Maddie's Babies are Here!!!

It has been super busy here and I'm sure you all know by now that Maddie had here babies but I want to write about it because I was just so happy about being there when it happened.

 

You see I missed both Whimsey & Priscilla's births.  They decided they didn't need me and had their babies on their own.  Thankfully I found them both just after delivery and was able to help clean up the babies.

 

Maddie started her labor on Saturday morning, February 2nd at 10:15am.  She had a large amount of discharge so we went ahead and moved her into the birthing pen.  For the next hour or so she paced around, dug into the shavings and coming over to me for reassuring rubs and pats that everything was going to be alright since this was her first delivery.

 

Around 11:30am she started pushing.  She was doing really well.  Her first baby presented perfectly, its two front legs first and then head.  Maddie did a great job delivering it and then paying attention to the baby to get it cleaned off.  While cleaning off the first baby she ended up delivering her second baby a few minutes later with no issues too.

 

Maddie did a wonderful job and knew right away what she needed to do to clean her babies off.  She was so sweet talking to them and nudging them so she could clean them really good.

 

Now the exciting part comes in, checking the babies.  We have 2 beautiful GIRLS!!!

 

I was so excited to have 2 baby girls since at this time we already had 3 boys & 2 girls from the other mamas.

 

Maddie cleaning off her baby girls, just minutes old.

 

The babies were doing great and figured how to stand up pretty quick and nurse too.

 

Baby girls all nice and dry learning to stand

 

Maddie is a wonderful mother and takes very good care of her baby girls.  We have decided to name them Lana & Luna.  Lana is the white & brown one and her name means light and Luna is the brown one with the spots, her name means moon.

 

We already have found a home for these two precious girls and I am so excited to say that they are going together!!! It makes me so happy that they are going to be able to stay together because they have such a strong bond already.

 

Luna & Lana relaxing at a week old.

 

I can't wait to see these girls grow, hopefully their new owner will stay in touch and I will get to see them grow into beautiful mature does like I know they will be.

 

 



Whimsey's Babies are Here!!

Whimsey with her boys a few hours after giving birth

 

Whimsey was due on January 19th and she ended up having her babies on the 22nd.  I was able to be present during the births last year and wanted to be again this year so once her due date arrived I made sure to check on her every few hours even through the night.

 

The night of January 21st she did fine through the middle of the night.  I did notice that she had some discharge but she wasn't doing any of the usual things goats do before giving birth, like "digging" or "nesting" on the ground or stretching.

 

So the morning of January 22nd, I checked her at 6:15am and saw no changes in her so off I went to drive the kids to school.  Once I came back I went down to do the morning chores of feeding all the animals.

 

I always look in the window to see where everyone is before I open the door and there she was with both babies on the barn floor and her being a great mama cleaning them up.

 

I was in SHOCK, LOL.

 

I helped her clean the off and moved mama and babies into the birthing pen so she could be alone with them to learn how to be a mother, since this was her first time, and to bond with her babies.

 

This was when I found out what she had,  2 BOYS.

 

Whimsey's boys only a few hours old

 

Whimsey is a natural at being a mother and loves her babies and takes very good care of them.  The boys are doing so well.  They love attention and being held.  They really like just snuggling with someone while being held.

 

They are already running and jumping around in the barn.  They have only taken a few steps outside of the barn, they are a little weary of the outside world still.

 

Whimsey's Boy #1 who we name Allen

Whimsey's Boy #2 who we name Sam

 

I really hope we can find wonderful homes for these two sweet boys.

 

We can't forget to mention that Brady is the sire (daddy) to these handsome boys.

 

 

 

Welker Turns 1

Welker, 1 years old

 

On December 4th, Welker turned 1 years old.  He is doing excellent.  He is with our other buck Brady full time and they have finally become buddies.

 

Welker weighs 80lbs.  He is still a little on the small side in my opinion but he eats well and is growing every day.  I also think its hard to judge just how much he has grown since he is always standing next to Brady who is a full year older than Welker, therefore much larger than him too.

 

We are in anticipation waiting for Welker's first kids to be born here.  He bred  Priscilla who is due January 21, 2013, these babies will be our first purebred Nubians born here.  Also he bred Maddie, who is due January 29, 2013.  We are really hoping for spotted babies but we will just have to wait and see.

 

For now Welker is doing wonderful.  Walks on a lead and goes where ever I say without a fuss.  He stands extremely well for hoof trimmings. He is friendly and loves to have attention.

 

Check back in a few months to see his babies.

Russell's Ridge Nubians Website

2012 Babies -Cole (l), Claire (r) & Chloe (b)

 

Spent the morning updating our website. Information on breeding's have been updated.

