Kidding Log 2026

2/10/26

Here we go yet again. Tomorrow is the first due date of the year but it looks like Latte’s unscheduled visit to the buck was unsuccessful.

She might surprise us as she is a very big and very deep doe and very well could hide a bunch of kids but her udder isn’t looking like a doe due so soon. We will certainly keep a close eye on her progress as well as Jamie who appears right on track for her early March delivery. Check out our full breeding schedule here.

It has been a basically snowless winter here. Fall was very wet and snow has not shown up. These last few days have been unseasonably warm and sunny…It is tempting to think that spring has arrived….I am thinking that we will get some big dump of snow before Spring happens and heaven knows we need it. Snow pack in the mountains is nothing. So low that it is looking very bad for farmers who depend on irrigation…The price of hay is likely going to increase yet again.

So I’m heading into kidding season with all the mixed emotions that accompany the stress and joy of welcoming new life into this world. Stay tuned for the good, the bad, and the ugly of life on the farm.  The does are looking healthy and seem to be at a good weight. Stay tuned for the annual spring ride. I will try hard to keep this Log updated in a timely manner.

JAMIE IS AS RELIABLE AS EVER

March 5, 2026

Jamie had been progressing toward her due date quietly and nicely. She was slowly losing her tailhead ligaments and filling her lovely udder.

I put her in the kidding stall on the 4th so that I could keep a closer eye on her.  She wasn’t particularly happy about it but settled down for the night. In the morning she came in for her grain and showed a bit of a discharge, so back into the kidding stall she went. I had an appointment in Deer Park in the morning and hurried home at about 1:00pm.

Jamie was just fine, wandering around her pen and occasionally pawing a little bit. She quietly began having light contractions and at about 2:00 she got busy pushing hard. I headed out and got towels and a pad ready just as she delivered her first kid. Jamie and I got the baby cleaned off and Jamie proceeded to deliver two more in quick succession.

All presented in proper noes and toes position, all active and feisty. I called Darrel and he came out and lugged the trio to the milkroom. He got Jamie her bucket of “Blue Brew” (YMPC for Goats) and scooped out the copious puddle of slime. Jamie came in and hopped up on her stand where she gave me 3 pints of colostrum for her trio of boys. Jamie did everything right and might be my favorite goat ever… well my current favorite anyway. I’m trying not to hold the 3 bucks thing against her but she did have two does last year and I kept both of them. Those girls are going to freshen later this spring. Jamie is such a nice doe. She has always kidded on day 150 and in mid afternoon, and  with her kids in great position. She has large kids without trouble. Then she proceeds to milk like a trooper. Her boys weighed in at 7.9, 7.9, and 8.2 pounds.

That is quite a load of babies and big for triplets. They are nice candidates for herd sires but have not been reserved so will likely end up going for meat. So we are off on our annual kidding adventure and hope all deliveries are as unproblematic as these first 2!

HOSHI HAS IT VERY ROUGH

March 8, 2026

Last evening, Hoshi went into labor. She had a little string of goo so we put her in the kidding stall and I watched her closely until 11:30PM when she started pushing hard and yet no kid parts appeared. I finally called Darrel and got the towels and pad and lube out. I put on clean gloves and coated my hand and arm with lube. Darrel restrained Hoshi and I worked to get my hand in to check the kid position…except that Hoshi’s pelvis was not open. I could only get two fingers in at first.

I worked for an hour to stretch her  and managed to get her pelvis open a bit. After struggling for a very long time I couldn’t get the kid to budge so I finally called my friend Julie. Julie jumped into her clothes, grabbed an OB sleeve and some gloves and was here in 10 minutes. Julie’s hands are a bit smaller than mine and she is considerably stronger. She tried pulling the kid to no avail. She managed to get ahold of the other front leg and after a .5cc shot of Epinepherine, pulled on the kid.

After what seemed forever, she finally had the head and front legs out. Hoshi was pushing like a trooper and one dead kid arrived. After a short break Julie soon delivered a second kid also dead. The kids were fully formed with lots of hair. It appears that they died 3-5 days ago for unknown reasons and they looked like they were about 7-10 days before term. Beautiful long boned and nicely balanced buck/doe twins.

When kids die in utero, often the doe does not open up for delivery. In a normal birth process, the kids signal the doe that they are ready for the outside world. Hormones are released from the placenta that trigger the hormone cascade that readies the doe’s body for delivery and sends antibodies to the colostrum. When the kids die, the hormones often do not release in the proper amounts to relax the pelvic ligaments.

Manually opening up the pelvis is a very slow process and painful for everyone involved. It takes patience and strength.

