The Birth of David Thursday Miller

David (Dave) Thursday Miller's birth story begins late on the night of March 5th, 2012.  Irma was looking mighty uncomfortable when I went out to separate Hana for the night, so I checked her ligaments and they were completely mush.  I watched her for a few minutes and noticed that she was also looking quite posty in the rear legs AND her udder had gotten a whole lot bigger in the course of the day.  Hm, I thought.  Perhaps I should put her in the kidding pen...

Now for those of you who have no idea what ligaments and posty legs have to do with anything, let me explain. :)  Goats have two ligaments that run in a V shape from the spine down to the pin bones on either side of their tail.  Normally these ligaments are very tight and hard, like pencils.  However when a doe gets ready to go into labor, they soften so much that you cannon feel them at all any more.  Not feeling the ligaments is a very good sign that your goat is getting ready to go into labor.

"Posty" is a look does get when they are entering labor.  Their back legs turn straight and have a boxy appearance.  They seem stiff.  I've included a few pics of what that looks like, in case anyone is interested. :)

Back to the story.  So I checked Irma about every hour that night, but no real progress until the next morning.  Around 8am she started having some mild contractions.  I called my mom, who came out and kept me company while we waited...and waited...and waited for baby Dave to be born.  Boy, did Irma take her time!  He didn't venture out into the world until about 5:30pm!

So without further ado, here is the story, mostly in pictures, of Dave's birth!

Irma, the morning of her first kidding!

 Here is a view of what "posty" looks like.  See how boxy her back end looks?  Her feet and legs are facing straight forward.  

 A view of "posty" from the side...

 Poor Irma had a really hard time getting comfortable.  She couldn't stay in one place for a very long time.  

 Buttercream could, though...

We thought poor Irma was never going to have her baby!  She had pretty heavy contractions for a couple hours before she started pushing.  She had a hard time pushing, and after about 20 minutes of no progress I washed up and went in to see if perhaps the baby was presenting itself wrong.  Talk about scary--I was so nervous!  My mom had my dad (who is a vet) on the phone coaching me through everything.  Thankfully what I found inside was two HUGE hooves and a HUGE head.  No wonder she was having a hard time!  He weighed six pounds at birth.  That is big for a mini breed.

Once her water broke, we started to see the baby bubble.  I ended up having to help a little getting him out, but all was well in the end.  I am so thankful--I was really worried there for awhile.  

We couldn't get any pictures of the birthing process because Irma decided to have her baby inside of the dark goat house.  Alas!  But here he is immediately after birth:

An interesting nursing position...

I LOVE his curly hair.  I am hoping this means that he will have fleece like his mamma.

My family came over to see him later and we watched a video of his birth.

And here is Mister Dave today!  Happy, healthy, and as cute as a button in his little yellow sweater.

Hoorah for new life!  It will never cease to amaze me.

BTW, Dave's daddy is my buddy Dean:

Signing off for now...

Bess

Irma's Baby Boy

Welcome to the world, little guy!

I'll post more pics and such later!

Bessie

Yippeee!

Miss Irma is in labor!  We will have some new baby goaties soon!

My First Milking

It was an exciting day--today I milked Buttercream for the first time!  I forgot to separate Hana last night so that she wouldn't nurse this morning, so I didn't milk out much.  It was a start, anyway!

First I sterilized my equipment, via these instructions from Fias Co Farm.  I bought all of my milking supplies from Hoegger Goat Supply. 

My milking supplies include:

1 Milking pail

1 Strip cup (for the first few streams of milk out of each teat)

1 Strainer

Box of filters for strainer

Mason Jars w/lids and rings

Home made Udder wash and teat dip

Clean towels

The mason jars that I am going to be using are recycled Classico pasta sauce jars.  They are a nice shape and size, and the standard Bell jar lids and rings fit them perfectly.  I like how they have the liquid measurements on the side.  Publix often has Classico sauce BOGO; Davy and I pick a couple up anytime they do.

