How to combat the Monday blues!

 The little girl looks brown in the morning light.

This is how I combat the Monday blues.  I get to go out and see these adorable faces before I go off to work knowing I get to see them again when I get home.  These pictures were taken yesterday at three days old.  I took them away from the red heat lamp so you can see what they actually look like.

The boy.

 The girl.

Aren't they SO adorable????

Pregnant Does

 My Amethyst is SO adorable!!

These pictures were taken on the 14th of January.  I just haven't had time to post them until now.  I'm posting these so that around mid January we can compare pictures to show you how much bigger they have gotten as they get closer to their due dates.

Does due in February are...

Coral.  This picture does not do her justice.  She is HUGE!

She was being skittish because I was using my phone camera with no zoom instead of the real camera so I didn't get any other pictures of her, so here is an old one from the beginning of January.

She is enormous.  I have my fingers crossed that she has twins this time.  I don't remember her being this big with Amethyst.  She's only ever had single births as far as we know, so I'm really hoping for twins.  Having singles can be hereditary and I'm hoping Amethyst doesn't take after her mom on that.  Single births are not ideal because you spend the same amount of money to feed them during the pregnancy for only one kid, so it gets expensive.  I wouldn't trade Amethyst for the world though.  Coral's due date is 2-21-18.

Next is Garnet. 

Again the pictures are deceiving.  She is huge.  Bigger than Coral I think.  She was huge during her last pregnancy too and had twins, so I'm thinking she will have twins again.  It would be cool if she had triplets, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.  You can see how bony she is on the hips and how low her belly is hanging.  The kids are starting to shift downward.  They carry the kids high during the early part of the pregnancy, but they move lower as they get closer to birth.  Garnet gets bonier looking than the others because of the dairy goat in her.  Her bag (udder) gets huge too.  She produces a LOT of milk.

Here is a front angle so you can see her belly better.  They carry the kids on their right hand side.  The huge bulge on the left is the rumen (one of their stomachs) which gets bigger the more they eat roughage.  In the almost two weeks since this pictures was taken I think she has almost doubled in size.  She looks ready to burst.

You can see the difference in the ruman and the kids in this picture. 

Remember left is lunch and right is rugrats.

Here is one from above.  Unfortunately I was standing too far to the right so it throws off the perspective, but it's still cool to see.

Here's one with her daughter Andesine.  Just because it's cute.

Garnet's left side looks much bigger because she's looking to her right.

Another one of Garnet and Andesine.

You can see how big her bag is getting too.

She starts coming into milk way earlier than the others.

Garnet's due date is 2-15-18, so she will be the next one to go.

Topaz looks so small compared to Garnet.  She was small during her whole last pregnancy too and she still had twins, so who knows what she'll have this time.  She was so much smaller than Garnet last time that we actually thought Garnet would give birth first and she didn't.

Topaz almost looks like she's not even pregnant, but she never came back into heat so I'm assuming she is.  I guess there's always the chance she isn't but she has gotten bigger since this photo.  I'll have to check tonight when I go out to feed to see if she's started producing milk yet.

Here's the top angle.

Her due date is 2-17-18 so she should give birth between Garnet and Coral.

For March due dates we have...

....Georgia!  Sorry the angle isn't so great on this photo.

Although her due date is sometime after 3-28-18 so she may be an April birth too.

She isn't very big in these pictures, but in the last two weeks she has gotten bigger and she's starting to produce milk.

Top view.

Look at that cute face!

For April we have...

...LeeAnn.  She's gotten much bigger since these photos.

See how much bigger her rumen is on the left compared to the tiny right side?  She's only two months into her five month gestation so it's normal to be small on her right side at this time.

She was being uncooperative so this is the only side view I got.  Her due date is 4-3-18.

Our other April due date is Amethyst!

 She's really not showing yet, so just enjoy her cuteness instead.  :)

Top view.  Her right side looks big because she's bent to the left.

I forgot one of Zephyr's pictures in the last post.  As you know this was eleven days before she gave birth on the 25th.  If you haven't seen her kids check out the last post.

For fun here are a few of the cute kids from last year.

 I love how Andesine's cashmere makes her look like a strawberry roan.

 It gives her a dorsal stripe too.

 Last, but not least, my sweet Tanzanite.  I love this adorable girl!

