking baby talk and I saw that her milk had come in already even though I didn't expect her to kid for another week. She was definitely acting like her time to kid was close. Once she had finished eating I sent her out with the herd while I cleaned up the milking parlor and did some work in the cheese kitchen.

About 10 AM, after all my chores were done, I went out to check on River. Her water had broken and she willingly came with me into a kidding pen. There she fussed around a little and continued to drain more fluid. The fluid wasn't the clear or amber color that I like to see. It had tints of brown and red in it which had me worried. I called David on the radio and asked him to bring some sanitizing wash water so that I could investigate. I cleaned River and myself, put on gloves, lubed up, and went in to see if there was a problem. I felt hocks in the birth canal. Teeny-tiny hocks. River probably could have delivered the kid in that position since it was so little, but I went ahead and pushed the legs back into the uterus and pulled out the back hooves - streamlining the kid for easier delivery. I was scared to pull on the legs since they were so tiny. I was also concerned because I had a bad feeling that the kid had been dead for awhile and might possibly not come out in one piece.

Gently I pulled while River pushed. Out came a doe kid that must have died sometime in the last week. That was very sad. But I knew that there were more kids still inside River so I cleaned up again and went back in, hoping for better results. I found a real mess inside. Kid parts everywhere. I had a hard time finding anything that matched but I could tell that the kids were very small. So I grabbed a head and pulled. I thought it was another dead kid and was pleasantly surprised when the 5.4# black spotted buckling announced that he was very much alive!

Once the fella was cleaned and mostly dried, I had David hold River while I retrieved the next kid. I found a kid bubble that felt right. I burst it and amniotic fluid of the correct color came gushing out. Hurray! Out came a 5.5# brown doeling in proper nose and toes position. She had pizzazz right out of the chute. This girl has a lovely presence about her and she had us charmed within seconds of her arrival.

Since the kids were born a week early I put them in our homemade incubator for an hour to be sure that they could hold their body temperature. They are out now and working hard to stand up and get into trouble. River looks great.

Getting Back To Work

4/13/11 It's been a nice break from kidding. We sent lots of kids off to new homes, geared up our cheese making, caught up on some other projects, and even had a wonderful visit with Becky Goldthwaite of Goldthwaite Nubians (pictured on the left). Becky has a nationally known show herd of high production Nubians. It was great fun to have Becky here for a few days. I picked her brain and learned a lot. I am thrilled to have a Goldthwaite buck in my herd.

I also had the opportunity earlier this year to visit my mentor, Sandy Riehle of Reuel Dairy Goats up in Washington State (pictured on the right). We spent days talking about goats, tromping out in the cold to look at her lovely herd, did some prenatal care for a few of the does, and stayed up until way after midnight each day talking until we were hoarse. I am proud to have a Reuel buck in our herd (our lovely Rio) and now we have another Reuel fella on the way!! Thank you, Sandy, for Reuel Gingham's Royal Galaxy! We can't wait to meet him.

But now it's time to get back to work. Brill is showing signs that her kids will be making an appearance soon. The other pregnant does are getting wider by the day and waddling around looking like they will be glad to lose their loads. We expect 11 does to kid during this next week, so buckle your seat belts and hang on!

Poppy's Bigger Boy

3/19/11 One-upmanship is always a goaty game favorite. But WHY did it have to be a contest to see who could have the largest singleton buck!?

At 1:30 PM, just a few hours after Sassy had her big boy, Poppy tried to deliver her big singleton buck. She had been working hard all morning but just wasn't able to make it happen. Once again I cleaned, lubed, and gloved up. The big fella took almost as much work to get out as Sassy's boy, but at least Poppy was still pretty slicked up with birthing slime to help lubricate the way out for him.

This fella is a gorgeous 9.9# fella that looks like he will be just as regal as his mom. He is enjoying playing with Sassy's boy. Poppy is already milking well and looks great.

Sassy's Big Boy

3/19/11 Just why Sassy thought she needed to bake her big singleton buckling a couple days past her due date I'll never know. But I hope it doesn't happen again!

Sassy's water broke around 8AM and I put her in the kidding pen. After an hour or so with no noticeable progress being made to push out the kid, I cleaned up, lubed up, gloved up, and went hunting inside of Sassy to see if there was a problem. I felt a foot in the birth canal. I waited another half an hour and checked again. The leg was in the same place but Sassy was losing more fluid. I didn't want her to lose all that good lubrication and not get the kid to slid out so I worked my hand in further to find the other body parts. I found another leg and pulled it into the birth canal. Once I had both front feet in the canal I pulled the legs toward the exit then checked back to be sure that a head was engaged in the birth canal. It was! That's great. But the legs and head didn't seem to want to come out. I checked back to be sure that the head and feet belonged to the same kid. I couldn't find any other body parts inside of Sassy so I figured that this kid would be a singleton. But the kid still didn't slid out. It took quite a bit of traction and a lot of yelling by Sassy before the kid finally was born. A big 9# splashy boy.

Sassy gave us enough beautiful colostrum to feed him plus enough to put some in the freezer as a back up. Then she settled in for a nap.

Miranda Gives Us Three More

3/9/11 When I put Miranda in the kidding pen this evening to keep an eye on her I forgot to give her a bit of grain along with her other buffet items. So after feeding the kid hoard their 10 PM meal I went out to make it right with Miranda. She was too busy to notice me. She was licking amniotic fluid off the ground. Her water had broken.

