HERE WE GO AGAIN!

Very shortly babies will again grace our barn and bring us the promise of spring. This year I had a total knee replacement on my left leg. Since October I have been working on rehab and I am thankful to say it has gone well. Not 100% yet, but improving every day. Babies will beginning arriving in the next week whether I am ready or not. This year we put our does in with their respective buck in groups. They lived with their buck for a month so we don’t have date certain breedings on many of our does. It will be a challenge to pick out the does that are going to deliver immediately from those who are a day or two off. The does are growing rounder by the day and all seem to be doing fine.Kidding season is always stressful and I have a love/hate relationship to it. I so love the newborn life we are privledged to welcome into the world but I hate the pain of losing a beloved doe or promising youngster. I will try to keep this log updated as the kids arrive. We have some reservations open so you can still order a doe or buck.

ZAMORA STARTS US OFF!

March 12, 2024

I have been lead feeding the 7 does due in the next couple of weeks and they are all progressing nicely. Looks like I am going to have a whole bunch of kids really soon. Zamora was dripping this morning when she came in for grain and her ligaments around the tailhead were gone. She had no trouble jumping onto her stand and she eagerly gobbled up her grain. Her udder and teats were full but not tight and shinny. I put her in the kidding stall at about 9:30 and she was a little unhappy to be alone.

At about 11:00 she stopped eating her hay long enough to lie down and push out her baby. I got busy rubbing down the first kid while she stood beside me and gave a few pushes. The first born was a lovely 7 pound doeling who was ready to take on the world. Zamora silently gave another push and I caught the second kid and put her on the pad with her sister. This kid was also a doeling and was considerably larger than her sister. Both kids were very active and strong and Darrel carted them off to the milkroom to be dried, identified, and fed. They continued to unfold and soon were standing.

They ate very well, sucking down 6-7 oz of colostrum each. They weighed in at 7 and 8 pounds. At their evening feeding they were standing and running around the milkroom. They again ate well and will finish their allotted colostrum in the morning along with additional milk. They are beautiful kids and their mom acts and looks like she hasn’t had kids. S2 is sold and S1 is available. What a perfect start to kidding season. I am very thankful.

JUMANJI JOINS THE MILKERS

March 13, 2024

Jumanji came in for her kidding check last night after I milked Zamora and fed her kids. Jumanji’s ligaments could no longer be felt. Her new baby udder was nicely full but her teats were not full. She was put into the kidding stall where she was very content. I woke up frequently to check on her ( on the Monitor) .I am so very thankful for the camera system! She appeared to sleep peacefully. She lay down in the middle of her pen and napped after her breakfast.

At 3:45PM she pushed quietly and quickly delivered a lovely little red doe. She tended to her baby like a very experienced mom. I checked and found a big head and one foot ready for delivery. The second front foot was folded under and I quickly retrieved it. I assisted and very quickly delivered a 7.8 pound dead doeling. She had apparently died about 3 days ago as she was a bit bloated but her hair was not slipping. She was a nice kid but I am happy that the 5.9 pound little sister is alive and doing well.

Jumanji came in for her first ever milking and was returned to the kidding stall to enjoy a bit of a rest and her bucket of Blue Brew ( YMCP for goats) Jumanji’s doeling is sold. She is the calmest and quietest first freshener that I have ever seen.

JEAN DELIVERS NICELY

March 16, 2024

Jean picked the most beautiful spring day to deliver her kids. It was 68 degrees and sunny. When she started pushing I watched her on the monitor. By the time I changed into my rubber shoes and got to the barn she had popped out a 7.1 pound kid and had another on the way.  A few wipes of a towel and kid #1 was on the pad. I turned to the doe and just in time to catch her second kid who topped the scales at  8.1 pounds.  Momma got busy licking her kids as I dried them.

The kidding pen was nicely warm in the spring sunshine and Jean was very happy to get her bucket of Blue Brew and she set out to clean while Darrel and I lugged the boys to the milk room for a good drying and a first feed of colostrum. The boys were tucked in to the tipi with our girls and we headed in to get a bite to eat before returning to milk at 7:00PM. Nice sized boys who will soon be off to be raised for meat.

