I switched it up this year and exposed the girls to their bucks this summer hoping for Thanksgiving babies. Both Maybelle and Gemma Jane had their kids the week before. Now there are two bouncing baby boys running around the farm. More on this later.
This was Gemma’s 3rd kid. She usually only has a single baby. Maybelle usually has twins and this would have been her 5th set of twins. She only had a singlet baby this time. Both does were smaller than usual but I think keeping them in their new goat paddock gave them more natural browse to eat and a lot more exercise than years past – both are good things. Usually their winter babies are born fat from hay and inactivity. These boys are very healthy and the girls didn’t need assistance. I walked out to feed one morning and there was a fluffy little boy staring at me. The next day it happened again. Easy peasy, for me.
Since I’ve been doing this I’ve only had one kidding season where my assistance wasn’t really needed.
My very first kidding season I had a young doe, Valentina, a first-time mother who labored hard and almost died.
It wasn’t until 3 AM when I heard her scream and ran to the barn in the cold winter air wearing only my nighty. Upon seeing her I saw the baby’s pressure on her vulva and ran back inside to get more warm molasses water.
When I returned Valentina had crawled under a heavy, unmovable bench so I followed her. There was blood and slippery goo everywhere. I was covered in it and couldn’t reach my phone to call anyone for help.
The first kid was finally trying to came out but Valentina seemed to be passing out or dying. Suddenly she screamed. It sounded like a woman wailing. She gave a push and a beautiful baby came sliding out. It was a buckling. He seemed to be a textbook birth so I couldn’t figure out why she labored so hard for so many hours. Valentina looked at him but made no efforts to clean him like Maybelle had done hers hours earlier.
At this point the second baby’s head was starting to show from Valentina’s body pushing on it’s own. She had given up and was just laying there, ignoring her baby boy and not drinking the molasses water. I hurriedly wiped the buckling’s face and made sure he was breathing before turning my attention to the next baby.
From the videos and diagrams I had studied to prepare for the births I knew if I saw the head first that could be trouble. After her 15 hours of labor I knew it was up to me to help this baby while trying to clean off the one already shivering and coughing next to his dying mom.
I couldn’t see it’s feet, only a tiny nose. I knew I had to push the baby back inside her mom and feel inside her vulva for the baby’s legs so they could come out first. I was scared to death and crying, praying to whomever would listen to help me save my doe and her babies and time was running out.
It was at this point the bubble holding the second baby burst and I could clearly see little pink lips. The baby let out a weak sound. This was going to be totally on me or I’d lose them all. I was so scared I was going to suffocate this tiny baby by pushing it back inside it’s mom. I took a deep breath and committed myself to do whatever I needed to do. I gently pushed the baby back inside apologizing to Valentina the whole time for my lack of experience.
The birthing goo made it easier to go inside Valentina and slide my fingers down the baby’s body to feel for front legs. Somehow I was able to find a shoulder and gently put a finger under and slowly pull one leg out, then the other. I watched my does body for signs of the next contraction and very gently helped the baby out. With the legs finally in the proper position the baby slide out easily.
At that moment Valentina lifted her head to drink the warm, molasses water she had refused before. The molasses seemed to help give her the strength to clean her shivering first born buckling while I attended to his twin.
I was shaking from nerves, crying and still very unsure of what I was doing when Maybelle left her own newborns and ran to me. She started cleaning Valentina’s second born for me. She licked it’s little mouth and head dry. Once she was satisfied her work was complete and the baby was breathing she allowed me to take over and went back to her own kids. From all I’d read it’s unheard of for a doe to help another doe’s kids. I felt I had been a part of a miracle.
At this point Valentina recovered enough to stand and was nursing and doting on her new son. I offered her the doeling several times and she ignored her and would move away. I knew I had to get her to nurse as soon as possible but Valentina kept kicking her away. Almost an hour into this she got tired of fighting me and allowed her doeling to nurse but maintained her focus soley on her son.
Valentina never did take to cleaning her baby girl and I was terrible at it. I tried to mimic the mother’s licks with a warm, moist towel but that was almost pointless. For two months the baby had odd cowlicks in her fur and her mother never really took to her but dutifully nursed her.
The baby girl was the exact color I dreamed of having several years before my farm life so there was no question she was my miracle baby, more mine than even her mom’s. She had and still has baby soft, jet black fur with tan “boots” and ears. She has sparkling blue eyes and adorable pink lips. If you’ve followed my Facebook farm page you’ll know this baby as Gemma Jane. She’s my dream goat – literally the one I envisioned before I ever thought a farm life was possible.
Despite her traumatic birth experience she was a happy one day old and she’s been my smiling girl ever since.
If you plan to raise animals I highly recommend searching for videos and diagrams of normal and abnormal births. These will prepare you with some knowledge but nothing will prepare you for having to actually assist. My advice for assisting is be decisive and as gentle as possible. Prepare as much as you can with a good birthing kit, depending on the needs of the species you’re assisting.
Here’s to an easy and wonderful kidding season!