Box of Baby Goats....

Farmer Man and I have been very sick.  February was the month of a respiratory viral infection, and we're still not right.  Neither of us have been this sick in years!  Of course, on a farm, there are still chores to be done: someone had to drag themselves out of bed to feed and water chickens and goats.  Doggies still needed to go outside occasionally.  So, somehow, I missed the signs.  We knew our three Mamma goats were going to have babies soon; by our calculations mid-March would be the earliest.  Imagine my surprise when I was hauling water up yesterday afternoon and heard the thin, light cry of a baby goat.

A goat's gestation period is five months.  By our calculations, based on when we put Randi in with the girls, March 16th should have been the earliest possible due date.  There's, you know, a courting period, the females have to actually go into heat which is often brought on by being with a male in rut.  Well, Mabel must have gone into heat in a flash because yesterday afternoon she presented us with triplets!  All girls, we think, but we've been wrong before so we're giving it a day or two.

I knew Mabel and Goldie were getting close.  The babies had dropped, giving the females an indentation high on their hips.  I'd been checking for the mucous plug that indicates the start of birth but had missed that sign.  Everything seemed fine late morning when I checked on them on my way to collect eggs.  Mabel didn't appear to be 'nesting' or pawing the straw or any other signs.  Admittedly, I wasn't there very long.

So, I arrived yesterday afternoon to find one wee baby goat.  I dashed up to the house, called for Farmer Man and grabbed a few things.  I wasn't as organized yet as I could be, thinking I had another week to prepare.  A second baby was coming as I got back to the barn.  The lovely thing was Mabel was accepting them this time and was working to clean up the first one.  Last year she had triplets and then retreated to a corner of the pen and would have nothing to do with them.  When she became distracted by the arrival of the second baby, I continue to clean up and dry off the first.  We are having babies earlier this year, when it's colder, and we're very conscious of that.  The first thing Farmer Man did when he arrived on the scene was to close the barn doors, so that drafts were at a minimum.  Then he got the heat lamp out and installed.

The third baby arrived quite promptly and Mabel and I worked to clean and dry them all.  Then I started showing them where to feed, hoping Mother Nature would kick in.  The babies just didn't seem to get it; only one showed a natural inclination but couldn't quite figure out which end.  The other two seemed to have no idea of why I was standing them up and placing them at their mother's udder.  Mabel didn't seem to get it either and kept walking away, returning to clean and muzzle them.  Time went by and I felt that these little ones really needed to eat.  Out came the Henry Milker and I milked Mabel - not ideal, clean conditions but I felt it needed to be done.  Trying to bottle feed the wee things right there in the pen was it's own challenge, but I got a little bit of colostrum (the initial momma's milk, full of antibodies and good things) into each one.  I kept trying to show them where to feed, and Mabel kept walking away or putting up her leg like she was going to kick.

Even with the heat lamp, the babies were shivering so I went and got some little doggie sweaters my dogs had outgrown.  I kept trying to show them where to feed but nobody was getting it!  After about three hours, one of the babies seemed to be getting weak and was shivering consistently so up to the house into a big cardboard box.  I milked Mabel a bit more and went up to the house to feed the little kid.  I was hoping I'd return to find the other two feeding but slowly, over the next hour, all three ended up in the house getting bottle fed.  We'd really hoped not to have the responsibility of bottle feeding triplets this year but you can't always get what you want, right?

Holy Smokes - It's Triplets!

We've nicely incorporated goat kid Gaffer into our daily routine.  We'd been watching Mabel closely, knowing her time was coming shortly.  Goat mommas release a mucous plug, much like human mommas, and when we spotted it in the afternoon we knew we'd have at least one more baby within twenty four hours or a bit more.  We put Mabel in the 'bonding suite' and checked her regularly.  Farmer Man was taking the early shift and checked on her at midnight.  She was restless, but not showing the signs we've read about like pawing at the ground, making a nest, looking a little wild-eyed, bearing down.  He returned a mere forty five minutes later to find three tiny babies in the straw!  They seemed quite still or a little shivering, unlike Gaffer's first moments.  Momma Mabel was standing away in a corner, looking a little wild, and the babies hadn't been cleaned or anything.  Farmer Man brought the kids under the heat lamp, started to dry them and then came and woke me up.  Waking up to the words 'We've got triplets. They need our help' really gets one going....

