Milky Way's kidding countdown

I talked to the guy I bought her from, and she hasn't come into heat since July, putting her right at about December, *maybe* November, depending on when exactly she was bred, so we're expecting Christmas babies from her, if we're lucky.

She's still not wide (just fat. I swear her armpit fat has gotten bigger....), so I'm only expecting a single, unless it was the nigerian buck, and if it was, it's anybody's guess (there are only 2 culprits-a PB reg. Nubian, or a PB reg. Nigerian, and only one's registerable).

Jenny should also be bred, but she's as wide as a house right now, and I still don't know why. Could just be hay belly (even though she won't eat the expensive oat/timothy hay I just bought), could just be her maturing, could be she was bred months ago. Either way, she's a little fatty.

Sorry the pics are bad. It's almost 30 degrees right now, and I was finding it hard to hold still (the mess is from us cleaning out our barn to make room for more hay/goats, and yes, we have been chunking it everywhere. The goats think it's hilarious, and they've been playing with stuff).

They're all poofy, but Maverick's roaning shows up more when he imitates a plush pillow


Sadly enough, they still hate each other. Maverick doesn't like her either. Sometimes I swear he goes out of his way to pop her one in the chest. Never hard, but enough that she runs the second he looks at her...


Since it has to be so horridly cold and nasty out, everyone's tucking under themselves like this. Makes it kinda funny to watch them walk. I'd cover them, but it's gonna be 60 by this afternoon, so I'll just let them tough it out for now. No one seems to care that much.


NOT wide. At all. Better be a doe kid, is all I'm sayin'.


Don't you just love what I have to clean up, in the cold? Someone found the alfalfa cubes, and thought they'd make great porch decoration...

 

Sadly enough, she's not. It's what's left over from her being dried off. I mean, it's filled up a bit more, but this doe is flat weird about that, so I don't know what to think about it (she's a second freshener, and so is Jenny, so I couldn't tell you when they'd bag up)

 

Then she's starting pretty early...she gave me a heart attack last night, too. Started screaming her head off and wouldn't stop, at least not until I came out to see her. :hair:

Not worried about it though. I'm pretty well convinced that she's going to kid the second I leave for work

 

I know I already made a post, but I went outside to check on everyone and realized it was a fair bit warmer than yesterday, so I got some better pics.

Oh, and Milky Way IS bagging up, and I swear Jenny is too, but I can't really be sure... Milky's still lopsided, but it *should* go away when she does freshen, and if it doesn't, I'm gonna be playing favorite sides until it does. I don't like the way her teats angle out much either, but she's got enough going for her the judges probably won't care a whole lot.

Like I said, lopsided...left's definitely filling, not the right. It may not be her filling at all, it could just be from when I milked her out to even her up...


Jenny's teenie weenie udder...is bigger. Not much, just a bit. It's actually peeking out of the hair, rather than being snuggled up in it. This summer, if you'd looked at her quickly enough, she'd have looked like she'd never freshened.


This is why I know she was bred (and her bred date is actually the day after I joined here). She's already getting a belly. She normally has nothing, not even when she was on full hay, not when she was getting full browse (an apple branch a day...), not ever. Her genetics are to look like a skinny walking skeleton. Not a skinny walking skeleton with a belly.


And, to top it off, Maverick's cute white nose spot. He's got one on his forehead, too. And right in the middle of his bits, and one on his martingale.

 

Milky Way may be due sooner than I thought...she's started separating herself from the others (they don't actually like her, but she's always tried to be near them) more and more. Still no belly, though.

 

It's *definitely* gonna be sooner than I thought...her ligaments are loosening! I'm expecting her to kid around the end of November for now.

 

She's gotten HUGE. Not a little bit bigger, not a hay belly bigger, but more like she swallowed a beach ball big (believe me-this doe has been skinny as a rail from the top view-she's not anymore). Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll be pure nubian kids after all!

Also, I've been having fun tapping one side of her and feeling it on the other...

 

Like I said...beach ball. I can barely wrap my arms around her middle anymore.



Just for reference, this was a few weeks ago...sunken in and "squishy".

 

Her udder's doing diddly-squat. It's a little bit fuller and a little less uneven, but it's still looking like it hasn't really filled in at all. She's probably gonna wait til the last second and blow it up like a balloon.

 

I'm hoping so too....if I have to wait another 2 months because she's playing around with me, we're going to have to have words....

 

Re: Milky Way's kidding countdown *pooch pics*

Just updates on the two of them (pooch pics included). I took Milky Way to the vet to get blood drawn (an absolute ANGEL-I was barely holding her, and she didn't flinch once) and fecals done on everyone-tiny tiny light roundworm load, so everyone was finally caught up on worming with Ivomec today. It's only been since about September-ish since anyone was wormed with anything.

The vet couldn't confirm a pregnancy (to her credit, she doesn't know goats very well at all, and she doesn't have an ultrasound machine), so we're sending in samples to Biotracking (BTW, fridge or freezer for the samples? I put them in the freezer like the vet told me, then BioTracking site said to keep them in the fridge, and by the time I switched them, the sample was already frozen-don't know if that affects anything, I've only got a bajillion more needles and tubes ready).

And this time I KNOW her ligaments are a bit looser. I may have been hallucinating last time, but she's definitely a bit squishier this time, though even Jenny's ligs feel kinda loosish to me too, so maybe I'm getting the wrong spot or she's just playing hard to get.

Jenny's pooch. It's still at least only a month along, if at all, but at most it'd be 3 months. Kinda really doubt it.

Milky Way's. While pregnancy is still about 99% confirmed, she still refuses to let us know when...

Her udder. It's filled more! I know it looks like it's only filled by maybe five drops or so, but it's more noticeable (probably at a better angle) that her teats are finally on the same level, and the side that wouldn't fill is filling out more.

 

It's been a LONG couple of months, but after ultrasounding, and testing, and poking, prodding, and annoying, we finally have a due date and a breed!

She's due in 2 weeks (roughly), and the kids have absolutely perfect swiss-type ears and faces, so it was definitely the nigi's fault. Unfortunately, there's up to 3 kids in there, and the first one is HUGE. I'm afraid he may end up being too big for her.

STILL no udder! If anything, it's shrunk down. But, she's got a couple weeks to build it back up, but I may want to buy a couple of gallons of milk just in case.