Gearing up for Kidding Season and my kidding kit

This is what I'd titled the previous post and realized I'd gotten way off track, when what I'd intended to write about was how I prepare for kidding season and what goes into my kidding kit/bucket.

First I will say that I think I've had the worst kidding luck of any goat owner I know. Was it the goats? My lack of knowledge and experience? Taking on too many goats while raising toddlers in the house? Who knows, but let's just sum it up by saying that in the last six years I have not had a kidding season where I have not had to "go in". I will follow that with saying that maybe I didn't always have to go in, but when you lose some kids because you didn't go in soon enough, you tend to try and prevent that the next time.

All of my kidding catastrophes have involved the kids not being in the correct position. In six years I have had two does kid with their first two bucklings upside down with their heads turned back alongside their body. The first time this happened the bucklings also had both legs tucked against their bodies and not sticking forward. The crazy thing is that I have been present for almost every kidding. I've missed one completely. I tend to jump the gun and pull all nighters only to have the doe kid the following afternoon when I'm so exhausted I just don't care about anything other than sleep.

I'm not going to go into all the kidding positions in this post - because Molly has already done so at her Fiasco Farm Site. So if you haven't checked those diagrams out and ready everything she's already written of preparing for kidding, you should. I do however, have a few things to say on the subject. If you are a newbie to goat kidding it is extremely difficult to know when to put a glove on, lube up and go in for an exploratory search. If you are like me, you'd rather let the doe do her thing and let nature take it's course. I've erred once or twice on waiting too long, one of the times' the doe actually got to the pushing stage, but wasn't making progress and started to weaken which is when we finally went in and at the time I had no idea what I was feeling (chest/ shoulder - no head or hooves) certainly hard to picture when you've never gone in before. So, if your doe gets to the pushing stage, they say the first kid should be out in 20-30 minutes, no more than 40. If she starts to weaken, you go in.

However, what if your doe never gets to the pushing, and never seems to weaken? Most will say to let her go, take her out and move her around etc. I ignored this advice when Zinnia's labor's were not progressing, and at least the second time, was glad I'd gone in when I did, or rather, wished I'd gone in earlier. If the kids are weak or dead when you go in, you probably waited to long - unless something else was wrong.

So, getting to my super simple kidding kit in order of priority:

1.  J Lube, a powdered lubricant that you can add to warm water and make the slipperiest lubricant ever. As much as I love the idea of olive oil with lavender essential oil - I am a fan of the J Lube results as I would have lost a doe and kid without it when olive oil didn't do the trick.  
2.  Towels (I use old bath towels, but clean rages or paper towels if you must).
3.  Scissors for the umbilical cord, if you don't snip it short sometimes the doe will chew on it and it can tear and bleed at the belly.
4. Goldenseal powder or an herbal antibacterial powder for the umbilical cord, notice I don't use iodine although most do. It makes a mess, plus anything you put on the kids umbilical cord gets wicked up into their little bodies - and Iodine in that form can be harmful.
5. Dental floss for tying kids umbilical cords - this is a common practice but I'm not sure it is necessary - I don't always do it - sometimes my fingers are too cold and numb. As long as the doe can't chew on the cord - and as long as you are there for the first few hours to keep an eye on dam and kid.
6. Latex glove for putting on if I "go in"
7. A lidded pint jar of vodka to sterilize my gloved hand in right before going in. I also have a betadine surgical scrub on hand but have never used it.
8. I also keep a couple clean lidded plastic containers on hand, one for warm water for lube and one for herbal tea to administer at the beginning of kidding and to put warm molasses water in for the doe after kidding to restore vitamins and trace minerals lost during kidding.
9. I keep cayenne powder and tincture on hand for weak kids. Rubbing the tincture into their gums and chest is supposed to help get their heart going in addition to giving them lots of vitamins.

