Kidding Log Winter/Spring 2011

Getting Started

February 16

Well, baby watch has begun here at Reuel Dairy goats. Brisa and Nika (2 first freshening almost 2 year olds) are getting pretty close to delivery. They still have soft udders and faint ligaments but they are filling up the udders and their ligaments are fading.  I figure that they will deliver in the next couple days at the latest.  Currently we are enjoying a very short period of not having to milk anyone. Yep, the herd is dry and has been since Saturday morning.  It is a very strange feeling but enjoyable. The goats don't seem to mind it a bit either.  I will do my best to keep this log up to date and post baby pictures as soon as possible as well. Keep checking back to share our adventures in kidding.

BRISA BEGINS THE PARTY!

 Feb 20, 2011

We have been impatiently awaiting the arrival of our first kids since Feb 15 when we expected that Brisa would deliver, apparently she had a better idea.  Yesterday afternoon I was beginning to be a bit concerned and decided it was time to check and see if she was dilated and if I could feel the kids in good position.  Out came the gallon jug of OB Lube and the gloves and with LeRoy holding our now very confused first freshener, I went in to check on her progress.  Her pelvic ligaments were completely soft and open but her cervix was still cone shaped and firm and I couldn't even locate the os (opening of the cervix) Needless to say she wasn't very happy about the whole process and me by the time we were finished exploring.  She came in for her grain last night and after getting up on the stand she tried to keep a close eye on me but finally decided that eating was a better option.  She and her buddy Nika were returned to the kidding stall to keep each other company and get on with it... All night long we could hear the groaning and grunting of the two very pregnant first fresheners.  This morning Brisa started muttering and baby talking. That is what we call the quiet sounds the does make as they get very close to kidding. She wasn't much interested in her grain and when put out of the milk room to walk around and then be returned to the kidding stall , she was moving well but very slowly. After feeding the rest of the goats and stock LeRoy went to get her to put her in the kidding stall and she was stringing a lot of nice clear birthing goo.  Into the stall she went and I checked the kids position. The first baby was in position nicely with nose and toes in the birth canal but her sister was trying to horn in on the glory of being the first born of the year so things weren't progressing. A little encouraging tug on the feet and a lot of good pushing and into the world slid a beautiful little girl. a quick facial de slime and a warm towel cover and back just in time to catch her sister as she quickly and easily slid into view, A bit of a tug as she was coming with only one leg forward and she joined her sister under a towel on the kidding pad.  I checked mom again and as expected that was all. Babies were bundled up in their pad and hustled off to the milk room for blow drying, weighing, naval trimming, ID collars, their first meal and a lot of loving.  The girls weighed in at 6.2 and 6.3 pounds! Great Job BRISA! Congratulations to Theresa Wojcik on the arrival of her Brisa daughter (B1) The black doeling will be staying with us and we are very pleased with her!

NIKA IS NEXT!

Feb 22, 2011

We have been watching Nika carefully since Friday and she had been quietly enjoying her time in the kidding stall. Last night her ligaments were completely gone and her udder tight. She was eating and drinking fine through out the afternoon so after checking her over, We returned her to the kidding stall.  As the evening went on she was spending much more time lying down and little time eating or drinking.  At 4AM I spent 15 mins watching her on the monitor and she was very restless. I was pretty sure we would be up delivering babies at 6AM but not a peep out of her and very little noise at all.  After coffee and the Today Show we headed out to do morning chores, milk Brisa and feed her little girls and then checked Nika.  Nika's water bucket and hay manger were full and it was obvious that she wasn't eating or drinking much. It was time to go in and see what was going on.  Her cervix was partially open and there was a "bubble" in the birth canal.   In fact there was a large bubble and a second smaller bubble. Farther gentle stretching and a lot of good pushes from Nika and I discovered the problem was that both boys wanted to come together.  A hard push and one of the bubbles broke and I found the feet as Nika pushed them past the over eager sibling... A lot of pushing and a lot of manual stretching later and the head was in the birth canal. Now Momma had a lot of hard work to do because this was on very big head for a mature doe let alone a first freshener!  I stretched the tissues and mom pushed and finally the head was through and after a short rest I tugged and Nika pushed and a very feisty boy arrived.  His face was cleaned and he was covered in a towel.  I went in and checked to see where #2 was and found his feet but no head.... UGH! the head was back to the doe's left and he wasn't very anxious to have it turned around either.  Slippery little things those baby heads! Finally I pushed the feet way back in the doe, found the head and got it into the birth canal then retrieved the feet and grabbed a towel as Nika literally shot that boy into my hands.  He was a bit of a slow starter and had inhaled a lot of slime but he is breathing fine now. Trampus was great at de sliming one while I worked on the other.  The boys are napping after a small feed of colostrum.  They will get a big lunch and as soon as they have their allotted colostrum they will be off to be raised for meat. Oh, almost forgot! The first buckling weighed in at 8.9 pounds! and his little brother at a quite respectable 6.3 pounds.

NISSA TRIES HER HARDEST!

      Feb. 26, 2011

 Yesterday (Friday) I told Nissa that it was entirely too cold to even think about kidding and to hang on to her babies until Saturday at about 3:00 as that would be a good deal warmer. Friday's low was -17 and the high might have reached 10.  Today we spent a good part of the morning working on our barn camera system. One of the cameras has developed a very annoying squeal and we needed to change that camera for the one in the doe pen so that we can listen to the kidding pen as well as watch. We finally came in for a most welcome cup of hot coffee and a rest while watching Nissa as she wandered around the doe pen. LeRoy went back out at 3:00 to close up the barn and discovered that Nissa had a very nice string of serious birthing goo so into the kidding pen she went and we got our insulated coveralls on and hurried out to help. 

After spending about 45 minutes trying to extract a very reluctant kid, we called our local vet office and were transferred to the paging service. Then the waiting began as we waited for the return call.  Dr. Dean was on call and headed right over set to do a c-section or what ever was needed to get the kid out. The kid was lying with her head back to the doe's left and tucked behind her elbow. He worked for 20 minutes and managed to get a snare over the head and got the head into position. I explained to him that I have found it very helpful to pull the head out then go back and retrieve one leg and then pull the kid.... He sounded quite dubious and decided to give it a try since nothing else had worked.

