When I checked on the babies about 1pm this afternoon the 3rd baby was very weak and barely swallowing the colostrum.   I was afraid he wasn't going to make it and unfortunately when I went back to check on them about 5pm he was dead.

Ari & Bekah were with me and they immediately realized the baby was dead as soon as we walked in the room.  Without any prompting on my part, they both very sweetly told Pumpkin  "I'm so sorry about your baby."    Bekah went on to tell her that she needed to pay extra special attention to her other babies because they probably are going to miss their brother. 

The gold/white buckling is looking pretty healthy, but I'm a little concerned about the darker colored one.  He isn't as strong, but at least getting up and nursing on his own.  I gave both of them a little extra colostrum and will give them a little more  when I got back over to do chores again in a couple of hours.

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

After below normal temperatures we have been hit with a heatwave that started yesterday.  Temps today were in the mid 90's and all of the animals were showing some signs of stress from the heat. 

We ended up moving Sunshine & Stormy back to their regular pasture this afternoon because it has several large fir trees to provide shade and give them at least a little relief from the sun.

This was the first time Sunshine & Stormy had met Jasmine and the four youngest members of the herd too.   Jasmine spent most of her time getting acquainted with Stormy through the fence and pretty much ignored Sunshine. 

The little ones showed no interest in getting to know dear old dad, and mostly just peeked around their moms at all the commotion. 

Ricochet & Rudy

On Friday afternoon the people that were buying Ricochet and his two companion wethers came to pick them up.  Bekah wanted to be a part of it and ran off to get Rudy, whom she has been bottle feeding.   She made it about as far as the gate with Rudy in her arms before the reality of saying goodbye to him sunk in and she began to cry. 

I told her she didn't need to get the other two but she insisted she could do it.   She managed to carry Reggie all the way to their truck, but then completely broke down and didn't want to go and catch Ricochet.  

We had tried to prepare her, but there is really no way to soften it the first time you sell one.   And although I also knew it was coming, it still seems rather quiet and dull around here without them around. 

We still have one more herd-sire quality buck available, but have a pending trade in the works so I am not officially listing "Rocky" for sale at this time.