Whoa Baby!

To say that Thursday, March 12th was an eventful day would be an understatement.  We started the day at 4 AM thinking that one of the goats was showing early signs of labor.  Chris went to work around 5 AM, and I (Laura) continued to watch the monitor for another hour.  Then I went out and did morning chores at 6 AM and everyone was fine.  No new babies over night.

At about 9:30 I saw Wisteria, one of our Nubians, starting to show strong contractions.  I went out to the barn, prepared for the delivery and the first kid ( a pretty black doe) was on the ground by 10.  No problem, I've got another 20 minutes before the next one comes, right?  Nope.  Try 5 minutes.  With the addition of a handsome brown and white trim buck kid, now I have 2 soaking wet babies in a barn that is 20 degrees.  So what do I do?  Call in reinforcements!  My neighbor Mary came over and helped dry off/blow dry the babies and get them fed.  All of this was in time for me to go to work by noon.

Chris came home about noon for the afternoon baby shift.  I had to be gone for the rest of the afternoon because I teach a class on Thursday nights from 6:30-9:30 PM, and had another appt at 2:30.  We asked Chris's Mom and sister if they would come over and be available to help "in case" a goat should freshen.

Well, my appt wrapped up around 4:45.  When I returned to my desk I had a message from Chris at about 3 PM that LuvBug, one of our Saanens had just given birth to twin bucks.  Everyone was doing well.  When I returned his call, he informed me that Wylie, one of our Nubians, had started showing signs of labor.  By 5 PM she had given birth to TRIPLETS!  1 doe and 2 bucks.  By this point I think he was happy to have extra help at the barn.  I was feeling a bit left out of al the action!  When I left the barn this morning, I had 7 babies, now there was 12!

By about 7:40 PM I called Chris to see how things were going.  At the start of the day we had agreed that he would bring a few babies to my class for everyone to "oooh and aaah over".  We had agreed that he would be there between 7 and 7:30.  So, I call... and he answers to tell me that he will be on his way in a couple of minutes - after he milks Tilly.  Wait... did he say Tilly??  When did she come into the mix?  Tilly is one of our Saanen does.  He then tells me that she freshened nearly effortlessly at 7 PM.  Oh my gosh!  

Chris, his mom and sister were absolute champs.  They did all of this work, and then they did bring down Tilly's twins and Wylie's triplets for the class to see.  Everyone loved them of course.  They just couldn't fathom that they had just been born a few hours before.  I am very grateful to have such an understanding, hard working spouse.  And my adopted family (in-laws) are just gems.  Who else would put up with and dive into all of this?

We now have 14 babies on the ground - and I missed the last 7!  What kind of mama am I?  As soon as I get a chance to snuggle all the new little ones and take their pictures, I will post some for you to see.  I'm sure Chris's account of all of this is different than mine.  I'm going to see if he'll jot down his thoughts sometime tomorrow so that we can compare notes.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

When we woke up this morning for chores, we had quite an adjustment to make.  Overnight temps had dropped significantly and the wind was fierce!  The thermometer read -2.  Ug, we really thought we were done with all that crazy cold weather.

After a long wait, Princess decided that twins was all she was going to have.  So, we got some cute pictures of them this morning.  Now, we just have to wait patiently for the other 5 goats who are over due.

In Her Own Time...

Chris and I made a deal last night: I would stay up to do the midnight feeding, and I do morning chores since I was planning on going into work a bit later.  In return, he would get up early (4 AM) and come home by noon to feed babies and be on "Baby Watch".  Sounds good.  It was except that I couldn't sleep for various reasons - so today has been a long day!

Princess started showing the very early staged of labor at about 5 PM this evening.  We waited, and waited, and waited.  Finally at 7 PM we decided to go in the house and watch her on the camera.  Wouldn't you know - no sooner do I get in the house, get all my barn clothes off, and set the tv to record - and she decides to start pushing!  So, everything went in reverse and I ran back out to the barn.  At 7:30 she gave birth to a very big buck kid.  And as all wonderful Saanens should be - he is white as snow!  Wahoo!  

Then we waited, and waited some more and at 8:30 I decide that I should check her to make sure everything is going okay.  Well, she apparently was reading my mind, because just as I stepped in the pen to check her, she gave birth to a smaller doe kid.  This one is just cute as a button (and also white - as she should be!)

We stayed in the barn until 9:00 wondering if she was finished, or if she might have a third.  She has done this in the past...  We'll see what is waiting for us when we go out for the midnight shift.  We will post photos a little later.  The cold spell that we just got today seems to have zapped our camera batteries faster than expected.

Kidding Season Has Begun!

Well, it's official - kidding season has begun at Four Seasons Farm.  We were expecting one of our Saanens to kid yesterday, but that has not happened yet.  We actually had a surprise today.  We were in the house, both doing our own thing around 5 PM when we heard a grunt on the "baby cam".  This is quite alarming because we did not have anyone in the kidding pens to watch!  Both Chris and I rushed out to the barn expecting the Saanen that was due on Saturday to be in labor.  To our surprise - Lynn, one of our Nubians - had given birth to 1 baby and was cleaning him off!  This was a complete surprise because Lynn was not due until Tuesday!  Just to keep us on our toes, she decided to give birth to 3 babies - that's right, TRIPLETS!  She had 2 beautiful bucks and 1 very cute doe.  Everyone is doing well, and we are excited that kidding season has begun!  Now, Chris is taking a nap until the midnight feeding, and I am staying up to get some work done that I have a deadline for tomorrow.  Anytime you want to volunteer for the midnight shift, just let us know!  See you soon!

2009 Theme

Well, it official - we will be using "drinks" as a theme for naming this year's babies.  We are getting excited for the new arrivals - March is coming very quickly!  We had 10 does confirmed pregnant by ultrasound in January.  Those are all due in March.  Then we had 2 more confirmed pregnant via a blood test, and those are due in June.  

We hope that you are enjoying the blog.  Drop us a line to let us know what you think!

Preparing for babies

Well, as we started thinking about all the bouncing babies that are due to arrive in March - we realized that we needed to reorganize the animals a little bit to fit everyone in the barn.  Okay - no problem.  Wait - we didn't have enough room for all of them to eat!  Minor oversight!  So, we decided that we needed to make a new feeder.

This is a "keyhole" feeder, very similar to those that we built a few years ago.  The difference is - the feeders we built previously let 5 goats eat at one time, only on one side.  This feeder is slightly wider and allows for 5 goats to eat on each side.  

The project went rather smoothly, and after about 3 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday - it's finished!  We are going to wait until we clean the barn to install it.  But, we think it turned out quite nice and should definately do the job.  Chris even tested it out!

Vote!

As we venture into blogger world - we are learning as we go along. Be sure to vote and let us know which naming scheme you think we should use for 2009. One caveat - if you choose "other" please leave a comment on the blog as to what theme you think we should use! We thought it would show up in the poll, but that seems to not be the case. So, use this as a reason to practice! Thanks!