Last week is one for the record books. I knew Godiva was due last Tuesday, so we induced her on Easter morning with 2cc of lute. With everything that we had read and discussed with other goat breeders, she should kid within 24-48 hours of receiving the lute, which is exactly what we had hoped for. I sadly had a work trip where I needed to be onsite at the plant at 6 AM on Wednesday in North Carolina that I could not move, so I had to leave the house at the very latest by 3:30 on Tuesday afternoon to catch my flight. On Sunday night I thought we were making good progress as Godiva had no ligaments left and her udder seemed as full as it could possibly get. But Monday she proved me wrong and filled her udder even more along with continuing with no ligaments.
Tuesday morning came around and when I was doing chores I noticed that Godiva was absolutely in labor. She is a quiet goat, and suddenly she was being very loud and talkative, I also could visually watch her contractions. So I thought to myself, good she has a full eight hours to labor before I need to go, hopefully we have kids before I have to leave. As the day progressed it became increasingly obvious that the likelihood of her having the kids before I had to leave was decreasing. So I reached out to our good friends Jodi and Amber to let them know the situation. They agreed that if she had not made progress by 1:30 in actually having the kids, that they would come to assist, so I could leave with a clear conscience. As life would have it at 2:15 Godiva laid down and began to push. Being the goat midwife I am, I set my timer for 30 minutes and sat with her. After no progress in those 30 minutes, I decided I needed to go in to check. She was presenting with a head and a nose that I could feel, but I could not find feet or get my hand behind the head to pull the kid. So after struggling for 20 minutes I decided to give her a break. At the hour in which I needed them most Jodi and Amber showed up. We had just got off the phone with the vet and they agreed to have us bring Godiva in if we could not get the kids out.
By this time it was 3:20 and I was to catch a 5 PM flight, so I thanked Jodi and Amber, ran inside to get changed, and tearfully kissed Godiva and my husband goodbye. I felt like I was failing at everything. I could not meet the needs of my animals, my family, my husband, my farm and my career. As I drove to the airport, I ruminated on all of the things I could have and should have done until I got a frantically happy call from my husband. Jodi had pulled a healthy buck kid from Godiva. It turns out that Jodi had to manually dilate Godiva the last few centimeters, as her cervix would not let the kids past.
As I got to my gate at the airport with about ten minutes to spare Rob called me to share the good news. We were blessed with four healthy buck kids, and Godiva was doing well and had already passed her placenta. Jodi had to go in for each and every buck kid, so because of this we decided a precautionary course of antibiotics was needed. Thankfully, Rob drew up the Draxxin and had Jodi give it to her. These are the kind of friends that life is made for. Ones that drive 2.5 hours round trip and will not even take gas money, just to support friends and fellow goat owners. We could not thank Jodi and Amber enough for there time, energy, skills, patience and expertise. Without them we would not have four additional members to the Udderly Wicked herd and we would not have had the opportunity to watch them grow and their mother mature. Do keep us in mind if you need any buck kids or pet wethers, because we are running at 100% buck rate here this year on our farm with 5 still needing loving homes!!! Although, don'
t think I wasn't tempted to keep one as a buck, but I am already a buck hoarder!!! This whole process just goes to reinforce the fact that goat friends are the best of friends! I hope you all are having a much less eventful kidding season than we are here! Enjoy the sunshine and warmer weather! Happy Goating!!!