This kidding season has brought so much joy and so much sorrow. . . and very little sleep. Yes, this blog post is brought to you in part by this coffee mug sitting beside me.
During morning chores yesterday, I examined Razz closely since I was expecting babies from her any time, but she didn't really seem any farther along than she was the day before. I decided that I'd probably have time to run the couple of errands I needed to run. Wrong. When I arrived back at the farm, I decided to drive on down to the barn before stopping at the house to unload groceries -- just to check on things. When I stepped out the back barn door and into the birthing pen, I almost stepped on the afterbirth but saw no goats! I ran around the corner of the barn and saw Razz looking rather shell-shocked. Then, I saw them. One. Two. Three. No wonder she was looking so overwhelmed!
The first triplets born on our farm. Having an inkling that the girl might not make it, I had Girl 2 snap this pic so that I could have one of all three of them together. The doeling is the one on the right side of the pic.
It's pretty common to have a pretty weak kid in these larger birth sets, and I knew as soon as I saw the smallest one that this was a touch-and-go situation. I scurried about doing all the little things that need to be done with newborns, including being sure they're warm and dry and getting that all-important colostrum into their bellies ASAP. It was wet and windy outside, so I brought Razz and crew into the barn and nestled them by the heater. The two larger, stronger kids were boys; the weaker, smaller one was female and spotted and adorable and SO, SO weak.
Razz wouldn't settle down. She could tell that something wasn't right with the little girl and kept licking on her and trying to encourage her to move about.
Razz just before giving birth.
Throughout the night, I visited the barn to be sure that everyone was eating. But, I couldn't get the little girl to eat anything more than she ate at first. She just wouldn't suck the bottle and milk would just run down the side of her face.
It should be noted that Razz was amazing during all of this and managed to be a good momma to all three of them despite how obviously anxious she was about the little one. We pulled out all the stops for this little one. There were calls with the vet, tons of internet searching, vitamins administered, and more. But, she just couldn't make it. By early morning light, she was gone. I know these things happen, and I should be getting more accustomed to loss. But, many tears were shed on behalf of this little one, nonetheless.
Her brothers, on the other hand, are strapping young fellas! They each weighed in at 8.6 pounds and are real lookers. I'd been hoping for one with Razz's coloring since I think she's our prettiest goat (it should be noted that I am alone in this; everyone else prefers the spots:) , but Oreo's traits are proving to be pretty dominant when it comes to coloring. One of these bucklings looks a lot like Carson, Nutmeg's buckling, but has a cute little white color block on one side. The other one is unlike any I've ever seen. Besides one little splash of white on the top of his head and his adorable white ears, he is nearly entirely black!
I've had lots of folks asking, so I'll go ahead and address this. Yes, we do plan to sell several of this year's babies. In fact, all three of the bucklings we've had so far will be for sale. They are just too closely related to our does to be used here for breeding. But, my, they would make great bucks for someone else! When I've got their full descriptions ready for their sale posts, I'll share them here too so that you can see. But these guys have got great bloodlines from award-winning farms and long lines of excellent milkers. We plan to keep all babies here until after Open Farm on April 4. However, we may have some already spoken for by then, so if you or someone you know is interested in purebred ADGA registered Nubians, let me know!
As for names for these male twins, there's been nothing official yet. But, I did hear over breakfast table conversation this morning that "Uptown Funky Goat" is a top contender. :) I'll keep you posted.
This brings our kid tally down at the barn to FIVE! And, we're looking for Izzy -- the only preggo momma left -- to kid anytime!