# Wehner Homestead 2019 Kidding Thread



## Wehner Homestead (Mar 7, 2019)

As y’all know, life has been crazy. We have baby goats on the way out of a doe that I didn’t truly think was bred. The one I thought was bred isn’t. 

Also, after evaluating everyone tonight...(Thanks @Goat Whisperer for the reminder to check the calendar. I was focused on Calving and completely hadn’t thought about kidding. ) (side note: autocorrect changed that to kissing and I caught it! ) Jasmine should be due 3/11 for 145 days. She shows absolutely no signs of being bred. DH also mentioned as I’m checking Ligs and her udder that he thought she may have cycled last week but didn’t think anything of it. 

As I’m checking everyone, I looked at my list and we had Knight escape over THREE fences for a few hours one day. We knew that he potentially bred someone and lutalysed several young does that all checked out fine tonight when I did a hands on verification. Open adult does at the time would’ve been Snowflake, Diamond, and Nellie. Diamond shows no signs of being bred and Snowflake was rebred at a later date for a Day 145 of 6/17. Snowflake’s body matches the later due date, not a quickly approaching one! 

That leaves Nellie. The other does are MEAN to her. I have to work hard to give her attention without her having to face repercussions. I got ahold of her and I’d noticed that she was wide. Her udder was quite full for having been milked this morning. I got to thinking about it and her production has drastically dropped when we were treating her for mastitis a few weeks ago. I then tried to check her Ligs. I had to dig to find her left one!  I was like “uh-oh!” Not only did I fail to give cdt, but I hadn’t trimmed her hooves and she needs her delivery prep shave done. DH came in the pen to give his opinion and we started talking about her reluctance to jump on the stand for the last few weeks. We both had chalked it up to mastitis treatments. In reality, she was telling us and we weren’t listening!  Her girly parts are doing some changing too. 

Nellie got lifted onto the stand for a careful foot trim and some extra feed and a more thorough exam. Her belly is tight! Today is Day 138. Day 145 is 3/14. I wouldn’t have picked this buck for her so I don’t plan to keep any. I just want things to go well for my Sweet Nellie! 

I did grab a few pics for y’all. 



 

 

 
The barn just got cleaned out so the kidding stall was taken down. We will build another this weekend. Nellie is on close monitoring now. 

Also, breeding for fall kids is going to be big here. Expect this thread to grow much faster then!


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## goatgurl (Mar 7, 2019)

whoa Nellie, I think she has a surprise for you.  good luck getting things done before she's ready.


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## MiniSilkys (Mar 7, 2019)

Don't we all have those kind of bucks? lol. That's how Izzy's twins came about. They will be a week tomorrow.


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## Hens and Roos (Mar 12, 2019)

She just wants to keep you on your toes!  for a smooth kidding season!


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 15, 2019)

Today is Day 146 for Nellie. I have pics but not time to get them uploaded. She’s had every sign of impending delivery since 6am yesterday. Ligs have been gone since then. She’s placidly chewing her cud as I slowly lose my mind. -makes me think of ‘Doe Code!’ I also have three sick human kids. One with tonsillitis and two with bronchitis. I also work night shift tonight. Lol


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 16, 2019)

Nellie kidded at about noon today with quads! Talk about surprised! I was asleep after working last night and DH was taking care of sick kids. Nellie delivered them all on her own. They were all clean, almost dry, and up trying to nurse when DH checked her. He woke me to check them all and I dipped navels in iodine. 

2B/2D. All are nursing but we are monitoring closely. Wonderful way to start the year for our goats! 

L1- buckskin and white buck- 3.0#- “Buck”
L2- solid black- 3.0#- “Sweetheart”
L3- Black with white poll- 2.4#- “Flower”
L4- Black with white and Roan- 3.0#- “Gunner” 

Somehow Buck is mine, kids named him when I mentioned buckskin. They wanted to name him Buckskin. I was insisted on at least shortening it to Buck. 

