Gloria kidded!

My mom, Gloria, had her babies on Saturday. Gloria being 9 years old and on her 6^th pregnancy had the farmer in a tizzy. On Tuesday the farmer came home early from work to watch the goat. The farmer was absolutely sure that perhaps it was possible that she might kid that day. Well, Tuesday came and went and no babies came at all.

The farmer looked at her notes from breeding season and saw that Gloria was bred on two different days, 4 days apart. The buck came in on Tuesday and Gloria let him breed her that day. Then the buck left on Saturday but not before Gloria let him breed her again. So the farmer didn’t know if Gloria was due on Tuesday or Friday! The farmer did the math and saw that Gloria has kidded 4 times in a row on her 153^rd day of gestation, in the afternoon. Thus the farmer was sure that Gloria would kid on Friday afternoon since she didn’t kid on Tuesday (which would have been 153 days from the first time she was bred in the fall).

The farmer went to work on Friday morning and worked as fast as she could so she could go home early to watch Gloria kid. At 11am the farmer got home and started watching for babies. Gloria decided to take full advantage of the audience and did all the things that would signal that labor was starting. She yawned and stretched and pawed the ground. She lay down and breathed heavy with her head down while staring off in space. She rolled around and acted uncomfortable. She even gave a little jiggle to her sides now and then which looked like contractions. By 1pm the farmer had called her friend to come and watch the babies be born. The farmer and her friend stood at the stall door eagerly awaiting the birth. They stood and watched and stood and watched and stood and watched…… FOR 6 HOURS!!!

Finally the farmer’s legs had started to ache and the weather had gotten colder and it was dinner time, so she told her friend to go home and the farmer would call her if anything happened. The farmer then spent the entire night getting up every two hours to watch Gloria. Gloria did all she could to keep up the suspense the whole night. By Saturday morning the farmer was exhausted and still not seeing any babies. Of course, surely, those babies had to come out some time so the farmer kept up the two-hour vigil throughout the day.

By 1pm Gloria added crying to her routine of pawing, laying down, getting up, yawning, and stretching. This worried the farmer so she ran in to call her friend to tell her to come out to the farm because the babies had to be coming soon. By the time she got back to the barn, Gloria’s water had broken! The farmer felt around inside to make sure that the kid was presented properly. She could feel two hooves and a nose. The kid started to come out and the farmer saw that what she thought was two hooves was only one massive hoof! The farmer helped pull the giant buck kid out to give Gloria a break. He was a beautiful Oberhasli-type buck. After a couple of minutes of licking her new kid, Gloria started to work on getting the second kid out. The farmer went in and felt for the next one. All she could feel was a weird blob with some unidentifiable parts in it. When the kid finally started to come out the blob was the sack of fluid. The sack was really tough and the farmer had to use her fingernail to cut through it to release the kid. The second kid was a gorgeous Alpine-type doeling. The farmer got both new kids cleaned up. By this time the farmer’s husband had come back with a load of hay. The farmer stopped birthing kids and unloaded the hay. She thought Gloria was done having kids. Just as she was ready to take the two new kids into the house, Gloria lay down and started pushing again. The third kid was another pretty Oberhasli-type buck. Gloria had two bucks and a doe. Shortly after the third kid came out, Gloria started pushing out the afterbirth so the farmer knew that triplets were all that was there.

All three kids and Gloria are doing well. The farmer has started to catch up on her sleep but still feels a little zombie-fied.

Um... Goat, I Guess....

Figaro got sheared this weekend. He looks silly.

Sheep or Goat?

I'm Pregnant!

Well, the farmer finally got tired of trying to figure out if I was pregnant by looking at me and squishing on my belly. She took a blood sample from me and sent it to a lab for the goat BioPRYN test. This test will tell you for sure if a goat is pregnant or not. Guess what? I am pregnant! The farmer is kind of bummed about it because she says I will be due the same weekend she was supposed to go to a conference for work at a casino. I have never heard of someone having a work conference at a casino so I think the farmer’s “conference” is really an excuse to get out of town and gamble. Humph! Us, goats, are smart enough not to gamble. We save our pennies for the truly important things – like more animal crackers!

The farmer is glad she did the pregnancy test because now it explains why I have been in such a bad mood lately. I have been beating up my roommates and have been very obstinate about getting grain and hay all to myself. The farmer believes any goat that gets grumpy in their last two months of pregnancy must be carrying only male kids. The testosterone of the male kids messes with the mom’s hormones and makes her angry and ready to fight any goat in her path. I believe that I am grumpy because the farmer has me rooming with a sheep that swears he’s a goat (he says he’s an Angora goat) and a Nubian who swears she’s an Alpine (she’s only ¼ Alpine so that doesn’t count). Anyone would be grumpy if they had to live with those two! I guess I will have to grin and bear it until I get closer to kidding so I can get the kidding pen all to myself.