Finally, I crawled into bed at 3:00 AM and realized that it was actually 4:00AM with the time change. It took awhile for muscles to relax and sleep to come. Morning came way too quickly and chores had to be done. I crawled out of bed and stiffly walked out to the barn. Hoshi eagerly awaited release from her private digs and looked perfectly normal. She had a lesson on “how to be a milker” and learned fast. Liberal application of Preparation H and she is hardly swollen. Good news for Hoshi and she is a lovely doe. I am looking forward to seeing her udder mature. Her other 2yr old buddies are due soon and I am hoping that all goes well with them.

I hope that I don’t have another day like 3/8/2026….First I lost the nice little 2+ week old doeling and then Hoshi’s delivery of dead kids.

Some days are just very hard. This was one of them. I’m too old for this stuff. Early bedtime tonight.

 BRENNAN FOLLOWS ORDERS

March 17, 2026

Brennan is a first freshening 2 year old. She is well grown and was carrying her kids very well. I expected her to kid this week and on Tuesday morning she was very ready. Her udder was full of nice colostrum, her tailhead ligaments were so soft that I could hardly feel a trace of them and she was walking “lumpy” so we put her into the kidding stall. She objected loudly which is unusual for a doe so close to delivery. As I left the barn after morning chores I told her that she needed to deliver in the warmest part of the day and without problems.

She just blinked and took a cookie.

I had her on camera and checked on her from the comfort of my living room. She was quite restless and uncomfortable. At 2:00 PM she settled down a bit and seemed to be feeling some contractions at 2:30 she was showing a discharge and pushed out some feet. I got my barn shoes and coat on and headed out as she was licking off a lively kid. In the few minutes it took to get to the barn she pushed out her second kid and cleaned off her face. I joined her to help dry the beautiful set of buck/doe twins. She did a fantastic job delivering and cleaning off her babies and Darrel lugged the kids off to the milkroom for their thorough drying, examination, and first meal.

Mom came in and hopped up on the stand. I milked out a pint plus of beautiful colostrum and she went back to the kidding stall. Babies ate a couple ounces each of colostrum and I headed in to get some supper before milking at 7:00PM. Brennan is sure that she should feed all the babies. She is a challenge to milk with her First freshener teats and tight udder. She will go on the machine this morning (March 18) as she has already given plenty of colostrum for her twins. I sure love this kind of delivery! Her kids weighed in at 7.5 and 6.8 pounds.

Two more does due this week and it is supposed to be nice and warm as well, all should go like this delivery! Brennan is a nice milker but is currently a bit loud for my taste. I’m sure that she will very quickly quiet down as her hormone levels drop back into a more normal range. (by the way, she took to the milking machine very nicely and without drama) Her lovely doe kid is available and her boy will be raised for meat.

    GABRI GETS ALL “A”S

April 1, 2026

Gabri is a small, barely 2 year old. She spends her life just trying to get along with everyone and works very hard at not offending anyone, especially the older does. Apparently she overheard me telling Hosanna what a good girl she was for following directions perfectly. She cocked her head and listened intently when I gave her directions as she went into the kidding stall. She spent the day quietly hanging out and nibbling a bit of hay. At 3:00 PM she started pushing and soon had legs out.

I quickly got my jacket on and headed out to the barn to find that Gabri had already delivered her first baby. Gabri was standing about 3 feet away and stretching her head as close as she could to sniff the little slime ball, and she was licking the air.  Silly little goof ball had no idea how to take care of the kid but she really wanted to.

Darrel arrived just as baby number 2 had one foot out. I slid my well lubed and gloved hand in and found one foot, a nose and a knee. I quick un-folded the second leg and Gabri pushed the baby into my hands.  Darrel lugged the twins off to the milkroom to get dried and fed. Kids were dried and the little girl got her ID collar and the twins were weighed and settled into the laundry basket awaiting their first meal. Darrel brought Gabri in and I set out to milk her for the first time ever. She had a very full new baby udder and short teats. Thankfully, she has decent sized orifices and milked easily, 1000 little squirts later I had enough colostrum for a first meal for the kids. They both ate and were tucked in for a nap.

Gabri went back into the kidding stall to rest and drink her Blue Brew. Darrel headed to his house and I slogged into the house to make some supper and rest a bit before evening chores. Evening milking went well, Gabri tolerated milking very well, the babies ate well.  Gabri returned to the doe pen where she quickly got into the hay and then curled up and promptly fell asleep. Such a tired little girl.

The babies weighed in at 5.9 for the buck and 6.8 for the girl.

