Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

Another roller coaster day and ANOTHER female kid to add to our growing nursery!!! Meet Raisin!!! Isn't she a stunning colour - although hard to take photos of!?
Today it was Nutmeg's turn to give birth: it was obvious this morning that today would be the day and we were grateful that it looked as though we would be kidding during the day, and not in the dead of the night again!!
However, once again, it became obvious early on that Nutmeg was going to need some assistance. Just like Thyme, she kept having contractions and pushing but all we were seeing was the water bag and little else. David had a feel inside after 40 minutes or so and discovered all was actually as it should be: two legs and a head presenting beautifully. The only problem seemed to be that dear Nutmeg was not just able to open up enough to push the kid out!!
To the sounds of screaming (goats really do let you know they are in pain) David carefully eased his fingers back inside to try to get a grip on the head and pull. Poor Nutmeg has already pushed so hard she had torn her skin so we needed to be really careful we made it no worse.
Fortunately a careful easing out of the head saw the rest of the body follow very quickly. Raisin was VERY weak and wobbly at first and we had to milk Nutmeg and then dribble some milk into her mouth - she was just not strong enough to suck at that point.
A mum's milk is a wonderful substance though and within the next hour, Raisin was up and about and finding the teats on her own.
We gave Nutmeg some antibiotics to stop any possible infection from her tear and we hope she starts to feel better soon.
Onion is recovering well although she is obviously very sore still and she is also very quiet. We miss her coming up to us to nibble our clothes and demand a head rub. Fingers crossed she will be back to normal soon.
All the kids are doing really, really well!!!

See the Pygmy Goat kidding 2015 section for more