This afternoon Choc-o-latte gave birth to triplets.  The little mostly black doeling was born first and she presented with just a single rear leg back.   Too some work but I got her out and got her breathing.

Next up was a flashy black and white buck kid who presnted rear legs first.  And finally the eye catching tri-colored buck was born also rear legs first.  Mom and all three babies are doing well.   Be awhile before we decide on names, but they will probably have a chocolate and/or coffee theme given their dam's name.

Choc-o-latte enjoying a bit of afternoon sun on day 148.... Her girth reminds us of her mother Millie the year Choc-0-latte was born, even though she isn't nearly as large as her dam wasback in 2011.

Late yesterday afternoon Mame' blessed us with triplets.   Two doe kids (on the left) and a cute little buck kid.   Momma and babies are all doing fine.

Since the babies were born on Mame's birthday which just happnes to be be "Pi day" we are considering naming them all after differnt types of pie.  The doe kid in the middle  (below) would be "Pumpkin Pi"  her brother on the right could be called "Pi à la Mode", just need a name for the first born.

Last night Maple surprised us with QUINTS!  It was a hard kidding for her and she had to have help delivering all 5 of the babies.  

The first two came out pretty easily but the last three were stuck and had to be detangled before they could be delievered. 

The first kid born obviously had taken the brunt of all that squishing while maturing as his legs are badly deformed.  He is a spunky little fellow though and has readily taken to the bottle.   Born with him was a little tiny dark chocolate doe kid with a single spot of white on the top of her head.   She was followed by a black buck kid with just a single spot of white on his head, then a flashy black & white doe kid and finally a buckskin buck kid the largest all of them all but not by much. 

March is the start of kidding season here on the ranch.   The average Nigerian gestation is 145 days and I have three does that are due within hours of each other and should probably kid in about two weeks.

However, Mame's ligaments are already softening,  she is demanding maternity massages and has a history of kidding on day 142.   Maple is already more dialated than she was when she first started pushing last year on day 140!  And Choc-o-latte who is developing a very nice first freshening udder, has been losing her plug for several weeks now just like her dam did.  Oh yeah and her dam kidded the fisrt time on day 140 as well.  So you can bet we will be watching all three of them quite closely!

In other news Rita is holding her lacation spelndidly!  She is 333 days in milk and still giving us about a half quart (1.1lbs) of rich creamy milk on once a day milking.  That may not seem like a lot, but a typical lacation is 305 days.  And I have been milking her just once a day for several weeks now trying to get her dried off.

Rita and her daughter Itty Bitty are due in June and will be our over winter milking goats.  Taking the place of Rita's dam Millie who was traded for the buck Tahoma Cadence last fall.   I was worried about not having a winter milking goat, but Rita has done a fine job and I'm sure will do even better next year with the later freshening date.