PASCA DELIVERS LIKE A PRO

April 4, 2026

Pasca had a full udder when she came in for morning grain. She had colostrum in her teats and was showing a little bit of a discharge. She went into the kidding stall on camera and her buddy, Jacey, who was very close to delivery went into the stall next to her. It was a lovely day but with enough of a breeze to make it feel a bit chilly. The day wore on and I got busy making a big pan of honey buns for Easter breakfast pot luck at church…. The buns had 10 minutes left to bake and I was cleaning up the kitchen when Darrel came in excitedly announcing that Pasca “HAD A KID ON THE GROUND.”

I told him to put the baby on a pad and toss a towel on it so it wouldn’t get chilled…10 mins later I headed out to find the kid very busy wandering all over the place and mom licking her. So much for the towel. 🙂 

I gloved up and doused my hand with OB lube and checked to see if there was another. Well, first I found a sack and it felt like a twig inside it. I broke the sack and found a tiny mummified fetus. I easily removed that road block and made sure the next kid was in position. She had one leg bent so I straightened it out and caught her as Pasca pushed her out. The worst problem we had was keeping those two contained in order to get them to the milk room! I was drying one while the other was tucked into the basket waiting to be weighed, tagged and fed. Next thing I hear is the laundry basket flipping up on end and the first born kid is out and exploring the milk room.  These two kids are the most active newborns I have ever had. No shortage of appetites either. They drank their bottles quickly. 

I got them dried, fed, and managed to get the ID collars on them while they squirmed like nobody’s business. The babies were tucked into the newborn Tipi and I headed in to get a quick supper  before milking. The kids weighed in at 7.2 and 7.6 pounds. Pasca got her Blue Brew and lots of good girl pets and she put lots of nice colostrum in the bucket for her girls.

JUMANJI JUMPS IN

April 5, 2026

Jumanji has been lumbering around the doe pen for several weeks. She worked hard to get up on her milk stand for her grain. She has been getting progressively more cranky as the days go by. She really started filling her udder and teats so after her morning grain she went into the kidding stall so I could keep a close eye on her.

She fussed around rearranging straw, nibbling hay and sipping water until about 4:00. Just as I was about to put something on for my supper, she got serious about this kidding thing and pushed out her first kid. I turned the stove off and changed into barn shoes and headed out. Jumanji got down to business and was busy licking her firstborn as I arrived in the barn. We worked together getting kid number one clean and tucked under a towel to keep warm. Jumanji began to concentrate on delivering her second kid and I quickly checked to find the kid in great position.

Jumanji quickly delivered doe number two. Jumanji is a large and very deep doe and was very heavy with kids so I figured that she must have at least one more….I called Darrel and he arrived quickly to hold Jumanji so I could check for another kid. Sure enough, a third kid deep in the uterine horn but within reach. This kid was presenting in a strange feeling wad.  It took a lot of exploring to figure out what was going on. The kid was lying on her back with her head resting on her hip and her feet tangled together. I rolled her about 1/2 way on to her belly and found both back feet that I pulled up into place. A firm tug extended the legs and a good steady pull delivered a third lovely doe kid. It took a few seconds to get her face cleared so she could take a breath. I rubbed her firmly and she quickly gasped.

Jumanji helped clean her off and then Darrel toted them to the milkroom. They were quickly dried, tagged, checked over and each sucked down a couple ounces of Jumanji’s rich colostrum. Babies got another good meal after evening milking. Babies and mom are doing well. The trio of girls weighed in at 6.3, 6.5, and 6.9 pounds. Very nice sized triplets! Very well done Jumanji!

JASEY IS PICTURE PERFECT

April 2026

  Pretty little Jasey had been progressing very steadily toward delivery.

She was in the kidding stall that is not on camera mostly to keep No Fool, who was on camera, company. It was a beautiful spring morning sunny with temperatures at 70 and no wind so I decided to let both No Fool and Jasey go out with the herd to search out spears of sweet spring grass and lounge in the sunshine. Eventually the girls came in to slick up the hay and relax in the barn. Jasey and Pasca were hanging out in the corner by the grain room. They were quiet and seemingly just hanging out.

Around 3:00 Darrel checked on the does and filled water. He came to the house proclaiming that we had kids on the ground. Yep, Jasey had delivered triplet does and Pasca was helping clean them off. We scooped them up and took them to the milkroom where they were dried and tucked into the basket while I milked Mom to feed them.

