April Showers Bring ... Baby Goats!!

April marked the beginning of not only a change in the season, but the beginning of another drastic change to the Colden Springs Farm family. As you may recall, back in October, Tyler and I acquired a small goat herd of four does and a buck on a bit of a whim. The following month the does were bred (why not, right?), and thus began the countdown of the 150 day gestation period.

Just like any big event months far into the future that are mostly forgotten with the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the goats’ due dates were not any different. We were reminded of what was to come when the does’ stomachs swelled like beach balls and there was no denying there were baby goats growing inside. Being 100% new goat owners and 100% new midwives, this was a stressful time. As the does’ due dates approached, we kept checking for signs of labor (and of course re-researching signs of labor in goats), running out each morning to see if perhaps we missed the action overnight, and even sleeping out in the barn one night we were sure would be the night.

Through it all, we had the reassuring and patient guidance of Al, from whom we purchased the goats, who we now call friend. Al assured us that he would move mountains to be there with us when the first doe showed signs of labor, and sure enough, he was.

Watching the first goat in labor was incredible. All the articles, blogs, and books we had spent hours pouring over, and all the youtube videos we watched, was now the reality before our eyes. Our dear Greta was pawing at the ground, pressing herself up against the barn walls, and showing all the right signs - and we knew she was close. When she started pushing, we grabbed the “birthing kit” we had prepared earlier that week, and I ran to get a bucket of hot water while Tyler stayed with her.

When I returned, I found a kid (goat lingo for a baby goat) laying next to her dam (goat lingo for mother goat). We began cleaning off the birthing fluid from the first kid, checked her underside, and happily cried out that it was a doeling. Greta kept pushing, and Tyler and I looked at each other wondering if she would deliver a second kid. Sure enough, within minutes she gave birth to another doeling - and with that, Greta was finished.

In every article about goat birthing, the importance of “bonding time” between kid and dam immediately after birth was stressed over and over again. We knew that even though the actual birthing was complete, Greta still had a few more important jobs to do; one, cleaning the remaining birthing fluid off her kids, and two, allowing her kids to start nursing. While we did clean off some of the birthing fluid to speed up the drying process (highly important as it was still quite chilly in April), it was imperative that Greta continue and finish this cleaning task to ensure the bond between her and her doelings. We held our breaths as we nudged her kids under her nose, and sighed in relief as she began licking the doelings, giving her attention to one and then to the other, back and forth.

The licking, we learned, not only helps to ensure the important bond between dam and kid, but also stimulates blood flow in the kids. Soon enough, the doelings were trying to stand up: first one leg, then the other, looking all wobbly and awkward, only to fall down again. After about thirty minutes of failed (but so cute) attempts, the doelings were up! Once the kids were a little more stable on their legs, we took the opportunity to guide the doelings towards their dam, helped them find the teats, and hallelujah - they were latched on!

Over the next 10 days we played the role of midwife for two more goats, MJ and Cappuccino, who birthed two bucklings and one doeling, respectively. The following weeks for us as new parents was a stressful time - we dealt with a dam rejecting and being aggressive towards her kid, possible mastitis (a painful infection of the teats) in one of the goats, and an underweight and weak kid who wasn’t properly nursing that we feared would not make it - all things we lost sleep over and added to our gray hair collection.

Nonetheless, like most hardships, we persevered and got through it. By the end of the first month the five kids were running around, bouncing off walls (literally), climbing on the playthings we built for them, and were as cute as ever. Tyler and I looked at each other and without saying a word, knew we could not wait for next year’s breeding season where we would do it all over again.