Babies arriving!!

Waiting for your very first doe goat to kid, is a test of patience. Everyday would find me in the coral at feeding time, anxiously looking for baby goats on the ground. Our does were fat, their udders were filled with milk and they had other physiological things going on that I won't write about here but dang, they were ready to have their babies. I was working in the garden one late morning in March when it finally happened.

As I was working along I heard a bleating from a goat that sounded "different" than they usually sound. Thinking that another goat had her head stuck in the fence, I stopped what I was doing and moved toward the pasture. As I approached the corral I saw... It's Time!!! There was Sweet Pie, lying down in the stall, pushing and straining. How dare she not call me. Suddenly I was overcome with the nervousness that a new father experiences. Any man whose wife has had a baby can understand that feeling of wanting to do something but realizing you are absolutely worthless at this particular moment. Worse than that you are probably more "in the way" than a helper. Sweet Pie was well along in the process by the time I had found her and the first baby was already coming out. I looked down there and to my shock there was a head sticking out of Sweet Pie's nether regions. I thought wow, wonder what a two headed goat sells for? Problem was, the baby was kinda stuck and even a rookie such as I found this to be a problem. My son was now standing beside me in awe of what was going on, and I made a mental note that my 5 year old son was going to need an explanation on the facts of life, but not right now. This was a crisis situation. Being a man that handles himself well in a situation, I was ready. Really, I am college educated, a two time father myself, been around the world a little bit, well read and confident in my abilities. I immediately sprung into action with the correct decision. "Zane, quick, go get your mother!" It didn't take long for Chera to arrive to handle this emergency. Woman to "woman" I guess, she new what poor Sweet Pie felt like and what to do. She flew into action while the rest of us stood by helpless watching, just like I did each time my own children were born. Chera assessed the situation and decided that the goat was indeed stuck. She was able to support the goat's head between contractions so any progress was saved and the kid didn't slip back in. A few moments later our first animal born on the farm was out and being cleaned up by her momma. After this her sister surprisingly just kinda flopped out and that was that.

The thrill of babies being born/hatched on the farm has never really went away for me, except now I'm not near as scared or pathetic. A few days later, our second doe kidded and we were off and running with our new breeding operation.