Can I also add that of course the buckskin is a buck?! Ugh! 

Sweetheart was claimed and named by DD1. Flower was claimed and with some help, named by DD2. (She said Cupcake first and I told her that’s what they named the stray cat that showed up and is now going to give us a litter of kittens.) Gunner was claimed and named by DS. 

I wasn’t planning on keeping any of these as it wasn’t a planned breeding. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to obtain/find any udder pics on the buck’s family. None of his daughter were freshened by the prior breeder before being sold and I was hopeful to see what he did there. I have two daughters that I retained from Caramel who has a much better udder than Nellie. I feel like God has blessed us abundantly with this many babies so I’ll probably retain the two does and see how their udders look when I freshen them. Knight is also polled so there is a chance that both does could be polled. (Not that polled is a deciding factor, just listing facts.) I’ve made the decision to sell Knight. Due to not having background that I want and having to hold him too long to get it, I won’t make use of him. His escutcheon isn’t what I want for dairy goats and he didn’t stamp Caramel’s daughters with good escutcheons. I’m on the list to get a buckling from @Southern by choice and @Goat Whisperer and I want to use that buck heavily for my Nigerian and Mini Lamancha programs. King is also exceeding my expectations and I kept a buck out of Snowflake and an outside buck that I can’t wait to see what he can do (Theo!) 

Anyway, I know y’all want pics...

Nellie with L to R: Flower, Gunner, Sweetheart


 
The excited K-9 crew. Feeding on my excitement of course! 


 
Buck


 
Buck again


 
DH getting Gunner to nurse. Flower and Sweetheart are the blurs in the front. 



Buck is it’s Sweetheart in the background. 



Sweetheart 




I’ll try to get more pics and keep them posted. With quads, I’ll be monitoring weights. If need be, we will pull two of the bigger kids for a few hours at a time to give the smaller one a chance. 

Nellie will be fed well and we will supplement if we think it’s necessary. We will wean the two bucklings at eight weeks and start pulling the girls at night then to milk Nellie and let her continue to raise the girls. I will only milk Nellie before then if she seems over full. I may try to get a bit of colostrum to freeze though.


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## Bayleaf Meadows (Mar 16, 2019)

They are beautiful!  And they look to be a good size.  Hope everything continues well with them.


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## MiniSilkys (Mar 17, 2019)

Congratulations! Great start. Could you post a picture of Knight again? I forgot what he looks like. Was he Jasmine's sire?


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 17, 2019)

I don’t have any good pictures of Knight. He’s a dark buckskin. Super sweet boy. Beautiful manners. 

Jasmine’s Dad isn’t a buck that I own, I bought her dam bred. His name is Tuck.


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## Southern by choice (Mar 17, 2019)

Awwwwwww that is awesome. So glad she did it on her own and cleaned them, saved you some rest at least.
You will get good production from her if she continues to dam raise! 
So happy the first kidding of the year went so well. You really needed a break!


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 17, 2019)

These babies are good medicine for my soul! I’m currently just sitting in the pen. Nellie is chewing her cud. Babies are in heater barrel. DH is nearby working on a pen for a pig. Human kids are in the house acting goofy after cough meds.

Jewel wants to be near Mom!




Gunner



Sweetheart



Flower



Nellie and her does from this set. Flower-L, Sweetheart-R



Flower



Sweetheart



Gunner in the heating barrel



The other three laying in the back


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 17, 2019)

I’ve decided to retain the does and see how they grow!

I failed on a naming theme this year. Since I’ll only be freshening a few does, I’ll just let the kids have fun with choosing names.


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## Goat Whisperer (Mar 17, 2019)

Aww, congratulations on the kids! What a great way to start kidding season. So glad they are all doing well! You must be so excited! 

Wasn’t Nellie the doe with mastitis? How’s her udder looking?


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 17, 2019)

@Goat Whisperer she is the doe that had mastitis! Her udder looks awesome! I’m going to give her a couple days and do another CMT on her and see what it shows. (More out of curiosity and just to make sure she’s good than anything.)


