If you haven't caught on there is a theme to my last few posts. They revolve around each of the goats birth and labor saga's. Pip decided that she was going to go into labor early in the morning of the 18th, which I had suspected, as the night before her ligaments were essentially non existent! She labored quickly and by mid morning she was ready to push, I on the other hand was not ready. As I have mentioned, we have never kidded this many goats out before, so figuring out kidding pens along with where we are going to put everything was a learning experience! Rob asked me a few days prior to our kid-a- palooza if I had enough pens and I said yes without really counting all the panels that I had. So if you are following, I had two pens set up for Ziva and Peaches already, and I was working to quickly set up a pen for Pip and Trudy, who also had no ligaments. It was a mix of engineering, grit, persistence and clever use of what I had to make it work. Anyone else with a farm knows that flexibility and being able to use your imagination to solve problems are key factors to success!
So with a toddler in toe, I was able to find enough panels and zip ties to put two pens together! Thankfully, I also had enough straw to top bed both of the pens, I like to use straw as I find it is the best to prevent bedding from getting stuck to everything during the kidding process. I usually used wood chips in my pens, but they tend to stick to everything wet, so they are not my first choice for kidding. Then, I realized I had not fully reset my kidding kit from the day before, so I rushed into the house to get fresh kidding towels, puppy pads, cleaned shot glass for navel dipping, clean scissors, gloves and a fresh garbage bags.
As I got back to the barn I saw pip was getting down to brass tacks and laying in the pushing position, so we were ready just in the nick of time. Thankfully, her labor was textbook, she easily delivered her three kids, all beautiful buckling's and immediately started cleaning and licking them! She has been a fantastic mom, caring for her kids with attention and love. Her kids have already found a loving home when they are ready to be weaned, but we still have 5 bucklings that need to find homes, so please reach out if you know anyone that is interested! I hope all of your kiddings have gone well! Stay tuned for Trudy's story!!! Happy Goating!!!