It’s not official yet (we like to think these things over for a day or two), but we’re leaning toward naming this little guy “Huckleberry Finn”.
My horses escaped today and Lilly went into labor while I was out looking for them. I got home with them about 20 minutes after her water broke, and Phil was about to call in reinforcements (we have a “goat mentor” who helps us during these type of emergencies), but I arrived in time. When I got there, I saw a bubble but no feet, and since she’d been at it for 20 minutes with no progress I knew it was time to intervene.
Phil and I dragged Lilly to her feet and got her out of the shed and onto the grass in the sunshine where we had more room to work and more light to see. The first thing I felt was a mouth with sharp teeth. Right below it were the hooves. He was in the correct position, but he was trying to come out all at once. I pushed his head back a bit and grabbed a hoof. Apparently our little guy didn’t want to come out because as soon as I pulled his hoof he yanked it right back in.
By this time, poor Lilly was screaming her head off in pain while Phil held her head and braced shoulder and tried to comfort and encourage her. That head was huge and it didn’t want to come out even with the feet where they belonged. But with a lot of yelling and pushing from Lilly and a lot of pulling from me and bracing from Phil, we got that kid out, and all the pain of delivery was forgotten in a moment.
He was a lively little sucker! We had him cleaned off and nursing in no time, and he was walking before we knew what happened. He weighed in at a good 11 lbs.! I didn’t think our little Lilly-goat could deliver a baby that big. I told her she should have twins–they’re usually a bit smaller. But does she listen to me? No! Of course not!
This is a special photograph. Look closely above Phil’s head. The aliens are watching.
Hooray! Congratulations! What a beautiful addition to the family.
I just stumbled upon your blog yesterday and worked my way through all the posts (in chronological order). Finding it was purely accidental. My wife and I are just researching getting goats (pack and/or milk)… imagine my surprise when I saw you live in Rye. We’re practically neighbors… we’re in Colorado City. Anyway, I’ve really enjoyed your blog. I feel like I know your goats personally. 🙂 Once again, congrats on the new kid.
Wow! You read the whole thing?? And even bigger WOW! You live in Colorado City??? We’ll have to get together sometime! We’re a bit famous in these parts because of Cuzco, who has often been seen riding in the bed of our blue Chevy pickup. We also used to walk him around the lake every day when we lived in Colorado City. We had a house on Fort Crockett and Cuzco lived in our backyard there.
When we first moved here going on 3 years ago I saw some lady walking a big goat by the post office… I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that was you. 🙂
I also think we saw you once with Cuzco and the cart. I think you were offering rides to kids at the Rye Halloween street party. My son was sick at the time and we were trying to grab some candy and get him home… so it was kind of a blur. 🙂
Getting together would be great. One thing we just read about online is that a lot of people are allergic to goats, and since my son (6 years old) has bad cat and dog allergies (with asthma) we’re concerned that goats may be a no-go for us. So before we get to ahead of ourselves with building a goatscape here we’d like to visit some of the critters and see if there are any issues. So it would be wonderful if we could set up a brief play date with one of your four-legged friends. Being strangers I feel weird even suggesting it, but maybe something to consider down the road.
Yep, that would have been me and Cuzco at the post office! I’ve also had Cuzco and his cart at the Rye Halloween party for the last two years.
I’ve never met anyone with a goat allergy and I’m under the impression that while goat allergies can be severe, they are pretty unusual–much less common than dog, cat, and horse allergies. I’d be happy to meet up so you can see how your son reacts.
As for being strangers… in a small community like this one we shouldn’t STAY strangers! Give me a call sometime. I’m in the Rye phone book under “Nan Hassey.”
Oh, and I didn’t really read the whole thing. I mostly looked at the pictures and scanned. I did read most of it though. It’s a great blog!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Phil and Nan – Didn’t know you had this blog…so happy that you do so we can keep up to date with our favorite goats (Lily is still my fav). Sound like a little struggle, but so glad everyone is OK. And yes he is HUGE! Next time we will have to sit her down and let her know she really, really needs to just have twins. LOL Love to you all.
Hello Deb! It’s been way too long! You’ll have to come up and play games with us soon and see the new fella while he’s still small enough to hold.
Yes, she does need to have twins: because they’re so cute! 🙂