I called to David to bring out some sanitizing wash water, then I set about getting ready for the arrival of Miranda's kids. Once all was in place I did a check inside of Miranda to be sure all was well with the kids. I discovered that her cervix was barely open. The cervix is the "door" between the womb and the birth canal. It is closed tightly throughout pregnancy, only opening when it's time for the kids to be evicted. I thought about getting out of there and giving Miranda more time to open the cervix but since a kid bubble had already burst I decided to massage open her cervix and check out the situation. Miranda stood patiently, though not happily. It took 5 or 10 minutes to open the cervix. As I was gently coaxing it open my fingers were trying to determine what kid part was on the other side. I just felt a blob. No head, no feet. A bad sign. Once the cervix relaxed enough to let me into the womb I found that it was a backbone trying to come through. That was just not going to happen. I felt the loin and moved my hand along it until I found ribs, indicating that I was moving toward the head. I didn't want to fish out two legs and a head so I backed up and went the other way using the back bone to guide me to the rear legs. It was fairly simple to guide those two back legs into the birth canal, but I was a bit worried. Backwards kids need to be born fast so they don't drown if their umbilical cord gets pinched off as the head and shoulders press on it during delivery which would cause the kid to start breathing too early. But Miranda was not really stretched out yet. I wanted to give Miranda time to push the kid through, but didn't want the kid to drown. I went ahead and pulled fairly fast. Miranda screamed, the kid popped out, Miranda collapsed.

The 7.2# doeling came out sputtering and frantic - but screaming! Her lungs were clear!! She was just unhappy about her rude entrance into the world. Miranda was stressed but all right. Before David had the first little girl cleaned off, Miranda pushed out another doeling - this one came head first with both legs folded back. She weighed 7.7#. Because Miranda was still stressed I put her first born girl in front of her to lick. That calmed her down and gave her a project.

Once the two girls were almost dry I checked Miranda and found a pair of back legs in the birth canal. Out came a 9.1# spotted buckling. What a moose! Those are some big triplets. Total kid weight was almost as much as Rosemary's foursome combined! I got Miranda some warm molasses water plus a dose of MFO Solution to combat possible Milk Fever (Hypocalcemia). Also lots of animal crackers. She got up to check on all of her kids, then settled in to take a well deserved nap.

Rosemary's Secret

3/8/11 I have not been able to guess litter sizes correctly at all this year. Girls that should have triplets have singles, others that should have twins have quads. In the last few weeks I began to suspect that Rosie would have more than twins. Triplets were starting to look like a real possibility. Wasn't I in for a surprise!?

At 3 AM I saw that Rosie was standing in the kidding pen having some pretty hard contractions. I had put her in the kidding pen last evening and Rosie had been snacking on the buffet of alfalfa hay, alfalfa pellets, grass hay, and grain on and off during the night. Then she would fall asleep while standing up, which is not the usual way for goats to sleep. Rosie would wedge her head in the openings of the wire panels of the pen, spread her feet wide, and catch a few "Z's". Then she would stretch, paw, try to lay down, decide not to, and generally fuss around. Once I saw that she was having contractions I woke David up (he had just gotten to bed after feeding Boysie's girls and was a bit groggy), and we went out to check Rosie.

I cleaned up, gloved up, lubed up and did a quick check. There was a kid bubble in the birth canal that broke when I felt it. Out shot the amniotic fluid and out shot the brown spotted 5.6# doeling. If David and I had been slower in getting there Rosie would have had that girl shot into the next county before we were there to catch!

David worked to clean her up and dry her off. But Rosie started into hard contractions again. Quickly David wrapped the doeling in a towel and got another empty feed sack ready to lay the next kid on. I checked inside Rosie to be sure the kid position was good. I felt two legs but no head. I also noticed that one leg was a front leg and one was a back leg! Oops. I had a choice. I could push the back leg back into Rosie and look for the other front leg plus the head, or I could push back the front leg and look for the matching back leg. I chose the latter since it only required hunting for one additional body part. I easily found the other back leg and moved it into the birth canal. I helped pull the kid while Rosie pushed. Out came a 6.4# brown fella with wide white belly band.

David once more started kid cleaning, but before he even had the birthing goo cleaned off of the second born kid, Rosie pushed out a big 8.2# brown spotted buckling in proper nose and toes position. Now we were running double time to dry these three kids off before they got chilled in the cold night air. I was buffing the doeling, David was still slicking slime off the big buck, and Rosie started to push again.

Rosie easily pushed out the 6.3# brown spotted doeling that emerged with a nose and only one front foot. We were juggling the four kids like circus clowns, hoping that Rosie was finally finished. Thankfully she was done and came over to lick on her kid herd and help tidy them up.

All four kids and Rosie are doing great. I really should give up on trying to guess litter size.

The Four Kids in order of their appearance

Boysie Builds 'Em Beautiful

3/7/11 We have been catering to Boysenberry for awhile now. She was simply huge. I figured the old lady was carrying at least triplets and possibly quads. As her due date grew closer Boysie had a hard time getting up. But she always followed the herd out to browse and bellied up to the manger at feeding time. I started putting her in a kidding pen a night just so that she could have a private suite with access to food without competition. She seemed to appreciate that.