Sure enough the kid finally slid out relatively easily with one leg back.  Unfortunately she was dead on arrival. We were sure that she was dead even before we called the vet.  It was a very pretty and large doe kid that weighed in at 10.5 pounds.  Nissa is very sore and swollen but so far she is hanging in there. She is on  Dex every 12 hours for three shots, Biomycin for 5 days and Oxytocin to help her clean.  She walked back to the kidding stall and seems to be resting comfortably. She had a very hard day and we sure hope that she recovers.  Not every  kidding goes well but we are very grateful for our skilled vets and that the majority of kiddings are much easier than this one. 

2/28/11 Update:  The strain of the bad kidding was just too much for Nissa.  We are very sad to report that she passed away today.  She will be missed very much.

SAMIEL STEPS UP!

Feb 27,2011

 We watched and listened to Samiel all night and found her still quite happy in the kidding stall this morning. She wasn't particularly interested in her grain and had only a slight bit of creamy discharge.  She was losing her plug. So off to church we went knowing that we would be delivering babies soon. Returned home a little after noon to find Sammie stringing her birthing goo proudly and waiting for us. A very quick change into chore clothes and off to the barn. I checked to see what position her kids were in and if she was open. She was nicely open but I found 2 heads fighting for position and no feet. A little sorting and then I pulled the smaller head through the birth canal. The kid immediately began complaining and sputtering as I went back to find a foot. A few seconds later a very nice, very long doe came into the world complaining and sputtering and coughing, a quick facial clean and back to get a foot up and deliver her big sister. Then off to the milk room we went for a warm and complete blow dry.  Baby  B-6 was still sputtering and has aspirated quite a bit of fluid.  I tried to feed her but she wasn't interested in sucking but did swallow a bit of her colostrum. Her big sister B-7 was dried and fed and they were both packed off to the warm TiPi for a nap.  Later this afternoon they both got fed a lunch. Big sister drank happily and is getting around very well.  The little one was still struggling and cold so another warm up and I finally tubed about 3 oz into her. Later that night she was still not breathing very well so got some Dexamethasone and was tubed again with 3 more oz , put into "Baby Jammies" and tucked in with her sister for the night.  Hopefully she will start sucking in the morning and will be alright.  Samiel wasn't interested in eating her grain tonight as the babies were in the milk room but she seems to be doing very well so far.  The babies were 6.3 and 7.3 pounds and are very long and leggy.  B-7 will be retained and B-6 belongs to Karen Hood. Congratulations Karen! 

RHESA RATES A ROSE!

March 6,2011

 Rhesa had been growing more and more uncomfortable as the days passed.  She was getting around OK, but slowly and she was eating very well. We are delighted with how well the old gal has been holding up. Rhesa is 8 this year and has kidded 8 times successfully delivering 24 kids! She is a real trooper and her kids are outstanding!  Last night Rhesa started a little muttering and had a hard time getting comfortable. After milking this morning I gloved up, applied lube liberally and ventured a quick check with two fingers and found that she seemed to be wide open but no kid awaiting delivery. She started acting like she was in early labor and her baby talking continued. I watched her until around 2:30 when she started giving strong pushes at regular intervals.

Rhesa is very stoic about this delivery thing and makes almost no sound at all so you really have to watch her.  At 2:45 we went out to assess her progress and prepare for the arrival of her kids.  Again clean hands fresh gloves and lots of lube. A quick check revealed two feet and an head. :-D GREAT! I tugged the legs out straight as Rhesa pushed hard and after several minutes of good pushing and a bit of tugging her first kid arrived... a beautiful 9.1 pound buck. Her second kid was right in line and had his head in place with one leg extended so I grasped his leg and head and he slid quickly into the world, weighing in at 8.1 pounds! Another hopeful check and there was a foot and a head already engaged. It took a little doing to break the sack and clean the face as she arrived; it didn't take long.  The little girl weighed in at 7.4 pounds of starving baby.  Rhesa promptly began to lick and mother me as I continued to clean baby faces and bundle them up for the trip to the milk room. Lots of slime and wet towels later the hearty threesome was dried, fed and tucked into their Tipi for a nap.

They are a hungry crew, especially our little girl who managed to suck down 8 oz of colostrum in a big hurry. The boys did well too and when last seen they were all standing up and exploring their new home. Mom is a bit tired but guzzled down 2 gallons of Blue Brew and is working on cleaning.  I am sure she feels a lot lighter as she downloaded  25.5 pounds of kids and at least that much fluid... :-) The picture shows our little girl tucked between her two big brothers.  

VIV IS VICTORIOUS!

 March 7, 2011

 Well, Viv finally downloaded her brood and is feeling oh so much lighter now. Viv is tremendously deep bodied and a very large doe. She had Quads last year and we had no idea what to expect from her this time. She has been moving very slowly for the past week and seems very happy to be put in the kidding stall in the evenings. This morning she came in for her grain and had no ligaments and a very full udder so after eating her grain and waddling around to the loafing pen we let her stay there for a couple hours before moving her into the kidding stall. She has been a bit more restless than usual and late this afternoon started licking up the straw and muttering baby talk to it so I figured she was getting close.

We watched her carefully and  prepared dinner expecting her to go into hard labor just as dinner went on the table. She didn't, just kept getting up and down, having short pushes and muttering to the straw... I figured that there was some kind of hang up and so washed up and gloved up and lubed up and checked her. She was open but no kids were engaged in the birth canal... a deeper check and I discovered two feet that were turned under at the pasterns. I straightened them out and tugged them into the birth canal and Momma started pushing nicely. Checked quickly and found the head was in perfect position so helped her by pulling on the legs as she pushed for all she was worth and soon the nose was showing.  Viv gave a mighty shove and out came a beautiful, big buckling.

He weighed in at 8.7 pounds.  What a beautiful blue roan boy! I went back to check and found another kid way down deep and barely within reach. Momma pushed and I got hold of the head and pulled the kid up. She came up with her feet in the perfect position and Viv pushed her out in a big hurry.  She is a beautiful long bodied and fancy doeling weighing in at 7.8 pounds!

Viv promptly drank down about a gallon and a half of warm Blue Brew and started working on cleaning. She milked 3 pints of beautiful colostrum and is back in the kidding stall to clean and rest until tomorrow.  Baby pictures were taken when the kids were about 45 minutes old and still damp.  These are strong kids! The little girl will be staying here and the boy is going to Karen Hood. Congratulations Karen! He's a Looker! 

SHARIK KEEPS HER PERFECT RECORD!

