Kidding season is over

Hope everybody had a great Memorial day! We sure had a lot of fun, David and Kate and the Wilson family came over and we had a blast, played TONS of volleyball, shot potato cannons, drank lots of coke, and of course hotdogs and hamburgers, and homemade ice cream. It was great, and David even went out on our "raft" on the pond, he did better than me though and managed NOT to fall off. :D

And Saturday my new buckling came in!! I'm so excited about him, his sire is *B Kastdemur's Most Wanted, who is sired by the 2008 ADGA National Show Premier Nubian Sire. His dam is a beautiful stylish doe SGCH Blissberry R Rockin' Robin 2*M. I'm pretty excited about this little guy, I think he's going to do some great things for my herd. Oh and the best part!! It only cost $10.95 to get him flown in all the way from MN!! Reason being is that the airline forgot to put him on the flight and the plane left without him...so since they messed up and it was a guaranteed booking, they put him on a bit later flight for only $10.95. :) Made my day for sure!! It usually costs at least $200.

My kidding season finally came to a close, with the last doe kidding with twins a buck and a doe. (Boer). I was very grateful that it was a pretty uneventful birth for the most part, the buck did have one of his front legs back a bit, but once I got that fixed he popped right out. So lets see if I can do a rundown of all the kids that were born this spring.

Boers
Reba- 1 buck 1 doe
Fat Doe- 2 bucks 1 doe
Poco- 2 bucks
Alyssa- 1 buck
Paint- 1 buck 1 doe
Christiana- 1 doe
Destiny- 1 doe
Wenneveria- 1 buck 1 doe
Moonlight- 1 buck 1 doe

Nubians
Maggie- 1 buck 1 doe
Sassy- 2 does
Madeline- 1 buck (Boer cross)
Shardae- 3 does

So that's a total of 24 kids, 11 bucks and 13 does...wow I guess I actually ended up with more does!! I must say it was a really tough kidding season this year...starting off with losing Gauger's preemie trips, and then having several stillborns, and I lost one older kid to dogs...and then Fat Doe's tangled triplets...and Destiny's preemie, (she's doing great now though) and then a few other minor problems. But I'm very thankful for the 24 healthy ones that the Lord blessed me with!

I finally got a picture of my beautiful "Hot To Trot." I'm SOOOO happy with her, she's so long, level, and just so pretty! I can't wait to get her in the show ring.


There's few random pictures of some of the new babies as well, isn't the one so cute with the all white ear? :)

My Pond Story :)

Okay, since you all wanted to hear it, I guess I shall tell it. :) Sorry, no pictures from it actually happening, although I do have a picture of Micah and Josh transporting the "Raft" on the four wheeler so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

So it was a kinda cool day last week when Anna suggested that her and I take Micah's "Raft" out on the pond. Sounded fun, so we grabbed a couple of life jackets and took off. Now the "Raft" is 3 pieces of foam block, (used to make Insulated Concrete Form Homes) with several 2 X 4's nailed across it to hold them together, and then a little seat in the middle. I was a bit nervous at first because it's kind of tippy if you don't get it balanced right, but as long as you stay still in your places there's really no danger of it flipping over. So I was on the back side with our paddle, (which was a piece of wood with the plastic lid to a 5 gallon bucket nailed to it) trying to get the thing out to the middle, I was actually standing at this point, and suddenly my foot slipped and went down right through the gaps in between the 2 X 4's! Goodness, so now my skirt was wet, and my boot full of water, great. We made it out to the middle, and had fun paddling around, until Anna almost started choking on something so I had to take her back to shore. :D She was fine though.

So a bit later Andrew decided to get on with me, so we went out to the middle. By this time I was getting pretty used to the "Raft," so we started getting just a bit crazy out there. I'm heavier than him so I pretty much had control of which way we would tip. :) So we started doing these "cool acts" where we would see how high up we could tip the boat without it totally flipping over or us falling off. Anna, Josh, Jeremiah and Micah were laughing at us from the bank enjoying the show. So after doing that numorous times without falling off we headed back.

Well then Micah decided to go out with me. Now Micah (for whatever reason, it was cool that day) had been swimming in the other pond out in the pasture....so that mean't he was already wet, and didn't mind getting wet again. NOT good. AND he's heavier than me...so I wasn't really going to have control of the "Raft." Off we went, the "cool acts" were a bit scarier with Micah, and we were falling all over the boat, but still managing to stay on. And I still only had both boots full of water and about half my skirt wet, not too bad. So we tipped it and when it was at the highest point Micah jumped off into the water hoping to make the "Raft" flip!! However I managed to quickly get it balanced back out and stayed on. :) Nice try Micah! :D

