​Zippy walked around screaming most of the day yesterday - really gave the roofers quite the tongue lashing at the top of her lungs in the afternoon.   Maybe she was objecting to the noise?

Her ligaments were firm and her udder wasn't shiney, but her behavior was so out of the ordinary we figured she has to be in the first stages of labor and as a first freshener she probably didn't understand what she was filling.

About 9:45pm her first kid was born - the very cute reddish-brown boy.  Next was a doe kid and that was followed by another buck kid that looks a lot like his sister. 

Zippy is being a very good first-time mama and she and the kids are all doing well this morning.

After Levana finally kidding late the night of Day 156 it was a pleasant surprise to have first freshener Presley pop out twins yesterday afternoon on Day 143 with little fuss.

The large buck kid was born first and she did have a little trouble getting his big head out as she wasn't fully dilated yet.   Sister was next, and was half way out before Presley even had to push.  Both kids were very vigorous and up on their feet looking to eat  before they were even completely cleaned off.

I have never had a doe go past day 151 without kidding before.  By day 155 I was really getting worried and called the vet out to induce her.  Thirty hours later almost to the minute of getting the shot of Lutalyse she kidded with three healthy triplets!  First born boy is standing next to her in the picture above, followed by the second born doe kid,  and finally another little boy.

The doe kid, Wags Ranch HT Gal Kahol  (Gal =wave, Kahol = blue) is only the second doe kid Levana has given us.  Like her dam her name is Hebrew and the "wave" is in reference to her sire High Tide.   She will be retained. 

Her two brothers will be available as pet wethers after weaning.

Emmylou Harris did it again!  This is the third time in a row she has given us twin blue-eyed doe kids.  And this time it was a different buck as the father!

She kidded yesterday afternoon just about lunch time.  The doe kid with more white was born first, and the dark haired one was born breech a few minutes later.  Mom and babies are doing great.  

The dark haired one will be called Raven, for no reason other than that was the name that popped into my head the first time I picked her up.  We are still looking for a name for the white one. 

Some years we have a naming theme, but this is not one of those years.  So we are welcome to name suggestions. 

In other news today is day 151 for poor Levana and as of this morning she doesn't look any more ready to kid than she did 5 days ago.

Our 2020 kidding seasons started off with a bang early yesterday morning with first freshener Velvet, who barely looked pregnant, producing quads out of Cobalt.  Fortunately for her she started off with the little guy at the far left.  

Next was the kid laying down at the top who was breech, and then the big buck kid.  We thought she was done at that point because he was a bit of a surprise.  She then had a few contractions that seemed stronger than afterbirth but not quite as strong as kidding.  Bekah at first thought it was placenta - then realized it was moving.  She had to tear the sack of the nose and Velvet's contractions disappeared so Bekah ended up having to aid the kid the rest of the way out.  And the little girl standing up was the result.  She has the most adorable markings on her face.   Not sure yet if they are moon spots or just markings as the lighting is off due to the heat lamp.

Sadly the big boy in the middle, who was doing just fine yesterday, started going down hill overnight and he passed away a little over 24 hrs after birth.  No idea why, but all three kids and mama seem listless today.  Not sure if the 4-5 inches of snow we got overnight have anything to do with it or not.   This is always the hard part of raising any animal, you hate losing them.

First born girl is going to be named Wags Ranch CA Blue Suede and her sister (the one standing) is going to be named Wags Ranch CA Azurite Chiffon.    More than likely both will be available.  Mostly because I can't keep them all and there are 14 more does to kid.  But boy do these two have personality - especially little Chiffon!​

We are expecting a whole lot of blue-eyed kids once again this spring, and there is also a possibility that some will have moonspots.  But more importantly they all have great pedigree's behind them!   We will be hosting Linear Appraisal this year and going on milk test as well since we are signed up for ADGA Plus.

If you see a particular breeding you are interested in obtaining a kid from please let us know and we will notify you when kidding occurs.  We will be retaining at least one daughter from each of the does bred by Kingfisher for sure and a few of Cobalt's daughters as well.   But with 15 does due to kid I am sure there will be something for everyone. 

Thanks to a surprise gallbladder surgery in December I wasn't able to draw all the goats at once as I had planned and have been doing them in batches of 5 or 6 at a time.  

Everyone so far has had negative test results for CAE/CL/Johnes through WADDL. 

Blush was only 29 days bred when she was tested and her score put her right on the bubble although WADDL marked her as pregnant so I am retesting her just to be sure.  And Alex came back into heat and was rebred on the 21st of December so we are waiting until the 26th of January to do that final round of blood draws which will include the littles since they will be 6 months old by then.

