2015 Kidding Schedule

Kathryn's 2015 Goat Kidding Diary

A Kid From Detroit

Detroit/Roscoe

5/7/15 I wasn’t even sure that Detroit was bred, her udder wasn’t developing and she didn’t act pregnant.  So I did an ultrasound on her a few weeks ago.  I saw a kid and it was very active.  It made David and I laugh as we watched the antics of the unborn baby.

Finally, a few days before Detroit’s due date, she started doing some homework.  Her udder enlarged and her rump softened.  But her due date came and went without her baby being born.

Today, three days past her due date, her rump was fully soft and she was a little needy.  She even camped out on the back deck by herself so that she could get attention from her people whenever they walked by.  This afternoon I took the hint and put her into the kid creep pen (I guess I’ll have to rename that the Al Fresco Auxiliary Kidding Pen) and kicked out the big kids.

It wasn’t long before Detroit crawled into the “kid fort” that is in that pen and started into hard labor.  I radioed to David, and then crawled into the fort with Detroit.  She had two white hooves extending out from her vulva.  She continued to push and soon a tongue and nose showed up.  It didn’t take Detroit long to finish pushing out her 5.8# doeling.

This is our last kidding of the season and what a delightful ending.  Detroit and her baby are doing great.

Rockin' Rosetta

Rosetta/Gideon

5/3/15 Rosetta loves coming in for lead feeding, but a few days ago she was reluctant to jump up onto her milk stand.  David put her grain on the deck of the stand so that Rosetta could stand on the floor to eat.  She was fine with that arrangement.  I was too, because I suspected that Rosetta was carrying triplets – a big load for a yearling.

Today Rosetta’s rump was soft and her milk was in.  In the afternoon I put her into the kid creep (yes, the kids got evicted again!).  I sat out with her while she worked to get her kids ready for delivery.  She didn’t lie down, but rather paced from side to side.  

At 4 PM her water broke and a lot of very clear, thick fluid poured out.  She paced some more and a lot more fluid came.  By 5 PM when she still hadn’t started into hard labor I got worried.  If she waited longer there would be no lubricating fluid left to help the kid slid out.  I decided to investigate.

I cleaned up her backside and my hands and arms.  I put on nitrile gloves and slathered my right hand with lubricant.  David held Rosette while I slowly inserted a few fingers into her vagina.  I felt a leg.  It was a BIG leg.  I felt further inside and found a head, a REALLY BIG head.  But the nose was stuck at the pelvic brim which was causing the kid to not proceed to the exit.  I aligned the nose into the birth canal and applied some traction to help get that big boy out.  I could tell that one leg was folded back but due to this being a big kid and Rosetta being a yearling, I felt that it was better to go ahead with that position instead of trying to find the other leg. 

Rosetta pushed, I gently pulled, and finally the 8.3# spotted buckling came out.  He was pretty dry already since so much fluid had come out ahead of him.  Not a great situation, but it resolved well.  He was feisty and active.

After waiting 20 minutes or so for the next kid, I decided to check it out.  I felt a bubble in the birth canal and popped it.  I found one leg and a head.  I gently pulled while Rosetta pushed and out came another buckling.  This one also came with one leg back and he weighed in at a more reasonable 6.3 pounds. 

I bounced Rosetta’s belly and didn’t feel any more kids.  I would have preferred small triplet does instead of a monster buck and his brother, but Rosetta handled it nicely.  She milked well, and we look forward to her being on our milking team.

Piper Pops A Pretty Pair

Piper/Roscoe

4/29/15 I had expected Piper to kid several days ago when she was in the pen with Raziah when Raziah kidded.  But she didn’t.  Yesterday and today we kept a close eye on her but she still didn’t kid.  This evening I put her in the “Big Kid” side of the kid creep so that I could monitor her on the Goat Cam, and made the big kids sleep with the little kids.  Piper was starting to look serious about downloading.

Around 8 PM, as we almost finished dinner, we could see on the Goat Cam that Piper was starting into hard labor.  We headed out and got set up for cleaning her baby.  When I had done an ultrasound on Piper a month ago I had only seen one baby.

Piper pushed like crazy and finally a 6.2# orangey-brown doeling with moonspots and white splashes was born with one leg folded back along her body.  Joan cleaned her off.

Piper did not relax as if she were done and soon started back into hard labor.  She pushed out a second doeling, this brown girl with white belly band came in nose and toes position and weighed in at 5.2#. What a delightful surprise.

Twin Boys For Raziah

Raziah/Boeshane

4/28/15 Joan is here!  It’s great to have her here.  She is a wonderful help with the kids and big goats.

This morning Raziah didn’t seem ready to kid, her rump was not fully soft and her milk wasn’t in.  But she thought otherwise.  She didn’t eat her grain and she didn’t go into the barn for alfalfa.  I moved her into a separate area and got ready for kids.  Joan moved Piper into the same area since Piper also was acting like she wanted to kid.  Since Raziah and Piper are buddies they settle right in together.

