another week of kidding

Sunday , the last day of an unbearable hot and humid week. Our temperatures was pretty much steady in the high 30th all week. I don't want to complain. I know, it is summer and soon enough it will be cold and white fluffy stuff will be falling from the sky. I don't actually mind the heat. If it was just heat, I could deal with it but the amount of mosquitos we have this year, makes the whole situation nerve wrecking. BUT ... we finally got some rain tonight and the air is a little cooler. I have the window open with a fan in front of it and the cool breeze that is coming in feels really nice.

I don't know but when I think back 20 years ... 40c didn't feel this hot, did it ???

I was born and raised in Germany and air conditioning is not as common over there as it is here. We never had AC in the house or in the car. The summers used to be hot and we often had temperatures around 40c ... is it just my age ? is it the humidity or is the sun really hotter ? I don't know...

I am glad anyway, that we spoiled the kids with a big pool this year...one that an adult can comfortable cool off in and even swim around in circles ;)

And in all this heat my poor ladies were still waddling around with their big bellies. But not for long. Darla started labour Monday afternoon. She is a first time momma and she was quite nervous during her pregnancy. When the two first kids were born she seemed curious but also not sure about those little things. I had a first time momma before that didn't want anything to do with her little one. I had to tie her up to make her stand for the baby to drink. It took a good week before she accepted her baby and took care of it. But it turned out, I dind't need to worry about Darla at all ....

Sky came running to the house in the afternoon, again we checked every two hours. During the day the kids like to take over the job. He was hollering down the driveway to the house...MOM, Darla is having her baby. We all went to the barn. The kids are always in awe when they get to watch a baby being born. It didn't take to long until we saw two little feet and a little head ...

Seeing that baby I so hoped for a little girl ... but, we got a healthy little buck, which of course is wonderful. I am not planning on keeping the babies but of course there is always the option to keep the little girls ... and of course we are all talking about it ... haha. Keeping one of the boys, would mean, we would have to get him castrated ... he would still be handsome but " useless" a terrible thing to say but it is reality. feeding goats is expensive and feeding a " useless" goat .... nah. I love my girls ... I was just always hoping for a black one. We will find him a good home where he can get his own little herd of ladies. 

Anyway ... a big, healthy, beautiful boy. 

Everybody was curious about the new little guy

And Darla turned out to be such a good momma. Even a week later, she doens't take her eyes off of him. Always makes sure he is close ... I call her the helicopter mom ;)

Here he is ... still wet. We called him Bandit. 

He looks like a little cow ... I love his markings

Handsome little Bandit and his proud human :)

The last one was Mable. Mable is the only one if the 4 that had a baby before. Darla, Bandits mom is Mable's first born. It was the same scenario. The kids came running down the driveway ... and we all went to the barn. It was a long long birth, very exhausting for the poor mom. It was so hot and she was so big. She was panting so bad ... I tried to keep her cool with cold water on her back and forehead. She was in pain ... and when she finally started pushing we quickly realised that something wasn't right. She did not want to lay down ... she pushed and we saw the feed and then they disappeared again ... again and again. When the water broke, we knew we couldn't wait too much longer or baby would suffocate in the birth canal. When she pushed the next time I held her and G. carefully checked the position of the baby. The feet came out again but the head was tilted upwards. 

He was able to position it properly and finally we had a baby .... and it was breathing ... and it got up and drank after momma had cleaned it off. A little girl !!!

Soon after number one was born Mable started contractions again ... Same scenario ... same problem. This time we didn't wait too long to help her. She was exhausted, in pain and had no more strength left. Again G. was able to get the head into the right position and a little buck was born 

And he was alive. It took him a while to get up onto his feed. But after he had a wabbly first drink, he got stronger and finally stood up by himself. Two beautiful little babies.

Mable was exhausted, she needed a good drink and some goat ration to get some strength back. She cleaned both babies off and made sure they both got a good drink. 

We were all exhausted as well, hot, thirsty but very happy that this all ended so well. 

This is little Gus, born second 

And little Rose, she was the first born of the two. Both smaller than all the other babies but healthy and happily jumping around like their, few days older cousins. 

The night we finally had all our babies in the barn we were spoiled with a beautiful sunset. This was the view from my kitchen window. 

Not much else has happened here this week. It was all about goat babies. All about staying cool and hydrated ... not just for us but also for all our furry friends. We brought some of the older horses into the barn during the day, away from the heat and the bugs. They get a rest and go out at night when it is cooler and the bugs are not so bad. 

We spoiled the chickens with frozen berry treats and they loved it. The geese get fresh cold water to splash around in several times a day and they love it. The dogs and cats lay, either in the cool house or somewhere in the shade. The cats prefer to be outside, while the dogs prefer the cool house. 

Our cows are not back yet ... They must be having too much fun with Mr Bull. 

I need to weed my garden badly and I am hoping that I will get to that now that we are suppose to get a little cooler temperatures for the next week. 

We will see and I will tell you next Sunday what we came up with to keep ourselves busy :)

I leave you with a picture of all the baby goats ... tamed by my 4 little wildies ;)

til next time, stay cool and take it easy !!!