The goats are ready to pop. There are three of them that will have triplets if not quads. Last year Daphne and Cecelia both had quads, and it looks as though that will be the case this year again. Daphne is quite thin,and so are a couple of the others, so they have been getting a little grain twice a day to help supplement their pregnancy. It looks like I will have goat kids to bottle feed this year again. Goats have only two teats and the strong kids push the smaller ones aside. I suppose it is natures way of ensuring survival of the fittest, only usually the strong ones are the males.
Bottle feeding kids is a chore. They fight each other, push and shove and bite, to get to the bottle. The way I have found that works is to bring them to an area, remove myself from that area and take one baby at a time out with me. That way the others have to wait without hruting each other. the two goats in this photo are mother on the right and daughter on the left. The daughter is two and the mother is 4 and a half. Miniature goats, specifically Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats will live up to 14 years with proper care and will be able to have babies to the end. That is a long life for a small animal and a productive life at that. Let's say she only produced twins each year for 10 years, then she would have delivered twenty off spring. In Daphne's case, it is going to be more like thirty or more. Daphne and her daughter are dairy quality goats, but I have not milked them. Their kids take much out of them, even supplemented by bottles from me and when they are weaned, I have not had the heart to milk them. Instead I feel sorry and let them rest. I will try to milk them this year.
Last year I tried to milk a different goat that I no longer have. She kicked me, kicked the bucket, defecated and urinated on the milk stand. She was not going to be milked and she told me so every way she could. I will try Daphne and her daughter this year. Both are very quiet gentle goats. When goats are milked they need superior nutrition so they can continue to produce milk without losing condition. They are well fed on second cut alfalfa and very good mixed pasture hay and weeds, which they love. They have salt and minerals and granulated garlic in the minerals. They have been given herbs to help fend off the worms and they are chemcially treated for worms as well when the natural method was not working as it should have.
The actual due date is the 25th of April, 15 days away. Daria, the one on the left is already loose and has a hard udder. The gestation period for small goats is 145 days, but when they carry multiples, they sometimes can deliver a week early, so that is pretty close to a few days from now. I just hope they are not delivering on Saturday the 18th, because it is shearing day and I won't be able to be in two places at one time.
Thank you little goats, for your beautiful babies and your lovely ways. Thank you Creator for goats and for entrusting me to care for these beautiful critters.
Amen
Bottle feeding kids is a chore. They fight each other, push and shove and bite, to get to the bottle. The way I have found that works is to bring them to an area, remove myself from that area and take one baby at a time out with me. That way the others have to wait without hruting each other. the two goats in this photo are mother on the right and daughter on the left. The daughter is two and the mother is 4 and a half. Miniature goats, specifically Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats will live up to 14 years with proper care and will be able to have babies to the end. That is a long life for a small animal and a productive life at that. Let's say she only produced twins each year for 10 years, then she would have delivered twenty off spring. In Daphne's case, it is going to be more like thirty or more. Daphne and her daughter are dairy quality goats, but I have not milked them. Their kids take much out of them, even supplemented by bottles from me and when they are weaned, I have not had the heart to milk them. Instead I feel sorry and let them rest. I will try to milk them this year.
Last year I tried to milk a different goat that I no longer have. She kicked me, kicked the bucket, defecated and urinated on the milk stand. She was not going to be milked and she told me so every way she could. I will try Daphne and her daughter this year. Both are very quiet gentle goats. When goats are milked they need superior nutrition so they can continue to produce milk without losing condition. They are well fed on second cut alfalfa and very good mixed pasture hay and weeds, which they love. They have salt and minerals and granulated garlic in the minerals. They have been given herbs to help fend off the worms and they are chemcially treated for worms as well when the natural method was not working as it should have.
The actual due date is the 25th of April, 15 days away. Daria, the one on the left is already loose and has a hard udder. The gestation period for small goats is 145 days, but when they carry multiples, they sometimes can deliver a week early, so that is pretty close to a few days from now. I just hope they are not delivering on Saturday the 18th, because it is shearing day and I won't be able to be in two places at one time.
Thank you little goats, for your beautiful babies and your lovely ways. Thank you Creator for goats and for entrusting me to care for these beautiful critters.
Amen
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