I'm a little freaked out....(long)

[Roll farms]

In June, I entered the barn one morning to find the 5 mo. old Toggenburg buckling curled up asleep with ALL of my adult does in the large general population pen.

What alerted me to trouble was his 2 mo. old roomate (another buckling) screaming his fool head off....I open their door to see what's the matter and the other boy is just *poof* gone...vanish...disappeared.

Uh...oh....?

He'd jumped out of a 4' tall box stall....walked through the milking parlor / feed and hay storage area....then hopped another 4' wall to get in.

Now...June isn't a typical 'does in raging heat' month...but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he would have went to that trouble for no reason...when he'd never left the 'jr bachelor pad' before.

Fast forward.....Penny, my brightest, favorite-est, milkiest doe (black Ob) is being 'milked through' this year because she has such a hard time kidding. She's in her 10th month of lactation and still giving 3/4 of a gallon 1x a day....I cut her back to 1x b/c we didn't need so much milk w/ no kids on the bottle....I was planning to keep this up until kidding starts in January, then give her 9-10 mos. dry / off.

Last month....I start commenting to my husband...."MAN, Penny is FAT." He says things like, "Hey, Wide Load" when he sees her....Obs tend to be on the thin side, especially when 'working'...but I figured since she's on the downward curve of her lactation, she's just putting on a little extra weight....winter fluff...

A couple days ago I notice clear / whitish discharge...sure looked like a doe in heat...so I watch to see which 'man' she favors that day. (There are bucks on both sides of the gen. pop. pen since we're still breeding and it's a great way to find out when they're in heat....they LIVE by the boys and flag and act silly, and the boys talk to them, etc....) I wasn't going to breed her, but I like to 'watch the show' and make sure nobody goes 'over the fence'.

NOTHING. No 'wha wha wha' from a buck, she approaches the breeding pens but only to sniff the does / say hi....so...hmmmm...must not be in heat, eh?

Couple of days later....more white goo....still no action at the fence, though.....

Yesterday I made my "due date / shots due" spreadsheet up and as I'm flipping through the calendar to November, I see where I've written, "If anyone looks due, the Togg boy did it on June 16th".



I'm not sayin' she IS bred....but it sure would explain the weight gain, no signs of heat, and leaky twee.

IF she is, Nov. 13th would be her due date.

ACK....so now she's on every other day milking...if she does ok w/ that (and so far it's not looking good...after 1 skipped day she's already bowlegged....) I'll hopefully be to every 3rd day by her 'due date' and she'll be able to make some colostrum.

I'm going down there now to kick that Tog boy in the rump again.....
(j/k....)

I've never had an 'accident' kidding, with a doe in milk...and as I said she has a bad time kidding (2 single huge kids the last 2 kiddings, that I barely manage to get out) and Toggs tend to be bigger than Obs so I'm just worried that something bad will happen to her / with this whole ordeal.

*frets*

Never have I HOPED so hard a doe WASN'T bred.

Last night I dreamt Doodle, our other fav, had 6 kids this year.

Goats are driving me crazy.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Nevermind.

 

[ChksontheRun]

Since I am so new to goats no wise words from me, but I can send good wishes. Hope she is just a little fatty, but if preggo, here is hoping all goes well! Good thoughts being sent your way!

 

[Roll farms]

I'm not really looking for 'advice'...just venting my frustration / worry....typical "If a goat can get into trouble, they will" stuff.

I'm well aware of when they 'make' colostrum, hence my comment "I'll hopefully be to every 3rd day by her 'due date' and she'll be able to make some colostrum."

Plus...I don't wanna drink the stuff

But "stop milking her"...a heavy producer, just suddenly stop?
Asking for mastitis issues doing things that way, IMHO. Gradual is better, I'll just have to speed it up to 'semi gradual',

Also, I've nearly lost her and her kids in hard kiddings before....I'll worry if I want to. Especially when the genetic potential for a bigger kid is there.

I'm not going to bother w/ a blood test when it's only 13 days until her 'due' date. I'll just be a nervous wreck until then......

I just checked her tail ligs...the fact that they're harder than a rock gives me comfort...but the fact that it's bony as can be / no fat....sort of supports the 'preggo / not just fat' theory too.

 

[ksalvagno]

Well, I hope everything goes well for you and Penny.

I made the mistake of leaving in a young male longer than I should have with the girls. Just lost track of time and no real place to put a young male. So now between October and November, I will see who comes into heat. The rest, I have no idea on a due date. I will probably do blood tests on the ones that never come into heat during this time. Rookie mistake. Luckily I was looking forward to what this little guy will put on the ground. Just didn't want everyone bred to him.

He has been out of the girls pen since mid September so I at least have an idea but no due dates. Thank goodness you wrote down that date.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

Is it possible that since she's been putting so much energy into production that the kids won't be so huge this time?

 

[Roll farms]

I can hope....thanks for the thought...but her size....OMG, kids, she's HUGE. I'd rather have twins than singles, ANY day....

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

I once had a nightmare that my favorite doeling was going into labor when she was around 7 months or so. I was paranoid about her being bred for like two days after that even though I knew she hadn't been exposed! I hope everything goes well for Penny!

 

[warthog]

Hope everything goes well for all of you.

And please vent, freak and worry all you like, we will all listen.

Keep us posted.

 

[jross8897]

I'm still not sure my doe is pregnant... but shes had the same signs (fat, discharge).I hate that goats are liars and as far as dreaming about it... I dreamed my doe had triplets... one was a sheep!! lol