We sent Fletcher out to check on the goats before going to bed. We didn’t think anyone was going, but during Kidding Season, we always check anyway. Well, five minutes later, the call of “Babies!” went ringing through the house. Everyone scrambled to make it out there, and we quickly discovered that there were two […]
It was February 3rd and my family was feeling a little lost. We were expecting babies starting the end of January, and it had been a week or two of waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Friday afternoon, I was getting ready to eat lunch when the long-awaited call finally came. “Babies in 20 minutes,” Mom […]
We were never sure if Galaxy was even pregnant until the last week before she kidded. She stayed rather under the radar and was very active during her pregnancy. Notoriously, Galaxy is a strange goat. She is never hanging around a certain goat crowd, or sleeping next to her siblings, or really doing anything that […]
Tempest is one of our most beautiful goats. Her udder filled up beautifully throughout her pregnancy and there is not a weak part about her buildup. Even her attitude is great. Tempest had dropped so low that anyone who didn’t know goats would have thought she had 10 babies in her. We had been watching […]
Goats don’t seem to care what we’re doing when they give birth. Whether its the middle of the super bowl, or the start of milking, when they are ready, they are ready! Halfway through the milking Hera had her pre-birth goo. That meant time to stop milking and time to take care of Hera. Greyden […]
During kidding season, things are busy at Goat Milk Stuff. Very busy. Prioritizing is key. Taking care of the goats is busiest in late winter/early spring. The soap room work is busiest October through the holidays. Making sure people are where they need to be can be a daunting task. Being at every goat birth […]
Unlike Jericho (read about her birth story), Idina was clearly pregnant. She is a very active, very curious goat but throughout the last month of her pregnancy, she became more protective of herself and spent more time in the stalls than she usually does. She’s usually one to be out in the woods, leading the herd […]
Sometimes there are goats who just don’t show that they’re pregnant. One day they will act like they are bred, and the next day they are running around like crazy and you’re almost positive that they aren’t. If they only have one baby, they can stay really small, and you’re not sure if they’re pregnant or […]
We put the feed out at night and encourage the goats to eat after the evening milking. That also helps encourage births during the daytime. Well, Zeyda didn’t seem to care about that. During kidding season, we take shifts overnight to make sure if any momma does go into labor, that we are there to assist […]
When our goats give birth, there are usually 5 or 6 people around to help with things like bringing towels, getting water, watching the other goats, and other odd jobs that need to be done when a goat is going into labor. With Bathsheba, there were about 12 people around. About 6 of these people […]
A few hours had passed since Pandora had given birth and we were finally catching up on everything that was delayed from the earlier birth and cleaning up the “due at any moment” stall that we have set up at this point in the season. Usually, Pemberly isn’t one of the friendliest or most outgoing […]
Everyone was working around the barn when we heard Greyden yell out “BABIES!!!!” We all sprinted to gather towels and all the necessary stuff for helping Pandora. Parsley was already on the ground and being taken care of by her mom when we got there. She was small, but she was healthy and doing well. I helped get […]
Over the last two days we knew that Zaphire was very close to going. Tesla just finished giving birth, we were busy feeding her babies, and getting the stalls ready when Zaphire was looking like she was ready to get her kids out. How did we know she was ready to get her kids out? Because […]
People often question why we breed our goats so that they kid in the middle of the winter when it is usually very cold. We do it mostly because we find it is better for the goats. We raise Alpine goats, which are seasonal breeders. That means the female goats come into heat and the […]
The first two weeks of kidding season are tough, but very exciting. The overnight shifts and lack of sleep start catching up once the adrenaline of delivering baby goats wears off, but we were off to a great start when Tesla was ready to go. She is one of our quieter, “under-rated” goats and wasn’t […]