This has been the worst kidding season I've ever had in my 22+ years of raising goats. I only have 1 surviving kid, with one doe left to go in the cashmere side, and one in the dairy side. There is the one dairy doeling, who is doing fine. I don't know what is going on out there, but all but one doe was way overdue, then had weak or damaged kids that died within a week or so. Now the one remaining doe is a bit overdue. Her due date was the 21st. She's a first timer so I hope there isn't just a single in there. Miracle was 17 days overdue when she finally had a HUGE single boy. I had to pull pretty hard to get him out. But, he came out. Miracle rejected him so I brought him in the house and got him going. She was right to reject him, he had some serious issues, so he's gone, too. Iris had twins in the early morning hours in-between checks and so when I went out there I found 1 dead kid and one almost dead. I brought her in and revived her and she's going well now. I put her out with her mom again today and will leave her out there now full-time since Iris is being a helicopter mom, not letting her out of her sight, or more than 3 feet away from her. I put a little sweater on her so hopefully that works. She's doing well out there now, at 5pm. She also has an insulated "kid box" to go into to stay warm tonight. Hopefully Briquet has healthy babies, or baby, so Sandy has someone to play with. She'll be pretty lonely if she's the only kid out there this year.
The buck is going into the freezer. I've used him two years and both years have not been good, especially this year. I'm going to take a break and not get any does bred this fall. Time to downsize and just have the adults for a couple of years. I want more time to spin and weave the cashmere I get from them. So, no more custom spinning for a while, either. Focus on my cashmere and get it all processed. I have three years' worth of fleeces waiting to be processed. The time of "Squirrel" is over.
This year I am spending more time in the gardens and getting them looking nice again. Re-doing the goat pens and shelters and getting this place back in order. The shelters have been up since I got the goats, the posts are rotten, the only thing holding things up are the boards. Time for some major fix-ups around here!
I wonder if anyone else out there is having problems this year with kidding, or lambing? I am reading comments again now, and checking in here more frequently, so comment if you'd like.
I hope you are having a great day!