If I have to "go in" and have a doe that had a particularly rough labor, I give some sort of immune support tincture twice to three times a day for the following three to five days. I give a hodgepodge of olive oil infused with raw garlic and cayenne along with various other herbs orally and into her uterus - or birth canal area - which gets wicked up into the uterus to prevent infection and stimulate healing and cleansing. Two drenching syringes are super helpful for this so that you don't have to wash them as much after using them on the back end. I suppose they should get washed between times anyway, but I guess I, ahem, haven't always...
 
That's about it, and again it is past my bedtime so I may be adding significant tidbits I've forgotten about later. As always I would love to hear about how your kidding season is going. Has anyone else noticed that there have hardly been any comments at all in a while? It is like I'm writing posts to nobody - except my blogger statistic thing says that over a hundred readers are reading my posts daily...weird.

Zinnia, weak uterus? toxemia and an herbal course of action

Today my husband worked on getting our kidding stall up and running; which entailed getting the surveillance camera up and running so that we can monitor whichever goat is in the stall from our bedroom (wake up, roll over, turn on portable dvd player and check out doe = way better than gearing up every couple hours and making the trek down the icy path and into the barn. For kidding season we start using a sliding pocket gate that goes unused the rest of the year. We also unscrew a board that blocks of the drafty back door to the goat barn so that the soon to be mother can have access to the outdoors on nice days and not be exposed to the rough and tumble hierarchy of the herd. As of yesterday there were three feet of snow and no paths in the back pen leading out from the kidding stall. Now thanks to D, there is a cleared patch of ground which will soon host a very pregnant doe and thereafter goat babies.

Zinnia is due on the twenty fifth of this month, which gives her eleven days to get ready to push out some kids. Unfortunately, this is a feat which she has not been able to accomplish on her own - yet. Zinnia's first year kidding she never got to the pushing stage but was in labor for a long time. I finally went in to see what was going on. She was dialated but the kids were far in. While I was in there I went ahead and pulled them out. She had two strong doelings. I didn't know if I had jumped the gun that year. Then, last year she had a similar long labor without much progress. This time when I went in the first kid had it's neck turned back on itself and he was upside down (which is the worst position ever!), and then the second buckling was in the same position as the first. Because they were upside down with no head I thought they were backwards and just pulled them out with all my might (oops. sorry Zin). But then it was good that I did, as they were not alive - or just barely but not enough that I could save them. Then I went back in and there was a doeling who was a little weak, but she made it - yeah, Clary Sage.

So, for her second kidding again the kids had been deep in and not coming out on their own - but it was hard to know if their lame position had something to do with it. So, the vet says that in older does sometimes they have a condition where their uterus is not strong enough to push the kids out. Maybe this is Zinnia's problem as well. Because of this I have not felt like I could sell her without a full disclaimer - which is why I am giving her one more chance.

I do not expect her to do all the work by herself, so I had/have a plan I'm trying to be good at following. Starting about eight weeks before her due date I started feeding her a large handful of wild red raspberry leaves with her morning grain- which is a uterine strengthening and toning herb. I also got some Partridgeberry tincture from an herbalist friend of mine, which I've started feeding 2-3 dropperfuls twice a day (supposed to be three times a day) which I plan on continuing up until she is in labor. The other herb which I just started feeding yesterday is Black Cohosh. I already had it around the house is dried form - otherwise I'd read that it is more effective in tincture form. But I made it into a tea and am also drenching her with that twice a day. These last two herbs are both supposed to help strengthen uterine contractions while in labor. I believe that they are not recommended for women until the last three weeks - and I chose to start Zinnia on these thirteen days before her due date - as she usually kids early anyway.

 For the last week she has been not real interested in her herbs nor her grain or alfalfa. As she is a fine boned, fairly heavy producing doe who tends to have multiple kids I was worried she may be in the early stages of pregnancy toxemia so I gave her about 50cc's of our warm raw honey, followed by 20-30cc's a few times a day for the next day. Fortunately I had purchased Fir Meadow's herbal keto mix last kiddding season to have on hand for emergencies. It is a blend of herbs which are to be used after the doe has a significant amount of sugar in her body, and the purpose is to help cleanse the body and get rid of the toxins she is processing which are making her feel nauseous and go off her feed. Today she ate most of her grain and was eating her alfalfa tonight - which she didn't touch two nights ago. Hopefully we are back on track.