So wee and quiet when I first saw the kids!

Back in the bonding suite, getting the babies under the heat lamp and cleaning them with the towels we'd left at hand stimulated them enough to get movement and wee cries.  Noses, eyes and mouths were wiped clean, umbilical cords tied off and dipped in iodine.  Momma Mabel wanted nothing to do with this squirmy pile; she continued to stand in the far corner looking stressed.  We gathered up a nearby large galvanized tub, lined it with clean towels and got the babies under the heat lamp.  They were much smaller than Gaffer, one was very tiny.  Now getting colustrum, the first mother's milk, is very important for the babies' health.  Not only first nutrition, but colustrum shares the momma's antibodies to illness and disease that are present in the environment.  It's critical for the babies health.  We tried to encourage Mabel to come to the tub, to meet her babies, to perhaps help clean them up.  She was not even slightly interested.  I gently took a baby to her and she moved away repeatedly.  I tried to put one to her to nurse and she bolted into the opposite corner.  We were going to have a problem here....

We needed to milk the colustrum and get it into the babies.  This was going to be interesting.  Momma Mabel was a bloody mess and still stressed.  She did not like having her udder cleaned with a warm, damp cloth as I tried to get ready to milk.  We gave her a special treat of some of her grain ration with a handful of raisins and, as she began to eat, I managed to get her wiped clean, disinfected and got the Henry Milker on one teat.  A good dose of very golden yellow milk was collected.  Farmer Man got it into the waiting milk bottle and tried to feed the now crying babies.  The kids didn't know what to do with this bright red nipple coming at them!  Baby goats have to nurse with their heads up to make sure the milk goes to the right tummy.  We, with little experience bottle feeding, squirted a lot of milk at the babies and on ourselves getting used to the bottles and the angles!  Farmer Man continued to try to feed the kids while I re-cleaned Mabel, re-disinfected and collected colustrum from the second teat.  Thank heavens for the Henry Milker, which collects the milk right from the teat into a jar.  Chasing Mabel around with a milking bucket would have been wild and the milk might have been tainted with straw, dust, afterbirth - who knows!

Farmer Man was getting some colustrum into the babies; they were looking stronger and were, actually, all falling asleep.  We were both splattered with bits of milk as well as straw, iodine and assorted other 'barn birthing' debris.  It was now well after 3:00 AM and Farmer Man hadn't been to sleep yet.  We collected milk again from Mabel and Farmer Man headed to bed.  I took the second shift and was quite wide awake, even with just a few hours sleep!  We'd both been running to the house to sterilize and get things we'd forgotten, jogging to the shed for treats, crawling after Momma Mabel -  I think the adrenaline had kicked in!  I sat up through the early morning, a bottle of milk tucked under my clothes to keep it warm!  The babies woke up crying after just an hour and I tried to get more milk in them.  It was a cold, rainy night and I was thankful for the heat lamp.  I kept encouraging Mabel to come to the tub and check out her babies but she stayed off in her corner.