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## Goat Whisperer (Mar 17, 2019)

Awesome! Glad to hear.
Do you think the later CMT could have been off- maybe she was building up her colostrum and threw the test?


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 17, 2019)

@Goat Whisperer I’m definitely considering that as a possibility! I truly think everything points toward the fact that she was pregnant. I expected an extended lactation and her production dropped about the same times as the “mastitis” started. I didn’t end up doing a culture. I talked to our vet and they said that it’s quite expensive where they send them to and she raises Nubians with several contacts with large dairy herds. She decided to do Excenel. I only gave two doses. Her being bred clicked and I couldn’t find info on using it during gestation. I opted to leave her alone, preserve colostrum, and reevaluate several days after freshening.


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## MiniSilkys (Mar 17, 2019)

What kind of dogs are those?


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 18, 2019)

MiniSilkys said:


> What kind of dogs are those?



Australian Shepherds. I own 4. We need a LGD but my heart isn’t ready yet since Queenie and I’ve got to make some changes to our layout.


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## MiniSilkys (Mar 18, 2019)

I thought so but I wasn't sure. My English Shepherd is the sweetest and so full of energy. I can't leave the porch unless he gets a hug.


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## promiseacres (Mar 18, 2019)

Congratulations on the kids, they are adorable.


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 19, 2019)

Wow! We’ve had some ups and downs since the quads arrived. 

Nellie didn’t act excited about her feed yesterday morning but she was nursing her kids. I checked her later and she hadn’t touched it. She was more lethargic, her eyes were slightly glazed, and when she got up she was obviously weak. 

With her recent history of possible mastitis, I immediately checked her udder. Milk present. No chunks or discoloration. No hard areas and no area with a warmer temperature or redness. 

Next was a temperature check. 105.3! Definitely made my head spin. Dug through my supply of meds and conferred with two awesome goat friends and mentors. Decided to do lute and penicillin. I’d have given her banamine if I had any. Made sure she was drinking. 

This morning her temp was 103.1. Evidence of drinking, eating a bit of feed and a little hay. More active, moving better, more alert. Gave another dose of pen and talked to vet. Offered a different antibiotic but wanted to give her more time if this one was working instead of changing it up. 

Tonight she’s much better. Temp was 102.3. She has eaten more feed and hay and is drinking water. She’s also cleaning her kids. 

We did see her push once tonight and several times last night, leading us to believe she retained the placenta. I ended up getting a globe and some lube and was able to get two fingers in and feel that her cervix was closed. (This was mainly to rule out another kid being present and unable to enter the world. Not suspected with quads but figured it wouldn’t hurt to check.) 

In the meantime, I noted that the two doelings appeared hungry and thinner. The two bucklings were robust and shoving the girls out of the way to nurse. 

I had to run some errands and pick up a few things to have house goats. We pulled the bucklings tonight after a few pics and updated weights. They are housegoats for now since it’s in the 30s at night and I don’t have a safe, warm place for them outside. 

I made 4oz bottles for the boys. They each readily took an ounce but went to sleep. I was tempted to keep the milk for the next feeding but felt like I should offer it to the girls. Each of the girls inhaled the other three ounces. I’ll give the girls another chance to take a bottle in the morning but I’m hoping that without the competition, they’ll now thrive. 

We pulled the boys because they won’t be retained. They are destined for the food market and will quickly head there after turning 8 weeks. I won’t even stress them by castrating or dehorning them. 

Our milking is on a modified system. DD2 ends up in the hospital randomly for varied amounts of time. This is difficult because someone has to milk. If we have kids on our milk does, they can be left together and we can start separating again when we are home. Finding someone to do chores is hard enough but milking seems impossible. This doesn’t always work but it helps. Caramel is still nursing her October girls, Rapunzel and Snow White, and we just separate them at night. 

