Zinnia's third freshening and kidding story

Zinnia went into labor on Tuesday night and kidded Wednesday afternoon; day 149 of her gestation. This kidding was much anticipated by myself, given that she has not been able to kid without assistance yet. I've written about all the uterine toning herbs I've been giving her in hopes that she could do it on her own this time. As much as I wanted to give her a chance to do it herself, I ended up going in once again as her labor seemed to be sporadic and again, not progressing as it should. When I went in I found two front legs upside down, no head. The kids were in the same position as last year with their necks turned back alongside their bodies - which has got to be the most frustrating and problematic kidding position and I just dread it.

As the kid was upside down, the neck was down to the bottom left and I couldn't even reach the head. I was trying to get my hand on the inside of the neck to pull the head around but just couldn't. I ended up panicking a bit and just pulling the kid out with the neck still turned back. It was a buckling and he was very weak. I revived him with cayenne tincture on his gums and chest and lots of rubbing and determination. The second and last kid was in the exact same position as the first and I couldn't get that head turned either. At some point I just don't care if the kids make it or not,  I just want them out and I want the doe to be ok. Although once they are out I wish I'd taken more time to try. I don't know why I haven't invested in a head puller by now, but it is on the list for next year. 

The second kid was a doeling and was in good shape.

 Zinnia and her doeling, Dahlia, still a bit wet but standing.

Both kids, buckling on left.

The buckling was alive but not gaining strength very well. I had to pry his mouth open to squirt milk down his throat. For a while he seemed to be doing better and was starting to suck and nurse with help. I limped him along for two days before bringing him inside to nurse him, but he died on Friday morning. My guess is that something was damaged internally from the rough lengthy kidding. I had given him cayenne tincture several more times and it would give him a kick start but then he'd start to peter out again. So once again, Zinnia has one doeling to care for.

I'm beginning to think I have the worst kidding luck ever; in the past six years I've had three kiddings where the first kid or kids were upside down with their heads back, but then as Zinnia has been the culprit the last two times, I'm beginning to think maybe there is something wrong with her; maybe the shape or size of her uterus makes it prone for kids to be in the wrong position? I don't know. But I do know that I am not breeding this doe again. I want easy kidders. I don't even feel comfortable selling her to anyone. She is a beautiful doe, make lovely babies, she is a good mom and a good producer, but that is all the positive I can say about her.

I'm planning on milking Zinnia for a few months or more. I have Zinnia's doeling Clary, from last year and she is beautiful. Dahlia looks like she is also going to have lovely conformation as well. There is part of me that wants to keep the Rose/Zinnia line in the herd, but I am reluctant to keep kids out of a doe with kidding issues. I'd really hoped that Zinnia would impress me with an easy kidding, but it was not to be. When the kids are in a difficult position like that they cannot come out on their own. I'd like to think that if they were in the correct position she could have done it on her own, but I'm not keeping her around long enough to give her another chance, she just isn't a friendly or sweet enough doe. 

Fortunately my next doe to kid is Xanadu; who has kidded four times and never had any difficulties - with the exception of her first kidding where she had a big buckling head first and it took the vet to get him out as I was inexperienced at goat midwifery. Xanadu is the sweetest most wonderful goat. The entire herd will be browsing in the woods, but Xan will be wherever I am. Over the years Xan has had seven bucklings and two doelings, one was Avalon who is a wonderful goat that I sold recently. I've always wanted Xan to have a doeling that looks like her - she has had three bucklings that have had her coloring. She is due May 19th and is huge already. She has had triplets her last two kiddings. I'm hoping for strong healthy kids and an easy labor.

Meeting the new goat kids

Avery and new wobbly doeling.

doeling in front, brothers in back.

Flashy buckling left side.

Right side.

Can we keep her mom?

Can we keep her mom?

Xanadu kids to triplets

 First buckling out.

 Second buckling out.

 Third buckling out, oh no, a doeling whew!

 I dry everyone off while Xan licks and re-wets them.

Happy healthy family, yeah!

Kids play with goat kids

 Zinnia and her twin doelings.