This is the strainer.  You place this on top of your jar, insert a little filter, and pour the milk through.  This strains out any hairs or dirt that may have fallen into the milk bucket while milking.

I wanted to get some pics of the actual milking process, but...well, let just say that was a little difficult, especially since Buttercream was real antsy.  Perhaps next time I can talk Davy into taking some action shots for me. ;)

Fast forward about 30 minutes...

Here is the milk pain immediately after milking.  I obviously need to work on my aim!  

And here is the fresh, creamy milk straining into my sterilized mason jar.  Since I didn't put Hana up last night, I only got about 4oz of milk today.  I probably could have milked out more, but Buttercream would have none of it and I couldn't find my goat hobble.  She and I are both learning how to work together in this.  Hopefully we'll get the hang of it soon!  

Here is the strainer post-straining--see the hair and debris? Definitely don't want to drink that...

After letting the milk set in the refrigerator for a few hours, I tried some.  Wow!  It was absolutely delicious!  Creamy and sweet and wonderful.  I'm sold!  Davis and I are both sensitive to cows milk, so I am crossing my fingers that this will be a good substitute.

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In other news, here are some recent thrift store finds that I thought you guys would appreciate!

Some vintage cherry red ornaments--$0.25

 And a lovely vintage tablecloth--only $0.50!

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 Last, but not least, here are some pics of little Hana from today.  She was two weeks old yesterday, and weighs 10.2lbs!  I had a hard time getting very clear pictures, as she is a bit of a wiggle worm, but these will give you a basic idea of how much she has grown over the past couple weeks.  Isn't she pretty?

(She was just recently disbudded, hence the purple spots)

Oh, and Irma is on day 140, I think!  Ten days away from her "due date".  AH!

Bessie

One Year.

One year ago yesterday, I married my favorite man in the whole wide world.  We had an amazing first year together.  Although it was rough at times, we learned so much about each other--and about ourselves!  I can honestly say that I love and respect him more each day that I know him.  

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He was a pretty cute kid, but unfortunately I didn't know him back then. ;)  Thankfully he hasn't really changed much...

I guess I was pretty cute, too...

We always find ways to entertain ourselves in situations where, for example, we are iced in with 14 other people for a whole week over Christmas break.

We've had lots of great adventures together--we even got to sit next to Ernest Hemingway on a boat tour in Key West!

And most importantly, it is very important to us to take care of our skin together.  Get rid of those blackeads! ;)

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Thank you, Davy, for a wonderful friendship and a wonderful first year!  You're a butthead, and I love you.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with the richness of our companionship.  May it always honor You.

Bessie

p.s.

My sister Jenny recording the guitar lick.  She is an amazing musician!

Jenny, Davis and I recorded a cover of Ingrid Michaelson's "They Way I Am" last night.  

Check it out here (just click on the correct song title)!

The Way I Am

Udder Changes

Ok, I apologize in advance to those of you who do not particularly enjoy viewing goat butts. ;)  Just concentrate more on the udder, which is the part that we are going to be discussing in this post. 

Irma is getting very close to having her baby.  I don't know exactly when she was bred (stupid Bessie!), so I don't have a definitely "due date", but you can tell when a doe is getting closer by physical signs, such as an udder that is getting increasingly bigger and tighter. 

Here are some pics of the progression of Irma's udder growth over the past month.  Enjoy!

January 27th: Itty bitty udder!

January 30th

February 3rd

February 5th

February 10th:  Nice and round, but not stretched or tight looking.  The udder still looks pretty hairy, even though I had recently shaved it. 

February 18th: Fast-forward eight days and we have a much tighter, less hairy-looking udder. 

February 19th: And a little bigger...

February 21st (today): Earlier today Irma's udder looked like it hadn't changed much.  However by this evening it was MUCH larger and tighter.  See how stretched it looks?  Kinda shiny?  Yep.  She has got to go soon!

Well, I hope that was interesting to at least some of you! ;)  I have been learning so much about goats lately, and things like this are just fascinating to me.  Call me crazy.

Have a lovely night!

Bessie