The surprise kids

Early this morning when I walked into the goat pen to do the milking, I heard a tiny little goat noise.  A little "maaahhhhh!"  I thought "Oh how cute.  It sounds like a baby goat."  Then I walked around the corner and I was shocked to see a baby goat!  SHOCKED!

Ummmm - I didn't know that our goat Pippi was even pregnant!

I stood staring and said "Oh God - show me what I need to do!"  We've had goat kids before but I was always ready for those.  This morning I just felt totally confused.

Pippi was cleaning up her new baby, so I decided to milk Christa while I thought about it.

By the time I was done milking, I had my wits about me.  I hurried to get fresh hay and then spread that in one of the stalls.  I put in a bucket of fresh water and a bowl of goat feed.  Then I ran to the house for iodine and scissors (to cut the hanging umbilical cord which the nanny goat bites it but it never is very short), my camera, and a child to hold the kid.

Hunter and I ran back out.  He was laughing and surprised too.  He held the little goat as I cut the cord, then poured iodine over the area to sterilize it.  We saw that it was a little boy.  (This is Pippi's 4th kid and all have been boys.)  We got mama and baby into the fresh stall and got a cute (blurry!) picture:

Now - what to name the little guy?  "Odysseus" came to my mind for some reason.

So how did Pippi get pregnant in the first place?  Well she must have gotten pregnant by the last boy goat that we sold, right before we sold him this past winter.  I hadn't suspected a thing!  My eyes narrowed in suspicion as I looked at our other three goats.  Hmmm ... could they be pregnant too?

When goats eat a lot extra, their stomachs get huge.  I jokingly call them "wide loads."  Well lately three of our goats have been "wide loads" but I thought they must have just been eating lots of extra leaves off the trees because, well, it's springtime and the leaves are growing like crazy.

Ooops.

Later in the morning, I picked up one of my goat books, and reviewed the "signs of coming labor" section.

Oh my.  Three of our goats have been acting weird this week.  And there were several of the signs listed right there on the page.  Now remember - I already knew about these things.  But ... I was not expecting any of our goats to be pregnant.

I thought more about these things this afternoon while I was working in the kitchen.  I started having a strong feeling that I needed to stop, and go outside, and get the other goat stall prepped with fresh hay.

Solomon and I went out into the goat pen and there he was.  ANOTHER goat kid!  Sundrop was a proud little mama and was busy licking him clean.  This was the strangest one to me because Sundrop is not quite a year old and she is still nursing occasionally on her own mama!

So.  Back to the house.  Iodine, scissors, camera, and Hunter to hold the goat still while I cut the cord.  Sundrop and baby then go into the fresh stall.  Add water and feed, and leave them alone to bond.

Since Sundrop was named after a yellow wildflower, Solomon thought "Dandelion" would be a good name for her new baby.

Now as I finish this post up, it is time for Solomon and I to go back outside and take care of regular afternoon animal chores.  I'm almost afraid to.  Will Christa be standing out there with her new baby this time?!

This scripture makes me chuckle:

"There are three things that are stately in their stride,
    four that move with stately bearing:
³⁰ a lion, mighty among beasts,
    who retreats before nothing;
³¹ a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king secure against revolt^." Proverbs 30:29-31