April 13, 2009

We Had Easter Babies!

Happy Easter Dym!
Dym did indeed have her babies on Easter this year. This is the first time a goat has ever kidded on a holiday here at Shiloh Prairie Farm. The kids came with the rain, luckily it was nice and dry in the kidding pen but a steady rain fell on the farm all evening, flooding the backyard and forming large puddles of standing water outside the pens and sheds that evening. It was actually kind of peaceful sitting in the kidding pen listening to the rain while Dym kidded, never mind the fact I sunk up to the top of my shoe in the water outside of the door afterwords. At about 6:30pm she had a 10.5 lb doeling and a short while later she had a big 12 lb buckling. I really kind of thought she was going to have triplets but she just had two very good sized twins; which I think is great because I prefer them to have twins over anything else.

Dym's new doeling

The doeling came very quickly, in fact Dym was just checked and before I got back out there with the kidding box she had already had her. Notice the dot of color on her back? I guess that is going to be Joker's mark, because not only does he have a spot on his back like that but so far he has passed it on to almost all of his kids. The buckling took a little bit longer and was presented incorrectly with one front leg back. All I saw was one big head and one leg coming out but with a little bit of help Dym's buckling was born too. It is possible she may have been able to have him herself anyway like that but it certainly made things a lot easier on her and increased the kid's chance of survival that I was there.

Dym's new buckling

This is the reason I do like to be there when they kid, it is rare that one is not positioned right but it can happen. The one I never want to see is a kid with it's head folded back, as that is one of the hardest types of births to straighten out because their head often tends to keep folding back over whenever you let go to pull and obviously it can not be born like that. This is one of the few cases when a lamb puller can come in handy. Just a note, if you ever have to "go in" to reposition a kid the doe will need antibiotics to prevent infection.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very sweet pictures! Glad they are all doing well.

Nic said...

I'm glad everything went well! Excited to hear what their names are!

This year one of my does had a breech birth. That was exciting to say the least but, I didn't have to "go in" and I was very happy about that. I assure you that my sister and I prayed a lot!

Boozy Tooth said...

Congratulations and cigars all around. What beautiful Easter babies. I love the dear little things - and Dym did a grand job of kidding the twins.

Enjoy your babies Jennifer and know that some of us envy you more than you will ever know, ankle deep in rain or not.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful babies! What a fun Easter. Even with the rain.

ChristyACB said...

Gorgeous babes! How very funny that Joker's mark is so obvious. Good thing the girlies aren't jealous!

Christy said...

Nice kids! I alternate between not being able to wait to have kids and being scared to death. Luckily it won't be until next year.

Becky said...

Wow! Those are big babies.
Always good when it all goes well.

Anonymous said...

Congrats Jennifer!

Jamie Allen said...

AWW! They are such cuties. Thanks for stopping by my blog, yours is now on my faves list.

Jamie

Tonia said...

Congrats on the babies I have had one present with the head back and unfortunately I couldnt get it straightened out and had to put the doe down. I worked for over an hour it was terrible. I have had a couple of other times that I had help but nothing like that time... There is nothing like kidding season!!

A.C.E said...

Very cute! I love them the hanging ears!

Jennifer said...

I am so sorry to hear about the doe you lost Tonia!! That would be really terrible! We have only had one bad birth I could not get on my own. It was quads and two were stillborn which complicated things. The vet had to pull the kids but luckily the doe was OK. I am so truly sorry for your loss.

KathyB. said...

So what cute names have you decided on for your Easter kids? Congratulations on your little beauties!

Lanny said...

Yeah Dym, Hip hip hooray!

The one holiday birth I can absolutely remember for sure were a set of triplet lambs born on Martin Luther King's birthday. Two boys one girl.... Martina Luther and King. Two were destined for the freezer and Martina went on to farm fame as the ewe known to come and knock on the kitchen door every time she was about to lamb. We figured that she thought her lambs should get to spend their first days of life in "her" kitchen like she did!!!

Sparky said...

No kidding, you have a cute blog! I'm getting to where I really appreciate goats. We live in the country and many of neighbors raise them. They have so much personality.
Thanks for stopping by my place. Drop by anytime! The door is always open.
God bless and stay dry. :o)

Jennifer said...

I haven't thought of any names yet Kathy, but I will. :o)

What a cute story Lanny!

Thanks for stopping by Sparky!

DayPhoto said...

We had to pull a calf last year. The first one in all our 40 some years of cows. You are so right, anitibotics are important. We did have a cow not slough her after birth, (not the first time) this year, so out came the needle. Good thing we live in an age when we can help them with medicine.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Those are really pretty babies, and I'm glad your momma is doing good!

Alison said...

This was a very interesting post, even aside from the cute little babies! The doeling is adorable. If you want to keep with Joker's card theme, you could name her Heart and the buckling Diamond.

But I'll bet you've already got ideas... :)

Unknown said...

Congratulations, Dym and Jennifer! What beautiful babies!

Nancy in Atlanta

Anonymous said...

Hey Jennifer, thanks for your sweet comment over at my place. Congratulations on your little Easter twins! So sweet.

Linda Hughes said...

So glad they came on Easter and all ended well. So sweet!

BloggessJ said...

Super cute kiddo's...They look so much alike!

Esther Garvi said...

Aw, they are just tooooo cute!!! Allis sends a big kiss!

Nancy M. said...

Congratulations! Beautiful babies for Easter!

Girl Tornado said...

They are sooooooo cute! Glad you were there to help out with the buckling.

We got a ton of rain on Sunday; as of yesterday, I'm still sinking in the mare's pen, it's horribly muddy in there! But yesterday shaped up and was pretty nice. Ringo and I walked around the pond twice. Beautiful day! :)

Hope you're having a good week!

Unknown said...

Beautiful babies!!!

Unknown said...

They are beautiful babies! What an excellent Easter day gift!

said...

How exciting to raise and care for goats!

Congrats on your SITS day!