We were having a lot of fun, but then suddenly on one of our "cool acts" I was on the side that was going up high off the water and I totally lost my balance, and the part of the boat that I was standing on broke off!! I did like a big back flip straight back into the water, so deep that even with the life jacket on I had to swim up to the top!! :D :D I was SOO not expecting that!! It was cold too, and of course I got a ton of pond water in me. So I'm coughing and sputtering, but managed to swim back to the "Raft." I was NOT wanting to get wet, and here I am totally drenched from head to toe...oh boy. We got back on the boat, and being both totally soaked (Micah fell off too) we decided just to try tipping it all the way over, so we did. By this time I'm REALLY cold and wanted to go back to shore. So we headed back, on the poor upside down broken "Raft." About halfway back I got really sick to my stomach, (maybe it was seasickness, I'm not sure) and so I'm like "Micah hurry! I'm about to throw up in the water!!" He realized I wasn't joking either so he's paddling as fast as he can, and I'm laying on the raft moaning because I was feeling so bad. LOL We finally made it back without me throwing up, although I almost did, and got out. Boy it was hard to walk back to the house with water logged boots. But I made it and then had to take a shower to get all that slimy pond water off of me. :)

So...that's the pond story! It was a lot of fun actually, I guess it wouldn't have been quite so interesting if I hadn't fallen in. :)

More new babies!

Wow, it's been quite the weekend with goat birthing around here. :) On Thursday I noticed that one of my Boer girls, who I didn't expect to kid until the 17th, having a lot of weird discharge. It really looked like she was going into labor, however no contractions or anything. So on Thursday night I decided to go in and check to see if her cervix was open, and just make sure there wasn't a incorrectly presented kid in there. Cervix was totally closed, no evidence of labor other than the discharge. I was really thinking that something was probably going to be wrong, a dead kid or something. Finally on Friday afternoon she started contracting. I checked again and her cervix was opened about the size of a half dollar and I could feel two hooves just past that. About 30 minutes later she started pushing hard and presented the two feet. She wasn't progressing beyond that though, so I pulled gently....still nothing. That kid was just STUCK, poor goat she was pushing as hard as she could and I was at the other end pulling as hard as I could, by this time I figured that the kid was probably for sure dead, but I had to get it out of there. Finally it popped out, and it was alive!! However it was thrashing around unable to breath, as she had aspirated a ton of fluid into her lungs. So I picked her up by the back legs and started swinging her around and patting on her back and ribcage to get the fluid out. Mom was like "Besh are you SURE that's what you should be doing??" I guess it did look a bit drastic but that's what it takes sometimes to get that fluid out. It took a good five minutes of working on her before she was able to breath easily. Whew...that was scary. Her poor little head was quite swollen, probably from being in there so long and the hard pull. She was really tiny, but seemed to be doing okay trying to stand up. However because of the swelling I couldn't get her to nurse or take a bottle, so I tube fed her a couple ounces of colostrum. Later that evening I got her to nurse off the bottle, and the the next morning she was nursing off of her mom.

So for now she seems to be making it okay, walking around fine on her own and nursing. However I am watching her closely for aspiration puemonia. Hopefully she's going to be fine though, such a cute little thing!

The doe did have second kid, which was dead. I really expected that though, because of her going into labor early, and everything just wasn't normal. I was a bit concerned about her passing the placenta, and she ended up having to have several shots of oxytocin, to get her to finish cleaning out.

And then on Saturday, another Boer doe kidded, she did just fine, and had them all by herself. A boy and a girl, I need to get Anna to take some pictures of them, they are so cute, and the little girl has one white and one brown ear.

Oh and my CA doe kid flew in on Tuesday!! She's just gorgeous!! I still need to get pictures of her sometime soon too. Her name is "Hot To Trot." And....the other news is it looks like Lord willing I'm going to be getting a new Nubian buckling as well. Kind of a last minute decision but I really want to be able to breed my kids from this year in the fall, and the only Nubian buck I have right now is the sire to them all. I'm really excited, his dam and sire are VERY nice. He'll be coming from Minnesota, the same breeder that I got Main Attraction, and Elegance from last spring.

Sooo, anybody tired of hearing about goats?? :D My first dairy show is coming up soon too....can't wait to see how Shardae does as a milker now!

Anyway, that's pretty much what's been going on lately, besides some other adventures involving me falling in the pond....maybe I'll post about that sometime.

Names!

Well I finally came up with some names for Shardae's kids. :) Took me a while but I had to get their registrations sent in, and of course they had to have names on them so I finally made up my mind.

Introducing..."Shamara"

"Shalom"

And "Sonata!"

