Goats, Goats, Goats

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I am quickly running out of all of my “clever” Circle C/Andi posts, ones I have thoughtfully prepared and scheduled weeks in advance. Unfortunately, this week I’m shy of having anything to post that anyone might be interested in. For sure, the Circle C ranch would never get excited over baby goats (you know how Chad feels about sheep, and I’m sure goats are not far down the list), but the Painted Acres ranch sure is excited. Many sleepless nights and long day of “goat watching,” to make sure we do all we can to see the kids safely through their first hours on this earth.

By the way, I found an old Andi’s Journal entry about “Chad and the Goat,” so if you have never read it, have fun. I did not write this entry. I believe Ellen S. wrote it two years ago. She used to ghost write for me, and some of my best entries are from her secret hand. Bet you can’t tell which entries I wrote and which she wrote!

Chad and the Goat ➡️

With that in mind, I’ll give you a quick lineup. Kristel has taken all of the pictures, so I don’t have a lot of them on my own phone. Sorry! The first goat to kid, a Dwarf Nigerian (spotted and beautiful) did everything right, and so did we. This was her second birth, so no “first time” goat deliveries. Well, the first gorgeous kid, with white and spots (and a girl!) was born dead. For no reason we could tell. Then . . . a tiny (and I do mean tiny) . . . baby girl was born (white and black). Then her huge brother, white and black, came next. Then, the final kid was born . . . dead. Who knew? We are stumped.

“Teacup” (cuz she could probably fit into a teacup when she was born. Don’t let the picture fool you. She is the smallest newborn we have ever seen. She weighed .81 pounds. Her brother weighed 2.2 pounds. She was too weak to nurse and after 12 hours of her screaming, we figured out she needed a kitten bottle with a large, soft nipple. Hurrah! It worked. She drinks maybe two tablespoons at a feeding. This morning, I decided to let her nurse, but I milked Sprinkles (Mama) at the same time. And she ate and ate and ate. Now, she’s playing and acting like a real goat.

So, sad story with a (hopefully) continuing happy ending.

The next day, Sprinkles’s twin sister, Cupcake, delivered three healthy, active boys! We named them the Three Musketeers. Here are two of them. Every one is different. But it was another long, scary delivery. After hours and hours, we were worried that we might lose Cupcake and that she might be carrying a bunch of dead babies (remembering our experience the day before with Sprinkles). So, I prayed for this goat, and half and hour later, she delivered the three healthy kids! Praise the Lord! They are absolutely adorable and all different. I know. There are only two here because the other little guy is jumping all over the place.

Then, Kristi’s goat, Sylvia (1/2 Nubian and 1/2 Dwarf Nigerian), delivered two babies–a girl and a boy. She hasn’t posted anything yet on her BLOG ➡️ but she helped with the delivery and has a video and everything. So, stay tuned to her blog. You can watch a couple of baby goats be born. When she finally posts, I’ll let you know. Both her baby goats are half roan colored and very pretty. And the birth was perfect (thankfully, or Kristi would have been devastated). I did snap a picture of the . . . hmmm . . . not sure if this is the girl or the boy, but I think it’s the boy. She has names for them, which I’m sure she’ll share when she eventually posts.

Now, we are on goat watch for the beginning of the “big” goats (Nubian and Nubian/Alpine cross, plus a purebred cross Nubian/Nigerian crossed with a Nubian buck to get a Dwarf Nubian. She should be delivering maybe while I am writing this. So, I will sign off. But I will keep you up to date!