March 10, 2011

After a long day of restless and uncomfortable behavior Sharik finally started showing a slight discharge and some light pushing. We watched her as she just seemed to be unable to get busy and move on to some serious pushing.  That behavior is a pretty good clue to a log jam at the uterine side of the cervix... AT 3:00PM it was time to check and see what was going on.

Thankfully Sharik was very open and even the cervix was soft and easily opened the rest of the way.  Sure enough no baby parts were in the birth canal and a deeper check found two feet and a head. I unfolded the legs and pulled them into the birth canal and through the cervix and finally out where I could get a good hold on them as I used the other hand to check for the head position... Yep it was there so as Sharik pushed I pulled firmly but gently on the legs and nothing was budging... Hummmmm, better check again and there were 2 more legs and another head... sorted for a few minutes and finally pushed the legs back in and unfolded the other set of front legs, Momma pushed and quickly delivered a nice big 8.5 pound boy. Unfortunately the boy inhaled a large amount of fluid on the way out and we couldn't get his lungs and mouth clear in time for him to survive... No time to waste so back in to check for the second kid and tug him up as mom pushed him out easily. 

He was strong, starving and very unhappy about his entry into a very breezy, cold and wet world.  He is a very pretty youngster and has a lot of promise. We are hoping to sell him as a herd sire.  He was dried and warmed and loudly proclaimed his hunger.  He weighed in at 7.5 pounds. He quickly sucked down about 8 oz of rich colustrum and he was tucked into his tipi. Mom is doing well, has milked 2 + quarts of colostrum and cleaned nicely.  Tonight at feeding time the new youngster finished the rest of his 16 oz allotment of colostrum and posed for his newborn picture.   

For the fifth year in a row Sharik continues to be "The Buck Maker" having never delivered a doeling in her life!  Yes, a perfect buckling record for Sharik.

RUTH RAISES THE COUNT!

March 28, 2011

Last night I watched Ruthie hanging out and not making much progress so I went out to check her before heading to bed at about midnight.  I could feel feet and a nose but she was pretty tight. LeRoy was asleep so I called him with the cell phone :-D  and he came out. Meanwhile I got everything ready as Ruthie happily licked my jacket and pants and muttered baby talk to me... Ruthie is a HUGE doe and has a lovely rump BUT she has never been very easy to deliver kids from. It didn't help any that she has way too much internal fat this year so I had an awful time getting her kids out. She pushed like a trooper but even though the first kid was up to the pelvis with nose and toes she wasn't making progress.

Finally I went all the way in and repositioned the head as it was in a weird position like sideways to the cervix and twisted upside down... She should have been able to get him pushed out.  Then I pulled on the feet and he didn't budge even though he seemed to be in the correct position... Finally I pushed him back in and re checked everything and then got him back in position and LeRoy tried pulling while I checked head position and still nothing budged... Finally after a sort rest I pushed everything back in and pulled the head through like I do with very large kids and then got a leg and delivered the boy that way. He weighed in at a whopping 5.6 pounds :-/ He struggled but we got him breathing. 

I delivered his brother the same way and he weighs a respectable 7.4 pounds. Needless to say Ruthie was exhausted and very, very sore but delighted with her babies and me... Milked her for their colostrum, she tanked up on 2 gallons of Blue Brew and we retired to the milk room to dry and feed the boys...Yes, after all that work she delivered twin bucks both of whom will be off to the meat man today.  Trampus, our ever helpful Rottweiler "farm hand",  helped clean and dry the boys who were pretty stressed. They ate a couple ounces of colostrum and retired to their Tipi for the rest of the night/ morning. I gave Ruthie some Oxytocin, fresh hay and more blue brew, and trudged into the house and cleaned up and crawled into bed at 3:00AM. I am pretty sore this morning but I can't believe I am as sore as Ruthie. She was so swollen this morning that I am just very glad that goats don't sit down:-/ cause if they did she wouldn't.  She got up on the stand this morning with coaxing and help and I gently cleaned her off and slathered her with Preparation H! Poor girl! Then she got a shot of Banamine. She ate her grain very well and I milked out a bit more colostrum. Then back into the doe pen she went where she is standing around a lot and chewing her cud but she seems to be doing very well considering ...she is 9 years old... She is going to spend time in the JCC (Jenny Craig Corral) this fall and summer and will again be bred to Sirocco as his kids tend to be smaller than the other boys'...

ZADEE FINALLY ZIPS THROUGH HER DELIVERY!

April 3, 2010

Zadee finally downloaded her brood, much to her relief and ours. Zadee's due date was actually April 1 but she decided to hang on for a few extra days even though she was having a very hard time breathing and spent most of her time standing or sitting like a great white dog.  She has been spending her nights in the kidding stall where we can keep an eye and an ear on her and her days in the doe pen. Today her udder was very full and her ligaments faint but we sent her from the milk room (where she got her morning grain) to walk around to the loafing pen and let her hang out there until about 3:00PM when she started isolating herself. (Just a note here: We start bringing does in to the milk room for grain when they are 30 days from their due date. This procedure is known as "Lead Feeding" and provides the extra nutrition that the does need as the babies are growing fast and taking up more and more room.)

Zadee was put in the kidding stall where we watched her pawing and getting up and down and finally starting to have some weak contractions. After allowing us to have  a nice early dinner she started looking serious and we went out to find her stringing her pre birthing string of clear goo... I checked and found that her cervix wasn't very open but it was very soft and there was no sign of kid feet or a nose. I slowly and carefully, but firmly stretched her cervix open and found what I had suspected, a kid in the wrong position...I found a spine pressed up against the opening. A little sorting located one back leg and more sorting discovered another leg....Opps that is a front leg, nope put that one back and then found the second back leg. I  got the back legs through the cervix and out. I figured that we might have a serious problem with this kid as it was quite obviously a nice sized one and Zadee's cervix wasn't as open as it could have been,, so I drew up a 1cc syringe of Respirin in case the kid wasn't breathing.

We steadied Zadee and pulled the boy as she pushed. Of course the kid got shoulder locked for a moment and LeRoy helped and finally he slid out.

His heart was beating well but he wasn't particularly interested in taking a breath so I squirted the Respirin under his tongue and in 15-20 seconds he gasped for his first breath of air. A little suctioning and rubbing and he was off and going. Back to Zadee to find the second kid in pretty good position but with his head twisted back to the doe's left.

