Updated...February - Doodle kidded, pics page 32

[Roll farms]

If these goats keep making me nutty, I may just take up drinking...

Did I mention it's snowing on top of the ice we got yesterday?

Wheeeeeee!

The vet still hasn't called me back, and at this stage (ice / snow on roads) I'm not sure I'd risk the 30 min. drive to her office. :/

 

[rebelINny]

Good luck with the rest of the does and keeping fingers crossed for Nissan.

 

[Roll farms]

OK, the vet called (of course after I'd given up and went to the barn to feed the kids) and left a message, said she'd gotten a dose of Estrumate ready and wanted me to increase the dose / frequency of the oxytocin.
I called back to ask her about using the Lut and she was out on an emergency farm call.
Soooo....we made the trip (took an extra half hour in the snow) and got the estrumate, a new bottle of oxy, some Nuflor, and a BoSe refill.
If I'm gonna go broke, I may as well do it right.

Came home and arranged the rehoming of some does I sold (the new owner's child has got some health problems and between runs to the Childrens' Hosp. and lack of money, they can't keep them) to some other friends.

THEN I went down to feed / milk and....Dazzle and Itty Bitty (Togg) have seriously full, strutted udders. It's going to be a lonnng night or an early morning.

Think PINK for Dazzle, BLUE for Itty. THANKS!

 

[helmstead]

Considering the low temps we're supposed to have tonight, along with this lovely winter storm...YEP, kidding weather. Luckily, so far, mine still are holding out.

 

[ksalvagno]

What is a full strutted udder? Shamise's udder is looking pretty full. I think I'm still feeling her ligaments but that whole ligament thing is still a bit confusing. Not sure why since people check alpaca ligaments but for some reason I never caught on to it.

 

[helmstead]

Its when the udder is so tight and full that the medial struts..

Ligs are super easy once you figure out what you're feeling for (don't feel bad, my DH STILL can't find ligs...)

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

I made a habit of feeling ligs regularly through the last month of gestation- the first time around I had NO idea what I was feeling for until they actually disappeared. But because I'd been fondling them all along the change was obvious when it happened. After that it was easy. Now bumping post-parturition on the other hand...

 

[Roll farms]

Because I've got nothing else to do until they start pushing...here are pics of their "full and strutted udders"...when they look like this (almost shiny) and are tight as a balloon, I *know* they're w/in 12 hrs of kidding.

Itty bitty:

Dazzle:

 

[ksalvagno]

Ok, thanks! I decided to go ahead and put Shamise in a kidding stall for tonight. I was going to go back out later and check on her. I think I will feel her udder. I probably won't be able to see shiny since I didn't shave her udder.

How hard is it to shave their udder? For some reason it scares the bejesus out of me to do it. I have an Andis UtraEdge and a #10 blade. Now shear an alpaca cria that is only a couple days old, no problem.

 

[chandasue]

I use my husband's trimmers. SHHH! Don't tell him!