Raziah worked on getting her babies lined up for delivery, Piper mimicked her every move.  If Raziah stretched and moaned, Piper stretched and moaned.  If Raziah had a small contraction, so did Piper.  Around 11 AM Raziah started into hard labor and fairly quickly pushed out an 8.2# buckling in nose and toes position.  I halfway expected Piper to push out a kid then also, but I think that was just a bit too much for her.  Piper sniffed the newborn and hightailed it to the other side of the pen.  Piper’s mimicry had found its bounds.

Joan cleaned off the buckling while Raziah worked to position her next kid.  The second born, a 6.5# buck came with one leg back.  Raziah seemed to think that her work was done, so I got her some molasses water, cleaned her up, and milked out some colostrum to feed her hungry duo. 

Maddening Madeleine

Madeleine/Gideon

4/25/15 Madeleine is a tall, beautiful yearling.  For the last few weeks she has been growing wider with her pregnancy and starting to soften in the rump, plus building a very lovely udder.  She was doing so much homework that we really expected her to kid early.  I’d check the ligaments around her tail several times a day, plus feel her silky soft udder to detect any serious milk production.  She felt close enough to pull off a stealth kidding so we kept a very close eye on her.  David would check her several times at night on Goat TV until he finally came to bed around 2AM, then I’d check the Goat Cam every hour or so for the reminder of the night, though lots of time she was out of camera range and I’d have to get dressed and actually head out to check.

Last evening I couldn’t feel her tail head ligaments but there was still a lot of muscle tone that usually relaxes right before birth.  I put Madeleine and her best buddy, Chica, into the "big kid" creep area and made the big kids sleep over with the smaller kids.  Surprisingly no one had a problem with this setup.  This made spying on Madeleine much easier since she couldn’t hide from the camera.  It didn’t, however, make her kid.  She still refused to lose her load even though it was 2 days past her due date.

Today her rump seemed totally flaccid and her milk was in.  Finally!  Around mid-morning Madeleine picked the same small pen where Chica had kidded.  I closed her in there and rotated the camera to keep an eye on her.

Around 1 PM - and within minutes of us digging into a wonderful plate of home-made eggplant parmesan for lunch - I saw Madeleine’s ears start to rhythmically flair up and drop down.  I saw her top lip curl.  I grabbed a pair of nitrile gloves and headed out.

When I got there, Madeleine had already pushed out a big head, still encased in the birth sack.  I radioed to David that it was not a false alarm, and then I tried to find a leg to pull forward.  It was a big head and the kid seemed pretty stuck.  I felt along one side of the head but didn’t find a leg, I felt along the other side and found a knee.  I rotated the hoof out and pulled the leg straight.  Out came an 8.7# buckling covered in yellow slime.  He had passed meconium and a lot of it.   David worked to clean the fella off and get him dry. That is a huge kid for a yearling mom to have!

Soon Madeleine started pushing again and a dark bubble with a head inside worked its way out.  I popped the bubble and lots of yellow fluid poured out.  I wanted the kid out fast since passing meconium before birth can be a sign of stress. I applied some traction and out came a totally limp kid and I feared that it was lifeless.  But David worked his magic and soon a loud, clear scream signaled that the 7.2# doeling was doing fine.

Madeleine milked amazingly well for a first freshener, making plenty of colostrum for her big twins plus some for the freezer. As maddening as it was to wait for Madeleine to decide to kid, she is definitely in the running for our BMR BFF (Best First Freshener) Award. This girl is lovely and productive! 

Twins For Chica

Chica/Gideon

4/20/15 Even though Chica didn’t seem to realize it, I could tell that today would be her hardest work day of the year – I couldn’t feel the ligaments around her tail head and her milk was in . She came in as usual for her morning lead feeding of grain, then went out to the barn for some alfalfa pellets.  However when I checked on her half an hour later, she was off by herself and it looked like she was figuring out that today was different.

I went in and got some work done in the cheese kitchen, and then dragged out the kidding kit, my camp chair, and a Sudoku book.  Chica had picked a small pen with a run-in shed to have her babies, so I just closed the pen off from the other goats and actually got a couple Sudoku puzzles done before Chica started into hard labor at around 11 AM.

David came out and we got set up for catching kids.  Chica had a birth bubble showing and we could see the little white hooves floating inside.   Chica had several hard pushing sessions and got the head and hooves pushed out while still in the birth sack.  I popped the bubble and helped guide the 7.6# buckling into the world.  He is actually black with highlights that make him look brown.  It’s fun coloring that I really like.

Once the big fella was dried off, Chica pushed out a 7.2# black doeling with red trim.  She, also, came in the classic nose and toes position.  Those are some big kids for a yearling to deliver, but Chica didn’t have a problem.  She stood to be milked and gave enough to feed her twins.  We are very excited to welcome Chica to our milking line-up!

Cool Calm Celia

Celia/Boeshane

4/17/15 David left for Tucson on business at 3 o'clock this morning so I added his ranch jobs to my list of chores.  Hmmm, I hadn’t realized that about all of David’s jobs require lifting really heavy things!  By the time I got the animals fed and goats milked plus more of David’s work done – turning blue cheeses, watering his greenhouse plants, tracking down our range cattle in order to feed the orphan calf, etc. I was ready for a break.  However, I had noticed that Celia was being needy one minute and looking for a private place the next.  So around 10 AM I made her a private pen and even brought out a chair and Sudoku game so that I could hang out with her.  I had about 5 minutes of puzzle work in before Celia starting into hard labor.

