Kids, Kids, and More Kids

Here's the whole spring kidding season saga all in one blog post. Noxa and Aurora are twin sisters who have just turned one year old. They were still with their half brother (who was a few months old) before he was sold about five months ago, but I had hoped that everyone involved was too young to procreate. Alas. The buck was half Saanen/Nubian and half Nigerian. The does are pure Nigerian. When it became evident that Noxa was indeed "making an udder," I began to worry about the impending delivery. Not only was she too young for a planned pregnancy, but she was also bred to a buck of a much larger breed. I figured if she had multiples, she'd have a slim chance of a healthy delivery, but if she had one big buck, she'd probably perish in the effort of delivering. She had twin girls without my intervention, and mom and daughters are thriving! The black and white goat is Noxa, and her twins (one like mom, and one like dad) are pictured together. Cuties. Unfortunately, Noxa's sister was also pregnant, and she delivered one big buck kid. I found her pushing for all she was worth after he had died in the birth canal, but I was able to reposition him and help her finish. She was sore, but I gave her Banamine (like Advil) for two days, then she was as good as new. Ah, youth! A few days ago, Katie ran into the house yelling that Tuscany had delivered a giant buck kid. It was true. Tuscany made her udder a day before her delivery so I never suspected a pregnancy, or at least not one so advanced. Tuscany is an older doe, who has plenty of bone, and experience, so I wasn't worried a bit for her safety. She delivered this whopper of a son without so much as a whimper. This is Tuscy cleaning her son who is less than an hour old. He's big, clumsy, and sleepy. The baby on Becky's back is Noxa's yellow daughter. In the picture with my kids' kids, Katie's in the middle holding the newly born buck. His half sisters on either side are already three weeks old. He's as big as they are. We went from three goats last month to nine goats now. Laura from Good Enough Farm brought two very accomplished young lady goats back home after five months and one day at finishing school. And we brought home Noxa's full sister from a different friend. Goats truly are like potato chips: you can't have just three!