Made this pic this morning! Couldn't find ligs last night (but I don't seem so good at that part) Put her in kidding pen yesterday and other than screaming because she is by herself she seems normal! But her little vulva sure looks puffier to me and feels soft. Will check for ligs in a little bit. She let her daddy rub her belly and even laid down while he did. He said he sure did feel a big ol' knot in there.
We are leaving at midnight to go to Ft. Benning for Williams Airborne Graduation!
Do ya'll think it sounds like she is going to kid while I am gone? NO, I don't know a due date!
Went and checked. I feel nothing and can wrap fingers around and touch each other and rub up and down tail with no sign of ligs at all! UPDATE SHOT!
OK, so it has been about 3 weeks and I am thinking it looks a little bigger so I take this and now that I see them side by side it seems a good bit bigger and not to bad looking for a FF! But what do I know?! I have only spent a zillion hours looking at goat boobies on line! One day I will actually know how well you learn from that! hehe! After I figure out what I do know! I sure wishthis were over so I could relax about those kids!
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I actually decided that if we both had to learn we might as well go all the way and learn from the rear and two handed. I found myself doing a little more one teat, then the next teat and back again. But I get them both at once some too. I figure if I keep working on it I will eventually learn to do it right and two handed. I really do like doing it from behind. Especially since her teats don't point forward, but are very well placed and it is easier to get between her legs and reach them, since her udder is so high.
I love the shape and all of her little udder. It isn't huge this first go round and so early on but to me it is perfect as far as the shape, teat placement and especially that it is high and tight with what seems like great attachment. Of course I realize I won't know until she reaches a point of greater capacity just how well the attachment and height will remain. Hopefully she won't reveal great capacity one day only to have everything fall apart. I would rather get a little less milk and have a strong udder that holds up over the years! So far perfect, if she has good production I will have no complaints!
And Thanks all of you, they aren't so hard to milk really so I guess you guys are right. I really wasn't sure how her teat size compared to most so I appreciate the comments a lot. It helps me learn. I have a lot of that to do. If I ever get to be a good milker I will have this thing licked. Oh No! That's just the top of the hill, ain't it? I have to ride this bike down the other side! I have to learn to make cheeses and sour cream and butter and soap and lotion and shampoo and OMG! I will never get done learning! Cool!
Me, too, Melissa. When Summer (my junior doe) kidded this year, I milked her the first time at five weeks (I think) and was absolutely delighted! It was so easy, nice big teats, pointing frontward. Her mom's are small and are parallel to her legs meaning I always have to resposition her legs to milk while Summer is in perfect position regardless of her leg position. Summer's teats are at least twice as big when considering length and "width."
Margaret, your milking experience will be a good one!
I'm eyeing the long teats. ^^
Looking good :0)
Looks good! :)
That's more like it! Once I see an udder like that on a first freshener, I figure they can go pretty much any time. However, you might still see a huge increase at some point. If I see a goat's udder that has suddenly changed drastically in the last few hours and makes me go, "Whoa!!!" she is usually pretty close. Some of them really fill up in the last 12-24 hours.
I'm so excited for you! I know you've been waiting so long for babies!
OK, so I decided to take a new photo this morning and updated the original post above!
I plan to put her in the woods deep enough to were she won't find people at all! I hope. I need to research their home ranges. But I figure she will need to be at least a few miles away from any residents if not much more! I knew she was fine with the goats but would have to be moved before I cut poultry and rabbits lose. But I didn't think about her getting into this particular pen and I should have. I just wasn't thinking about her at the time. I was focusing to much on making sure the dogs couldn't! Totally my fault! But it won't happen again! She is lucky her daddy didn't shoot her. But I said that I wouldn't. It just wouldn't seem right for something that is my fault and she is just doing what comes natural for her! I fought to hard to save her life as a baby and through an almost deadly injury right after she started running loose! Similar to Anchovy's, except she wasn't ripped open as bad, but her bone was broke and penetrated the skin! We figure bad tree fall or dog attack!
I'm sure your son is going to be so happy to see you, and his pups. It's not easy, what he's doing! :) I thought the coon girl might be a problem for you. Too bad she has to find a new home, but it's for the best all around. She could get herself killed getting into another person's chicken coop. Hugs, and best wishes for your travels. :)
Thanks so much guys! I feel a lot better now! You guys always help so much!
IKR Patty! My child who just turned 19 last week jumped out of a perfectly good helicopter 5 times from Mon.-Wed. CRAZY! Why people would want to do that is beyond me! So I have to go be at the big day! And drag 2-7 week old pups his dog had so he can see them. Says he can't wait to pet them, he hasn't petted a dog in so long! He adores his dogs!
Now, I could be wrong again, but I checked the way you described Deb, after consulting the pic and I believe I understand what you mean. If so, she is ok! I've always read that you have to do this with a few does before you figure it out and now I think I understand why! That does help a lot and I really appreciate your time and efforts to teach me this!
I realize that they all spend a different amount of time making an udder, but as a guide I was going by how long it took Karley and based on that I was thinking into May! Probably the first or second week! So hopefully she will be fine!And that would give her time for that udder to fill out a good bit! As you said Deb, she does have nice udders in her pedigree so hopefully her production will at least be good enough to feed her kids good. I am pretty sure that won't be a problem with Bo Peep as her sire' dam. And Pinnacle as her dam' sire. I really hope she has a tighter medial than her mom though. Hopefully Bo Peep will have passed that part down. I can't wait to see how our goat boobies turn out. That is as exciting as seeing what the kids look like! I can't wait for my first home bred kids!
I have tried the "planning to breed to avoid graduations" but apparently that is not possible, especially with (2) Dennis Jr. and William in the Army. because every time I turn around I get a call saying "I am going to get to go to such and such school". Well those "schools" are over quicker than gestation's. So what is a mom/goat mom to do but breed and hope no one is graduating at kidding time!
Sorry I panicked on ya'll I am a bit on edge about all that is going on right now! Yesterday we found that something had killed 15 out of 25 chicks we had just put in a pen out of the brooder! 12 Gorgeous pullets and 3 Roos, some a little rare all purebred, that I have knocked myself out raising! And last night I found our "prodigal Babytoon" that we raised under the shed by the pen. So I am 99.99% sure it was her as we suspected! The surviving 10 chicks were back in the brooder with the next batch coming up and are staying 'til we return and capture the coon for relocation to the deep woods! And put a complete cover over the pen, in case!
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