My hope with this post is to delight those who are interested and to give some very basic information to those who are curious. I also hope to answer some questions I have been asked in the past few days. If you are interested in reading about the breeding, you can find that here:
http://carmelhillbillies.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-breeding-of-goat-farming-post.html
I am pretty sure that in order to be a homeschooler you have to own goats. Right?
Or chickens.
Or bake all your own bread. Or is that grind your own grain?
I have previously established that I have never been a 'horse person'. That is the term I use to cover anyone I grew up with who had large mammals and seemed to enjoy them! I was not drawn to this lifestyle and frankly I did not pay a lot of attention to it.
Last week my brother Nate teased me and mentioned that he wondered if I had ever even spent any time in the barn! There were two main 'barns' in our childhood. One was my Grampie Sjoberg's barn & one was my Great Uncle Glenn's barn. I answered Nate that I had witnessed a calf being born down at the Duff Farm, even though I don't remember a lot about it. I spent time with Grampie while he milked his cows & fed the horse. I even remember pigs being there once. I spent time in the hay mow. Of course we got all our milk from the Duff Farm growing up, so sometimes I just spent time in the stainless steel room while Dad grabbed some milk.
I'm pretty sure those who have known me for a long time think that I have lost it.
And I have.
Just not necessarily about my goaties!
So here I sit with muddy, blood-dried knees & a milk-crusted shirt that I am just now realizing I have had on inside-out for the entire day.
Continuing on...
Due Date: I knew the date we bred Clara, so I counted ahead 150 days and that is how I got her due date of 3/27/14, which is the exact date she ended up having her kids! Does can kid between 145-155 days.
(The buck we used.)
Pregnancy: I was unsure of pregnancy for a very long time. The first seeds of doubt came when about 3 weeks after she was bred, (the next estrus cycle if she was not pregnant), she became loud & showed signs of estrus. Obviously she was not in estrus or she would not have kidded this week!
I read & read my goat books and remained unsure! Eventually though, she started developing an udder. As a first time freshener, this was a sign I felt very comfortable was a true sign of pregnancy. Also, last winter she lost a little weight due to the lack of forage that she usually eats. This winter she gained weight.
On Day 145 of Clara's pregnancy I cleaned out her stall & laid down some lime & then some fresh straw. We were ready.
Kinda.
Except for the
anxiety I felt in the pit of my stomach, unsure of exactly what to do with Clara if she needed help. Unsure of exactly what to do with the kids if they needed help. It didn't help matters that this is one of the coldest Marches on record and I did not want to walk in the Goat Shed in the wee hours of the morning to find kids that were too-cold and had died, something that has happened to a few people I know. Plus, I have had the experience of having a very sick goatie and I want to avoid soemthing like that ever happening again!! I found it a little bit paralyzing and I wore a path back and forth to the Shed, checking on Clara.
More specifically checking her 'nether region' for mucus. Checking her spine for loosening
ligaments.
In the weeks previous to this I've been gathering my supplies, all the while frantically reading goat books and online articles about what to expect during kidding.
Did I really need to buy a calf puller?
Let's hope not because I didn't!
I bought nipples & iodine & gloves & rubbing alcohol,
just in case. I bought a milkpail & gentle cleaner for the udder & collected & cleaned some old towels. We vaccinated Clara & Katahdin, (our two does), and purchased vaccinations to give any kids that would come.
Noelle wanted to be woken up for kidding. Micah did not! Noelle asked me if she could name a kid.
Now that was hard to give up! I gave in and she did indeed name our girl, (doeling): Esmeralda, Esme for short. Our buckling is not going to stay with us, but Micah named him Nahum anyway.
I literally
prayed that kidding would come.
Day 149 and in the morning I see this glorious drip of mucus.
There had been some mucus before but I really thought that Day 149 would be the day.
But... it wasn't.
Day 149: 11 p.m. - Kevin checks and the report is 'nothing.'
Day 150: 5 a.m.- Nothing.
I was actually not feeling 100% and I fell back asleep at 7 a.m. and woke up again at 9:00. Checked her again. Nothing.
I am SO thankful that I went down again around 10:00-10:30ish. The first thing I saw was the mucus plug in the straw! WOW! Then I saw two little hooves poking out! I am so thankful that the timing was right. I was home all day & not working. The family we got Clara & Katahdin from haven't had the chance to see any of their births. They always have come to the barn to find kids!
I very excitedly ran up toward the house shouting, "It's happening! It's happening!"
The boy who hadn't wanted to see the birth excitedly pulled on boots and coat, as did Noelle & as did Kevin! I grabbed my clean towels and some other supplies. We brought a few porch chairs in. My doe, Clara, has a great temperament. But I didn't want to scare her, so we talked in quiet tones. Poor Katahdin, (our other doe), was expelled from our goat shed and wasn't too happy about it. She was right outside the door, very curious about what was going on inside!