 Zuri is the next doe in line to kid. Her day 150 is next Friday. Her udder is just starting to form. I was beginning to worry, until the last few days when it seems to be taking shape. She is handling her first pregnancy with ease. No where near as awkward and lumbering as Rose and Zinnia. We are guessing she will have a single kid. If she has a doeling we will definitely keep her. We lost Zuri's dam a couple summers ago, and she was our strongest all around doe. So Zuri has been an orphan and has no mom, sibling or daughter in the herd. I have missed Zuri. Between milking the milkers and caring for kids, sometimes the adolescents get neglected, or just not handled enough. I am looking forward to milking, and therefor handling Zuri more this year. For her sake, I hope she has a daughter in there.

 New doeling meet new but older by a few days buckling, your half uncle.

 One of the twin doelings. Their coloring is different than any kids we've had yet. They are more of a brown and white than black and white.

Currently Rose and her kids are in one stall and Zinnia and her kids in the other. We are letting them out for a couple short closely monitored play sessions in the afternoon. The kids are playful but still pretty fragile. If the does get a chance they will butt and pummel the kids that are not theirs, into the ground. Zuri is spending the night in her own indoor stall. Xan and her daughter are free to come in and go out as they please, for now. Soon, Zuri will move into the kidding stall where we can keep track of her on the goat cam. I'm guessing she will kid during the conference next week. I've been meaning to mention the Sustainable Agricultural Conference is taking place next week at the Princess Hotel. There is a pre-conference day on goat care and cheesemaking. Other topics range from raising chickens and building chicken tractors, storing root crops, growing fruits and berries in the interior, and various other garden farm related topics. I'm registered for all three days. I am most looking forward to the goat day and cheesemaking workshop. Hopefully one goat kidding next week won't wreak complete havoc on my conference attendance.

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

Random June Photos

First harvest picture of the summer: these were the first of the radishes, pulled and eaten a couple weeks ago  Since then we've also pulled baby beets and turnips, radish to eggs in size, I was too excited to eat them to pause and find the camera. The first turnips to bulb up were a red turnip and white globe or oasis? I'll have to check. We grew at least five different types of turnips this year, and a few types of rutabagas. Neither are our favorite vegetable, but they do well here and store well, so we are determined to like them. I sliced the first red and white turnips thinly and sprinkled them with rice vinegar, sugar and fresh mint. We had them along with some grilled halibut and corn salad.

We've been behind on leaf lettuce, biggest mistake yet this gardening season. We have plenty of beet, turnip and radish greens. I've also been harvesting spinach, swiss chard, corn salad, arugula and mustard greens. The leaf lettuce should be able to keep up soon. In the next week we should be eating the first peas, zucchini, napa cabbage and do I dare say- hope, for broccoli?

Me and the girls...the girls and I...Avalon and Asia,
photos by Noah.

We have sold four bucklings as wethers. The last two are also going as pets this week. Roses son, above, along with his brother are the last to go.

Zanzibar, one of our bucks..I just love his markings. I need to get some nice photos of the boys before they go into rut in the next couple months.

Above, Xanadu's son on the right, seemed to be the most mature as far as acting bucky with the girls. He is now a wether and has gone to a great home, (some good friends of ours) along with one of Rose's sons.

More cream, raw goat milk cream, mmm.

Breakfast Popcake, one of our favorites, think popover-dutch baby, almost custardy and melt in your mouth in the middle, light, airy and crispy on the sides. Recipe is so simple, I've shared it before but here it is again. This is for one serving, make individuals or in the case above, I multiplied by three for the three of us. Heat pan in 425 degree oven with 2-4TB of butter per serving. Whisk 1 one egg, add 1/4 C. flour, 1/4 tsp salt and whisk. Then add 1/4 C milk Scrape mixture into hot pan, once butter is melted and lightly browned. Bake till puffy and golden brown allover, 13-20 minutes or so. Serve with homemade jam or fresh fruit and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Eat immediately.

Freshly ground Azure Standard Organic Hard Red Winter Wheat. Did I mention that we have not bought a loaf of bread at the store in over three months. I've also been making most of our own hamburger and hot dog buns, along with rolls, some crackers, pizza crust, pita, naan, and all the other usual baked goods using mostly fresh ground wheat flour.

Lavender Cattleya cross blooming. This orchid bloomed the same time last year. Here are the first two blooms, now there are three. They last for a few weeks. When it blooms I set it in my kitchen window so I can feast my eyes on it.