Kidding 2016- Done! (Katniss)

Katniss. Darned goat. She finally kidded. Before I get into that though, let me give you the back story. Katniss is loud, very loud. "Give me attention!" she screams every time she has reason to suspect a human is outside. Many times I have heard a goat crying as if something were wrong, only to run to the pen and find Katniss, perfectly fine. Another thing about Katniss, she only has three (yes just 3) hooves. "Why?" You ask, well, she hasn't always been that way, nor has she always been as talkative as she is now.

For the first 2 years of her life Katniss was a perfectly normal goat. A beautiful kid, a Grand Champion yearling at the County Fair , then a first freshener who had twin does and got them all cleaned up before I even got outside one snowy March day. A couple months after her first kidding, Katniss disappeared, just flat out disappeared. We walked the entire pasture looking for her. She was no where to be found. We search some more, still no Katniss. After two days we gave up and considered her gone. Part of the field was flooded at the time, so we figured she'd some how managed to get swept away by the flood (strange as goats avoid getting their feet wet at all costs and typically have enough sense to avoid flood water). A week and a half later Katniss appeared. She just limped into the lot one morning at feeding time. Imagine my surprise!

It looked like she had gotten something, most likely some sort of wire, wrapped around one of her back hooves. In the following weeks her hoof fell off due to having the blood supply cut off for those 10 days she was missing. To this day I have no idea where she was when she disappeared, but I'm very glad to have her back! Though no longer a show goat, Katniss is a very good brood doe, with some excellent bloodlines, so I keep her around.

Another thing about Katniss, It's nearly impossible before she kids to have any idea when she's gonna kid. I was saying "any day now" for three months last year! Almost as soon as she's pregnant, she looks pregnant, and by halfway through her pregnancy she's bagged up. Darned goat. I have had way to many interrupted nights of sleep thanks to having to check on her!

Finally last Wednesday, she kidded, bringing an end to my kidding season with twin bucks.

While most of the time she's very loud, while in labor Katniss is one of the quietest goats you ever saw. (which explains how we've missed two of her four kiddings) If I hadn't been outside Wednesday morning I never would have guessed she was in labor. She was acting normal, came with the other goats to eat and everything, just quiet. 

Then, when she was ready she just got down to business and had these babies, quiet as can be. Twin bucks. I would have loved a doeling out of her, but, I guess I can't really complain, because with three previous kiddings, she's only had one other buck. 

So, that concludes my kidding season, 10 does kidded, resulting in 19 live babies, 8 does and 11 bucks. I'm happy! (and very excited about the fact I no longer have to go outside at 2 a.m.to check on pregnant goats!

Kidding 2016, Week Two

Kidding week one concluded with 7 goats kidding and a total of 14 live kids.

Just hanging out on an old feed trough, like you do

Not to bad for one week, though I was looking forward to a much slower week (with more free time for sewing and fewer interrupted nights of sleep ) for week two. I had three pregnant goats left, two of which I figured weren't due for another few weeks at least. Well I was right, and I was wrong.

Apparently the best place to hang out is on Mama's back

The first half of the week was slow. Finally, Thursday morning, the final goat I expected to kid in February, Emerald (Sombrita's great granddaughter), was in labor. And I had to go to work! (Darned goat, I'd been home all day Wednesday, why couldn't she have kidded then?)

Emerald being a first timer and on the small side, I was a little concerned about not being around when she kidded. I didn't expect anything to go wrong, but still, I wanted to be around just in case.
Well, I went to work like a good girl, and discovered I have the best boss in the world! I told her I had a goat in labor and she had no problem with me coming back home for the morning, until the goat kidded. So, I came back home and a couple hours later Emerald had twin bucks, all on her own, no problems! 

Emerald is my sister's goat so she stayed close the whole time

I like kiddings that go like that! My sister and I got the new mama and babies moved into a warm shed and back to work I went.

Emerald has proven to be a good first time mama

Saturday I had a day full of work ahead of me, all of the previous weekend's babies were getting disbudded, sheds needed to be cleaned, and I was going to worm and trim hooves on all the new mamas. So, Saturday morning I got to work. While trimming hooves I noticed Sombrita was acting a little strange. Could she be in labor? I didn't think she was due for another month. I kept an eye on her, but continued with hoof trimming and worming. Once all the mamas had freshly trimmed hooves I went to check on Sombrita. She was definitely in labor, and very close to kidding! My mom, sister and I took some towels out to the pasture and waited. After lots of pacing, laying down, standing up, and more pacing, Sombrita had one big single. . .

DOELING!!!

Yes! A doeling! Her first doe in four years!