As far as weights, Buck, Sweetheart, and Gunner were all 3.0# when we weighed them at birth. Flower was the smallest at 2.4#. They were born Saturday early afternoon. We weighed Flower Sunday evening and she was up to 2.8%. That made me feel better. We didn’t get weights done last night between worrying about Nellie and DH’s asthma glaring up. Everyone got weighed tonight for another comparison. Buck and Gunner both weighed 3.5#. I was glad because that meant they are both gaining. I was disturbed by the girls’ weights. Sweetheart weighed 2.8# and Flower weighed 2.4#. Both had lost weight! I’m actually going to use a different scale to weigh everyone morning and night tomorrow for another evaluation. 

My kids are thrilled about having the boys in the house! 

All four! L-R: Buck, Sweetheart, Gunner, and Flower



 
Quarters in the farmhouse. 



Nellie with L to R: Buck, Gunner, Flower, Sweetheart 



Buck and Gunned getting comfortable. 




Did anyone notice that “Buck” is the BUCKskin BUCK? Lol


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## MiniSilkys (Mar 20, 2019)

I am sorry to hear. I hope Nellie gets to feeling better and that Flower and Sweetheart haven't really lost weight and that your scale is wrong. I tried using a digital scale to weigh my girls but it would not register.


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 20, 2019)

Just finished a round of bottles. Buck and Gunner woke me, ready for their next feeding with their little maaas! They sure got louder when they saw me. One finished a 4 Oz bottle and the other finished 3.5oz. Gunner peed. They settled back in after that. 


 
(They are on a piece of old tablecloth for now. I forgot to grab pee pads while I was out yesterday. I’ll get them today.) 

I grabbed the scales and went out to see the girls. I could only temporarily get a weight before it zeroed but what I did see was 2.4# for Sweetheart and 1.8# for Flower! Oh my! Talk about red flags! I’d already heated 8 Oz of milk to take to them so I started with Flower and let her drink her fill. I noted Nellie wasn’t standing still for Sweetheart. When I switched, Nellie stood better for Flower but Flower was struggling to stay latched. Sweetheart took straight to the bottle too. I ended up switching them back and forth until each took a little more than 3 Oz. Nellie did stand for a few minutes for both of them. They then retreated to their heated barrel and me to the house. 

I’ll reeval Nellie when I go out to milk Caramel. I’d like to get Nellie on the stand and really go over her udder...May have to wait until tonight when DH can help me. 

In the meantime, I’ll supplement the baby girls for a few days while Nellie fights this infection and pray that things works out for her to raise the does. 

**original weights were on a feed scale. I’ve noted a margin of error with it. Not a huge deal with anything we feed and mainly the cattle get measured feed because I go by scoop weight for my goats.


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 21, 2019)

Boys have adjusted well to house life. I just need to figure out a way to offer them hay and water. They eat about every 4-6 hours and are up to 4oz at a time. Both pee copious amounts!

I’d forgotten to get puppy pads while out and about so I made a special trip out last night. The tablecloth works in a pinch but isn’t absorbent and they ended up in a really wet mess. I had to clean them up and make sure they had a dry bed.

My baby boys...they know who feeds them!



Had to get a pick of the back of Gunner’s tail. The coloring is so neat!




The girls are doing much better. Flower’s legs are getting stronger and their bellies are full. I stopped supplementing after the 4am feeding yesterday. Weights on the feed scale last night were 2.8# and 3.5#. That’s progress. I’ll weigh them again tonight. 

Nellie wouldn’t tolerate me checking her temp. That tells me that she’s feeling better if she feels good enough to fight me! She did get her antibiotic shot. I observed her chewing her cud, eating feed, and eating hay. I also had to top of her waterer so I think we are making progress.


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## MiniSilkys (Mar 21, 2019)

I hope she get better so the girls will stay healthy. They are so cute.


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 21, 2019)

Nellie is back to being herself. She got pen again tonight and tomorrow should be the last day. 

