Piper had kids — a doeling and a buckling! It all started last night, when Piper refused to eat at milking time. Mom stayed outside with her, and Piper went into labor. Unfortunately, Piper kept falling asleep. Around midnight, Mom decided to go inside and get some rest. When she came outside in the morning, there were two little babies in the birthing stall!

At first Piper didn’t want anything to do with the babies. When they tried to nurse, she bucked and ran away (typical Piper for you). So Mom stepped in. She grabbed Piper, tied her up, velcroed the hobble in place, and let the babies do their thing. They rushed in and started nursing. Piper’s maternal instincts kicked in and within a couple minutes, Mom could let Piper loose and Piper would let her babies nurse.

The little doeling has inherited Pegs’ weird ear! Apparently that trait skipped a generation.

Everything’s wonderful on the home front. After all this sadness with the animals, it sure is great to call Mom and have some good news!

Pegs is due in less than a week (the 19th) and Daisy is due a couple days after that (the 22nd). Buttercup gave 3 1/2 cups at both milkings a couple days ago. She’s at 3 cups per milking right now.

P.S. To see the pictures in the gallery better, just click on them. Some of the pictures are cut off to keep all the pictures square.

I got a phone call from Mom last night. Buttercup went into labor yesterday. She was 3 days early. The baby, a little girl with all dark colors and a white patch on her forehead, was stillborn. Everything was fast and easy and Buttercup was wonderful, but she was calling for her baby.

Mom milked Buttercup last night, several hours after she gave birth, and got a couple cups. It was bright yellow with cholostrum for the baby. Buttercup inherited her mom’s long hair, so Mom trimmed it at her back legs to make for easy milking. She got right on the milking stand and Mom milked her with the hobble and everything. This morning, however, Buttercup had to be wrestled on to the stand. I’m thinking she was so tired out last night that she just gave in. Oh, and it probably felt good to be relieved of that milk.

We’re all really sad. Please pray that the rest of the goats will give birth to healthy kids! Pegs is due July 19th and Daisy is due July 22nd. Pegs is lagging behind the herd and isn’t very interested in food so Mom is keeping an eye on her. She shouldn’t give birth for a good 1 and a half weeks, so we’re hoping everything’s all right.

Buttercup was butting heads with Daisy last night, so we think she’s recovered.

Thank you for your prayers!

[flickrslideshow acct_name="suchtreasures" id="72157624065505922" width="300" height="300"]

Even though I try to write down everything that happens around here, there are some things that I forget to record. This is a post that wraps up all the little details I keep forgetting to post about!

Pegs’ milk yield is way down. About two weeks ago, her milk was at 5 cups. Now it’s at 2 3/4 cups. She sure is drying up! Maybe it’s because of the baby. Hope so!

Angel, poor thing, still isn’t very well. We’re feeding her sugar water, as Michelle @ Collie Farm Blog recommended in this comment. Thanks, Michelle! She seemed to like it last night (no surprises!). This morning, however, when we took her inside to warm her up, she wouldn’t drink. Pray, please!

And now, a funny story… Last night, after the lights were switched off, Naomi and I were lying in bed, reading (with flashlights). The window was open because it had been such a nice day and we had forgotten to close it. Well, a minute later, Naomi sat up, her nose all wrinkled.

“Do you smell that?” she asked.

I sniffed. “No… What?”

“Skunk!” she said.

I sniffed again and BAM it whooshed through the window and into the room. Pinching our noses (it really wasn’t that bad, but of course we had to act like it was horrid! ), we slammed the window shut and gasped for clean air. It took a little bit for the skunk scent to dissolve fully, but eventually it did and we fell asleep. Funny story, right?

And now just one more thing before I sign off. We are going to eat the drake today. Let’s hope it tastes good! Pictures later!

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