Kids On Board

The barn cats are warming up the warming barrel in this nasty, cold weather. Mia will have to give up her barn bed soon though, as it appears we have kids in our future. If the weather stays anything like this, the warming barrel will be in constant use. Perhaps Snickers can snuggle with some new kids this winter
The news from the barn by my goat gynecologist was, "I think Twee is getting an udder!"

By Golly! She is!

Twee was the only female not bred last November, and she was smaller and not quite a year old, so we were okay with that. She matured and grew beautifully this year, and I think will be bringing us our first kids of 2010.

Twee will be kidding for the first time, so she was flat as can be before. Obviously she is not anymore. This could put her at 15 weeks or better. Gestation is 5 months or 150 days. All but one of the goats kidded at 150 days exactly this spring. Speckles was four days late. So the dates I have marked on my kidding calendar for Twee, based on seeing her with the buck, are January 15 (I think too soon), and February 5 (The pool is started. Lets take bets!).

I went onto a couple sites to gather more information, and will try and check for kids using the following information.
What to expect during your goats pregnancy and Onset of Labor
http://www.7mfarm.com/goat-health2.html

In my searches, I found another site talking about mastitis and a "treatment" that seems to make a lot of sense.
"If you treat the udder at this early stage, in most cases it will be normal again by the next milking. The treatment I have found most effective is to drench the goat with some of her own fresh milk – 20 mls will do – as soon as I detect an abnormality in the udder. This challenges the goat to produce antibodies against whatever caused the mastitis and is very effective. It is cheap, with no withdrawal period unlike drugs."

I'll have to run this one by the vet for an opinion. See what you think.
Natural Ways of Treating Mastitis by Irene Ramsay

But the other good news is that I think Twee's mother, Vinegar, is also starting to "show". Her udder looks like it is starting to round out again. I have a date of February 24 on my calendar for her. She has given us two sets of twins, and is a great mom, so I hope for more of the same from her.
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Oh! Its still snowing.
Just look at the past week's snow pictures to know what its like outside. Cold and white - and I admit - pretty!