New Additions!

I would like to introduce the new members of the B&M Farm - Miss Bianca & Bernard

These two bundles of cuteness were born this past Tuesday to my favorite goat, Martha.

Having noticed that her milk bag was getting awfully large and she was laying around more than normal, I new the moment was at hand. The boys and I have been walking out to the farm every afternoon to check things out.

This particular trip out I came around the corner and notice Martha laying down, away from the others. This is odd since she is usually the first to greet me. I got a better look at things and noticed a baby next to her! I was so excited and jumped in the pen (of course, I left my kids to fend for themselves). As I started to approach her I realized that something was wrong. The baby was too small and not moving. My heart broke. in. two.

There sat Martha looking over her baby that hadn't survived. I understand that she is a goat and I am a human but I am also a mother. I have never had a miscarriage or still born myself but I ached for her. She would nuzzle the baby and give a little grunt to try to get it to move. Then she would look me in the eye. Honestly, that happened. Not knowing what else to do, I took the baby away and buried it.

When I returned The Boy, The Babe, and I sat outside the fence, watched and waited. The Boy asked me:

"Mommy, is the babies going to come out of her stomach now?"

long exhale

"No son, not quite. Watch her bum"

At that moment, Miss Bianca made her appearance. I wish I would have had my camera because the look of The Boys face was priceless! Hey- if he's going to live around animals, he's going to learn the facts of life one way or another...

I hurried and called my dad to give him to good news. As we were going over the stats, out pops Bernard. They were born within two minutes of each other. It was the coolest thing to watch.

I hung out for awhile to make sure that these two didn't have any problems like #1 did. When all seemed safe I loaded up the boys and went back up the house.

About an hour or two later I went out to do my evening chores and to check on the babies. Neither one had gotten up on their legs yet but dad thought this was because the were probably weak from having 3 of them in the womb. Sounded good to me. Since they weren't up I became concerned about them nursing. I held each of them up while they had their first meals. Kind of awkward, no doubt, but I was able to rest easy knowing that they had full tummies. It was during these nursings that Martha's typical demeanor came back and she not only bit my head, but The Boy's as well. Glad she was able to rebound so quickly.

Anyway, here we are a few days later and everyone is doing great. I'm a little concerned about Martha's teats though. She has one that is the ideal shape & size but the other side has problems - it's a double (fishtail teat) and the babies aren't able to nurse on that side. It's swollen and starting to turn red. I'm worried that it might be infected or that she may get mastitis. I'm attending a goat education day tomorrow so I'll have to raise the question there. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted on not only her milk bag but the other soon-to-be mommies as well.