At 9:30 this evening Boysie seemed more uncomfortable than usual, she was having moderate contractions. David and I went out to see if all was OK. I cleaned Boysie's backside, put on gloves, lubed up, and checked it out. I found two hooves in the birth canal but no head. I reached in further and found the head still in the womb. The Dreaded Head Back position is my worst nightmare. I hate that position. Luckily, the head wasn't flipped upside down like it can be, but rather it was merely turned back but still right side up. It should have been riding between the front legs in the much desired Nose and Toes position. With a moderate amount of work I was able to move the head into the birth canal with my right hand while my left hand pulled the front legs, which were already sticking out of Boysie a bit. Once the legs and head were engaged in the birth canal it was a simple delivery of a 7.1# very regal black and tan doeling.

Once she was cleaned up, breathing well, and put in the Kid Carrier, I cleaned up myself and Boysie again and went rummaging. I found a head in the birth canal but no legs. I reached in further and pulled out both front legs. A very easy maneuver compared to the DHBP (Dreaded Head Back Position). The second doeling, weighing 8#, slid right out. She is a very striking tri-color girl - black roan, white belly band, red trim. Once she was dried and in the crate with her sister I went back inside Boysie for the third kid - she just HAD to have at least three in there - but no one was home.

Healthy twin girls is a fine delivery and we are glad that Boysie is moving a lot better already.

Peri Pours It On

3/1/11 It has been six days and 11 other kiddings since Peri's due date. She finally kidded very early this morning. Peri is a wide, deep girl and we were expecting triplets. Instead we got a Cloudburst. OK, not really. A Cloudburst is when a doe thinks that she is pregnant when she really isn't, then when she "kids" all that is expelled is lots of fluid. That's close to the description of Peri's kidding except for the 7.1# all brown doeling that practically got swept out with the tide.

Right around midnight Peri passed lots of fluid. Thick, heavy fluid and thin clear fluid, puddles of fluid. Then she pushed out her doeling. The poor little girl was also filled with fluid. David had to work double time to save her. He probably drained over 2 ounces of fluid from her nose and mouth. He hung her upside down to drain more, he laid her on his lap with her head hanging low and patted her side to make more come out. She just kept draining. Surprisingly she didn't seem distressed and continued to breath easily even with the torrent of fluid coming out.

The doeling is doing very well. Peri still looks pregnant. What a faker.

Penny Throws Us A Curve

2/28/11 During this last week when we would discuss how many does were due to kid or who needed special attention, I'd preface my comments with, "Not counting Penny..." Why did I say that? Because every year Penny gets huge and I worry, then she kids just fine with triplets and lots of birthing fluid. This year I refused to worry.

Last night Penny started acting ready to kid. Her milk was in, she was pawing around, sniffing everything, having mild contractions, but her hindquarters were not loose. So I put her in a kidding pen. She pawed some more, laid down, got up, laid down again, stretched, and fussed. At midnight I decided to check out what was happening. I cleaned up and David held her steady while I worked my hand into her birth canal. It was really tight, but her cervix was open and I felt a kid bubble on the other side. I decided to give Penny more time to get her work done and went back to bed.

At 4 AM today I heard a loud moan from Penny and she had a few hard contractions. David and I went out to investigate. Once again inside her birth canal I could tell that for all of the work Penny had been doing, she wasn't accomplishing anything. The bubble was still in the same place. I reached through into the womb, popped the bubble, and moved a kid's head and feet into the birth canal. It was a tight fit since Penny really hadn't softened. It took quite a bit of pulling to get this kid out. Penny was very unhappy, to say the least. Once out, the 9# buckling was gasping for air and very weak. David worked hard at making the boy live - and succeeded! We wrapped him in a towel and went back to working with Penny. I found another kid inside her but it was hard to move it. I could tell that it was already dead. I finally succeeded in getting the dead little doeling out. Her birth sack was dry and I suspect that she died a week or so ago. Another check inside of Penny revealed that no one else was home. So much for not worrying about her!

The big buckling needed to be put into our homemade incubator for a few hours until his body temperature stabilized, but at 4 hours old he is now drinking his colostrum and standing up trying to walk. Penny is doing fine but is a bit woggly in her back end.

Two views of Penny's buckling

Kid Jam

2/26/11 I started worrying about Jammer at 5 AM. She just looked like she wanted to kid but wasn't pushing. I checked inside of her several times during the day but didn't feel any kids waiting to be born. I gave her some MFO Solution which is a liquid drench to boost her calcium level - calcium is needed for muscles to work and produce a strong labor. I still worried. So at 4 PM David held Jammer steady for me while I went in to check out what was happening. Amanda got the empty feed sacks and towels ready for the kids' arrival. I gloved and lubed up and slowly worked my hand into her birth canal. I went in halfway up to my elbow and it just felt wrong inside there. I was puzzled because the uterus didn't feel right and the kid bubble I felt seemed really thick and tough. I finally figured out that even though I was in so far, I was still only in the birth canal and the kid bubble I was feeling was on the other side of her still closed cervix.

