The Babies Are Coming!!

 

 

 Well, February has come.. and with it 2 of my does were due. Hazel and Phoenix. I sent in the fecal PCR test 2 weeks before the first potential due date, the results came back favorable and now it was time to concentrate on the kids.

 

Preparation

A week before the babies were to arrive I was able to borrow the home pasteurizer from one of our good friends. The unit was a little older and had not been used for about a year so a test run and calibration was in order.

 

It took a bit of fidgeting for sure- but, if this part wasn't right, then I would be running through all these steps for no good reason. I found the best tool to judge how hot the pasteurizer setting got was to use a digital thermometer, this way I didn't have to pull apart the pasteurizer, test the liquid, then try to put it all back together. A few calls to Hoegger Supply and I was able to calibrate the pasteurize and heat treat setting on it. 

 

Once the pasteurizer was calibrated I completed a run though of supplies, towels, blankets, hair dryer, cage, synthetic colostrum, milk replacer, bottles, .. molasses. ....

 



February first marked my official with drawl from society and the start of the endless cycle of checking udders, ligaments, and behaviors. The kitchen was filled with the static noise from the baby monitors and the midnight goat checks began. I was determined to catch the goats giving birth- for the disease prevention and because of the chill of our Wisconsin winter.

 

 

The big question of the week-- Who is going to kid first??