About 7:30 AM Farmer Man relieved me from duty and I headed to bed.  Just a few, short hours later I awoke to the sound of little cries.  I got up to find a tub of kids in my living room!  Farmer Man had made the decision to bring them in out of the cold and to be closer to the stashed milk and ways to warm it up.  Plus, Mabel seemed a little aggressive.  So, we started caring for kids in the house.  Some good pals had wanted to know about the birthing and, shortly after sending a text, our pal Nancy arrived, with cookies, and experience in bottle feeding kittens.  Having an extra set of hands and a patient, nurturing 'Aunty' was just fantastic!  It left Farmer Man to go about the usual chores while Nancy and I warmed milk and fed the now squirmy bunch of babies.  We had thought, in the barn, that we had two girls and a boy, but as we handled and observed them we realized we had two boys and a girl.  What we think was the first born and the largest, a boy, was named Marty.  The second, with spotted ears like Mabel, was named Marble and the little, tiny runt, originally named Myrtle, is named Myrvan.  Marty looks a lot like his Daddy, Randi, while Marble and Myrvan have a caramel color, darker than Mabel and Goldie. So cute!

Someone always managed to get off the paper!
 More little doggy coats in action!

The next five or six hours are somewhat of a blur - Farmer Man and I were both very tired.  It involved milking, feeding, cleaning - over and over.  The babies were slow to take to the bottle and we were so worried about the littlest, Myrvan.  Nancy held him for a long time, trying to get him to take to the bottle.  Even though we tried to get newspapers down and towels around, we and the room were slowly becoming splattered with milk and there were 'accidents' on the carpet.  But, the important thing was that everything seemed to be going well - all the babies were getting fed, and proceeding with bodily functions as they should!  Feed, pee, poop, sleep, pee, poop, feed, pee, poop, sleep...it became a rhythm.  About mid-afternoon pal Deb arrived when she got off work; another set of hands and new energy was greatly needed!  Farmer Man got a wee nap in his easy chair with Marble sleeping on his chest!  When he got mobile again I lay down for a little over an hour!  Thank you, Aunties, for all you help!

The new, cozy crib in the barn!

When the ladies had both left in the evening the babies were sleeping in their tub.  Farmer Man and I went out to milk and finish the evening chores.  Eggs had only been sporadically collected: there was lots of little things to do!  We came in to a squirming, crying bunch of kids and performed another feeding, which was going much better now.  Farmer Man had retrieved a large rubber tote and cleaned it and we put the now drowsy babies in with fresh towels, moved it beside the bed and we all largely slept through the night, until 5:00 AM when the babies started to cry again.  The cycle started again.  By mid-afternoon yesterday, Farmer Man had organized a 'crib' pen in the barn with the heat lamp and in the babies went.  We had a succession of visitors in the afternoon - baby goats are very popular!  I was glad to see poor Gaffer get some attention; our first little baby was somewhat neglected for a day after being the centre of so much attention!  Sunday saw us settling into a bit more of a routine, and everyone seems to be thriving and feeding well!  We did spend some time trying to get Momma Mabel to accept her kids, but no luck; we're resigning ourselves to having three bottle babies.  And added to the 'to-do' list: steaming cleaning the livingroom carpet - soon!

Goldie's (and Our) First Baby!

This is not the post for you if you are not comfortable with frank discussions of birth, bodily functions and such!  There will be some (mildly) graphic details and pictures!

Aagaard Farms is pleased-as-punch to announce the arrival of Gafferty, a wee buck kid born about 4:00 PM on Sunday, May 20th (nobody had a watch on so the time is unofficial)!  The son of Goldie, our 75% Nubian doe, and Randi, our purebred Nubian buck, Gafferty, henceforth known as Gaffer, is doing fine!  It was the first baby for Goldie and for us, so it's been an exciting weekend!  Farmer Man decided, rather on the fly, that the kids' names should start with the first letter of their Mom's name; as the little buck was floundering around, Farmer Man called him a 'little gaffer', and the name stuck!