Twins!!!!

I meant to post pictures showing how pregnant all the does were so we could compare them when they got closer to their due dates.  Well I took the pictures, but never had time to post them and now Zephyr has given birth!!  So better late than never lol. 

In the picture above you can see her belly.  This was eleven days before she gave birth.  She doesn't look that huge compared to some goats who look like they are going to explode before they give birth.  At this point in her pregnancy the kids had already started to drop down low which is why she doesn't look that big around.  Do you see the lump on the left side of her face (your right side)?  That is a wad of cud.  She likes to keep cud in her cheek.  It's so weird because most goats chew and swallow it down, they don't carry it around like that.  When you feel her cheek the cud feels as hard as a rock.  She looks like a little old man with a wad of tobacco in her cheek lol.

I love this picture because it shows her markings so well and her baby belly.  I love her dorsal stripe and face markings.  She is so pretty.  She's so cute how she looks straight up at me when I'm leaning over to get belly shots from above.

 She has the sweetest face.

 Here you can see how low her belly is hanging and how she's getting milk in.

Over the next eleven days she got bigger and her udder was huge!  Then around 5:10pm on the 25th (her exact due date) hubby sent me this picture.....

... with the caption "if you want to see babies you better hurry home"

Ignore the red light, that's from the heat lamp.  I squealed in the middle of the office (not many people were there luckily, most everyone else leaves at five).  I hurried through the last of my work and rushed home.  I got home around 5:40pm and took this next picture.

I sat with her for a long time while hubby got the birthing kit and supplies we might need.  This was the first time I've sat with a goat during labor from the very beginning to the very end.  I watched Coral give birth, but I only saw the very end stages of labor literally right before Amethyst popped out, but I've missed all of the others even back when we were raising goats eight years ago. 

I took video of the birth, but I'll spare you guys since a lot of people are grossed out by it.  I'm very impressed with Zephyr, how calm she was and how quickly she gave birth.  It killed me to see her in so much pain.  I don't know how people used to give birth without drugs!!  She was so sweet because hubby would reach out and she would just rest her chin in his palm while he stroked her face.  I think she appreciated us being there with her.  She definitely wasn't bothered by us like I was worried she might be.

She had twins!  A solid black female with a white spot on her forehead and one on her side born at 7:30pm and a dark chocolate brown and white spotted male born at 8pm.  Sorry these pictures are in black and white.  The light from the red lamp was scary looking lol.  I love how she's licking the little boy in the second picture. 

I have to share a picture that made me laugh....

Zephyr had literally just given birth to the boy, he was still halfway in the sac, and the little girl was climbing over the top of her.  This was my first time seeing a Myotonic give birth and I am super impressed with the kids compared to Boer kids.  The female was literally standing in less than a minute after being born and was nursing in less than half an hour.  The boy unfortunately inhaled some liquid because he got trapped in the sac and we couldn't get to him fast enough to get it off his face.  We held him upside down and patted his sides to get the liquid out of his lungs and used a bulb syringe to clean out his nose and mouth.  He will be fine, but it took him slightly longer to get up and nurse compared to his sister.  He's doing great now though and he was still much faster on his feet than Boers.  You may not remember but last year Topaz's kids took two hours to get to nurse and had a weak sucking reflex.  They were also selenium deficient and after a shot of Bose they were completely normal so it's not a totally fair comparison, but I'll be curious to see the difference when the Boers kid out this year since we have all of their nutrients corrected.

We tied off and dipped their umbilical cords, then we took the kiddos out to weigh them and I got a picture away from the red heat lamp....

The pretty girl! She weighed exactly 5 pounds.

The adorable boy.  He weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces.

I'm sad we are probably going to have to sell him.

Trying not to get attached... trying not to get attached...

We put them back with mom and Zephyr finished her supper (it was interrupted by labor) and got a big drink.  Then she looked up at us and one of us snapped this shot (don't remember who had the phone at the point).  She looks proud of herself.  You did great girl.

The next day (yesterday) I had to leave work early from a migraine.  I took medicine and when I got to feeling better I went out and sat in the stall with Zephyr and her kids.  They were bouncing around on their adorable little pogo legs and came to me full of curiosity.  The female loves to be scratched on her back and head.  The boy doesn't care to be touched very much.  He's more skittish in general than the female.  We will get him tamed down in no time.  Amethyst was a tad skittish when she was little too.  I snapped a couple of pictures after they all settled down for a nap.