I've watched enough Youtube videos of goats giving birth at this point, (yeah. seriously.), to know that Clara was considerably quieter than many goats are while having contractions & giving birth. Really, moments after we arrived in the Goat Shed, Clara was giving birth.
This is the best presentation. Front hooves & head first.
There are different schools of thought about nearly everything in life, aren't there? Co-sleeping with your baby or separate rooms? Homeschooling, public school, or Christian school? GMO-free food? Free trade chocolate? Lots of choices and many are not right/wrong ones. The list goes on and on. So it is with these matters as well. As I mentioned, I did a lot of reading leading up to this birth and watched a lot of disgusting videos that made me want to vomit.
Some goat owners start pulling on & helping the kid out as soon as it starts coming out. Some goats give birth lying down, some standing up. I decided ahead of time that if I wasn't needed to assist the birth than I wasn't going to help with the pulling and I would let nature take it's course. Much like what reassured me when I was pregnant, goats, (in my case- women!) have been having babies for thousands of years. It's all probably going to be okay!
It does not hurt the baby to fall at birth. I was worried that Clara would step on her, but she was pretty aware of where she was. Of course the question of the moment was 'Girl or Boy?' but we didn't want to disturb the natural process very much so we didn't immediately look to see.
If the kid isn't breathing at birth you do need to rub it down and wipe the mucus from it's nose and mouth. This kid, (later to be named Esme), was breathing just fine. I did wipe her down a bit, but Clara nearly immediately turned to her and started licking. That is one of the reasons why you put down straw and not shavings. Shavings are easier for the goat to ingest.
Several times during this process it was very cool to see the natural instincts that God gave animals.
I had instructions as to how to cut and tie the umbilical cord, if needed. However it usually breaks on it's own, (as happened with both kids Clara had), or the doe will chew through it.
Goats typically have 2 babies, although some of my books say 2-4 are the normal. We didn't know what to expect or how closely they would come. However, it wasn't long at all until it was clear Clara was having contractions. Being my first time, I wasn't sure if this would be the placenta coming or another baby. Her rear was away from me, so I moved into another stall and stood on a chair to see what was happening. Pretty soon we saw hooves again.
You can really see what the mucus plug looks like here, once it is out. The 'bubble' I didn't get to see with Kid #1, and this one wasn't as big and pronounced as I thought it would be.
Kid #2 presented in the second best way - back hooves first, then butt. Any other presentation but the two we experienced often will need a little intervention - something I am very glad I didn't have to do.
Again, a little towel drying and some licking off by Clara. By this point, Kid #1 was trying to stand.
Not sure if there would be more kids, we were on the lookout for that. Clara had kidded these two so quietly that it was hard to tell if more were coming.
A little more licking...
Nothing else seemed to be coming. We gave Clara some warm water with molasses. She earned it! She hadn't had any feed that morning and she was hungry so we also let her eat at this time. The change in her appearance was dramatic. She got bigger with her pregnancy so slowly that I hadn't realized how big she had actually gotten. She now appears very sunken in on the sides and much, much skinnier!
It wasn't until this point that we checked to see their sex. First a girl, then a boy!
It as also at this point that my kids started begging me to keep the boy too! This is why we had discussed this far, far ahead of time and made arrangements for any boys that would come. Children are easily swayed by cute little cuddly creatures. However, that cute, cuddly boy is going to turn into a smelly buck that pees on itself to attract a female!! If you are familiar with the 'buck smell' you know what I am talking about! Some people associate buck smell with goat milk and that is why they don't like it. Or at least why they think they don't like it! Clara's buckling is too close a relative for us to use for breeding, even if I wanted to keep a buck. We knew beforehand that we would not be keeping any males and I had arranged for a place for them.
It is very important that colostrum gets in baby mammals ASAP. Some of my books said 20 minutes and some said within an hour. After feeding Clara her molasses water I tried milking her. I don't have a lot of experience milking goats - just milking 2 goats a few times each. However, even a newbie like me knows when nothing is coming out! To stimulate things, I put Esme down to nurse. That's what she wanted to do anyway!
She didn't really get anything but she was able to stimulate the let down of the milk. I then milked Clara, what I could get anyway. Colostrum is indeed a sticky, sticky substance!!
They each really only got a minimal amount in them. I saved what I had milked out and focused on keeping an eye on Clara & the babies and dipped the umbilical cords in iodine. It has really surprised me how quickly they have shriveled up! Incredible! We took time for some more snuggles too!