Now I'm drenching Zinnia twice daily with a mixture of raw honey, red raspberry leaf and black cohosh tea, combined equally with the keto mix and then with a big splash of the partridgeberry tincture. Hopefully all that will help and my lack of measuring and combining will not cause more harm than good.

The end goal is that Zinnia will push her kids out on her own in a timely fashion. The challenge will be knowing when to intervene and when to sit back and let her do her thing.

A kidding season of lessons and losses

I'm having a rough goat week and kidding season in general. Last week was our Sustainable Agricultural Conference which I attended all three days - and I've been intending on writing about what I learned and was inspired by. Zuri was due to kid on Friday, and all week while sitting in on goat and farming lectures, I was just sure she was in pre/early labor. On Friday night she entered active labor. She was progressing enough at ten p.m. that I dared not go to sleep for a couple hours. However, those first timers take forever! I watched her labor until four a.m. before I woke Dustin up for an extra set of hands. I always have a hard time deciding when to go in. You don't want to go in and risk infection or interrupt the natural process, but you don't want dead kids from waiting too long either. One of my goals for this kidding season was not to go in pre-maturely. In Zinnia's case, she had been having mild contractions sporadically but then her labor had stalled. She was dialated but the kids were pretty far in, so I don't know if she would have kidded on her own or not. In Zuri's case, her labor was long and also intense. She was really pushing for a while, but nothing was hapenning. I went in to my wrist and felt a mouth and tongue, with the hooves under or next to the face. I worked on grabbing both hooves and then hanging on. With her contractions I pulled the legs forward so she was in the correct position. Even then, the kid was big, and a first timer does not have a lot of room back there. It took a lot of work to get the kid out. Yeah, a doeling!


The doeling seemed fine. She was a silvery gray and white, with lots of white on her face. She was standing and nursing in less than an hour. I headed to bed about six a.m. sure that she was off to a good start. D checked on her a few hours later and reported that the doeling wasn't interested in nursing so we figured she was full still, or finding it on her own. At one p.m I headed down to check on her and she was flat on her side, limp and floppy. We brought her up and fed her with a drenching syringe every hour or two over the course of the day. She was the first doeling to spend the night by my bed. The next day she seemed stronger but still weak. We would take her down to see her dam every few hours. Then bring her back up.

Zuri was an overenthusiastic mom. When we first noticed the doeling was week, we wondered if her mother had pawed in an anxious attempt to get her daughter up and moving, and possibly kicked or pawed her own daughter in the head accidentally.Zuri licked her doeling constantly, and kept getting her wet after we'd dried her off. She would lick her so hard from behind that the doeling would topple over and have a hard time uprighting herself.

By Sunday morning she was standing again, finding the teat and nursing on her own. She spent all day Sunday with her dam. Dustin asked me if I was sure I didn't want to bring her in for the night. I was insistent that she was strong enough and that she would be better off if she could nurse throughout the night. I was positive that she would live. We would keep her. She is Zuri's first doeling. Zuri lost her dam, and has no family among the does. So we were overjoyed that she now had a daughter.

This morning I anxiously headed out to check on her. We have the barn divided into four stalls, three are closed off with a dam and kids in each, Zuri and her doeling were in one of these. The other stall is currently housing Xan the next doe to kid, who can come in and out through the goat door. Xan was outside and in her stall was the doeling. The doeling had gotten out through the slat in the sliding pocket gate and was trampled to death. I have a board that I usually wedge between the gate and a hanging waterer to keep determined kids from getting through the slat in the gate. It hadn't even occurred to me to put it back in place. I didn't think the doeling had the strength or incentive to leave her dam and go investigating outside her safety zone. Another lesson learned.

