Goat-O-Rama Kids of 2024!

[Nanno]

Introducing the first two models off the 2024 Goat-O-Rama assembly line! These are Snowball/Pest crosses and they couldn't be lovelier! They're so new they haven't got names yet, but I'm sure we'll be thinking of some shortly! Snowball showed us first thing this morning that she was ready to have kids any time and she didn't want me to leave the pen. This is a first for her, as she usually likes to kid sometime around 2:00 in the morning, but I was pleased we could be there to assist. It turns out maybe she knew we needed to be there as she seemed to have a bit of trouble pushing these kids out even though they were presented correctly. I'm sure she'd have got them out eventually without help, but it was nice to be able to move things along a bit when progress stalled. 


First to hit the ground at around 11:00 a.m. was a beautiful 8 lb. two-tone chamoisee baby girl. She looks a lot like her older sister, Molly! The next was a lovely 9 lb. white buckling with gray/blue roan spots. He's practically Pongo's double! We helped Snowball dry them off and get them into the shed and out of the wind, which was beginning to howl. The kids were up and nursing in almost no time at all. 






Phil thinks this little guy looks like a "Gandalf." I'm inclined to agree. Let's see how we feel about it over the next couple days! 


We have no idea what this little girl's name will be, but I'm sure she'll discover her name before long. 




Listen to their little cute baby squeaks!

[Tater74]

cute. congrats on a successful kidding,

[Taffy]

You could have a matched driving pair with Pongo's "twin!"

[Nanno]

Thanks! The kids are doing great this morning. Snowball is such a wonderful mama, but the poor thing seems like she needs a break and wants to hang in the other shed away from her kids. I can't blame her. The wind was howling most of the night with 50-60 mph sustained winds and gusts over 70 mph so nobody got much sleep. It's still blowing so unfortunately for Snowball I have to keep her locked inside with her babies today. I was planning to kick everyone else out of the pen and let Snowball putter around and graze within sight of her kids, but the wind is so high right now that if her babies try to follow her out of the shed I believe they will literally blow away. They're nowhere near big enough or strong enough to withstand the gusts we're experiencing so Snowball is just going to have to wait on that "me time" until it settles down out there.

I was concerned about little Gandalf last night because he was acting a bit stopped up. I had flashbacks to Marmaduke and the sad battle we lost with him last year when he blocked up and died. I massaged Gandalf's little tummy and worked his hind legs last night around 11:30 until he finally passed a small chunk of meconium. I was up again at 4:00 a.m. and saw him on the camera wiggling his tail and straining. I watched for a while, hoping I wouldn't have to go out there in the hurricane, but eventually I worked up the courage to go check on him. He was a little plugged up, this time with yellow milk poops instead of meconium so I was glad to see that. I pulled off a hard chunk cemented to his bum and he seemed happier. He was fine this morning. Phew! When you lose one it can sure leave you shell-shocked and paranoid about the next ones. These two look like they'll do fine as long as I can keep them from blowing away!

[Saph]

Congratulations Nan & Phil, they are beautiful & I love their colors! Sending good vibes that everyone continues to do well!--Saph

[dragonmaker]

Congratulations on the cute kids!

[Nanno]

Skeeter was due Saturday, April 20th, and as usual she delivered bang on the dot! She didn’t waste any time but started into labor at around 7:30 a.m. It wasn’t long before we welcomed two beautiful new kids to the herd: Meet Merlin and Morgana!

First off the assembly line was this big fella who we named Merlin. He weighed 8.5 lbs. and was a little bit stuck. He only had one front leg presenting, but his head was in the right  spot.  Goat kids can be born with only one front leg in place, but they’re wider that way so it’s not as easy for mom. I could have pushed him back in and gone fishing for the other leg but Skeeter is a big, roomy doe so I decided to just pull on the one while easing his head through. He made it without much trouble, although mama wanted a rest afterwards!










Before her brother was even quite delivered, this little gal rushed onto the scene! She couldn’t wait to see the big, new world out there! We named her Morgana (a variant of Morgan le Fey from the King Arthur legend). She was 7.5 lbs. and was struggling to her feet before she even hit the ground!












Skeeter never fails to produce some beautifully-marked babies! We can’t wait to see what these two look like as they grow up!

[/url][url=https://www.goatorama.com/2024/04/21/introducing-merlin-and-morgana/]

Stay tuned! Sadie is out there revving up right now! She was due Friday but decided to let hers cook a couple extra days. I was sure she'd kid yesterday because in the past Sadie has often gone into labor directly after another doe goes into labor, but I guess she decided to be a bit more independent this year.

[Missy]

They are adorable!

[Nanno]

Thanks! And this afternoon Sadie kidded two enormous boys! They were 10 and 11 lbs.! We haven't named them yet and I'll post photos sometime tomorrow. She had a time pushing those two brawny boys out!

[Missy]

Poor Sadie, those are big boys! I can't wait to see their pictures, they should make some nice Packers!