It is very important that the doe passes her placenta within 12 hours at the most. I checked on Clara frequently. After about 6 hours she did indeed pass it. Most does will eat the placenta and some owners will let this happen and some won't. I had decided, after reading about it, to let her eat at least some of it, if she wanted to. However, she did not even attempt to. Our dog, however, certainly wanted it!!
Even in the coldest of winter it is usually okay to keep little goaties out in the barn. They are, after all, farm animals!! Most of my books suggested a 'goat box', which is basically a smaller area with blankets so that they can stay warm. Some say tha once you bring them in, which most can't resist doing, you should keep them in. Some say it doesn't matter. Again, many choices. I chose to bring them in. We have a 'shop' which is where Kevin works. He has enjoyed having them around and watching them! It's a good place for Piper, our dog, to get used to them. Some people won't have dogs around goats and I'm sure this is often a poor combination. However, we've had Clara for almost two years now, we have chickens and ducks and a rabbit. Piper is quite used to being around other animals. We have spent a good amount of time snuggling the kids in the shop, but we have also prepared a box with a towel for a snuggly and safe place for them to sleep.
They don't stay in the box the whole time. Not at all! The first day they did a lot of learning to walk. They very much look like Bambi on the ice - trying to get their footing! The second day they were prancing around. Goat are very social. They follow us around the shop and stay very close to each other.
My girl is having a little trouble with one of her back feet.
By the first morning, less than 24 hours after being born, they were pooping out that first blacky tar meconium. Super sticky!!
I have had many questions about why we didn't keep them with Clara to be dam-raised and why we are choosing to bottle feed. Again, it's another one of those choices. There are good goat keepers on both sides. I will tell you some of the reasons why I decided to bottle feed them:
~We will have much gentler goats, being hand-raised. Clara and Katahdin were bottle-raised and they are very, very easy to handle.
The whole reason that we have goats is so that we can enjoy the fresh, raw, glorious & delicious milk that goats can give us! In order to have that milk, goats need to freshen/have kids every year. If you leave a kid with a doe, some kids will continue to nurse long after they need the nutrition of their mama's milk. It's impossible to keep a kid from nursing when she is with her mama. We plan to wean at about 8 weeks old. Some kids could nurse off their mama up to a year. We want that milk for us!
~Contrary to what my daughter feels and what some think, it is not at all damaging Clara, hurting her feelings, for us to take the kids. I know Clara very well and she is well & happy and adjusting to this new thing called 'milking'!
These are the main reasons why I chose to remove the kids from Clara and to bottle raise them. Ask any dairy farmer you may know. It is very common to remove babies after birth and to bottle feed them! It's really okay! Although it certainly is easier in some ways, in the short term! Milking to put in bottles & washing bottles! However, in the long term our goal here is milk production and we treat our animals very, very kindly!
In fact, because we are not a 'farm' and Clara is indeed our pet, we have brought the kids to her just to see how she responds. She licks them some, but doesn't take a lot of interest in them. I am confident that if they had stayed with her she would have taken care of them though.
I have already mentioned that the kids weren't sucking very well. I had read about tube feeding but I certainly didn't want to go down that road if I didn't have to!! I had the correct caprine nipples & I tried and tried to teach them. I ended up using a vet syringe some because I knew how important it was for them to get the colostrum.
I was unprepared for the bottle feeding to be so difficult. I had thought it would all come naturally and easily. Well, it didn't! At 11:00 p.m. Kevin & I finally had success, after much effort, using an old glass baby bottle that I drank from as a baby! Even though that nipple is smaller than a teat, the kids could get milk out of it and they just weren't getting any milk out of the nipple I purchased.
Right now I am milking twice a day and feeding the kids four times a day. They are getting a little over 4 oz. at a feeding and we will be increasing that. Once they learned to suck well that first night, they are right 'on it' and know exactly what they are doing! I tried the caprine nipples again this morning, (at almost 48 hours after bith), and they still couldn't quite get it so I used the baby bottle again. We mostly feed them with them standing on the floor. It's a more natural stance for them and they are very squirmy on the lap!
I have a lovely double boiler from dear Nancy and I use that to gently warm the milk. For the feedings that come directly after the milking I just put it right from the milk pail into the bottle.
Goats are ruminents, ('4 stomachs'), but at first only one of its four stomach chambers is functioning. Because of this a kid digests milk like a puppy or human baby with a one-part stomach. The bottle needs to be held at a certain angle and the goats head and neck must be in a certain position in order for the milk to go to the right place.
A little lengthier than I would have liked - but that is our basic experience with the birth of our two kids from our dear Clara! I will do a future post about milking, but I am so bad at it that at this point I am not qualified to do so!
