Llamas!

We have three llamas one male and two female llamas. So here are some pictures:

The male llama:

One of the female llamas:

The second female llama:

The male and one of the female llamas:

New Alpine & Kids Here!!

Well, Last Monday (3-1-10) we got an alpine (Journey) and her two doeling kids. The doe kidded to three nubian/alpine cross doelings on 2-22-10. But, one of the doelings was sold before we got her, so we only got two of the doelings. The mom is a straight alpine and the dad is a nubian. We separated the two kids from her last Tuesday (3-2-10), and brought them in the house in a crate. So, we have been milking the doe and she is giving a fair amount.

We put them with the other kids. and took them out in the kid yard:

Farm Pictures!

Just some different farm pictures:

Caleb:

Molly:

~ Haleluyah

Goats Kidding!!

Friday we went down the road to help one of our friends. Then when we came back we saw one of our does (that is a 2009 doeling that had got bred on accident) that had a really tight bag before we left. But when we came back, we saw her standing by the wood pile licking a kid off. So we ran in the gate and there was a little doeling on the grown. We don't know who the doe was bred to but it was definitely not our big boer buck (thankfully).

The Dam (Good Goats French Kiss)

Her little doeling:

Then Saturday (3-6-10) around 10:00am I went out to check on all the goats that where due any time. and I saw that Reata's back was really high, then she had a few contractions. So, I ran back to the house and told my mom, then ran back out and got her, her sister and two other boer does that are due any time. I put her in one of the stalls. Then about 10:30 she was pushing. The first kid was stuck really bad because the kids head and chest were so big, we finely got the kid out and it was a really, really big buckling. A little bit past and out came the second kid. The second kid was not stuck. The first kid was a seven pound buckling and the second kid was a 5 pound doeling. The sire to the kids is KB346 Ace In The Hole, and the dam is Reatta.

The Sire (Ace)

The Buckling:

The Doeling:

The buckling is the one that is on top of the other one, 
and the doeling is the one that is sitting down:

Now when we were done dealing with Reatta I checked on the other does and one of our boer does was having contractions around 12:00am. Then about 8:00pm we checked on her and she had a bunch of mucous, and the first freshener Boer doe that had been in labor for a few hours,  was having hardly any contractions. Her cervix was not really dialated at all either - a condition called Ringwomb that my sister (Suriyah) has been reading about for years and dreaded to ever have to deal with it. . . and now we were. Around 8pm she had some mucus, and the kid was born at 10:30pm.

We gave her Oxytocin and my sister manually dialated her cervix, probably for about 30-45 minutes (on and off, and time flies by when you're busy!). Anyway, my sister finally got it much bigger and the kid was right there ready to come out. She was now pushing, and the kid's feet were out and the nose was right there, and it's tongue was starting to go purple. Every time she would push we could see the whole ring of the cervix - it was yellowish/whitish. my sister was still helping stretch the area, and then the kid came out.

It was ALIVE (after over 2 1/2 hours of being in the birth canal and the sack being broke), to our amazement - and a little doeling!!!

Immediately after the kid came out, the mom started bleeding like I've never seen before. It looked like someone was pouring a jug of blood there - it was gulping out. My sister (Suriyah) ran and got the Shepherd's Purse tincture, and a good friend (who's not "farmy"!)  started putting counter-pressure in her (I am soo glad my friend was there with the knowledge to put pressure on her). My sister (Suriyah) gave her a ton of Shepherd's purse, and her tongue was going white. Within a minute, the bleeding subsided and the color came back to her! She started licking her kid and acting great for what just happened! I never want to be without Shepherd's Purse!! Me and one of our friends got some sugar water since we did not have molasses on hand.

My sister gave her a bunch of Karo and sugar water, injectable B and probiotics.

She is now eating grain and hay and nursing her kid! We also started her on Penicillin, gave her Banamine, and a calcium drench just to boost her. The sire is also KB346 Ace In The Hole, and the dam is CVC Gaddy

The Dam (This is a old picture from in CA)

Well, in the 6 years that we have been doing goats (& lots of kiddings), that was the worst and most traumatic kidding I think we have ever dealt with!!

~ Haleluyah