Dejavoodoo114 Kidding Thread - Breeding Time!

dejavoodoo114

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So, I decided to start a kidding thread this year. I finally managed to figure out the breeding/kidding dates of my does this year using a marking harness. There was only one doe I missed. I was able to confirm that my 5 does were pregnant using blood samples sent to biopryn. That made my life considerably easier! The first time I sent in the blood samples, only my fainting goat was pregnant. This concerned me so I brought my buck, Henry VIII, in for a BSE. His swimmers were perfect but he had had a bout with haemonchus 2 months earlier and the vet told me that would have killed/depleted his sperm for a while. 1 week later he was breeding my girls and they took.

Well, I got home from a long day at school on Friday. I was still in my car when my neighbor called to tell me he thought one of my does had kidded in the pasture. I told him that wasn't possible! I wasn't ready and the first isn't due until March 14th!! That there was only one doe I wasn't sure of her due date... Then he told me it was my black doe with a black kid...:he:he:he:he:he Guess which girl's due date I didn't know!?!
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That is Iris's new doeling!

We were quite grateful to our neighbor for noticing as Iris's teats were messed up by her previous owner misusing a milking machine. No kids she has ever had has managed to actually nurse off of her. Of course, we generally bottle feed anyway but with her there is no room for error. Luckily we got to her in time to be able to give her colostrum.

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She took to bottle feeding very easily!
 

dejavoodoo114

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So now I will just be waiting for my other's to kid.

Pecan is next and is due March 14th. This is a pic of her last year.
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Corley is next, due on March 19th. The only picture I have of her is when she was a few days old, she is now a year and a half and is the daughter of Chloe. She is the one checking out my shoe. Her brother is on the left and half out of the screen.
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Dunfhlaith is due March 21st. She is near the same age as Corley and I don't have recent photos of her either! Her brother is on the left. She is Pecan's daughter.
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Chloe is last, due March 22nd. This picture of her is from last year, or the year before... I'm not sure.
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Luckily for me Pecan and Corley are due during Spring Break. Hopefully Dunfhlaith and Chloe will come a little early!
 

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So cute!!

Can you elaborate on what happened to your doe's teats because of the milking machine? Just curious!
 

dejavoodoo114

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There was a case of mastitis, one side was continued to be milked and ended up Very uneven. They also had a bad habit of leaving the milking machine on too long. It has been a while so I have stopped thinking about it beyond that improper use of the milk machine caused it.
 

dejavoodoo114

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We were so glad for the doeling! And quite disappointed that there was only one. All her other kiddings have produced triplets... However, 1 doe is better than 3 bucks like last year!
 

dejavoodoo114

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Pecan was my favorite. She was highly parasite resistant and able to turn minimal forage into milk and meat on her bones easily. About 20 minutes after my last post we found her dead in the pasture. I took her in to UT to get a necropsy done Monday morning. I do not have the results yet.:(

I have had plenty of goats get sick as I learned about caring for and raising goats. That is the main reason I have such a small herd. I culled every goat who was easily susceptible to parasites or otherwise needed what I considered "extra" care. Pecan is so strong in the attributes I liked I have been speaking to my vet about embryo transfer... No longer relevant...

So, I finished posting these pics and went out to the pasture to check on my girls with the family. The boys beat me down there and found Pecan in the shed. I checked her out when I got there. She had clearly just kidded and just died but we could find no kids around. I checked to be sure there was no dystocia and no kids inside. We spent the next two hours (until dark) looking all over the 9 acre goat pasture for her kid(s). There was no sign. The pasture is partially wooded, filled with brush and stickers and such. There are some areas we can't even get to but the goats generally eat the outsides of those areas (they are slowly decreasing their size). Normally, if a goat kids in that pasture we find them quickly because of the noise. There was no noise Sunday night. We never found a kid.

During all of our searching, Wesson (our injured pyr) refused to leave Pecan's body. He wouldn't let any of the goats or Kimber near her. She was due either the 14th or 22nd of March. We had planned to put her in the kidding stall about a week before her due date.

Honestly, I love all my goats and have been sad when one passed. But Pecan was my shining star... The DHIR and Linear Appraisal paperwork is glaring at me from the table right now. I don't see much point without her. Not really sure where to go from here.
 

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