I felt around until I found the cervical opening. I could get just one finger inside. So I started massaging it, coaxing it to open fully. It took about 15 or 20 minutes to work the cervix open but eventually it did fully dilate. As I had been working my fingers slowly through the opening I wondered if I was just jumping the gun and going in too early. Once inside the womb I realized that I was actually late. It was a total kid wreck in there. I felt heads and legs everywhere trying to push out. I grabbed the closest head to the exit and tried to match up a couple of front feet to go with it. It was hard because I had so many choices. I'd pull two legs out but one felt bigger than the other so they weren't a matched set. I pushed them back in. I was beginning to feel like this would have a very bad ending. Finally I pulled the smaller leg back out and ran my hand along to its shoulder and it seemed like it belonged to the head that I was trying to work with. I gave up on getting the other leg and pulled the kid out with one leg back. Even though Jammer screamed as the kid was born, I was thrilled and relieved.

I felt that it was important to get the other kids out ASAP. The irritation to Jammer's birth canal due to my arm being inside of her for so long, plus the birth of her daughter, was going to cause swelling. I didn't want to have to fight that also. So while Amanda worked to clean up the very cute 5.7# all brown doeling, David held Jammer and I went in to find another kid. Jammer was getting stressed but was being patient with us. A head was already in the birth canal but no feet. I reached past the head and found one leg that belonged and pulled it alongside the head. I just couldn't find the other one and didn't want to risk losing the matching head and leg back into the uterus. Once again I went ahead and pulled the kid out with one leg back. This was a much bigger kid and harder to get out, but out he came. A gorgeous 8.3# black and red buckling.

Amanda took charge of him while David and I worked with Jammer. By now she was shaking hard and very stressed. I figured that the best way to help her was to finish this job quickly. I reached in and easily found a head and two legs. Out came another gorgeous black and red kid. This one was a doeling weighing 7#. I checked back inside of Jammer one last time and no one else was home. We were done!

All the kids are vigorous and hungry. I gave Jammer more calcium to combat hypocalcemia and got her some warm molasses water which she guzzled down. We will continue to give Jammer more MFO Solution for a couple days since she used up so much calcium during her extended labor. She is doing great now, no more shivering, and she's eating lots of animal crackers which she deserves.

Tammy's Turn

2/25/11 Besides the work of actually birthing babies, we also need to keep the birthin' towels washed, rugs washed, feed the kids, haul out the bags of trash (used feed sacks, paper towels, placentas, etc), clean the kidding pens, feed the kids, milk the does, notify people that their kids have been born, feed the kids, update the web site, do the record keeping on kids and buyers, feed the kids, and stay pretty busy all day. This is in addition to our regular ranch work and cheese making business. So it was nice to be able to sit down for lunch today and relax for a bit. Tammy was in a kidding pen and we kept an eye on her using the pan/tilt/zoom camera that is in there. Tammy wasn't sure what was going on, but was content to hang out. Just as we finished lunch and were about to start back to work, Tammy looked serious.

Amanda and I went out to the kidding pen. Tammy had one hoof already showing. I put on a glove and checked the kid position. I only felt one leg and a head. I tried to move the kid back into the womb so that I could retrieve the other leg, but the kid was already out too far. I helped pull the kid, but Tammy screamed as he was born. It is so much better when I check the position early and can fix potential problems. But Tammy did fine. Her spotted 7.8# buckling has joined Celeste's and Tyler's kids and is doing well.

This splashy buckling is For Sale. To read more about him click here.

Celeste Makes It Worth The Wait

2/25/11 Celeste was due to kid four days ago. I can't begin to count all the calls and emails that I've been getting about her. People wondering when she would kid or if I had forgotten to write an update about her - the suspense was awesome. But today Celeste finally let out her secret. Three gorgeous doelings. Beautiful, active, and VERY hungry. So hungry that David wondered if Celeste had neglected to feed them during their overtime stay inside of her!

I was being driven crazy since Celeste has been losing her creamy white mucus cervical plug for over two weeks - and let me tell you, that plug must have been huge since she continually showed a discharge. I envisioned the kids trying to push through all that goo but the sheer quantity of mucus overwhelmed them.

At around 10 AM today Celeste finally started stringing some regular birthing slime. Due to her being late I decided to do a pelvic exam. I washed her up, gloved up, lubed up, and slowly worked my hand into her. She was tight but loosened up as I slowly massaged the birth canal. Once at the cervix I found that 1) the cervix was not fully open yet, and 2) a head. I worked to coax the cervix fully open. It didn't take long. Then I reached into the womb and found those lost front legs that belonged to the head. Normally the pressure of a kid pressing on the cervix is what helps to dilate it for kidding. I don't know if the kid was out of position and so couldn't dilate the cervix properly, or if the cervix didn't open and caused the legs to be left behind. Either way, once the legs were retrieved, the 6.5# doeling slid right out.

Before Doeling #1 was fully de-slimed, Celeste pushed out another girl. This one in proper nose and toes position. She weighed 7.3#. Amanda (see above picture on right) and David got the two girls cleaned up and put into the "kid carrier", then since Celeste had two hooves showing Amanda went to assist the delivery of a third kid (see above picture on left). It was a big 8# girl in nose and toes position.

I'm not sure why Celeste thought she needed to "bake" these babies for four extra days, but they sure were worth it! Good looking kids!

Tyler's Trio

2/24/11 Tyler has been a real trooper throughout her pregnancy. She would still jump up onto her milking stand for a bit of grain and still roust around with her buddies. But today she didn't hop right up on her stand but rather waited for me to place her grain dish on the floor of the stand for her to eat from. Later she separated herself from her friends and started baby talking. Once we had the kidding pen that Langley had used cleaned out I put Tyler in, giving her some hay, alfalfa pellets, water (hung high), and a little grain. She laid down and looked uncomfortable.