 

Come check it out.

 

www.russellsridgenubians.com



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.

Windy Gave Birth And It's A......

GIRL!!!!

Saturday after Hailey and I came home from her soccer game, we went down and checked on the goats.  I noticed that Windy was laying down and moaning a bit and looking uncomfortable.  We left her alone and went ahead and did the chores, feeding everyone.

After everyone was fed, I decided to put Windy in the birthing stall.  She defiantly seemed to be in labor and I wanted her to be in the stall away from the other goats for her to give birth especially since she is a first time mom.  Hailey stayed with Windy while I went up to the house to get a few things for the delivery and to change.

This is Windy in the stall while she was beginning her labor.

Windy starting labor

After waiting for almost an hour she started pushing. She was doing a really good job and soon enough 1 little foot and a nose presented itself.  After a few minutes of letting her push we could tell that she was having some difficulty.  I figured since I only saw 1 foot that the other leg must be bent at the knee and would have been to difficult to deliver without a little help.

Jamie came into the stall at this time and held Windy from the front.  I went ahead and put a little lubricant on my hand and I was able to find the other foot that hadn't been delivered and with Windy's next contraction she was able to deliver the baby.  Windy's baby girl was born at 7:25pm. We went right ahead and put the baby in front of Windy to encourage her to clean her baby off to help with bonding.

Windy did a great job. She started cleaning off her baby and talking to her.

Windy cleaning her baby girl -just minutes old

Windy cleaning her baby girl, just minutes old

I was very relieved that Windy delivered a healthy baby and she was doing well herself.  I was also happy that the kids and Jamie were there to see the birth.  Our friend Brad also got to see the baby just minutes old.

Everyone else went up to the house and I stayed with Windy and her baby to make sure everything was going well.  Within the first hour she had found her legs and stood up, she also went the bathroom.  It was a little more difficult with nursing.  Windy doesn't really like anyone touching near her udder or backsides of her body.  I had to hold her by the collar and then hold the baby under her udder to get the baby to nurse.  We then spent the next 2 hours trying to get Windy to let the baby nurse and taking breaks.  Thankfully Windy let the baby nurse 3 separate times when I decided it was time to leave mom and baby alone and finally go up to the house finally at 10:30pm.

Windy with her baby girl, 1 hour old

Windy with her baby girl, 1 hour old

Mama & baby are doing wonderful and I will update soon on how things are going.

Priscilla's Babies Are Here!!!!

Priscilla, the day she gave birth

Sunday, March 18th Priscilla was not a happy girl.  As you can see in the above picture she spent most of the day in the barn looking out the door.  Longing to go outside and enjoy the sunshine.  Priscilla knew that she was ready to have her babies.

We checked her every few hours. In the middle of the afternoon we noticed some milky white discharge.  This usually means that labor will follow soon.

Around 7pm Jamie & I went down and fed everyone and we noticed that she was breathing a little faster and groaning a bit so we decided to put her in the birthing stall so she wouldn't be bothered by the other goats.

8:15pm I went down to check on her and sure enough she was in full labor and pushing.  I called Jamie on the cell phone and told him to get the kids and the baby bag and come on down.

I sat with her for a bit while she was pushing and noticed that she just wasn't progressing at all.  I was able to call a new friend, Billie Sue that has lots experience with goats. 
Billie was able to tell me what I needed to do.

I had to go in and help.  Now at this point I am about going crazy with worry in my head.  Thinking I'm going to hurt her but I knew if I didn't go ahead then she and her babies could die.  I was so grateful to have Billie on the phone with us.  She was very calm and knew just what to say to help us out.

Jamie sat by Priscilla's head and held her tight and I went in and felt around.  I was told that I needed to feel to see what body parts were presenting themselves first.  It took me a long time to figure this out.  A hind leg hip was what was coming first.  I went in a little further and found the head and face.  I then turned the baby around so it would be delivered feet and face first, the proper way.

When I went in, I have to say it was the neatest feeling ever.  It was really hard work especially since Priscilla was having contractions and every time she had a contraction it would squeeze my wrist and arm.  The coolest thing though was while I was looking for the babies head I felt another head too.

Once the baby was turned around it delivered pretty quickly and it was a BOY!!! A little black boy with white markings.  He seemed to have trouble breathing, so thankfully we were still on the phone with Billie and she told me what I needed to do to get him breathing again.  While I was doing all this with the 1st baby, Priscilla delivered her 2nd baby which was a GIRL!!! Jamie helped clean off her face and get her breathing. She was brown with white markings. By this time both little ones were breathing on their own and doing good.  Priscilla is such a good mama, she started licking them to clean them and she was "talking" away to them. Next came the 3rd baby which was a BIG BOY!!! This baby was much bigger in size than the other two and he was red with white markings.

