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.

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.