The bucks are so hairy right now that we have decided to hold off until May to test them.  We are hoping that they will have shed most of their winter coat by then and we can then shave them, draw blood and get good pictures taken.    They are also slated to be seen for LA which we will be hosting this year.

Here is a quick reference for our breeding/kidding schedule for the coming season:

Cobalt only had one set of kids last year as a Jr. buck, so this year he is our featured buck.  Even on days when he had multiple does he still managed to get the job done.  And this years Jr. buck,  Kingfisher, has managed to settle a couple of does as well, and we are quite excited to see the kids they throw.   

If everything finally works out for us to go on milk test this year, then Tide and quite possibly Midnight will be earn their first milk stars.  Although Midnight is no longer residing with us, I would still like to see him get the recognition he deserves. 

 Not only is summer over, I think we basically skipped right over fall starting with getting our first snow at the end of September!  Two more snows in October has left us with sunny but freezing cold days.

The good news is we have finally gotten all of the perimeter fencing up for the goat pastures.  Next summer we will work on dividing up the main doe pasture into three parts so we can practice rotational grazing.

The only thing left is the conversion of the 12'x25' lean-to carport we added to side of the barn into a buck barn and chicken coop.   That left us a 10x12 space that we penned up with gates into the doe and buck pastures that we intend to use as a breeding pen.  

The sales pages has been updated with three adult does, 2 doelings and a pair of sisters that I don't want to separate.  And then there is the 6 pack of wethers we have still available.

In Oregon I had a waiting list, but in Idaho I am having to re-establish my herd name.   And to be honest, I haven't been pushing to hard to sell any of them because they have been so much fun to interact with this summer.    

One of the big perks of working from home is I can take a quick goat break or go play a game of fetch with the dogs.   And with wifi in the barn I can stay within ear shot of the kidding pens when needed.

A few recent pictures of some of the goats that are for sale:
​

We have updated our sales pages and I will attempt here to clarify any confusion concerning wethers and mother/daughter pairs.

We have found that babies do better when going to homes in bonded pairs.  It makes for a healthier start for them in their new homes.  So with that in mind we have matched up the six bucklings into pairs based on personality and ages.   We will not be splitting up any of the pairs, but you are welcome to purchase more than one pair.

As for the mother/daughter pairs.   Jasmine and her daughter Caramel Apple can be sold at any time as a pair or can be purchased separately after weaning.  Our preference of course is for them to be together.   Jasmine is very people oriented and has a fantastic pedigree.  

Dahlia produced quads as a first freshener and her doe kids although healthy are quite tiny.   But don't let their diminutive size fool you, they are full of energy.   If would be ideal if they were purchased with their dam and had the benefit of nursing until at least October if possible.   If they don't go with their dam, then we would at least like them to go together.    Special discount available to facilitate the best situation for them.   Dahlia is a very sweet laid back doe, who is very patient with her kids.  As low goat in our herd she gets picked on a lot and we feel she would be better off in a smaller herd or as the queen of her own tribe.   

I had intended to post this earlier but we were struggling to come up with a name that fit Tanya's second doe kid.  The children picked desserts/sweets as the name theme for this year and we just couldn't come up with anything that fit her.   So I took to calling her my "cow-girly".   Finally in desperation we solicited names from friends on Facebook and the name suggestion "Mocha Moolatte" came up.  We don't have a Dairy Queen near us so I had never heard of that particular ice cream coffee drink before.  But the name fit her like a glove and also connects nicely with her sister's name which is Mocha Swirl.

For our final doe kid born this year we had a big name challenge as I have wanted to name all of Violet's daughter with names that start with a V.   Add in a dessert them and our options were quite limited.  Until I remembered a wonderful ice cream treat that is no longer available in the US.  Viennetta suits her right down to the swirls of darker color running through her coat.  And while she may not have gotten her sire's moonspots (as far as we can tell) she did get his blue-eyes.

Of these three only Mocha Swirl is going to be available for sale when weaned.  Hubby has taken a fancy to Moolatte so she is staying.  Swirl has very nice conformation and unlike her sister likes to strike a pose, so she may end up doing well in the show ring. 

In addition to Mocha Swirl,  Blackberry Tart and Caramel Apple will be available for sale when weaned.  I will post more pictures when they are closer to weaning age although if you are interested shoot me a message and I will be glad to take current pictures for you.