Celia is a yearling so she really didn’t understand what was going on.  But she pushed like crazy – sometimes while lying down, sometimes while standing up.  Finally she laid down and her water broke.  She kept pushing and soon had two hooves and a nose showing.  I pulled the legs forward so that it was a bit more ergonomic, and out came a lovely black 5.1 pound doeling.  She was trying to stand up within minutes.  I don’t know how David keeps these kids contained!!  I felt like I was juggling and it was only ONE kid! 

Celia was pretty calm about this whole experience so I let her do a lot of the cleaning while I went to get her some molasses water.  Celia’s daughter was ravenous and active.  Usually kids will take a small meal and then a long nap.  This girl chugged 10 ounces of colostrum in short order and then stayed standing up, she refused to lie down – for hours.  She was chasing Rosalee's twins around the pen and fussing for more food. Watch out Dan and Debora, this girl is going to keep you jumping!

Awesome Rosalee

Rosalee/Gideon

4/16/15 This morning Rosalee came in for lead feeding and didn’t seem terribly close to kidding.  But later in the morning I saw her hunting for a private place.  After lunch I evicted the big kids from their kid creep since it has a nice Goat Cam, and put Rosalee in there.  The kids were not happy about that, but Rosalee settled right in. 

At 4 PM I saw on the Goat Cam that Rosalee had started into hard labor.  I headed out and by the time I got there she had a red birthing bubble pushed out along with two hooves and a tongue.  Just a few more pushing sessions and out came a lovely black buckling with white spots and black ears.

David and Rosalee cleaned the 7# fella off, and then Rosalee pushed out a head. I checked alongside the kid’s neck and felt a hoof.  I pulled that out and the 6.5# black spotted doeling with frosted ears easily slid out.  Again David and Rosalee did the clean up.  I headed in to get some molasses water for Rosalee.  It really doesn’t get easier then that! Rosalee is an awesome doe!

Dixie Delivers

Dixie/Roscoe

4/9/15 Dixie didn’t seem to know that she was pregnant.  In fact, since her due date had already come and gone it seemed that she had even forgotten to actually kid!  But this evening when she came into the milking parlor for lead feeding she was just a bit hesitant to jump up onto her stand.  Once she finished her grain she hopped down, ate some animal crackers that David gave her, and headed out into the pen just like normal.  Her ligaments had not been detectable all day, so my guess was a middle of the night kidding.  Not my favorite.

As we finished up with lead feeding the other does, David looked out into the pen and announced that Dixie was “walking like she has a stick up her butt and is stringing a big goober”.   Hurray!  It would be an evening kidding instead of David and I having to sleep with one eye open.

I headed out to feed the does and put Dixie into a kidding pen.  She got right to work pushing hard.  She stood for her kidding instead of lying down, just pawing a little bit here and there.  I did a 2 finger check and only felt a head.  Reaching in just a bit further I felt a hoof but it was just out of my reach to pull forward.  Once the head was out I was able to pull the leg forward to help streamline the delivery.

Dixie is a first freshening yearling and she did great job getting that 6.7# buckling born in very short order.

A Windswept Spring

Goldthwaite Windswept/Goldthwaite Einkorn

4/7/15 In what was the easiest delivery of the season, Windswept Luc blew in.  Luc comes to us from the nationally famous Goldthwaite herd and we are thrilled that Becky has let this fella come here to BMR to work.  Luc was born 1/30/15 and is already a big boy.  He is a very wide, strong boned, long and correct buckling with lots of milk in his genetics.

Thank you, Becky Goldthwaite. And a big thanks to Michelle from Spotted Dairy Air in Wyoming for delivering this lovely boy to us.

Silent Melody

Melody/Roscoe

4/6/15 First thing this morning I headed into the doe pen, mostly to turn off the water hydrant since the goats had managed to pull the hose off of it and there was now a small lake forming.  As I walked past Melody I noticed that she was stringing mucus and that she was getting ready to kid.  She was wandering off to be by herself and “baby talking”. 

I went inside and told David that we would milk the goats early, as soon as he had the kids fed, so that we’d be ready to help Melody when she finally got down to business.  Then I headed out the door to do some chores.  That’s when I saw Mel lying down with a leg sticking out from her vulva.  Not just a hoof, but a whole, long leg.  I headed back inside to tell David that we would not be milking early.

David put Mel in a kidding pen and brought some hot, sanitizing wash water out.  Then he went to feed the kids while I got the pen ready for Mel’s kids.  Right at 7 AM, which is when we are supposed to start milking, Mel had a few silent pushes.  The only way that I knew she was really serious was that her top lip curled out with each contraction.

After seeing that whole leg extended earlier, I was surprised when the first kid part that Mel pushed out was a tongue, then came one hoof and a nose, followed by the knee of the opposite leg.  Not quite a perfect presentation but A-OK.  The tiny 4.5# brown doeling easily slid out into the world.

David and Mel worked to clean her off and then we waited.  I hated that the does were fussing to be milked but felt that I’d rather be with Mel just in case she needed any help.

