Khaki's kids

Khaki let us know early in the morning that she was thinking about having her kids. She is normally very quiet but she started "talking" to us (or her kids). This was her first time and she was at day 144. I watched her all day long but didn't put her in the kidding pen until she started having visible contractions. That was late into the evening around 8. I had some close friends that wanted to be here for the birth, one of them planning to buy two of her kids-- a doeling and a wether. I was hoping to keep a doeling out of this breeding as well. 

The 4 of us sat with Khaki for 4 hours as she labored in late 1st stage labor. She was so intent on her work and would stand staring intently at the wall for each contraction as they got closer and closer. Finally she laid down and started to push. On her very first push she let out a yell so we knew babies were on the way into the birth canal. 

As the first kid arrived at the opening, things didn't look quite right. There was a baby bubble emerging but it was surrounded by her cervix which was dilated only about the size of a half-dollar! I started to panic and thought to call the vet but there really didn't seem like there was time since it appeared she would push her whole uterus out with this baby if we couldn't get it through the opening! So I took a deep breath and started working my fingers around the opening carefully widening it. It was very thin-- I guess it "effaces" like in humans before it dilates. Working and stretching it worked and the kids head and one leg appeared and emerged. A little wiggling and working of this kid and she was out at 10 minutes before midnight (Easter Sunday)! A beautiful little doeling who stood up within a few minutes and started walking around!

In 20 minutes she started pushing again. This time a huge head emerged and one leg out in front. This kid was enormous! With a little assistance again on my part, he came out. He was a large buckling that weighed in at 4 lbs 9 oz (doe weighed 3 lbs 12 oz). They were both up on their feet walking around in minutes. 

They both started nursing right away, as soon as we could get Khaki to stand up. She had been so big I was sure she had 3 or 4 kids. But after the buckling came, her placenta started coming out so we knew she was done. 

Another lesson learned on this kidding: they can gain too much weight by eating lots of alfalfa throughout their pregnancy! As we still have 2 more does to kid, I have cut back on the access to alfalfa for the pregnant girls. The 2 girls in milk still get all they want.

The two kids are sold to a lovely woman who is living in my town (first time!). She is learning all about goat care from me and helped with disbudding and care of these two cuties.

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