Just One More

Our little yearling, Maizey, gave us a surprise blue-eyed buckling today just after noon.

It was very nice of her to decide to birth her little boy on a day I was working from home, conveniently during my lunch hour. If only all births were so perfectly timed!

Maizey was not supposed to get bred this year. But sometimes bucks and does have other things in mind, and accidents happen when gates don’t get latched quite right. -ahem-

It was about a month ago that I started speculating that Maizey might be bred. After only three years of goat ownership, I am far from an expert, but she was putting on weight without her diet changing, and her udder was starting to swell. A few weeks passed and I debated whether I was crazy or not.  This week I started checking her ligaments daily.

Last night her pelvic ligaments were rock-solid. This morning, they had gone completely squishy. I guessed her babies would be on the way later in the day. Sure enough, when I returned to the barn four hours later at noon, Maizey was on laying on her side in full labor.

I quickly penned all the other goats and ran back to the house to grab towels and my kidding kit (a tackle box full of kidding supplies that I keep on hand). I got back to the barn in less than ten minutes, and her baby had just been born, still covered in goop.

Maizey is still figuring out how to be a mother. I did see the buckling latch and nurse, but it was a struggle. We’re keeping a close eye on them to make sure he gets enough colostrum, and if necessary we’ll pull him and bottle feed. (I suspect this may happen; it’s not an uncommon thing with young first fresheners from what I understand.)

Maizey is not ADGA registered, so he won’t be registered either unfortunately. He’ll be bottle fed and wethered when he’s old enough, and he’ll make a perfect pet or 4-H project! Contact me if you’re interested in adopting him!