Finally Mel had a few more of those silent pushing sessions and out came an amazing birth bubble.  I wish I’d had my camera.  But, instead of snapping pictures, I burst the bubble and out slid a 5.4# brown doeling with white splashes.  She came out in nose and toes position. 

Almost before the doeling was cleaned off Mel again started pushing.  This time she actually quietly grunted a time or two. The splashy third born doeling weighed in at 5.6# and came with nose and toes first. I'm very glad that Mel waited to kid until we were there. If she had kidded at night we would not even have heard her. 

All the girls are doing great, Melody sucked down a gallon of warm molasses water, David fed the newborns their colostrum, and I went in to finally start milking the very unhappy does.

Alchemy Performs

Alchemy/Boeshane

3/30/15 Kimmy (Alchemy) doesn’t like when I try to check her ligaments or udder to see if she is getting close to kidding.  But today I could see that her udder was filling.  Later in the morning Kimmy separated herself from the herd and started digging.  She had moved to an area that could be closed off from the other goats so I went ahead and shut the gates so that she could have some privacy.

It was a very busy day in the cheese kitchen, but I did try to sneak away every once in a while to check on Kimmy.  At 3 PM, just as David and I finished up packaging a batch of our BMR Goats Milk Caramel Sauce, I checked on Kimmy. She was starting into hard labor. 

Kimmy pushed like crazy and quite soon two big legs and a big head made an appearance.  With another few pushes and a couple of screams (from Kimmy, not me) out came a feisty 8.5# buckling.  I laid him on an empty feed sack.  David and Kimmy worked to clean the boy up.

Then, without a lot of warning, Kimmy pushed hard and a kid literally flew out of her.  The kid scored a perfect “10” for nailing the landing of a three-point head stand into a puddle of amniotic fluid.  The backend of this circus performer was pointed to the sky so it was very easy to see that the little cannonball was a doeling.  She weighed in at 5.8#. 

The performance of "Kimmy And The Kids" was awesome – and all without a safety net!

Serenity Survives

Serenity/Roscoe

3/23/15 Serenity is not a small doe.  When not pregnant she is still close to 200 pounds.  And this year, while pregnant, she outdid herself.  She was huge.  But two weeks ago she stopped coming up the dairy steps for her grain.  I wondered if it was just because it was so much work lugging all those kids around, but realized that a heavily pregnant doe that isn’t eating every meal is in danger.  When a doe (or anyone) isn’t getting enough calories they burn body fat.  Burning too much fat, too quickly, produces ketones which can be toxic.  

I monitored Serenity’s urine for ketones and she wasn’t producing any.  That was good.  I tried coaxing her into a pen or into the milking parlor for extra food but she wasn’t interested.  Then one morning she did show that she was throwing ketones.  It was time to ramp up my efforts.

I put Serenity into a kidding pen at night with an all-you-can-eat buffet of alfalfa hay, kid creep pellets, alfalfa pellets, grain, and more.  During the day I offered her small meals every hour or two – carrots, raisins, animal crackers, green beans, whatever she would eat.  (Cabbage and fruit bread were not favorites!) She stopped throwing ketones and really enjoyed her special treatment.

It was a hard decision but I decided to induce Serenity to kid at Day 145 which is 5 days earlier than her due date .  It is a two day process to induce.  According to the literature the timing of my injections would put her into labor today between 3 and 6 PM, but according to the few times I’ve induced before I felt that she should kid around 10 AM.

Serenity split the difference by going into hard labor at 12:30 PM.  I did a two finger check inside and felt a head but no feet.  I also noticed that the eyes felt sunken deep into the sockets.  Not a good sign.  I had David come out to hold Serenity while I did a more invasive check on the kid in the birth canal.  I could tell that it was dead already – the “rubber chicken” feel of a dead kid is hard to not notice or forget.

I checked around for a front leg to help get the kid out more easily, but there wasn’t one in the birth canal.  I reached in further but couldn’t discern what parts were what.  I broke the birth sack which made it much easier to feel for the body part. It also indicated that the kid was dead since there was no gush of fluid when I burst the sack.  I finally found a leg and pulled it into the canal along with the head and out came a dead buckling covered in brown, nasty looking slime.

I went right back into Serenity to pull the next kid, hoping for a better result.  The leg I found actually pulled away from me!!!  Life!!  I found both front legs and a head and out came a lovely, lively, golden brown buckling with moon spots.

Once David had that fella cleaned off I went back to find the next kid.  I felt a leg and tried to find a head that went with it.  The head was folded back along the kid’s body in the “dreaded head back” position.  But I could tell that this kid was dead already so I wasn’t gentle, plus the head moved quite easily since there was no resistance like an alive kid would have.  During my work to move the kid into the birth canal Serenity had a hard contraction which caused lots of that nasty, brown slime to spew out and cover me from arms to feet.  Not an experience that I’d like to repeat.  I finally got that head into the birth canal and found a matching leg.  Out came another dead buckling.

Again I went in and again I found a head back, dead kid.  I repeated what I’d done for buckling #3 and out came bucking #4 – long dead as expected, but (thankfully) without the slime shower that I’d gotten from the other kid.

Serenity is looking great – though a bit in need of some body toning.  She milked half a gallon of rich, yellow colostrum, ate a bunch of animal crackers, and took a very long, well deserved, nap.  The surviving buckling is doing great and already eating us out of house and home.  I took a nice long shower. 