Once Tyler started into labor around 8 PM, she made fast work of it. Her first born, a 6.5# doeling, came nose and toes. So did the second born, an 8.6# buckling. The third kid tried to come head only but I has able to manipulate his front legs into the birth canal which makes it so much easier on the doe and the kid - in fact often head-only deliveries are impossible for the doe to accomplish. This fella weighed 6.4#. Tyler looks great and so do the kids.

The buckling in the center picture is For Sale. To read more about him click here.

Langley Waits Her Turn

2/24/11 While Sydney labored in the west kidding pen, Langley was working in the east pen. So I kept a sharp eye on her as I supervised David and Amanda working with Sydney. Yeah, I could get used to being a manager with actual workers to direct! Anyway, Langley would stretch and fret but didn't really look to be accomplishing anything. So once we had Sydney kidded out and cared for, Amanda and I checked out what was going on with Langley.

Amanda did a pelvic check and felt teeth but no feet. So I took over and went in deeper. I had to get my hand into the womb in order to find the two front legs that belonged to this head. Once all the body parts were correctly positioned, out came an 8.5# red buck. Amanda was working to dry him off when David came out and took over that job. Then Amanda checked inside Langley again. She only felt teeth, again. So, again, I took over and dove in. I had to work a bit harder on this one since Langley was pushing quite vigorously, but I was finally able to retrieve one leg. The splashy 9# buckling was born with one leg back.

The big boys are doing great and Langley seems glad to be done.

Syd Kids

2/24/11 Sydney usually carries her pregnancy so well that we tease her about not knowing that she is even pregnant - even while she is kidding. But this year was a bit different. All was proceeding as usual until a couple days ago when Sydney started having trouble walking and her legs were a bit swollen. I babied her and worried and gave her some medicine to relieve her pain and inflammation. Yesterday I put her in an empty kidding pen so that she wouldn't have to compete for food or walk very far. She was definitely uncomfortable. I really hoped she would kid soon.

This morning her milk was in but she was still not as loose in the hindquarters as I like. However when I checked on her around 10 AM I saw that she was stringing birthing fluid. Good for her.

Amanda checked inside of Syd to make sure the first kid was in good birthing position. It was, and soon a 7.4# doeling was born. Amanda and David worked to clean her up. Not long afterwards Syd started to push hard. Amanda helped guide the 6.8# doeling into the world.

After getting the girls weighed, their navels clipped and dipped, and wrapped into bath towels we bounced Syd's belly and could tell that there was another kid inside. Soon after that Sydney and Amanda delivered an 8# buckling. These are some stunning, healthy kids and Sydney is already looking more comfortable and walking easier. I'm practically feeling like I'm on vacation since Amanda arrived to help out!

The buckling on the right is For Sale. To read more about him click here.

Violet Does It On Her Own

2/24/11 At three AM I woke up hearing the sounds of a goat in hard labor coming over the baby monitor. I woke up David, jumped into my clothes, and ran out to the doe barn. Violet, who wasn't even in a kidding pen but still in General Population, had just delivered her 7# doeling and was working to clean her up. I put Violet and her new baby in the kidding pen. David and Amanda showed up to clean and dry the kid. We then waited over an hour for the next kid to be born. Eventually Violet presented up with a placenta, indicating that she was done. David fed the little girl and put her in the pen with Mig's new triplets. Then we went back to bed.

Mignonette Simply Out Does Herself

2/23/11 Mig had triplet doelings! This afternoon Mig separated herself from the herd and looked to be working hard in pre-labor. I kept going out and checking to see if the ligaments in her hindquarters were softening. The were definitely somewhat soft, but not as much as I felt necessary to warrant full "Kid Watch" status. However, she seemed to think this was the real thing. So just before milking time I had Amanda hold Mig steady while I did a quick one-finger check. SURPRISE! I felt a hoof in the birth canal. Amanda and I milked the goats quickly, then put Mig in the kidding pen. Once David was done feeding all the newborns from yesterday and we all had gathered in Mig's pen, she laid down and in very short order pushed out three 6.3# doelings in proper nose and toes postion. If Mallow goes from zero to twins in 60 seconds, Mig goes from zero to triplets in less time. WOW, I guess she had plans for tonight.

Great looking girls with tons of potential. Thanks, Mig.

Tasha Follows Suit

2/22/11 Tasha decided that if Princess could have her kids, than she could too. After I put Princess into a kidding pen Tasha came in and hung out, looking very uncomfortable. I put her into another pen where she continued to look uncomfortable while Princess kidded. Once those kids were born and whisked off by David to get fed, Amanda and I set up shop in Tasha's pen. We both guessed that Tasha would have twins. I did a quick two finger check inside of Tasha and felt nose and toes. Soon Tasha produced a black 5.7# buckling. As Amanda worked to dry him off, Tasha started pushing again. David radioed to ask if we needed help and I said, "yes". I can deal with the does and with getting the kids out, but I just don't handle babies well. So David came out and worked to dry of Tasha's second born 4.8# black buckling.

