Kendra's Kidding!

Kendra delivered twins again on the 24th! I keep hearing people say that goats won't deliver at feeding time but they forgot to give Kendra that info! I walked into the barn to do evening chores and she had a bubble and hoof showing! I high-tailed it to the house for the towels and camera and back to the barn. She was laying down and the nose was coming along with the feet just like it should happen. I blinked and he was out and she was back on her feet in a flash to attend to her brand new boy! By the time I could get the gate open to go into the stall she turned a little and the doeling was born before she even realized what was happening. I put the TINY TINY doeling up along side her brother and started helping Kendra attend to them. I don't think she really realized she had the doeling and she didn't seem to realize she was hers! She was all about the buckling though!

I got these pics out of order! I am just stunned over how tiny this doeling is. Granted Kendra is a standard sized Alpine doe and she was bred to Nipper, a Nigerian Dwarf, but I still didn't expect this small of a baby! The kids are first generation mini Alpines. I kept thinking I should find signs of the doeling being a premie but I don't see any! She's fully haired and developed.... just extremely small. In this first pic she's under Kendra who didn't know she was there! The buckling is on Kendra's other side looking for dinner!
Meet Cute As A Button and Burglar! Button is a chamoissee doeling and has a white star on her forehead and frosted ears and muzzle. She was JUST 3 pounds soaking wet. Burglar is a cou blanc buckling and weighed just over 8 pounds almost dry. Chamoisse is the brown with black trim. Cou Blanc is the Alpine pattern with white in the front and black in the rear for a pattern and color. Both are endowed with Kendra's ability to give her offspring wattles! Some folks hate wattles and even snip them off. I LOVE wattles. I think they're cute, unique and add a bit of "extra". You can see a black spot under Burglar's neck and that's one of his wattles. His are white where they attach to the neck and black on the tips. Button's are brown with black tips.

The kids are both garbed in sweats/jackets to help dry them and then they change to another dry set to keep them warm. Kendra is noticing Buttons and just doesn't know what to think of her. She's tiny and she has a very high pitched squeak. It's a tiny squeak but not the low tones of most kids.

Here you can see how petite Buttons is (above) and you can see her star and the frosting on her ears and muzzle.

This pic (above) cracked me up even though I was concerned. Buttons is again standing directly under Kendra and she did a little bleat. Burgler is looking for the snack bar and Kendra knew he was there. She couldn't find Buttons! Buttons is so small that she can walk under Kendra and even her ears standing up don't touch Kendra's underside! Buttons also startled Kendra a few times when she came out from under her. It was like she thought she was a bug or something annoying.

It's still getting well below freezing at night and it's just too cold for Buttons to survive outside. She and Burglar are now in the house, safe and warm. Their foster mother is a mini Australian Shepherd who loves the baby goats. She grooms them and watches their every move. She cleans them up after their bottles and thinks they are HERS!

So, with kidding season in full swing, milking time is also! I'm back to milking 2x a day, bottle feeding kids and waiting for Claire to kid shortly. I've asked Claire for triplets as she's HUGE and being bred to Nipper, ND, they will be smallish compared to her past kids. She had a single her first kidding and twins last kidding.

I'm also loving the snuggling of kids. I'm loving their antics and it's amazing how young they learn to cavort, jump up on "mountains" and do mid-air gymnastics. Goat kids are just one of the cutest creatures on earth!