Kidding Around With Kestrel

Kestrel/Roscoe

3/18/15  Kestrel spent the night in a kidding pen.  She was quite content in there even though she was having preliminary contractions.  However just before 5 AM she started to fuss, calling out to say that something wasn’t right.   I was still in bed but I heard her over the baby monitor that hangs in the doe barn.  I checked her out on the Goat Cam monitor that is in the bedroom (there are also monitors in the office and the milking parlor).  I didn’t see any sign that kidding was imminent but I got up and got dressed anyway.  I went out to the barn and sat with her for awhile until she calmed down.

After a while the does all got up, stretched, and headed out of the barn.  Kestrel wanted to follow them so I let her out of the kidding pen and I went to get some chores done.  Kestrel continued to fuss.

Just before 10 AM I brought Kestrel back into the kidding pen.  She was being so fussy that I wanted to do a 2-finger check of her birth canal to be sure that there wasn’t a problem brewing.  I gloved up, cleaned up Kestrel’s perineum area, lubed up, and slowly felt inside her vagina.  I thought that I felt two hooves, but couldn’t tell for sure.  I got out of there and let Kestrel work some more. David asked me if I thought Kess would have twins. I laughed and said that she better at least have triplets since she was so big.

Shortly afterwards Kestrel started into hard labor.  Soon she pushed out a 7.9# blond belted buckling with one leg back.  Hmmm, I guess what I felt in the birth canal was actually a hoof and a nose.  Kestrel screamed as the fella was pushed out.  Almost immediately Kestrel pushed out a second blond buckling.  This one weighed in at 8.2# and also came with one leg folded back.

Both boys are amazingly long with wonderfully long, wide rumps, strong heads, and good bone.  So far we are really liking the confirmation of our Roscoe-sired babies. However I sure would have liked a little doeling to go along with those strapping boys.

A Short Work Day For Gwyn

Gwyn/Roscoe

3/15/15 When Gwyn didn't show up for lead feeding this morning we knew she was going to kid soon. Once we finished milking and lead feeding the girls, I went out to find her.  She was laying in one of our auxiliary run-in sheds and she was having preliminary contractions. 

I thought that was a great place for her to kid so I brought out my kidding kit and left it there while I went into the main barn to feed the does.  However, Gwyn decided that she wanted to head in with the girls for breakfast.  Once she was there, David moved her into a regular kidding pen where she laid right down and started having more preliminary contractions.   I went to retrieve my kidding kit.  Then I finished cleaning up in the milking parlor and headed back out to check on Gwyn.

David was sitting with her and she was just starting into hard labor.  She pushed like crazy, and did a terrific job of getting her 7.3# doeling born.  The doeling came in nose and toes position and was lively right from the start.

Gwyn immediately started passing the placenta so we knew that she was done.  From start to finish this girl only took up 20 minutes of our morning.  Now that’s a fast kidding!  Her doeling looks great and Gwyn stood nicely to be milked. Believe it or not this is our fourth singleton born this year and all of them have been doelings. 

Reese Wakes Us Up

Reese/Roscoe

3/13/15 I checked on the close-up girls before going to bed.  No one seemed ready to kid.  However, Reese had different ideas.  At 12:30 AM I heard a loud bellow come over the baby monitor that hangs in the doe barn.  I didn’t even check the Goat Cam monitor to see what was going on – I knew.  I just didn’t know which doe had just kidded.

I jumped into my clothes and headed out.  Reese was very busy cleaning up a 7.3# doeling.  The doeling is the spitting image of her mom.  David moved Reese and her newborn into a kidding pen and we waited for Reese to have her next kid.  We waited, and waited…

Finally I bounced her belly to try and feel for other kids.  Her belly was still very tight which I took as a sign that she still had more kids to come.  She was also still pawing a nest and having occasional contractions.  At 2 AM I decided to check inside of her in case a kid was tangled up.

I cleaned up her backside, put on nitrile gloves, lubed up and slowly worked my hand into her uterus.  No one else was home.  Very strange, I really had been expecting triplets.  Mother and daughter are doing great.

Carmella Kids

Carmella/Roscoe

3/11/15 Amanda and I were working in the feed room this afternoon. Once we finished we went to check on Carmella (Carly) who was in a kidding pen.

As soon as we got there Carly went into hard labor and pushed out a head. I didn’t even have time to put on my nitrile gloves. I reached in and tried to move a shoulder forward to help the kid move through the birth canal easier but that didn’t seem to help. I reached in further and found a front leg and rotated it into the birth canal along side of the head. The 7.4# black spotted buck slid out.

The next fella, a whopping 9.1# ultra spotted black buckling, came in perfect nose and toes position. He was soon followed by a 5.5# black spotted, elegant, doeling that came head first with one leg back.

Carly is milking up a storm and looks great. Her kids are feisty and beautiful. Carly did a great job!

Down and Dirty Diva

Diva/Roscoe

3/11/15 Diva was loose in the rump this morning but didn’t seem much interested in kidding.  Later we saw her go into the barn and dig a nest.  She lay there for awhile and then decided to go back outside.  She found a private place under a cedar tree and started having hard contractions.