Straightened that out and Zadee pushed him out in good order, finally the third kid was located deep in the uterus and again pulled to position but he had his head back and turned to the right. Easy correction and Zadee gave a good hard push and her brood was all delivered.  Yep three boys, very nice, very wide and very correct boys who will be on the way to be raised for meat as soon as they have finished their colostrum.  As you can see Zadee certainly does produce a variety of colors.  She milked just shy of a gallon of beautiful colostrum and cleaned nicely returning to the doe pen as another doe took up residence in the kidding stall for the night. Her boys weighed in at 7.5, 7.5, and 6.5 pounds.

JAEL JUMPS THE GUN!

April 4, 2011

Jael came in for lead feeding last night with a string of clear goo hanging.

It was a small string about 12 inches long. We generally regard that as pre kidding goo so we moved her to the kidding stall to keep an eye on her. You see she wasn't due until the 7th or so we thought.  At 12:30AM I went out to feed Zadee's newborns. I got them fed and tucked back in their Tipi for the night, closed up the milk room and stopped by the kidding stall to check on Jael.  I was surprised to see her properly stringing a big old rope of birthing goo.  I quickly dug out my trusty cell phone and called to wake LeRoy and have him come out to help.

Meanwhile the towels pads and gloves came out and I prepared to check the baby's position.  A quick check found all in order except that the kid had her head on her feet instead of on her knees. She just needed a small tug to straighten her out a bit and a good push from Jael and she was out and  sputtering. Cleaned off her face and covered her up with a thick towel and checked to find the second kid in the same position. A little tug and a huge and beautiful boy arrived.  A quick bounce of the abdomen showed no more and the beautiful duo were bundled off to the milk room for their welcome to the world party. Jael quickly guzzled down 3/4 of a bucket of her Blue Brew and  proceeded to work on cleaning.  The babies weighed in at 7.5 pounds for our little girl and 9.1 pounds for the big boy. Congratulations Becky your  boy is beautiful!  The kids finished their colostrum this morning and are doing great. Jael is milking very nicely and she and Zadee have added a lot of rich colostrum to our stores for future use.

ALVEENA ARRANGES FOR A SURPRISE

April 5, 2011

Last night I checked Alveena's ligaments and udder and found the ligaments all but gone but her udder was not full so I figured she wouldn't kid until at least 24 hours had passed... Well, I was wrong.

While we slept with one ear open Alveena got down to business and delivered a beautiful set of twins all on her own.  Morning found us bleary eyed and drinking coffee and wondering why we had an unhappy sounding kid hollering now and then... a very close examination of the camera monitor revealed that Alveena was standing in the top of the screen with two kids. :-)  Yep she had a buck and a doe weighing in at 7.3 and 7.8 pounds. She had them well cleaned, dried and fed and was keeping an eye on them as they cruised the pen.  The buckling will remain as a "second choice" until the two first choice does have kidded the doeling is headed to live with Karen Hood and her family she is named Reuel Alveena's WC Allie. Congratulations Karen she is cute as a button and has a wonderful personality.

RAMA RUSHES ON

 April 5, 2010

Today found us very busy preparing for our 4-H group meeting and feeding the new kids and generally keeping a close eye on our does nearing their due dates. At about 1:00PM we ran into Deer Park to make copies of the cheese and ice cream recipes that we were giving out to the kids. We returned home at about 1:50 to find Rama busily licking a beautiful 6.2 pound, Palomino colored doeling. Unfortunately the kid had apparently inhaled a great deal of birthing goo because she was dead on arrival.

Poor Rama had cleaned her face off very nicely and the doe was quite obviously just born as she was quite warm.  I quickly gloved  up and applied lube and checked to find a head only presentation. It was easy to find the proper front leg and with Rama's good pushing she delivered a nice 7.3 pound tan buckling with black trim. Got him breathing and covered and returned to Rama to find another head only presentation, again secured one front leg and she quickly delivered a Grulla colored 7.4 pound buckling.

Rama did a great job and we were very disappointed to loose the doeling. If only we had been home 10 minutes earlier we might have saved her but sometimes it just isn't in the cards.  Rama milked almost 1/2 gallon of colostrum and returned to the kidding stall where she quickly cleaned and was put back in with the rest of the herd. Her boys were fed and dried and snuggled into their Tipi to sleep and figure out where to put their legs and how to stand up.  The boys are off to the meat man soon as neither was pre ordered. 

TAFFETA TURNS THE TIDE ...We hope...

  April 8, 2011

I got up at 6:45 this morning to check on the monitor and see what our next doe was up to. She was resting comfortably and chewing her cud. I punched the "go button" on the coffee pot, turned up the heat a bit (It was 28 degrees outside), crawled back into bed and turned the news on...

A little while later LeRoy got up and got us coffee and we watched the news and sipped and relaxed.  At 8:15 LeRoy was dressed and watching Taffy as she pushed out a bubble....So quiet and sneaky! We finished climbing into our boots and jackets and prepared for the new arrivals.

Taffy continued to push quietly but no feet appeared so it was time to get the gloves on clean hands and lube them well to check out the situation. I found 2 feet and a nose.  but Taffy seemed quite tight and the kid quite large. A bit of tugging and still no progress, a little head rearranging and getting taffy up and moving around a little and a lot of good pushing finally accomplished the task and a big, beautiful black buck arrived. He was a bit stressed but was breathing well so it was back to see what was going on inside the doe. Found one foot and a nose but they seemed stuck  so I checked a bit deeper and found one front foot folded under and against the pelvis. Fixed that easily and a good push delivered a nice big red doeling with white cap, nose and ears.  We figured Taffy was done but checked again to be sure and located another kid deep in the other uterine horn.  She was a reluctant to leave her warm nest but good pushes from mom and her feet were up and out... a quick check found that her head was turned back to the doe's left. It took a little work but we got that head around and Taffy gave a mighty push as her second doeling squirted out into my hands.  The kids weighed in at 8.1, 7.3 and 6.8 pounds of active strong and HUNGRY babies.  The buck will soon be off to WSU as a herd sire for their Nubian herd, and Loren and Karen will have a doe each. Congratulations everyone! We are sure that you will love these babies!

KONA KEEPS US GUESSING!

April 9, 2011

This whole week we have been trying to figure out when Kona was going to get busy and deliver her babies. Her kidding record showed that she consistently  delivered on day 151-153 so we tried not to worry about her. Well today, day 155, she spent the day in the loafing pen with the rest of the herd and seemed to be tending to isolate herself as the day wore on.

