I thought you might like to meet all of the ladies. I usually bring them into the milking barn in two strings of seven and six.
Continue reading Meet the Milk Line →

Kidding season is moving fast. The first kids dropped on February 18th, a couple days before we expected them. Tulip surprised us first, with two beautiful boys.

And after a brief pause (where we hurried to get pens ready), we were off to the races. On Presidents’ Day, it seemed like kids were popping out everywhere. And since some of the human variety were visiting that day, it was extra exciting.

This was the day Rozena Quail had her babies. There was no way I was missing that! Rozena is an older goat and I worried for her. She happened to start kidding when there were lots of human kids visiting…a 4-H Group plus my niece and nephew and attending adults. A big audience.

I sat myself right down in the mud near her, but gave her plenty of space as she paced and bleated. She tried to push a couple of times, but it was clear she was having to work hard at it. Finally, she laid down on the grass right next to me, her back against me, and commenced to bellow and thrash. I ended up with my arms around her neck, trying to chant Kanzeon in my head, but never finishing the sutra completely before she’d distract me with he battling to have that kid. Finally, she threw her head back over me, bellowing hay breath into my face, and with P’s help, delivered an enormous boy.

I was sure she’d have triplets again, but it turned out that she just had a little girl left, and delivered that more easily. The little girl seemed weak; the boy got more of mom’s attention.

Throughout the day we got mamas and babies in pens, setting them up with food and water. Ben and Maddie turned out to be a big help, cheerfully carrying wet baby goats and leading moms to the pens.

We had a couple more days of that. We are very lucky this year; lots of healthy babies, healthy moms. I feel more useful, knowing what to do, knowing what to watch for. I tended to Rozena’s girl expecially. She continued to be weak and had some kind of eye infection. We syringed milk into her and got her nursing, fitfully.

A couple days after Rozena’s kids were born, I checked on her pen and was dismayed to find the big healthy boy limp on the floor of the pen. I milked Rozena quickly, got the syringe, forced milk into him. You can tell with the milk hits their system…they almost immediately start coming back if lack of nutrition is the problem. His eyes flickered and I had hope. But his head continued to loll. I did everything I could to try to convince him to come back into this world, but it quickly became clear that all I could do was hold him and let him go.

It may be that he was stepped on. It happens from time to time, and with a mama as big and pushy as Rozena, it’s certainly possible. Or perhaps something was just wrong. But now we had to redouble on the baby girl. If we lost her, we’d have a doe who would have to be hand milked every day until the milk line started up…at least five weeks away.

Our efforts were good, and as of this writing, little girl is doing great. Her eye is cleared up and she’s nursing furiously. Rozena also is doing well…last year, she lost weight rapidly and I was worried we’d lose her, but I’ve been feeding her up this year and she seems fit and healthy. I am pushing for her to be retired after her time on the milk line this year…or even before. I would miss her terribly, but she was ready for retirement last year. I gotta look out for my big bossy girlfriend.

Another goat I’ve been watching closely is Cypress. A very nervous goat, she had her first year on the milk line last year, and was always very timid. P. found her starting labor in the field, but couldn’t catch her. I tried to help, but all we got for our efforts was a goat, in labor and a bag hanging half out of her, running around the field, darting between us skillfully as she bleated and carried on. We sat in the grass for a while, watching her and trying to sneak up on her when she laid on her side and heaved. But then she’d jump up again, all progress thwarted. I was sure the baby was dying in the birth canal, and we would have left her if we hadn’t been worried that it was taking her so long and she might need help.

Finally, we chased her up to the barn; instead of going in, she went under. Under the barn is a terrible hiding spot, because all the manure falls thru the slats of the elevated floor. But she was near the edge, so I grabbed her two rear feet. She began dragging me, on my belly in the manure, her front feet flailing and kicking manure back into my face. Luckly, she’s small, and I finally got hold of her well enough to drag her out.

We got her to the garden, where she delivered a healthy girl kid. To my vast suprise. And that kid is the beauty queen of the year, I’m telling you. She’s beautiful. I need to get more pics.

I’ve been trying to make it up to Cypress ever since, bringing her little treats, spending time in her pen, petting her and getting her used to hands. I don’t think I’ll really tame her, but maybe I can make things easier on her for the next time.

Round two will start this week…the goats that were not on the milk line last year, for whatever reasons. Only nine of them, but the first 27 babies and their moms are certainly keeping us busy in the meantime.

I feel lucky and gratefuli to be a part of it, happy to be on more solid footing with it this year. I feel like I know what to do for the goats, and I’m not afraid to take initiative or even sometimes to speak up about how we’re doing things. I have a lot to learn…I will admit, I haven’t even read any of the goat books I’ve had for over a year now! But I am grateful for my teachers, whether they have two legs or four.