Since it was such a lovely day we didn’t bother to bring her into a kidding pen. We closed off the area to keep the other goat “helpers” away and Diva had her twin boys outside in the dirt.

The first fella came in perfect nose and toes position.  He weighed 7.2#.  Fairly soon after that his 6.6# brother tried coming head first with both front legs folded back along his body.  I pulled one leg forward and out he came.  His birth sack was very sticky and hard to clean off.  Usually that sack just slides right off. I don’t know why he had that weird sack, but Amanda had her work cut out for her getting that fella de-slimed and dry.

Both kids were active right off the bat and are doing great.  Diva looks wonderful and she seems much happier without lugging those two boys around.

Overnight Obsidian

Obsidian/Roscoe

3/11/15 Amanda is here!  She will stay through this week to help out with kids.  It’s always great to have Amanda here!

Obsidian was spending the night in the kidding pen since she was getting so close to kidding.  Her milk was in, the kids had dropped, and her tail head ligaments were soft.  We have a pan/tilt/zoom camera in the doe barn which makes spying on the does very easy.  Just after midnight I could see that she was stringing mucus, but not doing any pushing.  Just after 1AM she started having hard contractions.  David, Amanda, and I headed out to help dry off the kids.

Obsidian fussed around and didn’t get serious for awhile. Because she was procrastinating I did a quick 2 finger check inside the birth canal. I felt nose and toes – perfect! Soon after that she started pushing hard and a 6.3# camouflaged doeling was born.  What an amazing color combo!

After getting Camo-Girl cleaned and dried, Obsidian pushed out another kid in nose and toes position.  This one was an 8.9# black buckling.

I milked Obsidian out while waiting for her to download her third baby.  When she started pushing again I did a two finger check and felt nose and toes.  Out came an 8.2# black buckling with white splashes.

All three kids and Obsidian are doing great.  Obsidian made almost half a gallon of colostrum and looks like she will be a powerhouse in the milking parlor.

Victory Prevails

Victory/Boeshane

3/10/15 Just after noon today I walked through the herd to check on the close-up girls.  This morning Obsidian had looked like she was doing some great homework, preparing to kid soon.  But it was Victory that I noticed as I strolled past.  She was starting to have some serious contractions.  I put her in a kidding pen and put Obsidian in the pen next to her for company.

Victory’s water broke, and, wow, what a lot of it.  There was birthing slime everywhere.  Then another bubble broke and more slime drained out.  We were discussing the possibility that maybe Victory only had slime and no kids, but a little hoof finally started peaking out when Vicky pushed.

By 1:30 Victory was pushing hard and out came a 7.2# black buckling with just a sprinkling of spots.  Right on his heels was his 6.5# black spotted brother.  Both fellas came in perfect nose and toes position, and were up and stomping around in no time.  It hardly gets easier than that.

Brill Finally Delivers

Brill/Boeshane

3/9/15 I guess that my theory about singleton doelings not giving a strong enough signal to their mom that they want to be born might just be correct.  Brill was due 4 days ago and finally got around to kidding today.  Of course I worried about why she was waiting so long and wondered why she wasn’t getting as wide as I’ve seen her in years past – like last year when she had quadruplet doelings.

Today Brill’s milk was coming in and she went on a search for a private place.  I put her in a kidding pen and hung out with her on and off.  She was stringing a lot of high test, thick, clear mucus, much like fresh egg whites in color and consistency.  Right before evening milking Brill went into hard labor.  She pushed out an absolutely stunning 7.5# doeling in perfect nose and toes position.  What a looker she is!  This kid not only was standing up right away, this girl was running around and jumping!  I think Brill could have downloaded her 4 days ago and been just fine!

Opal Needs Help

Opal/Boeshane

3/7/15 This morning Opal was stringing birthing goo and looking undecided about whether to come into the milking parlor for lead feeding or go back into the barn to kid.  David put her in a kidding pen and I brought her a “room service” breakfast. 

Opal worked for several hours to position her load, then around 10 AM she started having hard contractions.  She’d push hard for a few minutes, then rest, and then start again.  I did a two finger check and could tell there were two legs and a nose entering the birth canal, but by noon they still hadn’t progressed.

I cleaned her up, gloved up, lubed up, and tried to figure out what the problem was.  The legs seemed at an odd angle compared to the head and the head was stuck at the pelvic brim.  Opal was pretty tight in the birth canal which didn’t help matters any.

I worked to get the head into the birth canal but it just didn’t want to come through.  The odd angle of the legs had me worried. Since I was expecting twins or triplets from Opal, I considered that the legs belonged to a different kid than the head did.  I finally pushed the legs back into the uterus and worked to get the head into the birth canal.  Then I found a leg that belonged to that head and pulled the 6.2# doeling out into the world.  I had been worried about the kid since it was such a long, hard delivery, but she was feisty from her first breath. 

Surprisingly when I checked back inside of Opal to pull the next kid, there was no next kid!  That was unexpected.  I now wonder if the reason Opal kidded late and wasn’t as soft in the rump as she should have been is because there was just one small doeling inside “calling the shots”.  I’m thrilled that both Opal and her doeling are doing so well.