Tonight her udder was fuller and she didn't eat any grain.  I checked and found that she had colostrum. I figured it would be tonight even though she was getting around fine and looked comfortable. We finished chores and came in at 9:00PM and watched her on the monitor.  I told LeRoy that she was going to do it soon and he went and took a shower in preparation to climbing into bed... He never made it to bed because at 10:15 Kona started pushing and we headed out to take care of her brood.... the first kid was in perfect position so when Kona had our full attention she really got down to pushing and soon had the girl's head through. A quick wipe with a towel and another good push and our first Audacious doeling arrived with a gasp. She  got her face cleared and we covered her with a towel and checked to find the next kid all lined up and ready to arrive.

This one was a bit bigger so took a bit of a helping tug and a mighty push and out he slid shaking his head and gasping for air.  Nice big boy!

He quickly joined his sister under the towel and worked on inflating his lungs while we checked to find two more feet in position. Kona pushed hard but no head emerged so I checked and found the head turned back ad to the doe's left... a little twisting and turning and I finally got my hand under the head and slid it into position and with a mighty sustained push the last buckling slid into my hands. He is a light tan/silver and very interesting looking... Nice boys.  The have been offered to a local breeder who is to let me know if she wants one of them. If not they will be available for a limited time before going off for meat.  They were sired by Kastdemur's Audacious and their dam has a lovely udder and is a very nice young doe.  Since they are a product of Artificial Insemination I guess that makes me their "Daddy" in some odd way :-D

GINGHAM COMES THOUGH BEAUTIFULLY

April 11, 2011

This morning Gingham came in and hopped up on the stand with some coaxing. Ate her grain and numerous cookies and begged for more. She had no ligaments and there was colostrum in the udder so into the kidding pen she went. She was quite content there and rearranged the furniture quite nicely but was not making a lot of progress other than filling up her udder. Most importantly, she wasn't eating or drinking anything much.  So at 2:30 LeRoy went out to feed the "littles" a lunch and I headed out at 3:00 to check on Gingham. Just as I got there LeRoy had finished feeding the 3 little guzzle guts and came in to hold Gingham while I did a quick check... I found her wide open and could barely reach a hard object with my two fingers... Ok time for some serious checking... put a glove on the other hand too, got the towels out and the pad put down, squirted more lube on the hand and slowly worked my hand through the pelvic bones and the cervix and found that the hard object was a head and another hard object was a knee... had to straighten out the knee and rotate the critter onto his chest.

Then the hard work began and Gingham pushed mightily and I tugged and after about 15 minutes she had the head and one leg delivered and took a brief rest... surly that had to be the hard part...didn't it?  the boy was snorting and shaking his head and generally grumpy about being in a vice so Gingham pushed and I tugged a bit harder and finally the shoulder came free and a very large and irritated boy arrived. A bit of suctioning and wiping and checking and yep it was a boy so onto the pad he went and a towel kept him warm while I checked her in the event there was another.

I never expected another as Gingham just didn't seem that big and the boy was pretty huge...Imagine my surprise when I found another rather big foot and a nose in the birth canal!  Well, more pushing and soon a head and one leg appeared. We first thought it had to be another buck but on wiping the face clean and looking we saw that the face was very doe like! Could it be? Another round of mighty pushes and helping tugs and the critter arrived and joined her brother on the pad...At first glance I thought it really was a boy but when the slime was removed and a closer look was taken turned out to be a beautiful girl... The boy weighed in at 9.8 pounds and his sister at 8.6 pounds!  What a beautiful pair of GCH Price of the field Royal Marcus sired kids. The girl stays and as an extra bonus she is a beautiful solid black with white nose, cap and ears!   Congratulations to Kathryn and David of Black Mesa Ranch on their beautiful new herd sire.

BELECIA  ADDS HER TWO CENTS WORTH!

April 14, 2011

Bella had no ligaments when she came in for her grain last night. She ate most but not all of her grain and so I checked to see if her filling udder had colostrum or not... It didn't. It did have clear, yellowish, sticky thick, fluid that I call pre colostrum and her teats were full...

Colostrum is produced during the labor process so I figured that she would wait until today to kid but to be on the safe side we put her in the kidding stall and kept a close watch on her all night. Unlike most does who are close to kidding she fussed off and on all night and acted like she wanted to get out of that stall!  This morning LeRoy put her back in the doe pen to wait for her turn to come in for grain.  She came in, hopped up on her stand, and proceeded to eat about 1/2 of her grain ration. Her udder was fuller so I checked and sure enough she had made some colostrum. She walked around and back to the loafing pen while we finished up milking and lead feeding the rest of the close up does.

After getting the milk room and machine cleaned up and everything squared away we headed toward the house.  As we started out of the barn we saw Bella standing and looking longingly at the Kidding stall. Back in she went and was quite content to be there.  We watched her as she progressed through the early stage of labor and finally started pushing. Off to the barn and a quick 2 finger check revealed that she was open and had 2 feet in the birth canal... Waiting and pushing produced no movement so a deeper check was done and I found  a head at the cervix ok this is good... still pushing produced no movement nor did a helping tug on the feet. Another check revealed that the head indeed was right in place but that instead of the nose presenting the top of the head was against the cervix...Ok this isn't going to happen as this is a big kid ... found the jaw and put my thumb into the kid's mouth and lined up the head properly as mom pushed HARD! Of course that clamped the kids jaws shut on my thumb! Ouch!  But it also accomplished quite a bit of movement and the baby was in great position.  I quickly removed my thumb from the mouth as the contraction let up. I got a good hold on the feet with a dry towel as I waited for Bella to push again. She pushed hard and very soon the head emerged and a short rest followed by a mighty push and a helping pull and a very large boy was born.    He weighed in at 9.6 pounds. I got him cleaned off a bit and breathing well and then turned back to check the doe again. She had her second kid all lined up and with a good push she arrived in good order, her face was cleared and she went onto the pad with her brother to be covered by a nice thick towel. A quick check and we determined that Bella was done, gave her a nice warm bucket of Blue Brew and lugged the kids off to the milk room for their coming out party... The doeling was a very healthy 7.8 pounds and ready to go.

Congratulations to Carolyn Rose on the arrival of her doe kid:-) She is a good strong girl. Her brother will be off to the meat man as soon as he finishes his colostrum tomorrow.

RUSTI HAS A ROAD BLOCK!