We do like things kind of natural around here: no chemicals on the gardens, no chemicals or antibiotics in the critters food, ya-da, ya-da, ya-da.  We did not intend to be so natural that Goldie would have her baby outside, in the pasture, but that's what happened!  We have done extensive reading on goat birth, watched YouTube videos, haunted some of our favorite websites like Fias Co Farms; nothing prepares you like the real thing! We've been watching our does for a few weeks, looking for signs and symptoms of impending birth.  We knew the udders were filling, we could see the body signs, we had read about the ligaments along her tail bones 'softening' when birth is near but we're still not exactly sure about that sign.  The does either think we're nuts or they enjoyed the 'massages' along their spine and down by their tail!  The goats had gotten their usual grain ration shortly after 1:30 PM and everything seemed normal: the little herd was together, they all came and partook of their treat, everything seemed good.  I angled around to get a look at all the girls rear ends: two of the first signs of imminent birthing, after the softening of the ligaments, is the doe releases a white, waxy looking plug from her vagina, then she goes off by herself.  Most goat keepers would have her in a separate pen a week or so before birth but it was a lovely day and we hadn't (didn't think) we had the softening of the ligaments, or the release of the plug......

About half an hour later I cruised back by the goat pasture, just to have a look.  Goldie was off under the spruces with a glob of yellow birth fluid hanging from her vagina.  Yikes!  This is happening NOW!  I ran to the house, grabbed the prepared birthing kit, the camera (like a good blogger) and yelled for Farmer Man!  Goldie stubbornly refused to walk to the barn at this point, so we grabbed some empty feed sacks to keep the baby from hitting the ground.  There was something I needed from the house so I ran back, and made a quick call to pal Deb, who had wanted to know when babies were coming.  I think I yelled something into the phone like: "Having a baby goat, gotta go!"   Deb appeared shortly after and a third pair of hands was a great help!

A wee, little hoof presents itself!

For about an hour and a half, we watched and encouraged Goldie, pulling the empty feed sacks after her as she moved around.  Farmer Man was at her head, keeping her steady and calm.  She'd push, a little hoof would appear, then recede.  She'd push again and we'd see a little hoof, then a tip of a little nose and a little pink tongue!  This might stay out, then disappear.  We still couldn't see the second hoof!  I was running through my mind everything I'd read about assisting in the birth, but it was too soon for that.  Finally, after almost two hours, Goldie lay down and began to really push hard, making funny little noises!  I intruded into her vagina, just a tad, and found the second hoof, just inside the entrance.  On the next big push, I got it between two fingers and pulled lightly along with Goldie's push.  A few minutes later, a little wet, gooey baby came sliding out!  As we were outside on a breezy day, Auntie Deb and I were ready with puppy pads to clean the baby, then old towels to keep the baby warm.  We tied off the umbilical cord with dental floss and slid the feed sack with baby up to Goldie for her to do some cleaning and bonding!

How does this work, again?

Farmer Man got some grain, Deb took the baby, all wrapped in a fresh towel, to a sunny spot just by the barn doors.  With a rest and a bit of grain, we got Goldie up and slowly made our way to the clean baby stall in the barn.  We put them in together, and turned on the waiting heat lamp.  Momma Goldie seemed interested, and did some more cleaning of her baby.  Getting the baby up to nurse and getting Goldie to stand still to nurse was a bit more of a challenge.  The rest of the evening, and the next morning were consumed by watching, encouraging Mom to nurse, using treats and brushing to get her to stand for the baby.  We actually put into action our milking machine - The Henry Milker!  Love this thing, highly recommend it!  We milked Goldie, had the waiting baby bottle and nipple and tried to make sure little Gaffer had colostrum and a good feed!  The worry and frustration when the baby didn't want the bottle!  Fortunately, shortly after Momma Goldie let him get a good drink and we could all relax!

Our plan now is to let little Gaffer feed during the day, then we will milk Goldie out in the evening.  I must say, fresh goat milk is a gorgeous, gorgeous thing!  Creamy, smooth and no, absolutely no, goaty flavor!  I've got a small stash for our first batch of soap, and that supply will grow every day!  Hopefully, we'll be making soap next week!  In the meantime, we're playing with Gaffer, congratulating Goldie and we are watching and waiting for Mabel and Chocolate to have their babies!