The girls gained some weight today. Sweetheart went from 3.5 to 3.7# and Flower went from 2.8 to 3.0#. I’d like to see a bit more gain but I’ll take it for now as they figure things out. The girls no longer look sunken in. I’ll weigh them again tomorrow night. If they don’t gain more, I’ll go back to supplementing them and I’ll do more evaluation of Nellie’s udder. I did witness both girls nursing several times today. 

The boys are rotten! What else is there to say? Lol! I haven’t weighed them as it’s too cold to take them to the barn now that they are housegoats. Need to brainstorm a plan for their eviction...they can’t stay in here for eight weeks! 
Full bellies!


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 22, 2019)

SO excited! My baby girls are gaining weight!!! Tonight Sweetheart was 4.4# and Flower was 3.3#! I think Sweetheart had eaten already so it gave her a bigger advantage.


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 22, 2019)

Snowflake is monstrous! She isn’t due until 6/17!! That’s almost 3 more months! I’m scared to know how many are in there...


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## MiniSilkys (Mar 22, 2019)

Are you sure she wasn't bred earlier? She is large for only 2 months.


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 22, 2019)

@MiniSilkys yep. She was bred on a specific date by the buck and that’s the only time they were together. (Only other chance was the day Nellie got bred and we are way past that window as far as how she’s progressing.) 

I’ve watched her size grow since the breeding. She had trips as a FF and she was a quad. Definitely a litter.


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## MiniSilkys (Mar 22, 2019)

She might have quads herself this year. I have gotten 2 sets of twins from my goats this year. 3 does, 1 buck. Anna had twins at 1 am this morning and she was no where big enough for 2.


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 29, 2019)

I haven’t posted an update on the babies since 3/22. At that time, Sweetheart weighed 4.4# and Flower weighed 3.3#. This morning they weighed 6.1# and 5.0#. I’ve weighed them in between to monitor growth. I’m pleased with their progress. 

I also weighed Buck and Gunner. These two are beyond rotten! They weighed 5.9# and 6.1#. They are taking their bottles like champs. I hate to say that they are still in the house. They’ll be moved out tonight. We have to make a pen for them. They need so much more room than the pack n play though. I had them in the barn aisle this morning and they live their freedom when I let them run in the house. They will also have an acting career in our church easter play and had their first practice this past Sunday. 

Pics are of the boys. I’ll try to get some more and some of the girls. 

Helping with dishes! 



 

 

Playing in the barn this morning.


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## MiniSilkys (Mar 29, 2019)

He old was Fower when she weighed 3.3?


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## Hens and Roos (Mar 30, 2019)

we had a couple house goats our 1st kidding season, it was funny watching them bounce through the kitchen!


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## Wehner Homestead (Mar 30, 2019)

@MiniSilkys Flower was 6 days old when she weighed 3.3#. She’d have weighed more if Nellie hadn’t gotten sick.

@Hens and Roos we enjoyed the novelty but they needed more space. They got moved out today


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## Daxigait (Apr 11, 2019)

Wehner Homestead said:


> Nellie kidded at about noon today with quads! Talk about surprised! I was asleep after working last night and DH was taking care of sick kids. Nellie delivered them all on her own. They were all clean, almost dry, and up trying to nurse when DH checked her. He woke me to check them all and I dipped navels in iodine.
> 
> 2B/2D. All are nursing but we are monitoring closely. Wonderful way to start the year for our goats!
> 
> ...


what a surprise blessing. Maybe the Lord has a plan for those two dose they might be a surprise and be good. If not in a year they'll pay for themselves selling themselves and their babies.


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## Daxigait (Apr 11, 2019)

Wehner Homestead said:


> These babies are good medicine for my soul! I’m currently just sitting in the pen. Nellie is chewing her cud. Babies are in heater barrel. DH is nearby working on a pen for a pig. Human kids are in the house acting goofy after cough meds.
> 
> Jewel wants to be near Mom!
> View attachment 59634
> ...


Goat kids are good therapy soothing to the soul. Except for when you have to discipline them for jumping on you or trying to eat your hair.


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