April 17, 2011

This morning Rusti came in for her grain and was obviously ready to deliver. Her ligaments were well gone and her udder was full. I checked and she had colostrum so back to the kidding stall she went. She was very quiet and happy in there and spent a good part of her time lying down.

She wasn't eating or drinking so at 3:30 we decided it was time to check on the kid's position. Sure enough Rusti was pretty open and the kid was across the cervix. Now Rusti isn't a huge doe yet, as she is a second freshener that will be 2 in May.  Yet she has the trademark Rhesa Rump so working inside her isn't as bad as it certainly could be. It took a lot of work to figure out how the kid was lying. I finally found one front leg and got it pulled out but then couldn't locate the head or the other leg... :-/  It was tough moving the doe around at all since it was pretty crowded in there.  I finally located the head tucked way down to the kids right ( the doe's left) and with the top of her head facing the floor. It really took a lot of work to get the head up and into position and a lot of pushing as Rusti pushed the doeling out. I helped by pulling gently on the kid's head and one leg. With a few good pushes the little 6.9# critter arrived.  She was pretty limp so we had to work a bit to get her breathing.  Covered her up and returned to find the second kid in good position and wiped his face off as he arrived quickly.  He weighed 7.5#.  A quick check inside and Rusti surprised us with a third kid.  Again this 7.7# doe was in great position and arrived in a big hurry as I withdrew my hand.  We got the faces all de slimed, LeRoy brought Rusti her bucket of Blue Brew and we hauled the bunch of healthy kids off to the milk room for their welcoming rub down and blow dry. This was a hungry bunch of kids who ate really well before they were packed off to the baby Tipi for a warm nap.

RAYA WASTES NO TIME!

April 27, 2011

True to form Raya again delivered her brood during the day. In fact at a very convenient time of day and the warmest part of the day as well.  Gotta love these afternoon deliveries!  Raya spent the day yesterday and last night in the kidding stall as she was indeed ready. About noon she started to string her pre birthing goo and kept getting up and down and checking behind herself as well as muttering to her tummy.

We watched her behavior until about 1:15 PM. We saw that she wasn't drinking or eating much of anything so decided to do a check and try to figure out what was going on. Well, a scrub and glove and lube later I found a head engaged at the very beginning of the birth canal but no feet. A short search retrieved a foot and some good pushes from Raya delivered a lovely 6.8 pound doeling :-D She is quite long and very elegant and was annoyed at the whole process. I quickly covered her with a nice warm towel and cleaned her face and mouth. Checked again and found another kid  again presenting with the head only, retrieved a foot again and this took a bit more doing and a lot more pushing from Raya and finally out came a big 9.2 pound red and white boy who was very ready to tell the world his tale of woe.  He was quickly covered with the towel. He promptly decided that he was going to stand up as did his highly competitive sister...

While they worked on their legs I went back to check for another kid and found the third in exactly the same situation as his siblings. I retrieved his leg and Raya pushed hard on cue and together we got this boy delivered. He was the largest of the trio weighing in at 9.8 pounds. He was also the most stressed of the three and took the longest to try out his legs.  A quick recheck inside Raya felt no more kids and that was confirmed by bouncing her belly. The kids got hauled into the milk room for their drying party and to get their first critical feed of colostrum.  Raya sucked down about 5 quarts of Blue Brew and set about trying to clean up the kidding stall. The babies were dried, fluffed, trimmed, and the girl was tagged. Each eagerly consumed about 2 Oz of colostrum and managed to stand before they even were tucked into the kid tipi for a warm nap.  Raya was milked and returned to the kidding stall to clean which she promptly did and she was returned to the loafing pen with the rest of the milkers. Tonight they posed for their baby pictures at about 6 hours old and had no trouble negotiating the slippery milk room floor.  The boys will be off to be raised for meat very soon and the girl will stay here. 

A Word About Kidding

While I consider that our kidding season is going splendidly, it has occurred to me that perhaps the accounts of my having intervened in the deliveries may have given the mistaken impression that these were unusually difficult births. After all, goats have been giving birth for thousands of years without intervention, haven't they? 

 First of all let me say that while goats have been delivering their kids unassisted for centuries, they are by no means even close to these domesticated animals we call goats today. Our herd is intensively managed and selected for production and type. The does are fed as well as we can possibly feed them and bred to produce. This process produces animals who have large litters of kids. Last year we had 6 sets of quadruplets. Nearly 25% of our does delivered 4 kids each! This year we seem to be having triplets. If our does were not as intensively managed they would be producing mostly small singles and twins and would have little or no problem delivering without help. Instead our girls are producing large kids and large litters. This combination results in little room for the kids to get into the proper birthing position and increases the probability of a traffic jam at the cervix come delivery time.  In addition, our kids are long legged with long necks which can sometimes cause a tangle of kids when they are all trying to come out at the same time.

 These factors coupled with my desire that both the doe and the kids undergo as little stress as possible during the birth process results in my intervention before there is a problem. I want the kids born quickly and as smoothly as possible and the does delivered before either have undergone unneeded stress. I check kid position on all my does and generally help stretch the tissues around the kid's head and assist delivery with a tug on the feet. I find that long labors are not good for the kids who are then often born in a weakened state and with meconium in the sack and potentially aspirated. The does enduring long labors are drained of their calcium and energy reserves and are often dehydrated and weakened. Does in that condition often take several weeks before they are able to produce at their potential and are at risk for hypocalcemia and ketosis. Let me also say, at the risk of offending some, that I believe that allowing a doe to labor nonproductively for hours is inhumane at the least and bordering on cruelty. I receive calls every spring from folks who tell me that their doe was in labor when they went to bed and still hadn't delivered the kids at 10:00AM the next day. Needless to say the prognosis for the kids and the doe is very poor in these instances.

 So, I guess I want you all to know that our does can and do deliver their kids very nicely and without assistance in most instances and in most homes but I will continue to intervene to make their labor and delivery as short and stress free as possible.

ROSETTE DECIDES WE REALLY DIDN'T NEED A BREAK!

