Maybe Next Year.

Whimsey

Well, we bred Whimsey back in November to Brady.  We were pretty sure she was bred because she never came back into heat.

We waited the long 5 months for her due date of April 8th.  As we got closer to her due date I was second guessing myself if she was really bred.  I never felt baby movement on her and she wasn't getting very large to show she was carrying babies in her.

Then on her due date she started showing some discharge.  We thought she was going into labor.  The next day I did find a small puddle of what I thought was discharge and Whimsey's mucus plug.  We waited and waited for her to go into labor and it never happened.

I went onto the computer and asked some of the more experienced goat owners what they all thought.  Everyone said to watch her and give the vet a call.

Monday morning, 8 days after her original due date, with no baby still here, I called the vet.  The vet explained that Whimsey most likely had a miscarriage and her body absorbed most of the miscarriage.  Once the day arrived that she should of went into labor her body expelled the rest of what her body didn't absorb.

We are a little disappointed that she didn't give birth.  We really wanted her and her sister, Windy to both have babies at the same time.  Whimsey and Windy are very bonded and we thought that if they both had babies at the same time that it would be a little less stressful on them for each of them to have a baby to focus on instead of one having a baby and the other not.  Unfortunately it didn't work out that way.

Whimsey is a little lonely.  She looks for more lovings from me everyday and I am happy to give them to her.  Spending a little extra time with her helps her feel not so lonely.  Things have gotten better now too since Windy and her baby are no longer staying in the birthing pen but in the barn with all the other goats. The sisters are still very close and Whimsey is actually very gentle with Claire, Windy's baby girl.

One thing we have done is started Whimsey on a diet.  When a doe is pregnant you need to increase their grain intake and we did do that for Whimsey thinking she was expecting. Since she wasn't pregnant, she gained a little bit of extra weight from the grain.  We have now cut back on the grain for her to get those few extra pounds off of her.

Thankfully the vet said Whimsey is healthy and should be fine to try to breed again this fall.

Whimsey relaxing on top of the baby box

Check back later in the year to see who we decide to breed Whimsey to.