The wonderful thing about homesteading is that right when you are in the depths of despair something beautiful happens.
Right when I was throwing a pity party because I couldn’t live on a real farm, God delivered. Oh how I am thankful that His love is never ending, even when I’m selfish!
April 15th at 5 pm Phoebe gave birth to a single buckling.
Of course it just so happened that we had plans that night. She had been teasing me for over a week, making me think the baby was coming when he wasn’t. But this time things were different and I knew those contractions were real. We cancelled our dinner plans, and I sat and waited with her. Hubby had a quick side job to do, but he made it back just in time. The hoofs were hanging out when he came racing into the barn.
Just a side note: men and delivery don’t quite seem to mix. He was a wreck! But a cute one 😉 .
The whole thing didn’t last very long. She had some hard contractions for about an hour and 20 minutes, but once she started pushing it only took 10 minutes for her to deliver the most adorable kid I had ever seen. He came into the world in almost perfect kidding postion. His head was sideways instead of nose first, so it took a little extra effort on Phoebe’s part to get him out. He is a pretty big boy! Poor Phoebe is quite swollen.
We had hoped for a female, or for twins! In my joy there is sadness because I know he cannot stay. He comes from good lines and has beautiful marking and he’ll make a fabulous breeding buck or pet for someone else. We had hoped to keep his father’s line running in our herd, but as of right now that doesn’t look possible. He would only be good for breeding our other doe. Line breeding is a great way to beef up good qualities in your herd, but son to mother breeding isn’t recommended.
Phoebe has really taken to motherhood. He had a lot of mucous wrapped around his face, so I helped make sure his face got cleaned off right away and cleared the mucous from his mouth then handed him to her to do the rest of the cleaning. At first she just stared at me like “what do you want me to do with that?” But her instincts kicked in, and she is just smitten with him now.
Milking her on the other hand has proved to be quite the ordeal. Neither of us really know what we’re doing, so it’s a bit of a rodeo, and I have yet to have any milk that hasn’t gotten spilled, or ended up with her hoof in it. But let’s not dwell on that today. Instead let’s just admire that face:
Yup, that face makes everything better.
For now I’m going to enjoy the next 8 weeks with baby. I’m going to cuddle him, and stroke his soft fur, and breath in that awesome fresh baby goat smell. I’ve been blessed with something so amazing!
And amen.