I will keep you updated on when my kids come!

CAE True or False?

1. T/F: CAE is a virus.

2. T/F: CAE can be cured.

3. T/F: CAE causes abscesses.

4. T/F: CAE spreads through milk from infected dam to kid.

5. T/F: CAE can be spread through breeding infected bucks to uninfected does.

6. T/F: CAE is largely subclinical so you don’t need to worry about it.

7. T/F: You can tell if a goat has CAE by looking at it.

8. T/F: You can vaccinate for CAE.

9. T/F: CAE affects the milk and infected milk shouldn’t be used by humans.

10. T/F: Negative animals only need to be tested once.

1. True – CAE (Caprine Arthritic Encephalitis) is a viral disease.

2. False – There is no cure for CAE. Once a goat is infected with the virus, they will always carry it and be able to spread it to other goats. Holistic or herbal remedies may boost the immune system and stave off active infection but a goat that has the virus will always have it.

3. False – CAE is often confused with CL (Caseous Lymphandenditis). CL is a bacterial disease that causes large abscesses both externally and internally on a goat. CAE is a viral disease that doesn’t cause abscesses.

4. True – CAE is most commonly spread through colostrum and milk from infected does to uninfected kids. The only way to stop the spread of CAE is to pull kids from their dams at birth and then feed them colostrum replacer or cow colostrum and then heated treated milk or milk replacer. Kids must never receive raw milk from infected goats.

5. True and False –There is much debate as to whether CAE can be transmitted sexually. Due to CAE being a blood borne virus, it is possible that it can be spread through breeding, especially if the goats have open sores or lesions. CAE is spread less commonly through nasal secretions and sputum, especially when the infected goat is suffering from colds or pneumonia. CAE can spread through unsanitized milking equipment.

6. False – Although it is true that CAE is often subclinical in infected goats and shows no symptoms for many years, it still needs to be worried about. It is a known infection that can spread easily from doe to kid, thus all goat breeders need to be aware of it and ready to prevent it in their herds.

7. False - The only way to verify a goat’s CAE status is through blood test. Most of the symptoms of CAE are similar to other goat ailments, thus it is impossible to tell just by looking at a goat if they have CAE or not.

8. False – There is no vaccination for CAE. There is a vaccine for CL. Many people confuse the two diseases and think their goats have been vaccinated for CAE when in fact it was the CL vaccine.

9. False – CAE is a goat only disease. It does not affect the milk or its quality. It does not hurt humans to drink infected milk or handle infected goats.

10. False – Negative animals should be tested annually to make sure they remain uninfected. The only time it is possible to stop testing a negative herd is if you never, ever bring in goats from outside sources or expose your goats to other herds (which is almost impossible especially if you need to bring in new genetics). Since testing is the only true way to tell if your goats are infected, it is good practice to test your herd once a year.

Not so much of a baby bump!

Last post, I talked about our growing baby bumps. Well, as of right now, only two out of three of us have bumps. My mom, Gloria has a huge baby belly right now. She is waddling and huffing and puffing every time she walks from hay manger to feed bin. She's still got two whole month to go so the farmer is convinced Gloria may be having a litter this year.

Cookie is also quite large for her stage in pregnancy. Being a Nubian she isn't sure if she is pregnant or just large from too many grain treats. But I can tell she's big for the first reason. She should be having a couple of kiddos in a few months too.

I, on the other hand, have no bump. I am still quite slender in appearance and the farmer is trying to decide if that is because I am a month behind the other two blimp-Os or if it is because even though I had three different bucks show their affection, I decided to not deal with the whole "preggers" thing this year.

I am keeping it a secret. Stay tuned to find out!

Baby bumps!

We, goat girls, are all getting some good baby bumps now! Cookie is winning the race with a large bump that is making the farmer think she may have more than her usual twins in there. Gloria is not far behind her on the bump-o-meter. Gloria is so long and deep bodied that she can have 5 kids in there and not look any more pregnant than after eating a double hay burger extra value meal. I am last in line for the bump-o-thon. The farmer hopes it is because I got bred a month later than the other two. I hope it is because I am only having one small kid this year and not two GOLIATHS like I had last year! Sheesh!