As the kids were close to being dry, I mentioned that Tasha had two doelings ordered from her and it was too bad that we wouldn't be able to fill those orders. That's when Tasha pushed out two more kids in quick succession. A black and tan spotted 6.5# doeling came in nose and toes position, and a black doeling with white spots that weighed 5.5# who tried to come out "head-only" but I fished out the front legs and she slid out easily. Where poor Tasha was hiding all those kids I just don't know. She carried them easily and kidded with hardly a problem. What a good girl!

First and second born - both bucks

Third and fourth born - both does.

Princess Raises the Stakes

2/22/11 Princess went out with the herd browsing this morning, but once the herd settled down to sleep and chew cud Princess just stood - looking mournfully toward the doe barn. It was nice that they laid right outside my office window so that I could keep a sharp eye on her. After evening feeding I put her in the kidding pen. At 7 PM Amanda, my "Birthin' Buddy" from the Phoenix area showed up to spend the next few days helping. I'm pretty sure that Princess must have been crossing her legs and refusing to kid until Amanda arrived. Less than an hour after Amanda showed up Princess gave up her load of kids. We all thought that she would have triplets. But she surprised us with quads.

The first and second born kids were both nose and toes delivery. The first born brown spotted doe weighed 7.4#, the second born black and tan spotted buck weighed 6.1#. After getting these kids dried off, Princess pushed out part of a placenta, but inside the placenta was a kid! I suspect the placenta belonged to the first two kids and somehow the third kid got entangled in it. She arrived back feet first so I wanted to pull her out fast, but was a bit leery of pulling the placenta in case it would rip Princess's uterus. I was able to untangle the kid from the placenta and get her out without a problem. She is a big brown doeling with lots of moon spots and weighed 7.9#.

Next another back-legs first delivery of yet another doeling. This one is black with white spots and weighed 7.4#

First born doe (left), second born buck (right)

Fourth born doe (left) third born doe (right)

Blackberry Gives Her All

2/21/11 Blackie hasn't been able to stand or walk for almost 5 weeks now. We don't know if she broke her hip or if the kids were just laying wrong and pinching nerves in her back end. Whatever the problem was it meant that we had to work hard to keep Blackie alive until her kids were able to be born. At first we had hoped that once Blackie kidded we could get her back in action. But as the weeks progressed we realized that just wasn't going to happen. I'd try to get the kids out as soon as possible but Blackie would never be able to walk again.

Despite the incredible work load of keeping Blackie going, she did great for most of that time. But a couple days ago it became apparent that she would not be able to hang on much longer. What a tenacious girl she was, but the toll of being injured and carrying a load of kids was just too great. I decided to induce her to kid. Yesterday I gave her a shot that would both cause Blackie to kid early, and help mature the lungs on the kids that would be born prematurely. I was timing it so that the kids would be born 6 days early. But today, 7 days before the kids should be born, I knew that Blackie would not live through the night. I needed to get those kids out - and NOW. Repeated calls to my vet went unanswered as he was working in an area without cell service. A call to my mentor, Sandy, was more helpful.

Sandy is a level headed, very experienced goat breeder. She stayed on the phone with me throughout the horrible ordeal of getting Blackie's kids born. I had a choice between doing a "field caesarean section" (which I've never done before) or working to dilate Blackie's cervix and pulling the kids out vaginally. I decided to try the vaginal delivery first, figuring that I would do the C-Section if that didn't work. After what felt like hours (though was probably only 20 or 30 minutes) I was able to coax Blackie's cervix open enough to pull out two bucklings. One was a brown fella weighing 6.3#, the other was a red guy weighing 6.7#. The third kid was a problem as she insisted on having her head flop back into the uterus every time I tried to pull her out. By the time I was able to get her out, she had drowned.

Blackie was euthanized and buried along with her baby girl, out by our original Herd Queen Trudy. She fought a good fight and we miss her. Both the bucklings are beautiful and doing well.

Espeez Finally Lets Her Kids Out To Play

2/20/11 Espeez likes to kid past her due date. Or maybe a better way to put it is that Espeez is lazy. She doesn't like to push. So after watching her all day today and knowing she was ready to kid I put her in the kidding pen, got my kidding equipment together, cleaned up, and checked inside of her. There was a kid right in the birth canal in proper nose and toes position. I gave a little tug and the 7.8# black doeling with frosted ears easily finished being born.

Once she was clean and dry I checked back inside Espeez. She hadn't had any noticeable contractions so I was surprised to find another kid lined up in the birth canal, also in proper birthing position. This adorable black buckling with frosted ears weighed in at 8.2#.

While David cleaned him up I bounced Espeez belly. Standing behind her I reached my arms around her placing my hands in front of her udder. I lifted slightly then let her belly fall back into its normal position while keeping my hands on her belly. I felt a hard lump. There was a third kid still in there. When David had the second kid de-slimed and cuddled in a towel, I again reached into Espeez' birth canal and once again was surprised that she had already moved the kid into position - and once again, it was proper nose and toes position. This kid is a black and tan 7.8# doeling. "Good girl, Espeez! Now, if you'd just learn to push we could have been done hours ago!"

Espeez is doing great, the kids look fabulous.

Harmony Strikes Up the Band

2/20/11 I know from the emails that I am receiving that quite a few people expected this diary entry to be about Espeez. Well, it is a surprise to me, too! In fact I had Espeez in the kidding pen last night so that I could keep a better eye on her.

At 3AM I heard what I thought was the sound of a doe in hard labor. I checked on the camera but everyone seemed to be asleep. I couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from other than it was somewhere in the doe barn. I quickly got dressed, woke up David to tell him what I'd heard, and trudged out through the 2 inches of new snow to investigate.