I'm so happy to have a Sombrita Jr! I've named her Giselle, and she will definitely be kept. Hopefully she grows up to be just as amazing as her mother.

Sombrita is 10 now, and while she's starting to show her age, she's still a great mama. She becomes quite concerned if her baby's not right next to her.

So, week two was definitely slower than week one, but since Sombrita kidded, it was just as rewarding! (I'm kinda crazy about that goat)

Only one goat left to kid now, Katniss. I'm not sure exactly when she's due, so I'm keeping a close eye on her and hoping she goes into labor on a day I'm not working. She's a goat though, so that last part is rather doubtful. :)

9 goats have kidded, 17 babies total, 8 does and 9 bucks. Sombrita's daughter, Giselle, counts as at least 2 doelings out of any other goat though, so I'm calling it even!

Kidding 2016, Week One

Baby goats galore, that's pretty much the story of my life right now. The amount of time it takes to do chores has quadrupled, at least. Goodness gracious though, is there anything cuter than baby goats?

Genesis kicked off kidding season on Valentines day with a buck, named Exodus, and a doe, named Truffle.

Both are staying with mama, though Truffle comes in the house some nights to keep my bottle baby company, and to learn to like humans (you know, those scary things that feed your mama every day and always want to pet you.).

Next up was Airalena. She was HUGE! Well Tuseday morning out popped a little doeling before I even got out there with towels to dry the coming babies off.
Airalena is my brother's goat and he was very happy to get a doeling out of her! He named the doeling Rosalena.

Then the waiting game began. This baby was so little, and Airalena so huge we knew she had to have at least one more baby. But, Airalena just took care of her new baby and did nothing else. Finally, after an hour she had baby number two, a little buck my brother named Pepper.

That little buck was quickly followed by a third baby, another doe! My brother named her Skylena. (Notice a theme here with the names?)

Airalena is an experienced mother at 7 years old and an excellent milk producer so she is happily raising all three babies. (And we still have to milk her once a day!)

Thursday, after a few false labors, Candy Cane was finally in labor. I was excited, Candy Cane is a Sombrita daughter, who didn't kid last year, so I'd really been looking forward to her babies.

She was clearly in labor for over 13 hours, finally, just before midnight she began to push.
It was soon evident that something wasn't right. The first baby was in the wrong position and dead. I had to re-position and pull him out. Poor Candy Cane! I knew she would have a second baby but at this point I had little hope it would be born alive. Well I was extremely surprised and happy when 15 minutes later a living, breathing, moving doeling was born! Thank God!! I got the doeling dried off then Candy Cane began to push again. Another still born buck in the wrong position who had to be re-positioned and pulled. This was the worst kidding I've had in several years. The umbilical cords were incomplete, which is what caused the two bucklings to die. It's truly amazing the doeling survived! Due to the traumatic kidding and a way to short umbilical cord (that could easily get infected) the doeling came into the house to be bottle fed. 

Now, 5 days later, Miss Peppermint Star is still doing well as a bottle baby and Candy Cane is healing from her ordeal and producing enough milk for me to feed her baby. If I never have another kidding like that one it will be too soon!

Saturday promised to be eventful, I went out to do chores and discovered three of my goats in labor! All three were first freshening 2 year olds, who came up to the trough to eat grain then immediately went back to the sheds to labor while the rest of the herd went out to the pasture to graze. Along with that, the 5 babies born at the beginning of the week were scheduled to be dis-budded.

About an hour after feeding, when I was out in the pen to get the babies for dis-budding, Sweetie, my Saanan-Alpine cross had a big buckling!

I helped her get him dried up then went to see how the dis-budding was going. About 10 minutes later, when I was returning the newly de-horned babies to their mamas, I found Sweetie about to have a second baby.

A little doeling, born much faster than her brother! Meet Sugar Plum, solid white just like her mother.

Mama and both babies were doing well so I moved them all to the pen I had set up for new babies and Mamas.

About 2 hours later, Iridessa was ready to have her babies. First out was a little buck, shortly followed by another little buck.

Once we'd helped Iridessa get her babies dried off, we moved them to the pen where Sweetie and her babies were, then went to check on the next goat in labor, Athena.

Athenalena, Airalena's 2 year old daughter. She pushed for  an hour before she finally had baby number one, a big buck my brother named Blitz. Once baby number one was out baby number two quickly followed. An hour for the first baby, less than five minutes for the second baby! That's a first freshener for you!

Another, beautiful, colorful, buck. My brother named the second one Storm, and lamented the fact he didn't get a doe out of his favorite goat. Why are the pretty babies, out of the best does, so often bucks? 

