Chocolate Milk Kidding
Like 0 Dislike 0 Published on 2 Jun 2016
This is my pygmy mix doe who was bred with my pygmy buck.
The day my life changed again , March 9th 2016. This is a birth of a goat kid. May be graphic to some.
Many of you know this was a hard thought planned breeding after 2 years of debating on breeding or not.
After a long time of thinking a decided to go for it, after a lot of reading, videos and talking to breeders I made up my mind. At first I didn't think my doe Chocolate Milk took to the breeding after three times. No signs of pregnancy, didn't get any bigger than she was and her attitude was the same. As it was both her and my bucks first time I figured it wasn't meant to be.
One day I noticed something moving when she walked away, it was her udder! It was filling with milk and I was beyond excited! I was super excited, started getting things ready, called a few vets and joined goat breeding pages. In fact, I even went and bought a stethoscope just to hear the heartbeats!
Her due date was March 4th -14th. That's when I started to pace, when it got close. She went into false labor a month early which had me so scared and worried! But everything was ok, I was able to relax, I set up more cameras in the barn for 24 hour live video anywhere I went to keep an eye on her if I left home.
On March 5th she started showing more signs of first stage labor, so it was time to keep a close eye on her. She was starting to contract and move the baby into the birth canal so I'd rub her back , neck and give her lots of love. She started having contractions every 5 minutes and would last an hour or so and would stop. And kept on doing this.
Posting on facebook pages asking if it was normal for things to just stop and start up again. I was getting worried. I was told to let her be and all does are different. On the 9th her contractions were so bad she was so exhausted I gave her some energy boost and some molasses. I kept on hearing I'd have kids in a few hours and within the day, well it has been a few days and I'm worried. Vet it was! The vet came out and told me exactly what I've been hearing the last few days, I'll have kids within the next few hours!!
Well, time to wait again. Contractions got stronger, and she started pushing!!! I was blessed with two beautiful little girls! Chocolate Chip and Cookies N' Cream!
Unfortunately the birth in the video is Chocolate Chip and at birth she was weak, unable to break the sac as I tried to let her. Her temp was very low and she was unable to nurse. My brother and sister in law helped me get her temp up and I was able to milk my doe and syringe feed colostrum into the tiny weak kid. She was unable to walk for the first few days and got rejected.
As she was rejected as soon as she was able to walk I was out in the barn holding her mom down to let her nurse and hoping she would accept her baby. After weeks of trying it was unsuccessful and I decided to sell Chocolate Chip to a good friend of mine as a bottle baby.
Seeing my first birth was absolutely amazing , after all the things I worried about, the horror stories, I was very lucky and so so happy everything went ok.
Feel free to share if you would like.