The does seemed a bit confused to see me at that hour, some came up to say "hi", others went back to sleep. I checked Espeez over thoroughly, but she was fine. I checked the "close up" girls that were wearing their special "close up" collars. All the does always wear a plastic link collar with a brass bell on it. When they get within 5 days of their due date I put a second collar on them to help me quickly identify them - that is their "close up" collar. Yes, our heavily pregnant girls really sport the bling!

Still not seeing anything out of place I decided that the goats had once more fooled me. I started to head back to bed when again I heard the unmistakable sound of a goat in hard labor. I looked around again and didn't see anyone acting like they were about to kid. Then Harmony suddenly sat up like a dog from the middle of all her buddies and gave a big moan. Harmony? She wasn't even on my radar as being close to kidding! I yelled into the baby monitor to David, telling him we were having babies.

I moved Espeez out of the kidding pen, moved in my kit and empty feed sacks. Now all was ready - except that I still needed a pregnant goat in the pen. I went out and had to make Celeste, Tasha, and Princess move before I could even get close to Harmony. Once I was by her side she was reluctant to stand up. I finally convinced her and we carefully walked the 10 feet over to the kidding pen. Harm's back legs were very woggly.

David showed up with sanitizing water and Harmony laid down. Last year she kidded while laying right in David's lap! But this year she chose the well-strawed floor instead. Since I didn't know how long Harm had been in labor I washed both of us up and checked inside of her. I was just expecting to do a 2-finger check, feel teeth and feet, and get out of there. Harmony was very open and roomy and my whole hand easily slipped into her. I felt a kid bubble coming through the cervix so I reached in further to feel what position the kid was in. I wasn't sure what I felt but it was not feet or a head. Anytime a body part besides feet or head try coming through the birth canal first - it's trouble. Usually big trouble. Since it looked to be a big job deciphering this riddle I had Harmony stand up and David held her steady while I once more cleaned us both up, lubed up, and went exploring. Thankfully it was still early in her labor otherwise it could have been a big kid wreck with the other kids being pushed hard into the first kid.

Back inside of Harmony I felt a backbone. Obviously this birthing position just was not going to work. With my hand I followed along the backbone until I found a tail. A tail is not a good birthing position either but it is a great landmark. From the tail I moved my hand down the kid's thigh to the hock and further down to a back hoof. I cupped my hand around the hoof and rotated it into the birth canal. I moved my hand back up to the tail, but at that point Harm had a hard contraction. I didn't allow the kid to be pushed into the canal. I just held it in place until the contraction stopped. Then I moved my hand down the other thigh, to the hock, and then the hoof, moving the second back leg into the birth canal. Harmony once again had a hard contraction and that backwards kid came flying out!

I placed the 6# brown buckling on a feed sack and David took charge of him. A few moments later Harmony pushed out a second kid in the nose and toes position. And she really PUSHED. He, too, practically flew out. I placed him next to his brother for David to dry off. He is a splashy brown guy that weighed in at 7.1#.

I guess Harmony was trying to beat Mallow's record for quick kiddings because before the second boy was even slicked off of birthing slime she pushed out a third little boy. He is brown with splashes and weighed 6#.

All three kids are doing great. Harm is as beautiful as ever. One of these fellas will get chosen to be a BMR herd sire.

Buck #2 (left), Buck #1 (center), Buck #3 (right)

Mallow...Ditto, Ditto

2/18/11 In previous years' diary entries about Mallow I've used phrases such as, "Mallow brings in the clones" and "Mallow went from zero to twins in 60 seconds". This year is no different.

I could tell that Mallow was secretly working on getting her kids positioned for delivery today. She occasionally had a thin mucus discharge from her vulva and mild contractions. I put her in a kidding pen around midmorning and kept an eye on her both from the camera monitor in the office and in person.

After hanging out with Mallow for a few minutes around 3 PM I left to get some office work done. That's when she went into hard labor. Mallow doesn't fool around once it's time for the kids to arrive, she lays down and pushes them right out. By the time I had my kidding kit moved into the pen and David arrived with the sanitizing wash water Mallow already had two front legs out. Just a few more hard pushes and out came the head. I helped guide the 8.4# doeling the rest of the way out and laid her on a clean, empty feed sack for David to care for. David is the absolute best at cleaning kids and can even work magic at times when a newborn just doesn't want to breathe - David can convince them to take a deep breath and stick around. This doeling, however, didn't require any magic from David. Just some toweling off and cuddling.

Once the first kid was almost dry, Mallow started pushing hard again. In just seconds she had a second doeling born. This feisty darling came in the classic "nose and toes" position just like her sister, and weighed in at 7.6#. She was trying to walk away before she had even been properly de-slimed. What an active, curious youngster she is! Both kids are beautiful...and hungry!

Mallow's twin doelings (left), Mallow as a newborn (right)

Lillith Kicks Off the Season In Style

2/16/11 Two days ago I had to be away from the ranch to speak to a great group of 4-H'ers. Before leaving I had been watching Lillith since she seemed so fussy and was laying down away from the rest of the herd. That worried me because I didn't want her to kid while I was gone. Happily, she waited. In fact, I think she was just "kidding around" with me since she then waited over 2 more days before once again getting serious. Tonight she moved off from the herd, pawed at the straw, and started having some mild contractions.