Jasey produced about 3 cups of thick yellow colostrum. It was so thick that I had to thin it with milk so the kids could suck it through the nipple. The girls weighed in at 5.8, 7.1 and 5.8 pounds. They each sucked down about 3 oz of colostrum and were settled into the newborn Tipi to rest.  I headed in to make my supper and we milked at 7:15 and fed the newborns at about 9:00PM. They all ate well and were tucked in with little round bellies.

The red and white doe is staying here, one of the black does is sold, and the other is available. As soon as the buyer makes her choice I will mark the doe who is available.

REUEL MAY DAY’S SP’L ORDER

April 13, 2026

Special is indeed a special girl. I don’t have much to tell about this kidding. Special was in with the herd because it was a lovely day. The goats were wandering in and out of the barn. They were enjoying the sunshine and spring grass. I noticed that Special and her buddy Pasca decided to lie in the barn while the other does opted for the dry lot in the nice warm sunshine.

As the afternoon wore on Pasca seemed to be standing over Special. Soon Special stood up and both does were nuzzling at the straw then Special lay down again and she and Pasca repeated the process. Their behavior looked a bit out of the ordinary so I went out to check and found Special had a lively and cleaned off kid tucked in the corner.

Special and her kid were moved to the kidding stall where Special delivered 2 more kids who were all carried to the milkroom for the usual, “Welcome to the World” process.  Special came in for milking and supplied plenty of that liquid gold for her nice trio. She returned to the kidding stall to clean and drink her Blue Brew.

Her babies (2 bucks and 1 doe) weighed in at: 7.7, 7.0, and 7.4 pounds

REUEL JOANIES DAV GWEN

April 15, 2026

Today was a very busy day and very frustrating to say the least. I had an appointment to get my car serviced. I headed to Spokane at about noon for my 1:00 appointment and managed to get lost trying to find the dealership…I was hopelessly lost in a maze of one way and residential streets. I finally gave up and tried to figure out how to find my way home. I knew Gwen was close when I left and was more than frustrated trying to get back home to her if she needed help.

I managed to get home at 3:30 and found her in early labor. I quickly changed my clothes and worked on finishing up my taxes while watching her closely. At 4:15, Gwen pushed out a petite red doeling. I headed out and tucked the little girl under a warm towel. Darrel came out as I checked and found the next kid had only a head engaged so I quickly retrieved one leg and Gwen gave a mighty push and the boy arrived with a bucket load of fluid and slime.

He was placed on the pad and covered. Darrel then held Gwen as I checked to see if there were more and, sure enough buck number 2 was all lined up for his exit but like his brother he needed a slight assist in getting a leg up. All were carried into the milkroom. They were all the squirmmiest kids EVER! Drying them was a challenge as they all seemed to want to leap off my lap and when put in the basket after drying they seemed determined to get out of that basket and do some serious exploring. Feeding them required keeping a restraining hand on them at all times. They all were starving and drank about 6 oz each for their first meal. They all sucked down another 6 oz each after evening milking. This morning they ate like champs and  ran around the milkroom.

Taking baby pictures of them was interesting to say the least. The kids weighed in at: 5.5, 8.5, and 7.0 pounds.

NO FOOL’S JOKE ON ME

April 24, 2026

Yep, No Fool managed to fool me yet again. She and Jolee were neck and neck in a race toward delivery. I only have one kidding stall that is on camera and the spare that is next door isn’t.

So, it is a constant guessing game as to who is going to kid first so I can watch them on camera. Well, both No Fool and Jolee were both progressing at apparently the same pace. Both does have beautiful wide and flat rumps so feeling their ligaments is hard. Both felt like they were going to kid in the next 24 hours, checking farther however showed that No Fool had very little udder development and her teats had thick, honey-like pre colostrum. Jolee, on the other hand, had a nicely full udder with colostrum.

  Jolee was put on camera and No Fool hung out next door. In the early afternoon I watched Jolee wander around her stall and look over the fence at No Fool. All seemed fine and quiet. around 3:30 Darrel headed out to refill waterers and discovered that No Fool was very happily drying and fluffing a set of twins. She was quite proud of herself and happy to pass them off to me. I got them completely dried off, trimmed their umbilical cords and milked No Fool so they could have something to eat.  Her twin boys weighed 5.7 pounds each. No Fool is looking much more trim and moving much better now and starting to milk.

She is slowly getting back into the swing of things after aborting 2 years ago and then spending a whole year dry. She had an awful time as her dead kids had to be pulled out of her and she had to have her pelvis manually opened. She is doing much better this time.