May 5, 2011

Yesterday Rosette didn't dash through the big girls and head for the milk stand when it was her turn to come in for grain... In fact LeRoy had to go out and get her from the corral and literally drag her into the milk room. She didn't hop up on her stand and she was generally trying to stay to her self. We quickly figured out what was up when we saw a small clear string of suspicious looking goo.  A quick check of her ligaments and the contents of her rapidly growing udder confirmed my suspicions. Yep she was in early labor!  A check of the calendar revealed that she was kidding 20 days before the date that we expected her to kid. Apparently she settled on the first breeding, right after we put her in with the buck, and was so happy with him that she stood for him 20 days later. :-/  A quick 2 finger check revealed that her cervix was soft and thinning but no where near ready for delivery. Into the kidding stall she went and we began close monitoring of her through out the day. She was very happy to hang out all by herself and was very very quiet. In fact we didn't hear a peep out of her all day. I got very concerned when she didn't drink or eat all day and she wasn't particularly acting like she was in labor... No cud chewing, very little digging and very little straw fluffing.  She did eat cookies and seemed to enjoy our visits but she actually looked very much like a doe who might be aborting...After evening chores I again checked her and this time I got my hand in far enough to determine that there was a kid but that the cervix wasn't open more than enough to get one finger through... As I pulled my hand out  I also brought out a nice long string of creamy goo that what been the cervix plug.  So we elected to give her more time and put her grain pan in the stall with her, added some beautiful grass hay to her manger and retired to continue watching her hanging out. She did eat a bite or two of the grass hay, sniffed her water and proceeded to do exactly as she had all day. At 12:30 I went out and prepared a Niacin sandwich for her to try and stimulate her appetite.  (You take 2 animal crackers spread one with peanut butter add 2 500 milligram Niacin tablets and top with the second cracker... ) She quickly devoured the supply of animal crackers that I had in my pocket but absolutely refused the Niacin.  I brought her a clean bucket of warm water, removed the Alfalfa from her feeder and brought her a new finer stemmed chunk and hand fed her a bit.

She decided to take a few bites of hay from the feeder and I retired again to the living room to watch her on the monitor... At 1:30 I decided that she would have to call me cause I was heading to bed. I changed, got in bed and finally started to relax when I heard a very suspicious sound...hummm did I really hear that? Turned on the light, woke LeRoy and told him that it was time... He said that he didn't hear her pushing...so out of my warm bed and up to watch her again... there she was in the middle of the pen calmly chewing her cud... Ok that's good she started eating... but no pushing.... Hummmmmmmmm waited a bit longer and she gave a sustained hard push... No mistaking it this time! Into barn clothes, shoes and vest and out to the barn ...it was 35 degrees :-(  I prepared for the delivery by stacking towels on the  fence, and spreading our baby pads in their place while talking to Rosette. LeRoy arrived and Rosette got up to greet him and showed off her string or proper birthing goo...

Gloves and lube and a check found her open and a head but no feet waiting at the cervix... a little searching found one foot and some mighty pushes and a rest followed by hard work and a little stretching and we had the head delivered... The baby then was stuck...Like a cork in a bottle, she was shaking her head and trying to breathe but was stuck tight... a firm hold on the leg and neck and a few changes on the angle of pull and the kid started to move again... She arrived quite stressed and having a hard time getting air. A good rub with a towel and she started breathing shallowly.  We covered her with the dry towel and turned back to Rosette who was again pushing. A check again found head only presentation and a quick search found a foot that was easily brought into position. Rosette seemed very anxious to evict this bigger kid and pushed very well and very hard and the kid's head finally was delivered, I got a chance to clean the face just as she pushed the second doeling into my hands.  Mom and babies did very well. The babies retired to the milk room for a nice warm blow dry and a couple ounces of colostrum and Rosette got her bucket of Blue Brew and a few minutes of rest before she came in to be milked. She then was returned to the kidding stall to clean and we headed in to get a couple hours of sleep before morning chores. The first doeling weighed in at 6 pounds and the second at 6.9 pounds both were full term. Mom and babies are doing very well.  If you have to deliver babies at 2:00AM then they really should be at least twin does!

VASHTI'S NEW VENTURE BEGINS

May 21, 2011 

 Crazy day today, got up early because the Nitrogen guy was coming to fill the tank but he never showed until 7:45 tonight.  We were out in the barn on time and I looked in the yearling pen to see if anyone had a surprise for me and found Vashti happily lying chewing her cud with a couple buddies in a lake of goo with a river running off from it... We got her into the kidding stall and did a quick check to find two feet in position so we left her working on the problem and attended to feeding and milking. Then checked her again after milking to find no progress and more goo. Ok this is a whole LOT of goo and no baby so it was time for a more thorough check.... found 2 feet and a head so retrieved the feet and tugged while checking the position of the head...no movement... Hummmm farther exploration found the head turned so that the bridge of the nose was first... nothing was moving as the nose was caught on the pelvis... It took a fair amount of work but I finally pushed the feet back in so I could get the head unstuck and into a nose first position and more work to get it through the cervix. The lack of goo inside was making it difficult to move anything because the uterine walls were up against the baby instead of against a cushion of fluid... Vashti pushed nicely and the head finally came through and with it the two feet. Baby was quickly born and breathing well. The boy weighed in at 7.9 pounds of healthy kid. He was dried and fed a couple ounces and retired to his private tipi for some rest. Vashti came into the milk room and hopped up on her stand with no help and proceeded to eat her ration of grain while I milked her. She stood like an old hand and was returned to the kidding stall where she cleaned and rested for a couple hours before returning to the yearling pen. 

RASHIDA REFRESHES THE KID PEN!

May 24, 2011

 Ok! Rashida had been without ligaments for 36 hours and her udder was still soft and supple. She was protesting her confinement in the kidding stall but we insisted and she finally settled down around midnight.  No observable action just lying down chewing cud and apparently relaxing... It must be safe to go to bed now... 3AM check found more of the same. However at 4:00AM the sounds of serious pushing woke me... Yep, this is the real deal so into the warm sweats and a jacket and mud shoes and off to the barn we both go... Rashida was standing to greet us and stringing good birthing goo. A two finger  check with a gloved and lubed hand found a foot and a head in good position. Rashida was pushing really well now and soon a nose emerged along with a foot...Tugged the leg straight and helped stretch membranes around the head as she pushed nicely.  Baby's head finally fully emerged with much sputtering and snorting.  Rashida gave another good push and out slid a very nice doeling who was trying to stand up within 3 minutes or so... Rashida was given a "bear hug" to see if there were more kids and quite obviously there was another. The 2 finger check found him also in the one leg forward and head position. Rashida was in a huge hurry to evict this guy as he literally shot into my hands as I tried to clear his face. :-)  Both kids were standing before they were dry and had consumed most of their allotted colostrum before noon.  Rashida sipped her Blue Brew and got busy cleaning while we took care of the kids and then milked her.  She did a great job as you can see and her twins are pictured at 5 hours old. Congratulations, Heather your Rashida daughter has arrived! Both weighed in at 6.8 pounds!

