Skeeter was due Saturday, April 20th, and as usual she delivered bang on the dot! She didn’t waste any time but started into labor at around 7:30 a.m. It wasn’t long before we welcomed two beautiful new kids to the herd: Meet Merlin and Morgana!

First off the assembly line was this big fella who we named Merlin. He weighed 8.5 lbs. and was a little bit stuck. He only had one front leg presenting, but his head was in the right  spot.  Goat kids can be born with only one front leg in place, but they’re wider that way so it’s not as easy for mom. I could have pushed him back in and gone fishing for the other leg but Skeeter is a big, roomy doe so I decided to just pull on the one while easing his head through. He made it without much trouble, although mama wanted a rest afterwards!

Before her brother was even quite delivered, this little gal rushed onto the scene! She couldn’t wait to see the big, new world out there! We named her Morgana (a variant of Morgan le Fey from the King Arthur legend). She was 7.5 lbs. and was struggling to her feet before she even hit the ground!

Skeeter never fails to produce some beautifully-marked babies! We can’t wait to see what these two look like as they grow up!

I was just about to get lunch when I heard a ruckus behind the house. It sounded like the goats were playing with the plastic mounting block and running into the gates around the back patio. It was loud! I ignored it for a while, but the banging went on and on. So eventually I went downstairs to see what the heck was going on. 

And Molly was STUCK! 

All I could think of was the line from the Wheel of Fish scene in Weird Al’s movie, UHF:

“Let’s see what’s in the box?” 
“NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! STUPID! YOU’RE SO STUPID!!”

Sunday was beautiful, so Phil and I took Snowball’s new babies out into the big, wide world to do a little exploring. Pluto made sure they stayed safe. Dixie kept her distance. She tried to sniff the new babies the morning after they were born. Snowball had a very strong opinion about that, however. She backed up for a good running start and charged Dixie at top speed. She hit the dog broadside with all her force and sent Dixie rolling end over end across the goat yard. The dog let out a terrified screech, scrambled to her feet, and raced out of the pen like her tail was on fire. She hasn’t touched another baby goat since. If one tries to walk up to her, she gives them a sidelong look and quietly slinks away. I’m glad she’s learned not to mess with babies. I’d been worried about her because she can be very rambunctious and she plays rough. Baby goats won’t survive a dog playing rough with them, so I was wondering how I might keep Dixie away from them. But it turns out that Snowball had the matter well in hand!
The rocks offer lots of fun play opportunities for baby goats!

Pongo and Maya were excited to meet the new kids. Maya was excited to have someone smaller than her to bully. Pongo is a gentle soul and just wanted to introduce himself. He’s been so gentle with the new kids, just as he was with Balto last year. I’ve never seen another goat quite like him. Most youngsters are rough and enjoy bullying anyone smaller than themselves, but Pongo has never shown that tendency. Maya, on the other hand, got a few disciplinary whacks from Snowball before she learned to mind her manners around the little ones!

Snowball wasn’t sure she liked having her kids play on the big rocks. She very purposefully rounded them up and marched them over to the tires on the other side of the yard as if to say, “Babies your age should stay in the designated play area!”

Snowball was tired and hungry the day after kidding, so Phil and I thought we’d give her a break and do a little babysitting. Gandalf and Esmeralda were happy to come into the house and hang out for a while!

They even helped us play a board game!

Until the board game made them bored! Ba-dum-TISH!

There’s nothing more relaxing than sitting on the couch with a couple of fuzzy, warm, and brand new baby goats snuggled in your arms!

Introducing the first two models off the 2024 Goat-O-Rama assembly line! They’re so new they haven’t got names yet, but I’m sure we’ll be thinking of some shortly! Snowball showed us first thing this morning that she was ready to have kids any time and she didn’t want me to leave the pen. This is a first for her, as she usually likes to kid sometime around 2:00 in the morning, but I was pleased we could be there to assist. It turns out maybe she knew we needed to be there as she seemed to have a bit of trouble pushing these kids out even though they were presented correctly. I’m sure she’d have got them out eventually without help, but it was nice to be able to move things along a bit when progress stalled.

First to hit the ground at around 11:00 a.m. was a beautiful 8 lb. two-tone chamoisee baby girl. She looks a lot like her older sister, Molly! The next was a lovely 9 lb. white buckling with gray/blue roan spots. He’s practically Pongo’s double! We helped Snowball dry them off and get them into the shed and out of the wind, which was beginning to howl. The kids were up and nursing in almost no time at all.

Phil thinks this little guy looks like a “Gandalf.” I’m inclined to agree. Let’s see how we feel about it over the next couple days!

We have no idea what this little girl’s name will be, but I’m sure she’ll discover her name before long.

Listen to their little cute baby squeaks!