Sad news from Cuesta Farm. Our first kid was stillborn after a long and hard labor (11:30 pm Sunday night... try to call a vet then!). This was this doe's first baby, and my first kidding experience. We are both exhausted, still. I'm hoping this is that 1% out of the 99% that go smoothly, according to all the books... hope we got that over with; I've got 4 more due this month. He presented with feet first, but his head was crooked back to the side; he looked full term. She passed everything ok afterwards and today (Tues) was the first day I let her go out with the girls. I felt she really needed to get back to her friends and walk around; they are not aggressive toward her.

The good news out of all this is, the kid was a dark brown/red and with curly ringlets all over. The investment in Jackson, my beautiful brown buck from Oregon, will pay off!

Also, as an aside... I finally got all the goats sheared. Two with the electric clippers, after my shearer came by and gave me some pointers; the other 6 with the scissors. I found I actually prefer to use the scissors. It's quieter and sort of... well, 'zen'. However, in October, I'm determined to learn how to turn them on their rumps and use those electric monsters. My shearer also came by and did my buck for me. I want to enter his hair in the State Fair this year and I knew I'd make a mess of it. It's gorgeous, too, and it weighed 8 pounds! But, the poor little guy is all horns and "huevos" now! Not the magnificent woolly mammoth he was last week. Adios, dh in nm

-- debra in nm (dhaden@nmtr.unm.edu), May 01, 2001

Answers

So sorry the little guy was stillborn Debra! What a letdown....It will get easier, all the experts can't be wrong. Just had my first kidding experience with a first freshener as well, so I feel for ya! She had three, and the middle one was a stillborn buck. Good luck with the upcoming births.

-- Judy in Md. (trailhppr@msn.com), May 01, 2001.

Debra and all, go to Goatworld.com 911 site, help from experienced breeders are just a phone call away! As long as it is an emergency, and as long as you give me some time to collect my thoughts after dreaming about the Nationals :) I accept phone calls like this all the time! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), May 01, 2001.

Thanks for the website, Vicki, I will keep that in my files for the future. However, I only have a computer at the office, 25 miles away, so that won't work for me now. I do have several goat friends here, one lady who's been birthin' baby goats for 21 years. But, still, at nearly midnight on Sunday, who would want to call? And I was afraid to leave her, even though I was no help to her at all. Also, my barn has no electricity, phone... I was doing all this by flashlight; oh, it was horrible. I have to look ahead and chalk all this up to experience, and I am already making notes for a more goat- friendly barn after I move this summer. Thanks, my friends. dh in nm

-- debra in nm (dhaden@nmtr.unm.edu), May 01, 2001.

Hi Debra,

I am so sorry to hear of your loss and the hard kidding. These occurances are not usually the norm or common, however, they can and do happen. We had a few years of kiddings where everything went Ok, then this year we seemed to get the problems. i too had a doe who delivered as yours did. We had to pull and pull and of course the vet was away. But we finally were able to get the kid out, was born dead, and then later i lost my beloved doe. be careful of internal injuries and bleeding internally afterwards, its what you can't see that is the problem. Heres hoping the rest of your kidding season goes well. i still have 2 more to kid and we are moving next week, I have this feeling.......... Vicki........ dreaming of the nationals *grin* me too, can't go this year with the move and all. But hey, we can dream of us being right there in the winners circle with the national GCH right? 9 days to go and we leave...... I am still amazed.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), May 01, 2001.

How sad. We had a bad kidding experience ourselves this year. rough delivery of triplets. Had to pull before the vet could get here. First was a mummified kid, apparently lost moths ago. Then was a stillborn. Third was little and weak, but she survived. Now she's the prettiest kid out there.

-- Jen (Hopalong83@hotmail.com), May 07, 2001.