Our Friday started out as any other, with chores, and our usual routine, but I knew that Trudy was getting close to kidding, because Thursday afternoon she was dripping milk from her teats. This meant I slept Thursday night with the kidding camera and the baby camera right next to my bed, ready to help with kidding or an unhappy baby at any moment. Thankfully, she waited until Friday to go into true active labor. As Friday progressed, I kept an eye on her with the camera, but we went about our day as usual. I was certain with her due date being Friday we would have to miss something that we had planned to partake in during the weekend.
My mom was coming Friday night to assist me with Avery as we did a ladies tea event at a local church for the BBQ sauce, seasoning rubs, and goat milk fudge on Saturday afternoon. We had also planned to go to get pictures with the Easter Bunny on Saturday morning with Avery before the product event at noon. To top of the weekend we had a Birthday dinner for my sister downtown on Sunday; so with a goat due any minute now it was natural to be concerned that we would miss one of these activities.
As the day wore on Friday it became increasingly clear that Trudy was in active labor, as she would not leave the barn when the rest of the goats did and she seemed very agitated. I continued to check on her and she was not progressing to the pushing stage very quickly, so we decided it was going to be a late night, where I would not get much sleep. But in true goat fashion, as I was getting out of the shower and into my PJ's I looked at the camera and she had begun pushing. Now, as soon as my does begin to push I immediately react, because I set a timer for 30 minutes, and if there is no progress after 30 minutes I go in to check, because that generally means there is an issue with positioning.
After about 10 minutes of being in the barn, me with the kidding kit, Rob with the baby monitor to watch for Avery stirring and my mom there for additional support, Trudy laid down and got to business. At this point we had all of the other goats locked up, so they could not bother her, and after just a few seconds of pushing I began to see the telltale bubble. Then after that bubble a little nose and hoof, and after just a few minutes of pushing a beautiful black doe kid with blue eyes was born. There were a few tense moments as we ensured Trudy as a first time mom would accept her new kid, but she began vigorously licking the doe kid and we knew we were in luck. This kid was the most vigorous kid we have had born in recent memory, she was up and had nursed within about ten minutes of being born. And strangely to us Trudy was up as well, taking care of her baby, so I bumped her and did not feel another baby, but I gloved up and went in to check and could not find another kid either. This meant that we could go back into the house to watch from the camera for her to pass her placenta, which after about an hour of waiting she still had not passed it, so I decided to go to bed hoping that she passed it on her own overnight, which she did thankfully.
It was a wonderful experience getting to share this experience with my mom who had never seen a goat be born on our farm, and a quick and easy birth for mom with a healthy doe kid! This was our first singleton kidding, and I was shocked at how quickly it went! Overall, we could not be more pleased with the start of kidding season 2023 here at Udderly Wicked. Take care and Happy Goating!!
