Saturday, April 30, 2005

Springtime on the Farm

It's been a busy week around the homestead. All four of our Nubian does have finally kidded. One went several weeks ago, one kidded on Wednesday, and two did so today.

Wednesday was a real rollercoaster. Star had some problems with the first kid, but my DW and a friend were able to get him out. They thought there was one more, but could not get it out and had to call a vet. She was concerned that the kid was dead and that she might lose Star as well. The vet was able to get the TWO remaining kids out, and doeling and a buckling, and Star was fine.

Today was very long and tiring. Usually Saturday is a day of rest for us, but the 2 remaining does both went into labor today. Rose had two kids, a doeling and a buckling. The doeling is fine, but the buckling had trouble coming out and was born dead.

Then our queen doe, Dawn, went into labor. She had one doeling and seemed like she was going to have more, but no more came out. We were quite surprised because she was very large, but she passed the placenta and we checked her over very carefully and there are no more kids. She never ceases to amaze us in different ways.

The grand total is four live doelings, three live bucklings, and one dead buckling. We expected two or three more, particularly given that Dawn has given three or four kids her previous kiddings, but are happy with what we have.

Enough for now.
Kevin.

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