After doing chores and evening milking (we are only milking three does right now) I put Lillith in a kidding pen to keep an eye on her. In our barn is a wonderful pan/tilt/zoom camera that I can control remotely from either my office or bedroom. I pointed the camera at the kidding pen, turned up the volume on the baby monitor that hangs in the barn, and made a mental note that Kidding Season was officially starting for the year.

Around 11 PM Lillith, who had been stringing goo for a couple hours, got down to work and started pushing hard. I brought out my kidding kit - a bin filled with bath towels, newspapers, paper towels, nitrile gloves, OB lubricant, a weigh scale and sling, scissors and iodine that I use to clip and dip umbilical cords, dental floss in case the umbilical cord needs to be tied, a hair dryer in case a kid needs to be warmed up or dried quickly due to cold weather, kid pullers ( which I've never been able to use successfully), baby bottles, a plastic container to milk colostrum into, Fight Bac for spraying teats after milking out the doe, and lots more stuff. I also brought two empty feed sacks to place kids on once they were born. David brought a bucket of sanitizing wash water for cleaning hands and cleaning the doe's vulva in case I had to check inside of her. Sometimes kids need to be rearranged in order to come out more easily.

In fact, since it was getting late, I went ahead and cleaned up Lillith's perineum area (vulva area), washed my arms, put on a pair of nitrile gloves, and lubed up. While Lillith was standing up I slowly inserted first one finger, then another until my whole hand was inside of Lillith's birth canal. I felt a head trying to come through the cervix but no feet. Not a great position. I reached in further and found both front feet that belonged to the head and pulled them into the birth canal. Once I was done Lillith laid down and pushed out a 8.6# brown doeling. She was very lively and hungry. Lillith stood up to check out her handiwork. David cleaned up this cutie, wiping out her mouth and nose with paper towels, then slicking the birthing slime off of her using the newspapers. Once she was almost dry she was wrapped in a bath towel. I milked a bit of colostrum from Lil into a baby bottle and the newborn doeling guzzled down over an ounce before deciding to take a nap.

Lillith pawed around some more, licked on her baby, cooing softly to her. She finally laid down and started pushing. I put on a clean glove and checked inside of her. I didn't want a kid coming "head only" like the first one tried to. Instead I felt hocks in the birth canal. Another not great birthing position. I pushed the hocks back into the womb and manipulated the back feet into the birth canal. I pulled as Lillith pushed. Backwards babies like this are fine but can drown if they don't come out quickly since the umbilical cord could get clamped off as the head moves into the birth canal. Out slid a cute 7# black roan doeling. She was a bit floppy at first, but soon was jumping around with her sister.

Twin does! What a lovely way to start our kidding season.

Ready or Not - They are Going to Come!

2/13/11 There is no denying the inevitable. Our barn is full of heavily pregnant girls that are planning on losing their loads soon and letting us do the babysitting. We are working hard to get ready for the onslaught.

My name is Kathryn and I'm the goat herd manager here at Black Mesa Ranch. My husband, David, is the cheese maker. Since this is a two person operation we also wear many other hats. In addition to working with the goats, I keep the website updated, care for the cows, chickens, peafowl, ducks, and dogs, plus oversee the ranch business (which is just a more polite way of saying that I boss David around). Besides working hard as the cheese maker, David is the ranch maintenance man, sales manager, pig-slopper, product packaging expert, welder, gardener, computer wizard, road grader, feed hauler, and all ‘round good guy. He is also a trained gourmet chef and does all the cooking!! In what little extra time he has he does pen and ink sketches of the goats, landscape, and buildings of Black Mesa Ranch. He is an awesomely nice guy.

Other than our lovely girl Trinity, who is an American Saanen, all of our goats are purebred Nubians. They are a great bunch and work hard throughout the year making milk for David to turn into cheese. Most of our does are pregnant now, although we did have a few girls that decided to not get pregnant this year or who lost their pregnancy early on. We also have a doe, Blackberry, that has either broken her hip or has too many babies pressing on nerves in her backend. She isn't able to stand or walk so we have been busy catering to her. During our subzero weather a few weeks ago Blackie even lived in our bedroom for four days. She now lives in her own private outdoor pen right outside of our bedroom and is quite spoiled. We are hoping that she can maintain her pregnancy through this ordeal and once she kids possibly even recover. Other than that, the girls are all looking great, acting great, and eating us out of house and home.

David and I are excited to meet the new kids. I hope that you enjoy reading about our adventures as those kids come into the world.

Kathryn Heininger

BMR Goat Herd Manager

The above listed prices are for reserved kids. Prices for kids purchased after they are born will be higher.

Updates to our Goats for Sale page are posted regularly.

Click here to put a deposit or payment on a kid. Be sure to discuss your selection with Kathryn first. Deposits placed without prior confirmation may not be honored or refunded.

Click here to email Kathryn or call her at (928) 536-7759 for more information on how to reserve the kids of your choice. If you are not sure about which kids might work best for your herd Kathryn would be delighted to discuss this with you.

Our herd is 100% CAE Free, CL abscess free, negative for TB and Brucellosis, negative for Mycoplasma, and is G6S normal.

For information about caring for your new kids and transporting them, please check out our Kid Care Page.

The Next Generation of Kids on the Ranch - Spring 2011