Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

Another day of waiting... Nutmeg, first photo, has been bleating away for most of the afternoon and we wonder whether she is starting to get some initial pain from early contractions. She ate her evening feed as normal mind you and is showing no signs of nesting, although she has been laying down a fair bit. Her eyes are definitely a bit glazed though as you can see.
Both Nutmeg and Garlic (second photo) are first time kidders, also called 'fresheners' and so we have no idea how their first kidding is going to go. Thyme, Nutmeg's mum, is one of our quietest kidders and has always been an excellent mum. Chives, Garlic's mum (no longer part of our herd), was a very nervous mum and then got mastitis so could no longer give milk to her kids! Onion took over milk duties at that point which is why Garlic and Onion are so close!!
We have always said how much we think our pygmy goats pass on some characteristics to their kids: whether they will pass on their maternal instincts is something we will be finding out soon - we hope!
We are making sure we give the pygmy goats extra straw each evening in case any start to kid in the night!! In the second photo Garlic is doing an excellent job of eating it all!!! NOT quite what we had in mind!!!