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.

 

 



Priscilla's Babies are Here Too!!!

Priscilla's babies are here!!!

 

Priscilla's triplets, 1 day old

 

Priscilla decided to make me wait this year for her babies and delivered a day late. She was originally due on January 21st.  She ended up delivering on January 22nd, just like Whimsey.

 

So we went from no babies to 5 babies in one day.

 

Whimsey had her babies a little before 8:00 on the morning.  After helping her clean up the babies, make sure they are doing well and nursing and making sure Whimsey was okay I finally got back up to the house around 1:30 in the afternoon.  I was able to have some lunch and do the dishes.

 

I thought it was best at 3:00pm to check on Whimsey & her babies once more before the kids got home from school.  As I'm heading down to the barn I hear a loud cry.  Of course I take off running the rest of the way and when I got down there I looked through the window and there was Priscilla cleaning off all 3 of her babies.

 

I thought I was shocked that morning, I was even more shocked to see 3 healthy babies all doing well and a big pile of SPOTS.

 

This was our first year breeding with Welker, our spotted buck, so we didn't know what his babies would look like.  I was so happy and excited to see all the spots and colors Priscilla & Welker's babies had.

 

Here are the babies they day they were born.

 

 

Priscilla's baby girl already looking to nurse at just hours old

Priscilla's baby girl just hours old

Priscilla's baby boy just hours old

 

They are all doing well now.  Priscilla's brown with white splash girl, who we named Daisy, was the strongest. She stood and nursed first and is super independent.  She was also the first to venture outside of the barn.

 

Priscilla's other girl, Itty Bitty is the black with white spots and is belted, is doing great.  We named her Itty Bitty because she is just that, a tiny girl.  She is little but she has lots of spunk and loves to play with her brother & sister and the other babies.  We did have to help her get her ears to fold the right way, I think its from being squished inside her mama, but that worked out fine and they now fold the way they were suppose to.

 

Priscilla's brown with moonspots boy, who we named Duncan, is just a sweetie.  He too loves to go outside.  Usually he and Daisy will run outside and then back into the barn.  They both love to play together.

 

This is not Priscilla's first time having babies so I have no worry about her being a good mama.  She is wonderful with her babies, very protective, watches them great and makes sure all of the get to nurse.

 

Daisy, 4 days old

Itty Bitty, 6 days old

Duncan, 4 days old

 

I'm sure we will find great homes for these babies and if not I guess I'll just have to keep them :)

 

 



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.

Welker Turns 5 Months Old

Welker

Welker is getting so big.  He doesn't fit on my lap for cuddle time anymore, that's for sure.

Welker was moved over to the buck pen last month since he is now old enough to breed.  I didn't want any unplanned breeding's so he needed to be separated.

It took him a couple of days to stop crying because he missed the girls and Matilda so much.  He is doing great now and Welker and Brady get along great.

He still seems so short to me but I hope with time he will be just as big as Brady.

Here are some cute pictures of Welker.

Welker, right side

Welker, left side

Welker, getting a drink of water

Welker saying hello to Chelsea the cat

Welker with his buddy Brady

When I moved Welker over to the buck pen I was a little worried about Brady being mean to him so I kept Bruschi in there with them for awhile.  Welker had lived with Bruschi over in the girls pen for awhile when Brady had his girlfriends visiting, so Bruschi & Welker knew each other well already and got along great.

I think this helped Brady be more accepting of Welker and not rough him up so much.  I had a 3 boys together and just recently moved Bruschi over to the girls pen again because their pasture is so much bigger.

We are hoping to breed Welker to some of the girls this fall as he should be old enough.  Plus we are hoping to see some of his lovely spots on his babies.

Check back in a few months to see who we decide to pair up with Welker for breeding season.

Our New Buck, Welker!!!

Everybody who knows me well, knows that I am obsessive compulsive.  This is no different when it comes to goats.  Since I have gotten my goats I have done tons of research.  I love to look at other goat breeders websites.  Well in my surfing I have found spotted goats.  I have fallen in love!!!

I want to put spots into my herd and I thought the best way to do this was to get a spotted buck.  Three of my does (girl goats) have large spots of colors on their coat that is different in color than their base coat.  I'm hoping breeding them to Welker will give me spotted babies.  So Welker will stay as a buck and will be for future breeding.

So as I was saying about surfing the web, I had found a site who has lots of spotted goats.  Of course I marked it as a favorite and checked back often for when their babies would arrive.  I checked back one day and their he was.  Welker is a beautiful spotted boy with gorgeous markings that was born on December 4, 2011.  Of course we wanted to name him after a Patriot just like our other boys, so we decided on Welker.

Welker at 2 months old

Once I saw him, I knew I had to have him.  I started sending the link to Welker's picture to Jamie with sayings like, "Isn't the boy so cute? I know he would love to live here."  Jamie, the awesome husband he is let me get him.  I of course sent off an email to the breeders asking what I needed to do to retain him.  So I sent off the deposit check the next day.  I was so excited to know that he was mine.

Welker has been here of over a week now and is doing super.  The first few days were hard with him crying for his mama.  We have him with the girls because he was crying so much and we were afraid he would call in the coyotes at night and wanted to make sure Matilda could protect him.  She is doing really well with him.  Matilda has shown him that she will protect him and that she is in charge and he must listen to her.  The does on the other hand have taken longer to get used to him.  Most of the girls are butting him around to show him that they are higher in the pecking order than he is.  They are now accepting him more though and will let him stay close to them when they go out into the pasture. 

We have a pen in the barn that the wall is made out of a large pallet and Welker likes to stay in there to get away from the girls.  He is so little he can fit right through the slats.  So we always put hay in there so he has some that the girls can't eat.  He is eating his grain great too from the creep feeder.

Welker is super sweet and loves to have pats and rubs.  He will follow me around if I let him out of the barn while I do chores.  Even though Welker is a buck and is capable of breeding he will be staying in with the girls for a couple more months.  He is way to little to even breed with the girls plus they won't even let him near them.

He is a few more pictures of Welker

Welker wearing Lou's Patriots coat to keep warm

 

Welker saying hello to Hailey

Hailey snuggling Welker

Welker, don't you just love that face?

I am looking forward to seeing Welker grow up and what his babies will look like.