As far as we can tell all 3 were delivered between 9:00pm and 9:30pm.  It was amazing to see how quickly they stood up, went to the bathroom and then started to nurse.

It was an absolute amazing experience and I was so glad the kids were there to see it.

The following pictures are of the babies just about an hour old.

Baby # 1 looking to nurse

Baby # 2 standing

Baby # 3 cuddling with mama

After staying to make sure they had all nursed and were doing fine I went up to the house.

The next day I went down to the barn in the morning and everyone was doing wonderfully.  Babies were starting to poop which is always a good sign.  Priscilla was looking wonderful too.  I made sure to clean up the stall a bit and put fresh bedding down.  I also let Priscilla eat in there so nobody would bother her.  I figured she would be sore.  The babies stood and walked around for a bit but then they found spots to take naps in between play time.

These pictures are of them at one day old.

Babies napping

Baby Boy 1

Baby Girl

Baby Boy 2

We will be selling these babies and even though their new homes are going to give them their permanent names I wanted to name them for while they are here.

The American Dairy Goat Associate assigns a letter for every year for the babies that are born.  The letter is used when you tattoo the babies ears for identification purposes.  This year, 2012 the letter is C.  So I thought that all the kids born here should be named with C names.

I had already picked out Cole for the black one and Hailey came up with Carter for the red boy.  Drew thought that he should get to name the girl and took forever to figure out a name we could all agree on.  The little girls name is Chloe.

I'll be posting some more pictures in another update about the babies first time outside.

Check back to see!!



Brady's Girlfriend's

Brady & the girls

Brady has some girlfriends staying with us for the first time.  They have been here for about 2 weeks now and are great girls.  Their names are Ruby & Pearl.

The breeders, Pat & Katie, who we purchased our goats from also had Ruby & Pearl and sold them to a lovely couple, The Lovan's.  Katie offered a free breeding to the Lovan's at the time they purchased Ruby & Pearl.  Unfortunately the buck she was going to breed them too didn't work out so they ask if i would do them a favor and let the girls breed with Brady.

I didn't have an issue with this at all since I knew both of the girls were healthy and they came originally from Pat & Katie.

Within 2 days of being here both girls came into heat and Brady took care of business.  Now the 3 of them like to eat and lay in the sun. 

The girls are super sweet.  I already can tell each of their personalities since being here.

Ruby relaxing in the sun.

Ruby is super sweet and loves to get pats and rubs.  She is the more dominant of the two girls and also isn't afraid to show Brady she won't be pushed around.

Pearl relaxing in the sun

Pearl is super sweet too but she is much more reserved.  You can tell it takes her awhile to warm up to strangers.  She, of course loves Hailey and will come right up to her for pats.  She's a little more hesitant with me.

We will be waiting till the end of March - beginning of April to see if they come back into heat.  Hopefully they won't which means that they are bred and Brady has done his job once again.

Brady & the girls hanging out. 



3 more weeks to go for Windy.

Sweet Windy

We have been so busy around here that I didn't get to the update on Windy done last Thursday.

Windy is expecting, I have felt plenty of baby movement and last Thursday she hit her 4 month mark. She is doing great.  She received her CD&T vaccination last Thursday so she is good for the rest of the year.

Windy is a sweet girl and her personality hasn't changed much with the pregnancy.  She has become a little jumpy or kicky when you touch her sides if she doesn't want you to though.

I've only felt movement on her right side so I'm not sure if she is expecting more than one baby.  I guess we will have to wait for her due date, April 10th, to see what she has.

Here are some pictures I have taken of Windy on her 4 month mark and also this past Saturday when all the goats were outside enjoying the sunshine.

Windy enjoying the shade

Windy, 4 months along

Windy on the milking stand

Windy eating hay

Windy is not very big but she is what is called a First Freshener, which is when the doe is experiencing their first pregnancy. She of course was bred to Brady.

Check back in a few weeks to see if she has had her babies.

Is She or Isn't She?

Miss Whimsey -3-8-12

Today is the 4 month mark for Whimsey in her pregnancy and she has me stumped.

I still can't tell for sure if she is pregnant or not.  She hasn't had any signs of her heat cycle returning since November.  I witnessed Brady breeding with Whimsey so I was pretty sure that she was bred.