I can't be mad at Xanadu. She is a goat, and her actions were not abnormal for a goat. I can only be mad at myself.  Disappointed with myself for not being more observant and attentive. Full of regrets for not taking proper measures to insure the safety of the new fragile doeling. I nursed a doeling for two full days, put all my determination and will into keeping her alive, and then to have it lost over one small mistake. I'm regretful and very, very sad.

As of today I'm milking Zuri twice a day. She is amazingly sweet for a first time milker. She almost stands in her stall untied while I milk her. Today I got her up on the milk-stand for milking and she stood still the whole time, although she was obviously disconcerted and uncomfortable not being used to the stand or having her teats squeezed. She has always been close to my heart and I look forward to spending more time with her over the coming months.

Our kidding losses this year have given me lots to think about. For one, I'm resolved not to sell our goats to anyone who just wants hardy brush clearers. A goat vet presenting at the pre-conference said that ten percent of goat kiddings are assisted and probably only five percent really need it. I think about my kidding experiences over the last four seasons and how many times I've interceded. Most of my goats would be dead or would not have been born if I had not been there at the right time. I wonder about the dairy goat in general and if has been bred too much for looks and milk production and not hardiness. Or maybe I just have incredibly bad luck. I think about how much blood, sweat, tears, money, effort, labor, thought and research I put into our goats, and to think that I still have this many losses. I don't have the answers.

I promise to write about my recent soap making spree or setting duck eggs next post.

A sad loss, followed by Zinnia's triumphant kidding

On Monday night we lost our little cream colored doeling. She had been very weak since her birth. I kept hoping if I could squirt enough milk down her throat she would perk up. I had thought that she just needed milk and rest and was overly weak from being cold and wet for too long. I don't know if maybe there was something else wrong as well. In the evening it seemed like she was getting weaker so I decided to bring her indoors for the night so I could keep a closer eye on her and feed her frequently with the drenching syringe. I gathered some supplies and waited for my kids to go to bed before bringing her inside. I went out to get her about an hour later and she was dead.

We don't take goat deaths lightly. I have never experienced much death. I use to cry when we'd lose a chicken. Now, several chicken, duck, and goat deaths later, well, I don't cry over chickens anymore. Goats are a different matter. I was very sad. Frustrated with myself for not bringing her indoors sooner. This is Roses fourth kidding season, second doeling and the first doeling we've had that wasn't black and tan, and our first doeling out of Zoro. We were all pretty excited to have a pretty little buff doeling. More lessons learned and taken to heart. Be there for kidding, get the milk and colostrum in to them immediately, pay close attention to them, and if they are not doing well; take action. I should have brought her indoors first thing, kept her warm and fed her by hand.

On a lighter note, Roses other two kids are doing great. They are very spunky and friendly. We've named the buckling Briar, Wild Roots Briar to be exact, and the black and white doeling is named Wild Roots Bramble Rose. We have a deposit for Briar and will be registering him as a buckling. I disbudded Briar today, the first time I have done it by myself. In the past we have taken the kids across town to have them done. Last season I decided it was time to step up and learn how, as unpleasant a job it is. I was dreading doing it, but it feels good to be able to do a good job myself. I think he has already forgiven me.

Zinnia, Roses first daughter kidded on Wednesday morning, after a very long labor. We noticed she was in labor Tuesday evening. She was in early labor but was progressing into consistent obvious contractions. I started sitting with her around nine p.m. thinking she might kid within a few hours and hoping my presence would be reassuring. Becca joined me shortly thereafter and we began a long night. Her labor progressed until she was just beginning to almost push, and then she started dosing off. I thought maybe I better see what was going on, but she was very energetic still, not distressed, and wanted nothing to do with my inspection. So we decided to wait and see if she could do it on her own. 