JAMIE JOINS THE MILKERS

March 17, 2024

After spending her night sleeping either on her feet leaning against the wall or curled in a nest in the middle of the kidding stall, Jamie greeted us as we headed out to do chores. She complained about her private room and generally was unhappy.  She came in for her grain and easily hopped up on her stand.  She ate some grain and I checked her ligaments and there were none to be felt. Her udder was filling a bit and she looked ready to deliver . We let her out to walk around to the loafing pen and continued to lead feed the rest of the gang and feed the starving kids. 

Jamie spent about 20 minutes with the herd and decided that she really would rather be back in her kidding pen. She offered no resistance as Darrel returned her to the pen. We headed in for our respective breakfasts and I watched as Jamie grew more and more restless and started to string pre birthing goo.  She was up and down and wandered around the stall. At about 11:00 she started stringing serious birthing goo and by 11:30 she was pushing nicely. I slipped into my rubber shoes and headed out just as she started pushing hard. She very quickly had a nose and toes in perfect position. A couple of hard pushes and we had a nice big boy on the pad. I cleared his face and Jamie got busy pushing again quickly delivering more feet and a nose. This was an even bigger boy who weighed in at 9.5 pounds to his brother’s 8.4 pounds. Both boys quickly sucked down 8 oz of colostrum each. 

Jamie  spent the late afternoon cleaning and napping. Another beautiful birth on another perfect spring day. 3 more does due in this group.

GWEN GETS ON BOARD

March 18, 2024

Another picture perfect spring day in the inland northwest. Bright sunshine and 70 degrees. Unfortunately reality is about to return along with much more typical March weather. This morning Gwen came in for her grain and was filling her udder nicely. She had colostrum in her teats and her tailhead ligaments were gone. So off she went to the kidding stall where she hung out quietly, until 3:15 this afternoon, when she quietly lay down and started to push.

I was working on some book work and glanced down to make an entry. I looked back at the monitor only to see her nuzzling a newborn slimy kid! She delivered that kid in a big hurry. I got my barn shoes on and headed out to get the kid slicked off and out of the way for the arrival of her second kid. The kidding stall was warm and I could really get used to delivering kids in this type of weather!

Gwen and I spent a few minutes cleaning off the beautiful twin doelings who weighed in at 6.1 and 6.2 pounds.Pretty twin does.S10 will be staying here and S9 is available. The girls ate a nice amount of colostrum for their first meal and tonight they really filled themselves up. Gwen came in for her first ever milking and stood like a champ.

JADA JUST KEEPS IT GOING

March 19, 2024

This morning began as every morning does in my house. At 7:00 I made myself a cup of coffee and turned on the morning news. I watched Jada on the monitor and sipped my coffee. Yep it looked like we would be having more kids today. I headed out for morning milking at 8:30.

We got the 5 milkers milked and fed grain to Jada and May Day in the kidding stalls. The baby boys then got their first lesson on the Lambar. They did quite well. Then we fed the newborn kids from yesterday. I cleaned the milking machine and started washing up the dishes….When Darrel yelled, “We’ve got babies”.

Sure enough, Jada had rapidly and happily evicted her little freeloaders. They were active and alert and Jada was tending to them nicely. I slicked off the first layer of remaining slime and got them onto their pad and Darrel lugged them into the milkroom for their welcome party. Apparently Jada got the memo as she delivered twin does properly color coded to match all the other doe kids.

Another beautiful day and another perfect kidding for which I am very thankful. The kids were active and trying to stand almost immediately and after drying and processing they each sucked down 8+ oz of colostrum and drifted off to sleep. They weighed in at 6.4 and 6.6 pounds.

Jada came in with a nicely full udder and I milked just under a half gallon of nice rich colostrum from her beautiful udder. She will be staying here for sure! One of her girls is on my “may stay” list but the other is available.