She has had a few personality changes which is common when a doe is bred.  Whimsey loves to have pats and rubs now but before she didn't like them so much.  She also eats like she is starving, which I can assure she is not. LOL

I still haven't been able to feel any movement like I have in Priscilla but that may be that she is only carrying 1 baby and hiding it well.  She also hasn't started to bag up yet, which is when they start to have their udder fill with milk in preparation for the impending birth.  I have read though that some does don't do this prior to birthing or that they don't bag up until right before.  So it's still a little early.

Whimsey's due date is April 8th. In hopes that she is expecting, I gave her the CD&T vaccination this morning and will keep a close eye on her over the next month for any changes. Hopefully I will be able to feel that baby/babies move sometime soon.  I'm really hoping that she is bred and has a healthy baby or babies.

Her are some pictures of her today.  You decide. Yes or No?

Whimsey saying hello

Whimsey eating grain

Whimsey eating grain

Whimsey eating hay

Whimsey eating hay, her sister Windy (next to her) is bred (have felt baby movement) and is due 2 days after her.



Countdown Begins!!!

Today, Priscilla is 4 months pregnant.

Priscilla 2-20-12

We only have 30 days now to go until Priscilla's due date of March 20, 2012.  She is doing really well still. Eating lots and looking pregnant more and more each day.

Today I gave her a CD&T vaccination.  Its a yearly vaccination that we give here that helps with a few different things in maintaining a healthy goat and herd.  We give this vaccination to all adult goats once a year.  Expecting moms get it 1 month before kidding to help with passing along immunity to the kids through their colostrum when the kids first nurse.  Kids will then get their own vaccination at 2 months old and a booster 4 weeks later and then once a year from then on. Priscilla of course did wonderfully, didn't even act like she knew I was giving it to her as she was chowing down on her grain.

Sometime this week I will go ahead and order some essentials I will need to have on hand for the kidding.  Priscilla will also have her hooves trimmed in a few weeks so i won't need to bother her for awhile about that after she gives birth.

I've started to spend more time looking at Priscilla closely each day to watch the changes that are developing, like her baby bumps and any change in size of her udder, which will get bigger, filling with milk as she gets closer to delivery.  Also I have been feeling very lightly on her sides and was rewarded the other day with feeling one of the babies kick.  Which was amazing!!!!

Here are some pictures I took of her today, 2-20-12 at 4 months pregnant.

Priscilla on the milking stand

Priscilla eating hay

Priscilla eating hay

Priscilla with Windy who hopefully is also expecting



Priscilla is 3 months along.

Priscilla is 3 months along today.  She is doing wonderfully.  I have noticed some changes in her.  She is eating lots.  Every time I bring in hay she goes at it crazy, like she is starving.  She is also becoming extremely friendly.  All my goats are friendly but since I haven't had Priscilla since she was a baby she is usually the last one to come looking for lovins.  She now is usually the first to come over for her pets and is starting to love to be cuddled and hugged.

As I have told all of you before, I have her babies from last year. Priscilla had two doelings Abby & Maddie.  We hope she has two girls again but are just really hoping for healthy babies.

Here are some pictures of her today, January 20th 2012 at 3 months along.  I took these pictures this morning to make sure she didn't have any extra weight on her from eating and grazing all day.  You can really see her baby bumps in the 2 bottom pictures.  I'm pretty sure she has 2 babies in her but possibly could have more.  Goats are known for having twins and triplets quite often.  Also for those that don't know, goats are only pregnant for 5 months so we are already more than halfway there.

Full view of Priscilla

Priscilla eating her grain on the milking stand

Priscilla eating alfalfa hay

Check back next month on the 20th for her progress.

Whimsey & Windy are Expecting!!!

Whimsey (front) & Windy (back) 12-11

In my previous posts about Whimsey & Windy, I told you that they are sisters born in March of 2011.  In November we tape measured the girls for their weight and they were large enough to breed.  So we went ahead and had both girls go on "dates" with our buck Brady.

Whimsey spent time with Brady first and then Windy spent time with Brady a couple days later.

The girls have now missed 2 heat cycles so we are hoping that they are expecting.  As I wrote in a previous post before the only true way of knowing if they are pregnant is by doing a blood test and sending it off for pregnancy results.  Instead of doing this I am just going to wait.

I did what is called hand breed the girls.  This is where you pay close attention to the doe and when there is evidence of heat you put them in with the buck, stay for a bit to make sure things are going the way they are suppose to and witness the deed.  Some people will take the doe out right away but I left mine in for the morning, about 4 hours.

Whimsey 12-11

Windy 12-11

Can't forget a picture of the daddy

Brady 12-11

Whimsey is due April 8, 2012 and Windy is due April 10, 2012.

We are really looking forward to having babies here at Russell's Ridge.