On , Wednesday, March 27th, Hazel’s udder was really big and she panted a lot. We kept an eye on her throughout the day and in the afternoon I went to check on her and she had a drip and was having hard contractions. I separated her and watched her for awhile. She pushed for awhile without much of anything. Eventually, Hazel pushed and we saw a set of huge hooves. At first glance it looked like there were three hooves because they were so big and the birth coating was split on the hooves. After a lot of work without much progress I reached in about an inch to help pull the kid. He was huge! Eventually a giant buckling came! His name is Hank. Hank was ten pounds three ounces at birth! He gains about half a pound a day! That is probably a new record on our farm for the biggest kid! Hank nursed seconds after birth because Hazel was lying down and he just slid against her udder as he came and latched on! Hazel of course tasted her milk between contractions like she always does. We call him Big Hank. Hank’s sire is Parks Oasis Bijou. His dam is Finian’s Hazel. He will probably be wethered. If you want him intact contact us ASAP. If you want him to have horns please let us know before April 15th. We will probably disbud him if we have not heard anything by then. Hank is 1/2 Alpine 1/2 Nubian. He will be $75. He will be available to go by May 27th as a wether or June 27th as a buck as he would need a better start as a producer. Penny and Nickel are both disbudded now.
He’s huge! and he is so cute! He looks so shiny in the bottom picture. :’D ;’)
Wow, he really is a giant! But do you have a record for smallest newborn kid? One of our Nigerian Dwarf does gave birth to quadruple, one of of which was a little under one pound!
Our smaller kids are usually around four pounds, but we don’t weigh all of our kids. Cadence was only six pounds at several weeks old, so she might have been really small at birth, although we do think that she had failure to thrive. Wow! Under one pound! It must have been so teeny!