JOLEE’S BIG JAM

April 25, 2026

olee has been trying to fake me out for several days and nights. I have awakened every few hours to check he on camera and watched her sleeping peacefully, or having a snack or fluffing her bedding… It was dreary and gray and windy so I kept her in the kidding stall on Saturday. Her behavior was pretty much the same as the two days before. She did a LOT of straw fluffing and digging and wandering around the pen. In the afternoon she seemed to be stretching and standing on the fence  and even kneeling down with her butt in the air …. Not good signs… This is specific behavior indicates that the kids are not in the correct position for birth.

She soon started pushing so I hurried out, gloved up, and applied a lot of lube. Her pelvis was opening nicely and her cervix was very soft and easy to stretch open. I quickly discovered that her kids were all trying to be first born. A little sorting and pulling and I finally got hold of a kid’s foot and managed to pull it up into position. Happily the kid’s head came up so I could line him up with the exit. Pushing from Mom and a firm pull and I managed to deliver a cute little black buck.

Back to the task at hand and the second black boy arrived in the same position as the first boy. The next boy was in the same position and Jolee and I delivered a very long tan boy, followed quickly by his tan brother. 

All 4 boys were in identical positions lying shoulder to shoulder with their knees bent and feet tucked under their chests.  I delivered each of them with one leg back. They are doing great. Jolee gave 1/2 gallon of beautiful thick rich colostrum. The boys approved and quickly filled up after they were dry and fluffy. Jolee got her blue brew and proceeded to drain the 2 gallon bucket and her plain water bucket too. Darrel mixed her another bucket of Blue Brew and she sipped on that as well. I headed in to fix some supper and a brief rest before evening milking. Jolee cleaned during evening milking and returned to the doe pen after evening chores.

REUEL JOLEE’S JET JORDI

May 7, 2026

Boy! We have had an incredible 10 days or so of spring weather here in the Inland N.W. Sunshine and blue sky with temps in the upper 60’s  to mid 70’s.  The kind of days that one dreams of in the darkest and coldest days of winter. The grass is growing like crazy and the cows are very much NOT interested in any hay. The maple trees now have a full canopy of leaves and the tree frogs sing loudly all night. The warming temperatures make it less critical to closely monitor the does who are due to deliver, though I will still put the close up does in their respective kidding stalls at night so I can watch them.

This morning as I was leaving the barn I checked on my 3 very pregnant yearlings in their stall and saw Jordi lying just outside her door pushing.  Kid number 1 took a few extra pushes to arrive and then Jordi quickly pushed out kid #2. I wiped  both kids down and gathered them up for their welcome party. Darrel came back just then and tended to Jordi.

The little ones were very active and ate well. Momma was a bit confused and proceeded to eat a small serving of grain while I milked her very tiny teats. UGH….my poor hands and wrists sure hate these yearling teats. The kids weighed in at 6.5 pounds for the boy and 7.1 for the doeling. Very large twins for the little yearling. Jordi chowed down on hay after milking and drank 3 quarts of Blue Brew and took a very nice long nap.

REUEL JAMIE’S DAV REGAN

May 7, 2026

Tonight I shipped off 4 milkers and a dry yearling. I will miss the milkers that I sent off but they are going to a good home where they will be appreciated and well cared for. I really needed to move them along to make room for the yearlings to go into the milking string. It is hard to send off your old friends but I know they are going to a good home where they will be well cared for and appreciated for what they put in the pail and for their beautiful kids.

The evening milking went well and Jordi’s babies ate like troopers.

I looked in on Regan as we finished up chores and found that she had a little discharge. She was settled in the kidding stall eating hay and I hoped she would wait until morning to kid. I got my dog, Princess, her her supper, relaxed a bit and watched a little TV. Just before 10:00 I craweled in bed after tucking Princess into her crate. I turned on the TV in the bedroom and watched while dozing off.

At 10:30 Darrel came in the back door and called me saying we have kids on the ground. I climbed out of my warm and comfy bed, got dressed…kind of, you know, pulling sweats over my PJs and slipping bare feet into barn shoes…and headed out just as Regan pushed out her second kid. She was a very confused little girl and didn’t figure out that she needed to lick her kids off. Her firstborn was pretty chilled by the time I got a towel on her. Off to the milkroom we go and I got busy with a towel and the hair dryer. It didn’t take long before both little girls were dry and warm.

Regan came in to be milked and she gave enough colostrum for her does and then some. It was midnight before I headed in to the house and I was very wide awake…

I finally fell asleep at 2:00 AM only to wake up at 6:30 as usual…. I won’t need to be rocked to sleep tonight for sure. The kids weighed in at a tiny but feisty 4.8 pounds and a robust 7.8 pounds.

This morning momma found out what a milking machine is for and she and her kids are doing great!