We knew that our Nubian does were both pregnant, but we didn't know when they were due. So there was a lot of watching. Daphne's belly was so large that I could feel the kids move when I put my hand on her side. I read that the doe's udders would fill with milk soon before she kidded, so on Friday when we saw that Daphne's udders were larger than normal we started to check on her more often. Two of our other does have kidded since we bought them, but both births took place while we were away. Saturday morning we were rushing to leave to the San Antonio zoo, and as we were getting in the car we looked toward the goats to check on Daphne one more time. She wasn't there. I walked along the fence until I saw her through the trees, about to give birth. We watched as the first sack came out and broke with a little baby goat head following. Now this is not the normal position for goats to be born in. Normally they come out with their front legs first and then their head as if they were diving, but with their legs back it makes their shoulders wider and the birth harder for the doe. I helped pull the baby goat out and clean off his face, and after Daphne partially cleaned him off she delivered another buckling, this time with one of his legs folded up by his side. The older buck is black with white ears, a white speckled nose and a small white spot on top of his head, and the younger one is black with a white belly and brownish markings along the edge of the white, and they both feel like velvet. We cleaned up the mess, trimmed the buckling's cords and made sure that they were nursing before we continued on our trip from the to the zoo an hour and a half after we started to get in the car. We have been naming our goats 1950's names such as Nancy, Daphne, Sally, Betty, Lorraine, Mary, George and Jack, so Dad chose the the names Edward and Albert for the two new bucks.
Our other Nubian doe, Nancy, should kid sometime tomorrow. Her udders have filled and we fully expected to come home from church to new goat kids, but it wasn't time yet, so we are guessing that it will be sometime tomorrow. I was the one who was studying up on goat births so I was the "baby catcher" for the kidding and I will probably be the one handling the goat births from now on since everyone else thinks that it is gross, though Zoe will have to help since she wants to be a midwife.
None of our Nubian does are full Nubian; Daphne is 1/8 Nigerian Dwarf, Nancy is 1/2 Nigerian dwarf and our buck Brandon is 1/4 Boer, making Edward and Albert 1/16 Nigerian Dwarf and 1/8 Boer. These are definitely not breeding animals, but we bought them for milk and the fact that they are multiplying is enough. In about two weeks we will start milking them, letting the kids drink all of the milk directly off of them until then.
Soon to come: Butchering our troublesome goat STEWart
