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Naomi was not supposed to be bred, but one of the kids let the buck out to graze with the other goats without putting his anti-breeding apron on, so Naomi got bred.

We were not aware that she had been bred at that time, though, so we were surprised a few months later when she started developing an udder.

On May 9th or so, her udder was suddenly huge. I checked on her throughout the night, but no babies.

This went on for a week. She even went into false labor a few times.

On May 17th, she had a one inch drip. We let the goats out to browse and then put them in on time, and she was acting perfectly normal. We checked in on her 15 minutes later and she had twin doelings with her!

One looked just like the other kids of the year and we named her Lydia.

The other one had blue eyes, elf ears, and some black markings. We named her Tabitha.

We will be retaining both doelings.

On the Saturday after Passover, Beulah went into labor.

That morning we noticed that she was having strong contractions and within an hour, she gave birth to a buckling. He came perfect, and my sister was able to catch him. (It’s her first delivery that she’s gotten to catch) He has wattles.

Then she had a doeling that was presenting with one leg back. I really had to dig for that leg, but we got her out. Her name is Aviva.

Matzo is polled and Aviva is disbudded.

We will be rehoming Matzo.

I never got to post about it, but we purchased a Saanen buck last fall, and bred him to Penny and Beulah.

Penny’s udder has been going through some drastic changes over the last week, and then on Tuesday afternoon, it looked like it was going to pop!

We checked on her throughout the night, and she was having early contractions at 3:30. We checked on her hourly after that.

At 8:30, I checked on her and a sack was beginning to come out. I grabbed the kidding kit and got ready. The first baby came perfectly. She was a white doeling that looked like she got dusted with cinnamon. We named her Cassia.

After that, a small amniotic sack seemed to get stuck. It had snowflake looking specks on the outside, and was foggy. I broke it, and nothing was in it. We don’t know what this was. Maybe a miscarried baby?

After that a huge doeling came with one leg wrapped over her head. She came out fine though. We named her Acacia.

Finally, another doeling was born with one leg back. I had to pull her. We named her Aspen. She is knuckled over and struggling to walk (possibly because of the position she was in). She is gaining weight though.

Cassia was 5 1/2 pounds, Acacia was 7 1/2 pounds, and Aspen was 5 1/2 pounds. This is after they had their first few meals.

Their dam is 3/4 Nubian 1/4 Alpine and their sire is full Saanen.

Their mom is our best milker and their dad has great milking lines, so these ladies should make incredible milkers!

These girl are also all polled, so no disbudding.

Yesterday Summer was nesting a lot. She was extra calm, yet also restless. She had a little bit of clear discharge. We figured that she was in early labor.

As the day went on, she looked more and more uncomfortable. She dug a huge hole!

Before going to bed I checked on her, and she seemed like she may have been pushing slightly, but nothing like the straining I had seen in the whelping videos I watched. She also never had visible contractions.

I checked on her at midnight, and it was the same.

At two o’clock, I checked the whelping cam. She looked fine. She was licking herself, but that is pretty normal. I then turned the sound on and heard lots of high pitched whining. I hurried to the garage (where Summer is) and found six puppies! One had passed away though. What about everything I had read about 30 minutes to 4 hours between puppies? I was only gone for 2 hours. Her pushing was very subtle, so that’s why I didn’t catch her labor earlier.

After that she had two more puppies. They all seemed to struggle nursing, but they got the hang of it eventually.

Later, another puppy was born.

Several hours passed, and then Summer was straining hard for a few contractions. Finally, she had a stillborn and a live pup at the same time. My theory is that the stillborn got stuck, and that’s why there was so much time in between and straining. I would guess that the other puppy helped push him out.

As of writing this post, it has been three and a half hours since the last puppy, so I would guess that she is done, but we shall see. So that leaves us with nine puppies!

I will post more pictures, names, and training updates as they grow.

If you are interested in a puppy, they are pure Great Pyrenees with two working parents. Comment if you’re interested.

Today is Summer’s due date! I didn’t get any pictures, but she is in early labor! Keep your eyes out for puppy pictures. She has a clear drip, lots of milk, she isn’t eating, and she is VERY nesty.

Summer is now eight weeks pregnant! She is getting super tired, and she eats almost nothing because she’s so big. Puppies can come any day now!

Summer is now seven weeks pregnant! She is only a couple weeks from whelping! From the date that the male got here, she could give birth as early as Friday, March 4th. This week, she started getting milk! She also doesn’t eat as much at a time because her belly is full of puppies. When she lies down sometimes, her breathing is heavier. She also sleeps most of the time now. The pictures are also a little bit different, because she has a hard time rolling over now that she’s so big. She got her belly trimmed today, so her puppies can nurse easier.

Summer is now six weeks pregnant, so only a few weeks left!

She is getting bigger, and she seems to have a bit of discharge regularly. Her teats are also becoming tender. Notice in the pictures that her abdomen is looking swollen and pink.

Summer, our Great Pyrenees was bred to a purebred Great Pyrenees. She is due as early as March 4th.

She is now five weeks pregnant. I will post a picture of her stomach and teat progression every week.

I’ve gotten some interest to make instructional posts, so here’s the first one.

I love my goats, but there are some things that I wish I knew before buying them.

The first thing is commitment. If you wish to purchase dairy animals you need to be ready to be there to milk them at a consistent time one to two times a day without fail. Now this can be helped. If you have the doe’s kids, they can drain her when you are busy, but you will need to be able to ensure that your doe’s udder is empty every day. This also means that vacations are limited. It is rare to find somebody who will thoroughly milk your animals for you. Therefore, if you own dairy animals, you will likely go on much fewer vacations. You can plan your kidding season around vacations though so that all of your does are pregnant and not in milk the time of year you plan to take a trip.

The next is that goats are escape artists. No matter how sturdy your fence is, your goats will likely break out on occasion. As long as your fencing is solid with small holes, this can be managed, but you will have times they escape. We suggest using field fence stretched tight, but we are going to try electric goat fence soon, so keep your eyes open for a post about that.

Every farmer has their own opinions. This is the unfortunate but true fact about raising livestock. No two farmers do things the same way and many are judgmental about those who do things differently. The best thing to do is find what works for you because all animals have different needs. What works for one person might not work for you because of climate, local minerals in the soil, the breed, and the forage that grows naturally on your property. This leads me to another point: There isn’t really a right answer for any circumstance. You may think well all animals need water right? Isn’t that just a basic fact? But then you come to the debate of well versus natural spring vs city water for your animals. Unfortunately they are all opinions based on specific research done by each party.

Goats will not save you money unless you go commercial. Goats have a lot of needs. They need mineral supplements, forage, buckets, jars, fencing feed, medications, vet bills, and much more. If you have a small goat farm, you will not save money or time, but in my opinion, the benefits are worth it.

Goats are needy animals. Goats can not do with being stuck in a field and expected to fend for themselves. They need good shelter, minerals, and attention. Goats tend to get into trouble fairly regularly, so it is important to be able to check on them daily.

They also cannot be alone,so a minimum of two goats is always best. Keep in mind that just because you have two goats, doesn’t mean they will be friends. Goats are very concerned about their pecking order. The best thing to help with this is to give them lots of room and ensure that fights are never fatal. Stopping the fight will just put it off, they need to establish who is dominant, or they will keep fighting. Let them go at it unless they will clearly injure each other.

This post seems to be getting discouraging, but don’t be overwhelmed. There are so many joys to starting a dairy goat farm, and a lot of people who are willing to help.

Please comment with the funny things you did when you first got goats, that you now know, with experience, should be done differently.