Due date… where are the kids? by Kathy
Welcome Storm Skylar, we are expecting up to 20 inches of fresh March snow and today is the first due date for three of our does. Yes, I am still worrying about everything “goat” related and I am a big baby when it comes to the actual birth part.
We are technology junkies and have security cameras in several areas of the barns to keep an eye on the girls as the day arrives and as the days go by, with less than five hours to go and the does will be “overdue”.150 days ago, on a beautiful fall afternoon, Zulu and the three does got to do their goat thing. Then the count was on. We were having the herd tested for Johne’s Disease, Caprine Arthritic Encephalitis (CAE) and Caseous Lymphadenitis (CL) and we also made sure to have pregnancy tests completed. The results came back positive for all three does: Ratu, Kona, and Asia. After Christmas, the extreme cold stretch, more snow, spring weather, more snow, ice, and everything in between, we started giving the pregnant does their grain ration about 6 weeks ago. They also got their hooves trimmed one last time. And then the wait…Here we are on the first of two due dates and if you ask me, Kona is going to have her kid(s) first. Her bags have been showing the most growth signs compared to the other girls, but what do I know? Ratu had twins last year and I don’t think she is as big as she was last year. So, she is either having a single or going to wait until next week. Asia is actually the smallest goat of the three moms-to-be and we are hoping she will surprise us with twins!
Over the weekend we played with names for the new goats. Our naming scheme isn’t fancy but consistent. All of the goats have four letter, two syllable names and until we have 26 named goats, the letters of the alphabet cannot be repeated. Right now, we have Asia, Cuba, Eden, Gaia, Ibis, Kona, Mojo, Ratu and Zulu. I won’t reveal any names here but there are a few theme type names, like Hawaiian sounding names for Kona’s kids. So where are these darn kids? It’s their darn due date! I just peeked in on the goats and here’s what the moms-to-be are doing this snowy evening…