Pinky was accidentally bred to Ebony without my knowledge by means which I still have not figured out. As Ebony is an Alpine and Pinky is a Nigerian Dwarf, this breeding was likely to result in kids too large for Pinky to deliver.
We figured out she was pregnant in late December, and took her to the vet for an ultrasound. Results were good, she had at least two small kids. The vet thought she was due in a month or two.
About a month later, Pinky began to give false alarms of impending labor. There is a lovely explanation of the false alarms given by does about to kid, called the Does' Secret Code Of Honor. As you might remember from last year, Pinky just relishes following the Does' Code to a T, and, of course, driving us crazy by making us wait and wait and wait some more.
Friday night was no exception. She was a little bit more restless than usual, no ligs, udder fairly full (but not quite tight enough for labor yet), the whole nine yards of false alarms. Jane and I figured that she definitely had another day or more to go.
So here we are in the barn with Pinky, fixing to leave. And then she lies down. And starts pushing. Absolutely no sign she was about to kid, and there she is. Just having her babies. Her water broke seconds later, and after five minutes of rushing around grabbing kidding supplies and buckets of water, she had two little hooves presenting. Fifteen minutes after that, with a little pushing and pulling, she delivered a black doe kid. The doeling weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces (Nigerian kids are usually between 3 and 5 pounds).
Fifteen minutes later she delivered another doeling, this one black and white, weighing 5 pounds 14 ounces.
We named them Black Cherry and Cookies N Cream (the name theme this year is ice cream flavors).
Here are some photos:
We figured out she was pregnant in late December, and took her to the vet for an ultrasound. Results were good, she had at least two small kids. The vet thought she was due in a month or two.
About a month later, Pinky began to give false alarms of impending labor. There is a lovely explanation of the false alarms given by does about to kid, called the Does' Secret Code Of Honor. As you might remember from last year, Pinky just relishes following the Does' Code to a T, and, of course, driving us crazy by making us wait and wait and wait some more.
Friday night was no exception. She was a little bit more restless than usual, no ligs, udder fairly full (but not quite tight enough for labor yet), the whole nine yards of false alarms. Jane and I figured that she definitely had another day or more to go.
So here we are in the barn with Pinky, fixing to leave. And then she lies down. And starts pushing. Absolutely no sign she was about to kid, and there she is. Just having her babies. Her water broke seconds later, and after five minutes of rushing around grabbing kidding supplies and buckets of water, she had two little hooves presenting. Fifteen minutes after that, with a little pushing and pulling, she delivered a black doe kid. The doeling weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces (Nigerian kids are usually between 3 and 5 pounds).
Fifteen minutes later she delivered another doeling, this one black and white, weighing 5 pounds 14 ounces.
We named them Black Cherry and Cookies N Cream (the name theme this year is ice cream flavors).
Here are some photos:
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By Suzanne Tyler
the Green T Goatherd
