Bye Bye Boys/Waiting On Kids

Not a whole lot has happened with our goats since I last updated the blog. We sold our bucklings and wethers at market (the ones we ourselves don't plan on eating), and we realized that we really really really need to get a livestock scale. We were essentially guessing the weight of our boys by having me stand on a house scale while holding the individual kids; we knew it wouldn't be accurate, but at least we would have a ball park weight. Unfortunately this method is not good at all and we wound up sending our boys to market weighing about 10lbs less than we would have liked them to. We'll be looking for a scale for the next while and if all goes according to plan we will have purchased one before the next time we need to send our goats to market.

Currently we are waiting for three of our does to have their kids. We put them in with our buck on May 4, so Oct. 1 was day "150", but there are still no fresh kids in our pen. The average goats gestation is 145-155days, so we have been keeping a close eye on these girls since they were at day 140. We do not watch our goats enough to know the exact day that each of them were bred, so all we have is an earliest date (145 days after being put in with buck) and a latest date (155days after last day in with buck). Lucky for us, we have already experienced approx. 20 different goats delivering so we know a bunch of the signs that will help us know when we really need to start watching for new kids. I say 'a bunch of the signs' because there is no real sure sign that a goat is about to have a baby other than them laying down and having that baby. The ligaments by the tail soften  yes, but for some it's days before and for others it's only hours; there may be mucus present on some goats weeks before they have a baby where as others don't get any until right before; some get nice bags a couple days before, others don't bag up until after the babies have been delivered; some pace and call for their not yet born babies; some make themselves a nest; some find a place of their own far away from all the other goats; some have their babies right by the feeder where all the other goats are hanging out; and I am sure that there are many other 'signs' that a goat is about to have kids, but this is all I can think of off the top of my head.

Hopefully my next post will be one about new kids and whether or not we notice any differences between spring and fall kidding.