Amelia delivered her girls on Saturday, March 25th. She had triplets, but unfortunately one passed away to an apparent birth defect. The other two girls are healthy and thriving and Amelia is a very patient mother to them.
Amelia’s Twins
Champagne’s Triplets
Champagne delivered triplets on the afternoon of March 12th. Kati was the primary mid-wife and she did a fine job getting all the kids off to a good start. Champagne is proving to be a good mom – attentive but not overly obsessed.
We’re excited to see how she does on milk test and are planning to retain a doeling from this breeding, but have not yet finalized our decision. We are limiting the number of kids we keep this year so our final choices will need to wait until we get the rest of the kids on the ground.
Amanda’s Twins
Amanda delivered a pair of buck/doe twins on March 8th. The kids were so eager to get into this world that they were both trying to come out at the same time. A little internal intervention (much to Amanda’s displeasure) got things rearranged so the kids could come in an orderly fashion. Both kids were good sized with the buckling weighing in at 3.7 lbs and the doeling at 3.3 lbs.
Marceline’s Girls
Marceline made me late for work on Monday. Let me take a moment to express my gratitude for having a job that allows me to call in late due to “Early Morning Goat Birth”.
Marcy hadn’t shown signs of imminent labor so I was surprised to hear the tiny bleats of a new-born goat coming from her stall when I checked the barn before leaving for work. I looked over the door to see two recently delivered kids and a rather confused Marcy who didn’t know quite what to make of the newcomers. Once we got the family moved into private quarters, Marcy settled down and her mothering instincts kicked in just fine. She’s proving to be a very conscientious mother to her twin doelings.
Glory’s Twin Boys
As I was working in the barn on Saturday, I noticed Glory hanging out chewing her cud all alone. She seemed to be in the mood for conversation, so I told her how excited I was for her kids and, if she didn’t mind, I’d like two girls and a boy. That’s when she stood up, turned her back on me and went outside. I think that was her way of telling me she didn’t take orders. But I can’t complain because she delivered big, healthy twin bucklings on Sunday, February 26. They weighed in at 4.5 and 4.92 pounds–little monsters.
Both of these boys will be future herd sires and with a Superior Genetics mother, I’m expecting great things from them.
Chloe’s Triplets
Saturday was a beautiful sunny, warm, almost 60* February day in Minnesota….perfect for spending time in the barn waiting for a doe to kid. While the rest of the girls were lounging in the sun, poor Chloe was locking in a birthing stall inside. But I like to think she was too preoccupied to notice. 🙂
Chloe delivered an adorable set of triplets on Saturday, February 18 at 3:15 pm. She delivered all the babies easily and the whole family is doing well.
Dolly Twins
Dolly delivered buck/doe twins on Saturday, January 28th. She had a easy delivery and both kids were up and about very quickly. We’ve been waiting 3 years to keep a doeling out of Dolly so this little girl will be retained. Her brother is a very sharp, dairy buckling that will be sold as a herd sire. He’s just a ball of fluff here in the baby photos but he’s looking fancier every day. I might be tempted to keep him myself if I hadn’t already retained a buckling from Dolly last year.
Hurricane’s Boy
Hurricane delivered twin bucklings on Saturday, January 28th. Unfortunately, one of the boys was a very tiny 1.2 pounds and despite our best efforts he didn’t survive. But big brother is doing well and Hurricane is showering him with plenty of love and devoted attention, much to his frustration at times.
Quintuplets for Stormstruck
It’s often hard to balance raising livestock with working a full time job and never more so than during birthing season. It’s always best to be nearby in case a doe needs help delivering or a baby needs help getting started, especially when it’s January in Minnesota. So this year we are inducing our does to deliver a day or two early so that we can be there to attend the births. We induced Stormstruck one day early and I’m so thankful we did because she gave us our first set of quintuplets on Friday January 27th about 5:30 p.m. when we could all be there to help.
When there are that many babies, it’s not unusual for them to be tangled up and for the doe to need assistance. We helped pull a couple babies and spent a lot of time helping to get everyone dried off and warmed up. The babies were all a good size ranging from 2.7 – 3.7 pounds with four boys and a girl.
So far Stormstruck has been nursing them all with no problem although we will be teaching them to take a bottle so that we can supplement any that seem to be lagging behind as they grow.