That night it was clear that Bonnie, my little sister's goat was in labor, so I stuck her in a kidding shed, went to bed, and woke up every three hours to check on her. She didn't kid. When I checked on her come morning, still no babies. She made it very clear she wanted to got out to the pasture, so I put her out there, and continued to check on her every 30 minutes. One check, she wasn't pushing or anything, 30 minutes later I went out to check again, and there was a baby!

Darned goat, apparently she wanted to have her babies in the pasture and didn't want me interfering! I lost a good nights sleep only to miss the big event come morning! Well, ok, only half the big event. She waited to have the second baby until I got out there.

Twin Does! After five bucks and only one doe the day before this was exciting! My sister named the first baby Iris and the second Orchid.

Whew, busy weekend! Needless to say, we didn't make it to church. Now after 7 goats kidding and 14 live babies, (a very even 7 bucks and 7 does) I only have three goats left to kid, and they appear to be taking their own sweet time. On one hand, this is a little frustrating, I was up every three hours last night to check on a still pregnant goat! On the other hand, the break is rather nice, until the current babies get a bit bigger, I'm out of kidding sheds! I foresee another busy weekend coming up, this time with cleaning out and moving around sheds to accommodate my growing herd!

Valentines Day: Shirts and Baby Goats

So many of my projects start with me finding a fabric I just can't leave behind, then designing a garment to turn the fabric into, in order to justify the fabric I just bought. This shirt was no exception.

The fabric I had been admiring for a while, then during one trip to Joann's I saw that it had been clearanced. So I immediately got what was left on the bolt, about two yards.

A soft grey knit with metallic gold stripes on one side and gold dots on the other. I really wanted to showcase both sides of the fabric in what ever I made and I thought a circle shirt, like this, would be a great way to do that. I decided some gold lace would be just perfect to set off the stripes and dots. Not wanting to spend too much more money on the supplies for this project, I stopped by a thrift store on my way home from Joann's that day to see if there was a garment with gold lace I could use. Well, there wasn't one.

There was, however, this shirt. While not something I would typically wear, the paisley pattern of blue, green, grey, and metallic gold intrigued me. I could find a way to combine this shirt with my new fabric in place of lace!

This all took place several weeks ago. The shirt and fabric got stuck in my re-fashion bin and there they stayed. Finally, I had a few spare hours this past weekend, while waiting for my very pregnant goats to kid. Out my fabric came!

I used one of my favorite tank tops as the pattern for the body of the shirt. I cut two large half-circles for sleeves. Then, I chopped up the thrifted shirt.

I cut off the sleeves, then chopped off the top of the shirt. This would be the yoke for my circle shirt. I flipped it around so that the front of the shirt was the back yoke, and the back was the front yoke. Then I started sewing my circle shirt.

Well, it was supposed to be a circle shirt at least. I sewed the top of the thrifted shirt onto the body of my new shirt. Then I planned to sew the half-circles to the sides of the shirt body to make a large circle/oval shape, but halfway into sewing the half circles on I decided to go a slightly different direction.

I sewed the half-circles around what would be the arm hole, then, rather that sewing the rest of the sleeves into the side seams, as I'd planned to do, I decided to sew up the side seams and the under arm seams separately, giving this shirt very distinct sleeves, rather than a poncho look.

Once I had the sleeves figured out, my shirt was about done, only two little issues that needed to be solved, first, it was a little tight and short through the torso. 

I cut the bottom couple inches off the original shirt, along with wedges out of the sides of the shirt. I then seam ripped a few inches up each side seam of the shirt I had just made. I sewed the wedges I had just cut into the side seams and sewed the hem of the original shirt onto the bottom of my new shirt. That fixed the problem!

The second issue was the back of the shirt, it was just a bit too open for my tastes. So I made two straps out of the fabric scraps I had, then cris-crossed them across the open back.

There, much more comfortable! This shirt took about an hour and a half to make, then it was time to check on the pregnant goats again. So I threw a coat on over my pretty new shirt and outside I went, to discover Genesis very close to having babies!

Genesis is a two year old, first time mama and she did great! First out was a little buck who looked exactly like his mama. My sister named him Exodus. He was soon followed by a doeling, named Truffle (to honor her Valentines day birth).

We quickly moved all three into a nice warm shed, and the babies didn't take long to figure out how to nurse.

Now, hopefully all my kiddings this year go just as well as Genesis's did, and all my sewing projects come together as quickly and nicely as my shirt did!

Well, ok, that second one might be pretty near impossible, but I'm still hoping for a smooth kidding season!