Katniss. Darned goat. She finally kidded. Before I get into that though, let me give you the back story. Katniss is loud, very loud. "Give me attention!" she screams every time she has reason to suspect a human is outside. Many times I have heard a goat crying as if something were wrong, only to run to the pen and find Katniss, perfectly fine. Another thing about Katniss, she only has three (yes just 3) hooves. "Why?" You ask, well, she hasn't always been that way, nor has she always been as talkative as she is now.
For the first 2 years of her life Katniss was a perfectly normal goat. A beautiful kid, a Grand Champion yearling at the County Fair , then a first freshener who had twin does and got them all cleaned up before I even got outside one snowy March day. A couple months after her first kidding, Katniss disappeared, just flat out disappeared. We walked the entire pasture looking for her. She was no where to be found. We search some more, still no Katniss. After two days we gave up and considered her gone. Part of the field was flooded at the time, so we figured she'd some how managed to get swept away by the flood (strange as goats avoid getting their feet wet at all costs and typically have enough sense to avoid flood water). A week and a half later Katniss appeared. She just limped into the lot one morning at feeding time. Imagine my surprise!
It looked like she had gotten something, most likely some sort of wire, wrapped around one of her back hooves. In the following weeks her hoof fell off due to having the blood supply cut off for those 10 days she was missing. To this day I have no idea where she was when she disappeared, but I'm very glad to have her back! Though no longer a show goat, Katniss is a very good brood doe, with some excellent bloodlines, so I keep her around.
Another thing about Katniss, It's nearly impossible before she kids to have any idea when she's gonna kid. I was saying "any day now" for three months last year! Almost as soon as she's pregnant, she looks pregnant, and by halfway through her pregnancy she's bagged up. Darned goat. I have had way to many interrupted nights of sleep thanks to having to check on her!
Finally last Wednesday, she kidded, bringing an end to my kidding season with twin bucks.
While most of the time she's very loud, while in labor Katniss is one of the quietest goats you ever saw. (which explains how we've missed two of her four kiddings) If I hadn't been outside Wednesday morning I never would have guessed she was in labor. She was acting normal, came with the other goats to eat and everything, just quiet.
Then, when she was ready she just got down to business and had these babies, quiet as can be. Twin bucks. I would have loved a doeling out of her, but, I guess I can't really complain, because with three previous kiddings, she's only had one other buck.
So, that concludes my kidding season, 10 does kidded, resulting in 19 live babies, 8 does and 11 bucks. I'm happy! (and very excited about the fact I no longer have to go outside at 2 a.m.to check on pregnant goats!
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