Quads for Cora

Cora/Boeshane

3/6/15 David and I were planning on having a special dinner tonight.  David grilled some of our homegrown grass-fed ribeye steaks and also made his marvelous French fries which are the best fries ever – seriously his fries are great.  I was SO looking forward to this wonderful meal.  But as soon as it was plated up, Cora started into hard labor.  Sigh.  We headed out to catch some kids.

By the time I arrived Cora had a 5.7# buckling already born.  We dubbed him “Fry-Fry”.  Soon Cora pushed out a 5.2# doeling in nose and toes position which David named “Small Fry”.  I went to get a tote to stow the kids in while Cora finished kidding.  By the time I got back Cora had pushed out a 6.2# buckling.  “Steak Fry” was born rear legs first.

We buffed and dried the 3 kids and waited for Cora to finish up with the birth of a fourth little French fry, but she didn’t get down to business.  She pawed and fussed, laid down and got up, licked on her babies then stared at her side.  I decided to investigate.

I put on nitrile gloves, cleaned up Cora’s backside, lubed up, and went exploring.   After working my hand through the birth canal and into the uterus I found a “kid lump”.  I had a hard time deciphering the parts.  But finally I found a couple of rear legs, unfolded them, and pulled them out into the world.  The rest of the kid followed.  And so was born "Curly Fry", a 6.9# doeling.

Cora looks great, her four kids are amazingly vigorous, and we ate cold, soggy, French fries for dinner.

Stormy Sky

3/6/15 Sky was supposed to start lead feeding this week.  We brought her in to the milking parlor and gave her just a little bit of grain.  She was distracted and not her usual self.  That evening she was scouring and not eating.  She was sick.  By today she had gotten better and was almost back to her normal self, except that her rump was loose, milk was in, and she was losing her cervical plug.

I hoped that she was just doing a lot of homework and would hold her pregnancy for another month, but later today she went into the barn and delivered girl/boy twins. They were way too premature to survive.

We are working with Sky to see if she will come fully into milk.  She is enjoying her special treatment in the milking parlor.  She is a lovely doe and we are glad that she is feeling better now.

Marlyn Makes Me Worry

Marlyn/River Rock

3/5/15 Marlyn was bred last fall and since then I’ve been counting the days until her due date.  When we did an ultrasound on her and saw her babies moving around we cheered.  This is a very exciting breeding and since Marlyn is 10 years old it could be her last. 

So this morning when I saw that Marlyn’s milk was in and her rump soft even though she still had 9 more days to go, I was very worried.  I had a doe once that would kid 9 days early with healthy kids, but usually kids born that early need special attention…or are born dead.

I put Marlyn into a kidding pen and gave her a drench of MFO Solution.  That is a calcium/phosphorous supplement that will combat Milk Fever, add energy, and also will help supply muscles with the nutrients needed for strong contractions.  Then I waited.  And worried.

Just before 10PM I gave Marlyn another drench of MFO.  I could tell that she was working hard to position her kids and I wanted to give her as much support as possible.  Then I went to bed while David stayed in the office and monitored Marlyn on the Goat Cam.

About the time my head hit the pillow David yelled.  I jumped back into my clothes and hurried out to the barn.  Halfway there I realized that I had forgotten to put on my coat even though it was only 20 degrees out.  I continued to the barn.  I could see that Marlyn had already pushed out a kid.  He was lying behind her in a puddle of goo, gasping for breath.

I grabbed him up and cleaned out his mouth and nose.  David arrived and took over the kid care.  He sat in the straw with Marlyn and they both worked to stimulate the kid and get him breathing.  All I did was stand there staring at the 7.1# blond buckling that did not look at all premature.  In fact, within just a few minutes he was holding his head up and trying to stand.

Soon Marlyn started pushing again and a gush of nasty brown fluid poured out of her.  This, I thought, was the problem.  I was sure that a dead kid was coming.  The kid came out so covered in that nasty stuff that it wasn’t until I picked it up that I realized it was alive and feisty!  The 6.5# platinum blonde doeling had merely passed a lot of meconium into her birth sack which had caused the birthing slime to look so bad.  No harm done. Whew! 

Marlyn took less than half an hour from the start of hard labor to get her twins on the ground.  The twins don’t look a bit premature and were standing up within minutes of birth. Gotta love happy endings.

Bouncin' Betty

Betty/Boeshane

3/5/15 When a doe is 4 weeks from kidding we start letting her into the milking parlor for some grain.  We call it lead feeding.  It helps the doe’s rumen adjust to having grain in the diet plus it gives the doe some much needed extra calories since the babies are taking up so much space that it’s hard for the doe to get enough to eat.  Betty loves lead feeding.  She tries to push past the milkers so that she can be the first one in, then she eagerly trots to her milking stand and jumps up onto it.

Today Betty wasn’t one of the first girls in.   She hung back a little.  But once she did come into the parlor she jumped right up onto her stand and wolfed down her grain.  Her milk was in and her rump had softened.  After milking and lead feeding I put Betty into a kidding pen.  She wasn’t terribly happy about it, but she did eventually settle in.

