Winter Kidding

 

 

 

 

With excitement in our eyes and hope in our hearts, we watched the miracle of birth in the cozy quarters of our homemade barn yesterday afternoon.

The warm winter sun was melting away the snow and the sky was a crisp blue as cornflowers – it was a perfect day for a goat birth. No chilling winds, no freezing temperatures – just a perfect balmy winter day.

Born with very little trouble yesterday {unlike a previous breech and footling birth}, the girls and I were delighted to be witnessing our main goat, Marigold, kid not one, but triplets! Such an exciting day indeed!

 

{mildly graphic photo below!}

 

 

 

 

 

Mid-labour – nearly ready to push …

 

{I did not get very many photos as I was holding Lazarus … perhaps our goat is happy to not have her photos taken while in labour…?}

 

 

[While winter may not seem an ideal time to have baby goats, it has been suggested that there is less bacteria at this time, with the germs not able to survive the cold temperatures. That is a blessing. ]

With awe and excitement, we stroked our sweet momma goat’s Roman nose as she laboured, Lacey cleaned up the stall and gave fresh stray, water and feed … we had a towel ready in case the baby goat was chilled … from 1 p.m. until 4:30, we stayed outside in the barn while our nanny goat laboured. The girls helped, some watched over Lazarus, who after a while wanted to return to the warm house … other girls pulled the little ones around on a sled while Lacey and I stayed in the barn.

It is in these moments when I see my little family united and working together that brings me {great} joy. It is in these moments, when work is required, schedules are released and all else stops as we tend to what is most important in that moment, that I realize we could never live this lifestyle with a regular school day, a regular “normal” family. It has been a sweet blessing to build a lifestyle and a home life that revolves around …. well, it revolves around our own family. And, yes, sometimes our animals.

 

Speaking of which …. these sweet triplet goats – all females! – are just adorable.

{Miracle, Meadow & Mageesa}

One baby goat, which the girls named Miracle (in memory of another female kid who died shortly after birth), has weak hind legs. We are watching her closely and attempting to help her and keep her healthy in any way. She is getting milk, which is good, but we will go out every few hours today and tend to her legs, encouraging her to stand, to use her hind legs instead of splaying them out spread eagle and to ensure she is getting milk from her momma. Marigold, our Nubian goat, has her own private stall where she can tend to her babies in comfort.  We have a heat lamp set up for the baby goats and a little box where they can lay together and keep warm.  With a few kiddings under our belts, it has been a less stressful experience, yet no less exciting and wonderful.

 

It is encouraging to see the girls work, to love their animals, to help out and do chores that they would have never done a few years ago. Without older brothers, the girls have had to do all sorts of chores and work around the home – it would be challenging to shy away from such work as it would simply just be lazy. We encourage our girls to be feminine, to “be ladies” but there is a time when work is needed and skirt or nor skirt, they need to roll up their sleeves and pitch in.
From stacking cords of firewood, mucking stalls, to assisting in kidding time, we encourage our girls to not shy away from {real life} work.

I’m grateful for this opportunity to experience such sweet little daily miracles.