They are doing wonderful, growing up quickly! Shouldn't be too much longer til I get little CA girl flown in as well. :)

Ada Goat Show

Well I'm a bit late, but I wanted to post a few pictures from the goat show on Saturday. Elijah and I headed to Ada Friday afternoon to get the goats all prepped. We picked up a few of the Burnett's on the way for some extra help. I was just showing 4, so it didn't take that long to get them washed and clipped. After we finished up we headed back to the B's house for supper, Hannah had a really great meal ready and waiting for us. :) After supper was cleaned up we played a game called "Settlers of Catan." I really liked it a lot, (after I finally figured it out, kind of complicated!) I was trying SO hard to win...but sadly I didn't, John-Clay won both times. Oh well. :D After that we ended up staying up until 3:00 in the morning talking. Needless to say I felt kinda wiped out when I woke up Saturday morning. The show started at nine and the rest of my family and Paps and Shirley joined us there. My two little kids didn't place, but they're just a lot younger than most of the others in the class, so I'm hoping they'll do a lot better as they get bigger.


My two bucks did pretty good, the younger one took 4th in the first show, and my "10 Buck 2" guy took 3rd in both shows. I was pretty happy, I've been placing a lot higher this year than last, so I'm really glad about that! :) Poor Micah, his goat was NOT cooperating well at all.



This week has been pretty busy, I've been really enjoying this warm weather so have been spending quite a bit of time outside. Yesterday was violin lesson day, it was the first time for 3 of the students, but it went really well, it's neat to be able to share what I know with others.

This is the little girl that was born on the Garden Workshop day, isn't she cute? :)


Have a great week!

Shardae Kidded!!

Yesterday morning her ligaments were pretty much gone and her udder was getting fuller every time I checked on her throughout the day. Finally at around 5:00 I noticed some contractions, I came in for a bit and then went back out to check right before we ate supper. Her water had broke and she was pushing!! It took her a little while to finally push out a beautiful, very tiny girl! I took her into the barn, jumped on the four wheeler and sped down to the house to get some towels and some help. :D Anna and Hosie came back up with me and helped out with drying the little girl while I waited on number 2. She was taking her time for sure, I checked to make sure the kid was presented right, straightened the front legs out a bit, and number 2 was born!! Another girl!! Wow, I was so excited!! We were working on getting the kids bottles, when somebody hollered she's pushing again! A little bit later a 3rd kid was born.....and it was ANOTHER GIRL!!! Wow I was majorly surprised, but SO happy!! Shardae did wonderful, and her little kids are just way to cute. Praise the Lord for a healthy kidding, and beautiful babies!

Here's some pictures of the little sweeties...please note I took the pictures, just so you aren't wondering what happened to Anna's photography. :D


And this afternoon I got pictures of my doeling I'm getting from CA, Lord willing she will be shipped in the first of May. She looks just gorgeous in the pictures, I'm very happy. :) Her mom's name is "Hot Tropic" and her sire is "Playboy." Any name suggestions for the little girl?

Just a quick update...

Well lets see, I guess I've had 3 more baby goats (Boer) since I last posted, 2 were born on Wednesday, and then one was born yesterday right at the end of our Garden Workshop. :D I knew she was close and was watching her closely Saturday morning, but she wasn't showing me any signs of labor, so I didn't expect her to kid right away. Goats like to surprise you though, so Dad was giving a quick tour of the farm at the end of the workshop and she had just dropped out her kid right before we got to the pen where she was at. She just had a single, but I was really glad it was a doe, after all the buck kids I've been getting this year. So now it's a total of 16 babies, two of the Nubian doelings went to their new home on Saturday. They went to a very sweet family who I know will take fantastic care of them. I love it when I know my "kids" are going to such a great home. :)

Now I'm waiting on my Nubian girl "Shardae" (one of the kids I got flown in from CA last spring) to kid, she's due on Thursday, so I'm expecting kids anytime. I'm really excited, and hoping that she'll have at least one girl. :)

The show on the 4th went really good, we took two Boer bucks, and then two of my 3 week old kids. There were two shows, one right after the other and we got two 3rd placings and one fourth place, and then the judge just went on and on about my little 3 week old girl, he really liked her a lot!! She was the youngest in the class though so she just needs a bit of time to grow and mature, but I was really excited about all the nice comments he made about her. No pictures though because Anna didn't come with me. :(

Thanks so much for your comment Dani-Joy, I think baby goats are pretty cute too. :) To answer your question about what I do with my kids- I keep most of the girls (as I usually don't get too many it seems) and sell any that I don't keep. With the boys, only the ones that I feel are really good quality stay intact as breeding bucks, I show them, and the girls as well to see how they compete with the other goats out there. I may keep one, and then sell the rest. The rest of the boys are wethered (goat term for castrated) and we raise them for meat.

We've had lots of rain the past couple days, I'm really grateful for it, but it sure makes chores a bit of a mess. :) LOTS of mud out there right now, my little white Boer kids don't look so white anymore. :D