COROMELL CHOOSES THE CLANDESTINE COURSE!

May 24, 2011

Coromell was happily lying in the middle of the yearling's pen resting and chewing her cud as we checked on her before returning to the house at 5:00AM.  She must have decided that the extra attention was all good because when we walked into the barn for our normal 8:30 milking and chore time she proceeded to plunk out a beautiful doe kid and got busy cleaning her up immediately.  No fuss no bother no noise just a very quick efficient birth and a beautiful strong and determined doeling that weighed in at 6.3 pounds. The baby is pictured below at 1 hour after her arrival!  She is going into our Keeper Pen and may remain with us.

ZORI ZIPS THROUGH

June 5, 2011

 Well, Zori spent last night in the kidding stall and settled down nicely. We went out to milk this morning at 8:00, so we could be on time for church, and checked Zori, no discharge, and a filling udder... Hummmm looked like soon to me and LeRoy commented she would kid this afternoon... Went about the morning chores, milked the first 4 groups. LeRoy came in the milkroom just as I was about to put the inflations on Samiel and he said "We have a head!" I told the girls to be patient and headed out to check on the progress and found a head and one foot out with the other tucked back under the kid's neck, stretched the leg out as she pushed and caught a beautiful cream colored baby BOY :-(He is strong healthy starving and weighed in at 8 pounds! Mom stood like a pro for milking, was returned to the kidding stall where she cleaned beautifully and is now in the loafing pen with all the rest of the milkers. She is being properly respectful and quiet so no one is bothering her. :-D 3 more does left to kid the next one born will be number 50. The buckling is beautiful, wide, long and dairy with a nice rump. He is already gone to be a companion to another late single baby... :-D Zori was a wonderful Momma and licked her boy clean while we finished up milking the last string of 4 then she hopped up on the stand and stood nicely for her first ever milking experience.  With her temperament and nice udder she looks like a keeper, at least for now.

GOLDIE GETS BUSY

June 7, 2011

 Goldi's ligaments have been very soft for 3 days now, first you can feel them then you can't. She had a fuller but still soft baby udder today and was starting to isolate herself from the others last night so into the kidding stall she went and was quite happy there. She was eating and drinking well and seemed quite content.  We headed out to milk and feed this morning and after feeding the kids, milkers, drys, and setting up the milk room for milking we checked on Goldie to find her quite busy pushing out a brown and tan doeling. The kid was moving in a puddle of slime so I quickly put her onto a clean pad and began to wipe her face clear when I discovered that both upper and lower jaws were deformed... It was as if her face was pushed in a bit but whatever the cause she wasn't going to do well so we elected to not suction her out and let her slip away.  Goldie was left to work on cleaning while we milked the girls and brought her in with the string of first yearling milkers. She adapted nicely to the milking routine, gave us a respectable amount of colostrum for her age and size and returned to the kidding stall to clean and we were off to the house for breakfast.  Once in a while you will get a kid with birth defects that are not survivable and fortunately they are few and far between.  Dealing with them is never a lot of fun but it is usually most humane to allow the kid to expire rather than go to heroic measures only to have a kid that has to struggle to survive and usually will die later anyway.

NAPHTALI NEEDS NO DIRECTION!

June 11, 2011

 Well, it seems like this kidding season has gone on forever!  Hard to believe we started on February 11 and here it is June 11 and we still have one left to go.  Naphtali did a wonderful job! She delivered her beautiful little girl at 1:30 on a sunny warm afternoon and did it with no fuss or bother. She was restless and muttering when we went out to the barn to disbud and tattoo two kids and band and disbud two calves.  While we worked on that task Naphtali apparently got down to business on her job as well.  LeRoy headed out of the barn while I put the last of the equipment away and washed up. I checked on Naphtali as I was about to leave the barn and she had a string of pre birthing goo so I called LeRoy. As soon as we were all set to catch her baby and were both in attendance Naphtali started working in earnest.  Soon there was a foot and a quick check found a head in good position. I straightened out the first leg and stretched the skin around the nose as Naphtali pushed nicely... the second foot appeared and I straightened that leg gently and stretched the skin gently as Naphtali delivered the head. Naphtali rested for a moment and I held on to the baby as she gave a last big push and slid the lovely little girl right into my hands. Baby is the perfect size for a little yearling and weighed in at 5.75 pounds. Mom and baby are doing fine.   Perfect delivery on a beautiful day and it is a girl too.  Can't ask for much more than that.  Momma milked a good amount of colostrum and is busy working on cleaning now.

RIDA WRAPS IT UP IN STYLE

June 13, 2011

Rida spent her night in the kidding stall and was predictably a bit confused. She paced, talked, muttered to her belly, got up and down, ate, sipped water, played in the water, muttered to her babies and finally settled down and seemed to doze around midnight. So it was off to bed I headed knowing it might be a very short night. At 5:30 this morning Trampus got restless and seemed to want out.  A check of the barn camera revealed that Rida was very quietly starting to push... so off to the barn we headed as she silently started pushing very hard and she quickly delivered a respectably sized buckling.  Mom and baby are doing great and Rida is starting to milk very nicely. 

SUMMARY 

Well it has been a very long kidding season or so it seems as we started back on February 11 and finished up on June12.  There were 2 very difficult deliveries and one resulted in the loss of mom and kid.  There were 52 kids born and 28 were bucks and 24 were does. We lost a few kids at birth and another later due to an apparent internal birth defect.  We had 26 does freshen with: 7 single births, 12 sets of twins and 7 sets of triplets. No Quads this year :-D  The does bounced back from kidding very quickly and continue to milk very nicely.  We are thankful that things went so well and look forward to next season's excitement and new arrivals...Looks like we will be finished pasteurizing for our last baby around the end of July :-) She is sure to be very properly spoiled by then :-D

We would like to extend our thanks and best wishes to all who have purchased a Reuel animal this year and we hope that they meet and exceed your expectations and bring you all great joy.  For those who didn't get the kids they had ordered, we hope you will reserve kids for next year.   We will be working on our breeding plans for the future and will post it sometime in July. 

Stay tuned to the website for Linear Appraisal scores, show season updates and updated pictures  as the summer goes on. 

 Thank you so much for your interest in our herd. If you would like to visit please e-mail and we will arrange to have you visit and meet the girls in person!