The little boy kept trying to lay on his sister's head, but she wouldn't cooperate so he finally went to the other end and laid on top of her. Eventually gravity slid him down next to her.  I guess that's one way to ensure a close cuddle hehe.

Aren't they adorable?  Big sister was getting really annoyed while he was getting situated, but eventually they both settled down for a nap.

 Zephyr laid down beside me to chew her cud.  She asked for face rubs, but eventually wanted to rest so I left them alone. 

We don't have any other does due until mid next month, so I'll try to post the pictures I took on the 14th tomorrow so we can compare them to when they get closer to their due dates.  That's all for now.  Later!

Waiting for kids is sooooo hard!

I'm going to start my post off with something other than goats for a change hehe.  Pharaoh is so cute!  He was watching the dove, wishing he could get his claws on her.

Now on to the goats.... that didn't last long lol.  Waiting for them to give birth is always the hardest part.  I can't wait to meet all the new babies.  I took these pictures last week, so I figured I would share them today, then tomorrow I'm going to get some updated pictures so you can see how much more pregnant they are getting.  Some of them are SO big!  Enjoy the pictures.

Big Mama is the opposite of most of the others.  She isn't pregnant and she's been on a diet plan to lose weight because she was obese when we got her!  We got a current weight and she's around 173lbs now.  So she's lost over twenty five pounds.  She is looking so good.  She'll have a much better chance at getting pregnant in the spring.  Obesity makes it hard to get goats pregnant, not to mention the other problems it can cause.

Doesn't she have such a pretty face?

First up here are the kids before we get to the pregnant does.

 In this one you can see Tanzanite's cashmere.  It also shows all of the black in her coat.

Her coat was looking rough.

We have since then given her first dose of copper and treated with Cylence in case of mites.  Goats have to be a minimum of six months before they can get their first copper bolus.  That's why we only just now gave it.  Copper deficiency can cause rough coats and color bleaching.  We are very deficient here, so I was just biding my time until she was old enough to supplement her.  Obviously they all get really good loose minerals, but the bolus is necessary in our area every six months without fail.

Other than that she is doing well.  She is her usual sweet and adorable self.  I also just realized I only got one picture of Andesine... she was staying in the barn mostly because it was extremely cold and windy on this day.  It was too dark in the barn to get pictures in there.... so enjoy her one and only picture.

I love her expressions!  We affectionately call her frog face hehe.

Next up is Topaz. 

I guess I only have two pictures of her, other than one I'll share at the end.  It's okay though because the two (very similar) pictures above will be good for comparing belly pictures.

This is the only picture I got of Garnet (except for one at the end) because she wouldn't get her head out of the protein lick bucket.... don't worry though because this is a great comparison picture.  I can't wait for you to see how big her baby belly is getting.

Now Coral...

I actually got quite a few pictures of Coral for a change, because she has gotten so much more comfortable around us that she doesn't just run away.  She also stares at us so I get good expressions hehe.

Mother and daughter.

I can't wait to show you current pictures of Coral.  She has gotten HUGE!

Now my favorite.... erm... I mean, now it's Amethyst's turn.

This will be a good belly comparison later in her pregnancy.  

She's still fairly early term.

She is looking so good.  

Itchy leg.  Goats love cinder blocks for many reasons hehe.

Amethyst is doing great.  I wish she didn't have that molasses on her face, especially in the pictures below.  Anyway, here are the last of the pictures.  Headshots!  I wish they weren't fuzzy.  I really need a nice camera...  I love them all anyway.  All of my girls are so cute.

 Topaz. Such cute teeth!

 Garnet finally took her head out of the bucket.  Love her markings.

 Coral.

My favorites are below... isn't she gorgeous??

 Love her little mini beard.

 Those blue eyes are so pretty.

 If only it weren't for the molasses covered nose hehe.

 Sorry I didn't get pictures of the rest of them.  Like I mentioned earlier the day I was taking these it was so COLD!  So cold that any exposed skin hurt really fast.  Anyway hopefully tomorrow I can get some current pictures to compare to these because there are some very pregnant goats out there.  I will also share current due dates and maybe even a countdown.  I hope you all are doing well!