Monday morning was yet another hectic day in the barn.  Greyden was finishing up feeding the babies when he looked in at the pregnant does and saw Hummingbird licking off a kid!  The alarm was sounded and everyone showed up to help take care of the babies and the mama.  All of the children started…

Saturdays at Goat Milk Stuff mean farm tours, and farm tours during kidding season are a lot like March Madness; you never really know what’s going to happen!  Hewitt was giving a tour on Saturday and while his group was in the barn meeting the baby goats, he looked into the pen where the pregnant goats…

We were cleaning up dinner and Colter went to the barn to check on the goats.  My phone rang and soon the yell of, “Babies!” echoed through the house.  Everyone dropped what they were doing and ran (not that they were upset about not being able to finish cleaning up) to the barn.  We had…

Thursday night, Fashion disappointed me by giving me twin bucklings.  She is our goat with the highest butterfat content, and I really wanted to keep a doeling out of her.    Imagine my joy when her daughter, Fantasmic, gave us twin doelings Friday morning!  Tazzy’s butterfat isn’t quite as high as Fashion’s, but it’s still…

Kidding time is a lot of work and not a lot of sleep.  As y’all know, for the entire time (~6 weeks) we take shifts in the barn all night long so we are present if any of the goats need us.  I put together a nice dinner last Thursday to give everyone something special…

Sometimes goats give you a lot of warning that they are going to be kidding soon.  And sometimes they don’t!  We were all hanging out at the barn waiting for the Vet to arrive to check on Red Bird.  I had the children all out front.  I was standing in the sunshine outside of Red…

Ivy is one of Colter’s favorite goats.  He has been wanting a doeling out of her since we got her.   The first year we had her – a single buck.  The second year – a single buck.  Last year, she had a buckling and a doeling that didn’t survive kidding.  This year… twin doelings!!…

I was having my first bowl of cereal for the year (we finally had enough milk to bring some to the house!) when Greyden burst through the door. “Zaphire’s kidding!” he yelled before bolting back out. I ate the last bite and dropped my spoon, racing for my locker to grab my coveralls and boots.…

Emery and I were working in the barn and keeping an eye on the goats.  Emery told me, “Red Bird looks… different.”  So I told him to bring her into the kidding stall. When he called for help moving her, I thought she was just being stubborn.  But she wasn’t, she was actually having trouble…

Hewitt came into the soaproom on Friday and announced, “Payton has goo!”  That of course are the magic words which sends everyone scurrying to the barn to check on Payton.  By the time I got there, there were two hooves already out.  Emery had checked and said there was a nose.  We waited.  And waited.…

When baby goats are first born, it is very important that they get their colostrum.  The colostrum is the first part of their mother’s milk that is rich in antibodies.  If they do not get enough (or any) colostrum, most baby goats will either die or never thrive.   We weigh each baby goat shortly…