Around 1:30 this afternoon Betty started into hard labor.  David and I headed out and sat with her.  She pushed out a very clear bubble that burst.  Then she pushed some more and another bubble burst.  Finally two feet and a nose showed up and out came an ultra splashy brown doeling.  Betty enjoyed licking on her.  Then she started pushing again and lots more birthing goo came out along with a head.  Even though the legs were folded back along the kid’s body, Betty was able to push the doeling out with little trouble. Both doelings weighed 5.8#.

While David and Betty cleaned up the two girls, I milked Betty out and bounced her belly.  I could feel another kid.  Once the 2 doelings were put into a basket Betty started pushing again.  Soon a strapping big 8.4# buckling was born in nose and toes position.  What a handsome fella.

It took less than one hour for Betty to get her three lovely kids on the ground, though, of course, she had been working on positioning them for a much longer time. I brought Betty some molasses water and David got the kids fed their colostrum.  They were jumping around within minutes of birth and are a beautiful, healthy bunch.  Betty took a nap.

Audra Jumps The Gun

Audra/Roscoe

2/22/15 This morning I noticed that one of our range cows wasn't with the rest of the herd.  I’ve been watching her for a week now wondering when she would calve.  I drove up north and found her with a sopping wet, just born, bull calf.  Then I went to feed the sheep and found that “Spot” had twin ram lambs born. It seems that it was a good day for having babies.  

After feeding the livestock it was time to milk the goats plus bring in the does that are close to kidding so that they can have some grain.  When Audra came in she was draining amniotic fluid and stringing mucus, her milk was in and the ligaments around her tailhead were fully loose.  More babies were on the way!

I put Audra in the Kid Creep pen since we haven’t put up the kidding pen dividers yet.  We thought we had a few more days to get the finishing touches done on our kidding set-up, but Audra obviously had other plans.

I sat out with her on and off during the morning and early afternoon, but around 1:30 I decided to go check on the new bull calf to make sure that he was up and nursing.  He was doing fine so I went back to check on Audra.  She was laying down with her rump pushed up close to the fence which I always figure means that the doe is getting serious.  The closer the rump is to the fence or wall, the closer they are to kidding.  Yup, I could see a “kid bubble” with a tiny white hoof showing inside of it.  I radioed to David that we had kids coming and got set up for helping Audra clean her babies.

Over the next 2 hours Audra pushed out three doelings all in perfect nose and toes position.  Audra screamed each time – she was not thrilled with the birthing process - but once the kids were born she loved licking on them and nickering to them.  The first born is black with lots of spots, a splash, and a blaze. She weighed 5.2 pounds. Second born is brown with white splashes and weighed 5.7#. Third born is black with white spots and a white belly band and weighed 6.0#.

These are our first kids sired by Roscoe and they look wonderful! What a great way to start out our kidding season!

Getting Started

Kathryn/David

2/22/15 It's that time again - The Black Mesa Ranch Kidding Season!  This year we will be having around 35 does kid.  Black Mesa Ranch is a 280 acre ranch in the high desert of northern Arizona where we make goat cheese that we sell to the finer restaurants throughout Arizona.  Normally we are a 2-person operation, but during the busiest parts of our kidding season we are usually lucky enough to have a couple of friends that come and help us out.

Cast of Characters

• I am Kathryn and I manage the goat herd, cattle herd, sheep flock, chickens, peafowl, pigs, livestock Guardian dogs, barn cats and more.  I also keep the website updated including this diary.


• David is my husband.  We’ve been together for over 33 years.  David is the BMR cheese maker, chef, ranch handyman, and much more. Pictured on the left, below, David and I are posing with some of our goats.


• Amanda is a baker from New River, AZ.  She has quite a menagerie of animals at her place, but still finds time to come to the ranch and help us out at kidding time.  She is great with the animals and fun to have here. Amanda is pictured below in the center - covered with kids.
  


• Joan is a helicopter safety inspector for Bell Helicopter.  She is interested in getting into goats and has helped out here for several years at kidding time.  Let’s hope that there are no whirlybird issues that need investigating so that Joan can make it out again this year to help birth some babies. That is Joan pictured below on the right with LGD Kailin and goat Audra.


• The goats are purebred, registered Nubians.  They produce high quality milk for our cheese making.  They are a productive, friendly, beautiful bunch that we really enjoy working with. 

We try to attend all births and will help a doe out if she runs into trouble while kidding.  The kids are bottle fed colostrum for the first few days, and then we feed them goat milk until they are weaned or go to their new homes - we never use milk replacers.  They also have free choice hay, water, and alfalfa pellets to eat once they are old enough.

The does look great and we are expecting a wonderful kidding season.  I’ll report on each kidding.  Thanks for reading along.

Kathryn, David, and friends

Amanda with buddies

Joan and Company

  Click here to place a deposit or payment.  Be sure to discuss your selection with Kathryn first. 

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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.

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The above listed prices are for reserved kids.  Prices for kids purchased after they are born may be higher. Updates to our Goats for Sale page are posted regularly.

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We try to limit reservations to two doelings and two bucklings from each breeding on Senior does, and one doeling from each breeding on Junior does.  If you are interested in getting a kid from a doe that is already "booked up" let us know and we can put you on a waiting list.

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Occasionally a different buck will be used than is listed.  Reservations on these breedings can be honored, changed, or deposits refunded at the buyer's request.

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For more information on how to use the above breeding chart click here