MAY DAY DOES HER THING

March 19, 2024

May Day has been objecting to being separated from the herd all day. I have been watching as she restlessly wandered around her pen, lying down and seeming to push now and then, but mostly looking out the window or door… At about 4:30 I watched her as she began to push. I got my shoes changed and headed out.

As I got into the barn she had delivered a pretty kid and was tending to her nicely. I got the pad and towels ready and scooped up her kid, helping May Day to clean off the majority of the remaining slime. I checked and found another kid ready to arrive. It was a posterior presentation and both feet were in the proper position. May Day pushed nicely and I helped so we could get his face clear quickly. His face was wiped off and he joined his sister.

Mayday quickly had another kid nose and toes and she pushed him out into my hands as I tried to clear his face. What a great delivery. Mom was ready and quickly emptied her 2 gallon bucket of Blue Brew. We dried, collared, and fed the pretty trio a quick meal of colostrum. Then put them in the tipi to rest knowing that they would get a nice full meal of colostrum in a couple of hours. The kids weighed in at a very nice 6.9 pounds for my nice black belted doe, and 7.3 and 7.6 pounds of wildly spotted bucklings. Autum, your buck has arrived.

NO FOOL’S MARCH SURPRISE

March 24, 2023

Yep, No Fool surprised us big time. Back in October we had the first buck escape ever. In 40 plus years of raising goats it was the first time I have ever had a buck escape. When Darrel caught him he was hanging out with May Day so we treated her as if we expected her to deliver this month. No Fool was still on the list for the end of April and was in the group due to get their pre-kidding treatment and grain starting tomorrow.

This afternoon the sun came out and we warmed up a little after a morning filled with icy mist and snowfall. The sunshine was an unexpected surprise as was the arrival of No Fool’s twins. She waited until the sun came out and it warmed up a bit then lay down in front of the manger, while the rest of the herd went out to pasture.

She delivered a nice big buck and got to work cleaning him off and apparently soon after delivered a nice little doe . The buck was nicely cleaned off but the girl was pretty sticky and slimy when we scooped them up and took them in to warm and dry them and warm them up. They tipped the scale at 8.7 pounds for the boy and 7.4 pounds for the doe. No Fool gave me a 1/2 gallon of nice rich colostrum tonight and the kids ate well. No Fool drank 2 buckets of Blue Brew and dived into her hay. She is spending tonight in the kidding stall as she works on cleaning and rests. The buck is sold and the girl will remain here.

JOLEE JUST DOES IT

April 12, 2024

Jolee takes the prize for being the Drama-Queen-of-the-Year. First of all about a week before delivery she started showing all the signs of labor. Her udder filled suddenly and was tight, she had colostrum in her teats, she was talking to her belly, she was restless, and her ears and tail would lift from time to time. I watched her pacing around the kidding stall all day and all night. She would lie down and jump up suddenly and repeat over and over again. She finely laid down with her back legs both out to one side and curled her head around resting on her belly and went to sleep.

The next morning I finally figured out what her problem was. Her udder had filled very quickly and was quite full. She is a first freshener and had no idea what was happening to her. She couldn’t figure out what to do with that new udder. Well, she finally figured it out and her udder grew a little.

On Friday morning she went into full blown labor and wanted the whole world to know. It has been a long time since we had a doe that screamed when in labor. Jolee wanted the world to know that she was delivering two enormous 14 pound, half grown kids…. In fact she delivered two lovely little does that tipped the scales at just under 6 pounds each. The red doe is for sale but the tan doe may stay here… Jolee milked about 3 pints of colostrum and adjusted to the milking routine very quickly. The kids are little eating machines and were on the lambar immediately after finishing their colostrum.

JESHAIAH STRUGGLES A BIT

May 8, 2024

I woke up early to find the day starting with a good deal of cloud cover and gusty winds. While I sipped my coffee I watched the goats on GOATV and noticed that Jeshaiah was very grumpy with the rest of the herd. When I went out to milk she was stringing some clear pre kidding goop. She hopped up on her milkstand but didn’t eat much grain. I had Darrel put her in the kidding stall where she spent the day standing around, pawing now and then and working her way through the process.

