Ok, well, the 2nd most awaited baby post for our family ;)
The kids arrived - two sets of twins not even 24 hours apart. Our girls followed their pattern again this year, delivering on the weekend. Mr. P has never had to come home from work to help me with goat delivery, they have always delivered on the weekend or holiday. Our goats may be spoiled brats all year long, but at least they are considerate when they have their babies! **Update: We have also had a delivery while we were snowed in and a delivery in the wee hours of the morning. But never during the day on a work day.**
Twizzler was first. Mr. P and I had been working outside all day - planting the garden, mowing, putting laundry on the clothes line, etc. In fact, we hardly stopped for lunch. The (human) kids were with Grandpa and Nana, so we were taking advantage of a rare day alone to get lots of chores done. I went inside to take a break while Mr. P started mowing the back pasture. About 10 minutes into the break, he comes to the window and lets me know that Twizzler's water had broken. We weren't surprised, she had been very anti-social all day long, which is unusual when we're outside. So, I went outside to mow while he gathered supplies and monitored her progress. About 20 minutes after I started mowing, I see Mr. P waving at me from the window of the kidding stall/hay closet/kid closet. I go to check and she's already pushing! She had a long way to go, but compared to last year's 6 hour labor, this was very quick! I finished gathering supplies and chairs (!) and we waited. And waited. And after another 20 minutes, this little cutie made his way into the world:
Meet Auxano's Coffee Cake
Obviously, we were hoping for more than one, but Twizzler didn't seem to be in any hurry to do anything but lay there with her baby. So we waited. And waited some more. And another 20-30 minutes later, she decided it was time to have this beauty:
Meet Auxano's Caramello
A beautiful buckling and doeling! The colors were awesome and they are very healthy goats.
Not to be outdone, Snowflake almost decided to have her babies while we were gone to church. We came home and Mr. P noticed she was in the barn, so he ran out there. I got the kids out and he yelled at me to bring towels! Snowflake had already delivered the first kid, but was having trouble with the 2nd due to bad presentation. Mr. P (still in his clothes from church), iodined up, fixed the kid, delivered her and got her in front of Snowflake. We got twin doelings that are adorable!
Meet Auxano's Cyclone
And Auxano's Cloudy Day
Cyclone was absolutely hilarious. In true first-born style, 20 minutes after birth she is wandering around in the grass trying to find some warm sunshine. Snowflake, being a tired first-time mom, was a little stressed trying to keep track of her while cleaning and caring for Cloudy.
All in all, another great kidding season. Our herd will look very different come summer as we decide which goats to keep and which to sell and will probably look even more different come next spring. But that is the name of the game, always planning for the best and what is going to improve the herd.
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