Adventures in goat-sitting

The lady that I got my starter herd from has critter sat for us several times in the past couple of years, and this week it was my turn to repay the favor.   She has 23 goats, four of which need to be milked, a flock of chickens and a couple of dogs and cats.

When I went over to do chores about sundown last night, I heard a lot of commotion in the back yard and went out to find that the doe that wasn't supposed to kid until the end of July had apparently been bred sooner than they thought as I found two bucklings with no momma around.

I rounded up their mom and put them in a pen with her, where she pretended not to know them and didn't seem to have any milk.   A quick search of the premises by flashlight didn't reveal anymore babies.  

I called the owners, who had me call another local goat breeder to see about getting fresh colostrum.   So about 11:30pm I found myself at a wide spot in the road in the middle of nowhere getting "the goods" from a very nice lady.

Got the two babies fed a couple of ounces and then final got home about 12:30am.   Six hours later I was back and happy to see that the babies had survived the night.  I gave them another feeding and noted that Pumpkin seemed to have a little bit of milk coming in and that she was acting much more motherly.

Came home, did my chores and then went back over there about 10am to do the regular round of chores.  When I went out to feed the chickens I found a THIRD buck kid.   Amazingly he was still alive!    It was warm last night, and he must have gotten some milk from his momma before I discovered them all last night.   Needless to say he went in the pen with mom, and also got a few ounces of warm colostrum.  He is the smallest of the three babies, but at present seems to be doing well. Pumpkin seemed to accept him without any problem.

I will continue to give supplemental feedings to all three even though Pumpkin is now standing still to let them nurse. 

The one in the middle was found this am