In Good Company

Kidding season is in full swing! With the school quarter beginning to come to a close, UC Davis Field Day coming up next Saturday (more on that later), and 7 does due in the next 7 days, I decided several weeks ago to induce does to kid this weekend so that I could focus on other things in the coming week. One doe kidded early, and three of the does are still less than 146 days along (a normal goat pregnancy lasts ~150 days, and successfully inducing does to have *live* kids works best if they're at least 144 days pregnant - I prefer to wait a few days more so that the kids don't arrive too underbaked). That left three does to kid today - Fantasia, Trooper and Meadowlark.

Inducing usually results in kids being born between 11 AM and 3 PM, although there are the occasional exceptions. I wasn't sure whether Fantasia would wait, as she's always been a rather secretive kidder, and sure enough, she presented me with a lovely pair of clean, dry kids at 8:30 this morning:

Fantasia's twins - the doe, Johanna, is the one with her head up.

While I was glad that she had kidded quickly and with no problems, I was a little concerned because I had invited a few friends from school to come watch, and I was worried that the kids would all be born before anyone was able to get here! Thankfully, however, the other two does took their sweet time, and after everyone arrived and settled in to wait, there were plenty of snacks to eat and older babies to cuddle.

Haley and Katie make some new friends!

Both does were looking equally uncomfortable, but Lark was the first to throw in the towel (with much talking and attempted licking from Trooper, next door). She had a pretty white doe kid and a Sable buck kid with a really impressive grey "skunk stripe" and wattles.

Merganser, Lark's doe kid

Lark's buck kid. Sorry for the bad lighting, but check out that color!

Not to be outdone, Trooper decided to kid shortly after. She was bred to Rigsby, so I was expecting elf eared 1/2 LaMancha kids, but with the other half Saanen I was resigned to white kids (or light brown at best). Imagine my surprise when this little beauty showed up!

Lisbon, Trooper's doe kid - so pretty!

One of the reasons I've always had Saanens is so that I wouldn't make breeding and selection decisions based on color. Given how smitten I am with miss Lisbon, it's a good thing I didn't start breeding LaManchas sooner, or I'd have twice as many goats as I do now!

When half an hour had gone by without so much as a peep from Trooper, I started to get concerned. I knew there was at least one more kid in there, so I put an OB glove on and went in to investigate. (The second of such gloves - I popped the first one, trying to turn it inside out so as not to expose her to the dirty outside of the glove.) I'm glad I checked when I did - the second kid had his head firmly tucked back against his rib cage, and he was NOT turning it around, thank-you-very-much. 15 minutes and one bruised arm later, I managed to get him straightened out and delivered - thankfully, still alive.

Trooper's two kids. I'm not sure what Lisbon is trying to do.

With all of the kids on the ground, it was time to get the does some warm electrolyte water and kick back for the rest of the afternoon. I did, however, check on everyone a few hours later, to be greeted by Lisbon from her eyeball-deep nest of straw....

IT'S SO FLUFFY!!

I do believe she's going to be a bit spoiled.