When I headed out for evening milking I found her stringing birthing goo. It was nice and clear and she didn’t seem to be in distress so I decided to milk and clean up before checking the position of Jessi’s kids. Clean hands and lots of lube and I found that Jeshaiah was not very open. A little work and I got my hand in and found the first kid seemingly in good position…2 feet and a nose but the nose was resting sideways on top of the toes…so the kid was presenting more like a loaf of bread than a streamlined figure. A little rearranging and pulling the feet forward and all seemed well. The kid had a wide head and Jessi wasn’t completely open so she needed some help. I pulled as she pushed and soon we had a really nice big kid… a really LONG kid.. A little help clearing her face and I returned to check Jessi again.

I found another kid again in good position and with a bit more help was soon beside her sister on the pad. The kids seemed to be really big and they were certainly long with wide heads. I was pretty shocked when they weighed in at 7.9 and 7.8 pounds. These two are large framed with a very long bone pattern. Momma and babies are doing great. Jessi hasn’t really started to milk very well yet. I am hoping she will soon be back in full production.

ZAHVIA BREAKS THE STREAK

May 14, 2024

Zahvia has spent the past few nights in the kidding stall so I can keep an eye on her. This morning, as usual, Darrel let her back in with the herd. After I finished milking we brought in the close up does for grain. Zaviah jumped up on her stand as normal but only ate part of her grain. Her ligaments were all but gone and her udder was nicely full. She took her cookie and went out and around to the loafing area as usual. I finished washing up while we fed the last group of 4 yearlings their grain.

Darrel put Zahvia back into the kidding stall while I checked the yearlings over and fed them their cookies. On my way out of the barn I checked on Zaviah and found that she was starting to string some nice clear pre-kidding goo. I told Darrel that we would be kidding soon and headed in to make some breakfast. Right on time at 11:30 Zaviah was standing in the middle of the kidding stall and very suddenly squirted out a kid. She quickly turned around and tended to her new arrival…

I headed out and called Darrel to join me. The kid was no the worse for his unceremonious landing. I got the firstborn on to the pad and slicked off a bit. I checked Zaviah to see if the second kid was in good position. I found that Zaviah was not as open as usual but the kid was in good position. A few good pushes and a little tug and kid number 2 was on the pad with his brother.

A check again found another kid deeper in the uterus and he was not at all interested in leaving the hot tub. Every time I got a hold of his front feet he would pull them out of my fingers. After about ten tries I finally got a firm hold on those feet and Zaviah gave a couple of mighty pushes and the last boy moved up, and even though he resisted, with Zaviah pushing and me pulling he had no choice in the matter and was soon sputtering on the pad. A very nice trio of bucklings. The previous 4 kiddings had yielded 8 does and 1 buck. The end is in sight. Just 4 does left to kid. They are all yearlings.

Zaviah came in for milking and I took one look at her udder and immediately put her on the machine. She got a dose of Oxytocin and returned to the kidding stall where she soon cleaned and drank her 2 gallon bucket of “Blue Brew” dry. She returned to the loafing pen after her evening milking and her boys quickly chugged down their colostrum. The boys weighed in at 7.3, 7.5, and 8.4 pounds.

We request that all kids be picked up at the farm or shipped by 4-6 weeks of age as there seems to be less stress on them at that age. After 6 weeks of age we will have to charge $2.00 per day board until they are picked up or shipped. A $75 deposit is required to hold your kid with the balance due on notification of your kid’s birth. All health papers, shipping kennels and shipping are the responsibility of the buyer and are to be paid prior to shipment. Deposits on canceled orders are not refundable but deposits paid on kids that are not born can be refunded or shifted to another available kid. We reserve the right to refuse sale of any kid and to return the deposit or apply it to another kid. Please email Sandy if you have any questions.

Also, check out our For Sale page. All does and pre ordered bucks and wethers are raised on heat treated colostrum and pasteurized milk. All kid prices listed are for pre ordered kids that are picked up at 6 weeks or younger. We give a discount to herds on milk test, youth in 4-H, or for multiple purchases.

Thank you for your interest in Reuel Dairy Goats.