Deciding if she was actually in active labor was the key issue. I decided that she hadn't really gotten there and being a first timer, it must just be taking her a while dilate. She started dozing off and so did we. At six a.m. we came in to warm up and watch her on the goat cam. We decided to go to bed, but not before waking up Dustin and putting him on goat watching duty. After a couple hours of sleep, we headed back out. She hadn't progressed. I had been worrying all night that the kids weren't in the correct position and that is why it was taking so long. It is always a tough decision deciding whether to "go in", not wanting to jump the gun when unnecessary, but not wanting to wait until it is too late and be pulling out dead kids.

By late morning I decided it was time. Zinnia was still having contractions, dozing in between, and every once in a while giving a light push, but nothing was progressing. Becca held her in a corner, I lubed up and slowly went in, one finger at a time. The kids were pretty far in, so not close to coming out. I grabbed ahold of two hooves. I thought they were the front hooves but upside down, but I wasn't sure if I was feeling a nose or a sack of fluid. Turns out I had the back feet, the kid was backwards. Zinnia pushed and I pulled, pausing in between contractions. Finally we had her out. As much pain as Zinnia was in, she was enthusiastic from the get go about her new baby girl. The second kid wasn't far behind. Soon we saw a bubble, and then a head, a fairly large head. I debated for a minute whether she could push this kid out on her own as her mother had doe earlier this week. But this baby was bigger, and this was Zins first time. So I put on a fresh glove and went back in. I got her left leg out, but the right one was pretty far back. She gave a push and I was able to pull the kid out with just one leg. Another doeling!

 We spent a lot of time looking at this end of Zinnia.

First doeling out.

 Second doeling out!

 I'm wiping all the slime off, especially around her nostrils and mouth so she can breathe.

 We go through a roll of paper towels per birth just getting the slime off and drying them off. Once they are somewhat dry I finish up with old cloth towels.

Zinnia is extremely attentive over her daughters. She was not interested in her grain, molasses water, hay or eating her placenta. She turned to nip at Becca and I several times when her doelings would cry out as we were trying to get them to nurse. I've never had a doe this protective over her kids. The doelings are big and strong. We weighed them today, one was seven and three quarters and the other eight and three quarters pounds. They were standing on their own within minutes, and nursing on their own within a few hours. I haven't had to help them find teats or angle the teats for them at all, as I often have to do. Part of it is that her teats are small and higher up which helps their little mouths grab on easier. This is our first new mama in a while. I am relieved that she is doing such a great job with little assistance. She may have delivered them on her own, but it would have been a lot later in the day. I am giving her an immune support tincture twice a day, which will help with the inflammation, pain and prevent infection. The new family look like they are doing just fine. We are thinking Belladonna (Bella) and Bryona, (Bree).

Rose is Hero of the day

Noah looking up at Rose.

After Rose kidded, Noah asked if Rose is a hero. Having experienced natural childbirth myself firsthand, although never triplets and all by myself) I replied: Rose is certainly a hero, the hero of the day.

 

We checked on the does last night before going to bed, then again around 4 a.m., 7a.m. and finally came downstairs around 8:30. If I had watched for ten minutes instead of two, I probably would have noticed the contractions, but as I didn't we had a surprise waiting for us as we got up. Avery and I sat on the couch looking at Rose on the goat cam. Every time I turned on the cam/tv last night Rose was standing still, looking like she was sleeping on her feet. I thought we'd better watch her for a while before turning on Sesame Street. As we sat and watched Rose, she leaned forward and started pushing, and a black blob shot out. I yelled up to Dustin and raced to get my clothes on and get down to the doe stall. As I entered, Rose was licking the new baby. I saw that there was a buff/light red kid against the wall in a pile of goop (the back wall is just out of range of the camera). This is the first kidding we weren't waiting with hands outstretched to catch the kid as it came out. The buff kid on the floor was cold and wet. I immediately piled both kids next to each other and started wiping off the goop and drying the kids off. The buff one was trying to stand and nurse but Rose was getting ready to push another kid out. 

As Rose started pushing a good size head pops out, dangit. I debate whether to see if she can push it out or go grab some lube and gloves. I race into the house in a frenzy, impatient as D draws a bowl of warm water for me. Then I race down the slippery slope to the milk area and grab gloves and sprinkle some lubricant powder into the water. As I enter the kidding stall, I see Rose on her side, legs flailing in the air, her two kids near her belly about to get squished, and another buff wet kid sprawled out behind her.

Dustin was inside watching. He said that Rose gave such a big push that she fell over sideways and he thought that she was going to fall on her first two kids. This is the first time that we've had a goat deliver a kid head first. After the first year of having a kid get stuck there for hours till the vet showed up, we go right in for the legs when a head presents first. 

After all the kids are dried off, we work on making sure everyone gets several good sucks and nurses until they aren't interested anymore. I took Rose warm molasses water, grain and fresh hay. We let Rose eat her afterbirth as it is full of vitamins and minerals- and she gobbled it down. The first doeling is weaker than she should be. She still hasn't had the strength to stand up and nurse on her own. So I have been holding her mouth open while I squirt milk down her throat. She weakly swallows, but has a strong cry. We are going to keep a close eye on her and continue getting the milk into her.

Rose has been great, caring for her kids, licking and cleaning them, standing still why they bumble about looking for the source of nourishment. This is her fourth kidding, one buck her first year, one doeling/one buck her second year, three bucklings last year, and this year: two doelings and a buckling - Yeah! We've been tossing around Briar and Bramble for the doelings. But nothing set yet. We will most likely sell the black and white doeling. We will to wait until some more kids are born, but I would love to keep a light red doeling out of Rose and Xoro. 

Good job Rose, you are my hero today.

First goat kid pics

story coming

First of the goat kid pics of 2010

 Here are some pictures of the new kids at twenty four hours old. We have been dealing with serious computer issues this week. On top of that I've been having difficulties downloading pictures, ergh! The weather has been too nice to be inside frustrated with the computer anyways so I've been slower than usual in sharing pictures. Above, I'm drying off the first kid, a girl!

I got around to weighing the kids yesterday when they were about twenty four hours old. The doeling was seven and a third pounds, the first boy was six and a half and the second boy was five and three quarters. In this picture the smaller buck is on the left and the doeling to the right. Below is the youngest buck, he has the start of a white belt on his belly.

Above and below are pictures of the doeling. I think we are going to name her Asia. For those of you who are not in the world of naming goats, each year the American Dairy Goat Association recommends a letter to begin goat names with, as a way of keeping track of when goats were born. Obviously you can go along with the naming system, or not. I find it kind of handy. There are so many names out there, it is nice to have some guidelines. We bought our goats on an X year, so all of their names began with X! Then our first kidding year was Y, then Z. We are so ready to be past X, Y and Z names. If Xanadu has a doeling I'm leaning towards the name Avalon, another mythical place name. If Rose has a doeling I kind of like Apple, but I might try to find a flower name. I'm not to fond of Amaranth, Aster, Azalea or Allysum? We don't know if we will be keeping Asia or selling her. It depends on how many more kids we have. I'd like to keep two....

The first boy is on the left, not a very good picture of him though. I included this one because it was Noah's first meeting with the goats. Today we took a bunch more pictures with Avery and Grannie and the kids. Maybe I'll get those together tomorrow. I am pretty sure Xan is expecting. I trimmed her udder area yesterday and it looks like her udder is filling out just a bit. She and Rose are both due in the next week or so. Their early due date is Thursday and they could kid anytime the following ten days or so. It feels good to have Xoe's kidding behind us as she has been our problem mom, problem kidder. Rose has been doing lots of goat yoga, getting those kids into place. In the last two years she has kidded to a single white buckling the first year, and last year a white buckling and a black and white doeling who we kept, no issues either kidding and a great mom. Xan has only had a sole buckling her first year and last year failed to breed. I would love to have a doeling from her. She is as big as a house, so maybe there are a couple in there!