Cute Kids, Goat Kids, that is...

So, we have some kids! Frappacino FINALLY delivered her baby goats - three of them. I walked out to the barn on Thursday afternoon, convinced that Frappy's girth was just a ruse, a twisted diguise to gain special treatment - a private stall with running water and her own feed pan and hay rack. I'd even spread new straw in preparation for these phantom offspring. Just when she had me convinced there really were no kids, she drops 'em. Actually she delivered them very gently and without a lot of trouble, for her, for me, or for her kids. By the time I got to the barn, two of the newborns were already standing beside their mother, waiting for her to get up so they could nurse. But Frappy was delivering a third kid - butt first (i.e. the wrong way round - see previous post). It was dark in the barn, all the doors were closed and the light in the stalls is dim at best. I wasn't sure what was emerging from the doe's backside, but by feeling it, I could identify all the parts of a goat inside a sac - except the head, which was still inside its mama. Without much force, I easily pulled the last of this kid into the world. I decided to call this last-born kid "Lucky". It seemed to me that my timing that day was lucky for the little'n. Lucky is the wet, all-brown one in the second photo of the previous post, and the one thinking about following Go above, though he thought better of it at last.
Lucky was a little slow at first. I was worried that his backward entry may have hurt him. His hind legs were a little disjointed and I didn't think he would be able to compete for one of the available milk taps (A goat doe only has two teats; if she delivers more than two kids, it is survival of the fittest - pushiest). But the next day he was standing strong and nursing and pushing his siblings around.
Of course his siblings had to be dubbed "Happy" and "Go". Go is the black and white one who has managed to find the only gap in the "goat-proof" pen and has moved freely back and forth at least 24 times that I have witnessed! Despite being butted away by all the goats in the next stall, Go insists on...well, GOing! He tried to convince Happy to join him,too, but Happy couldn't find the gap. Besides Happy seems content to stay by his mother, who doesn't butt him away and provides very nice snacks.
Lucky likes best to lie in the sunshine with the cats, while Go does his going and Happy does his bouncing around. Baby kids are so much fun to watch. They get to be very bouncy, springing into the air, all four feet off the ground at once, and then flinging their back legs out, as if trying to click their heels together - and this is all done for the sheer joy of it. Tomorrow there will be less joy for these kids - at least for a few seconds. We are going to de-horn them, before the horn buds get growing. It will make them much nicer grown-up goats if we can get this little chore done early. Then I'll have to introduce the kiddies to the bottle. I'll probably feed them mother's milk for a few days and then start mixing in some kid milk-replacer. The kids get a lot less cute when I am the one who must feed them. That also means I will be milking again! How did I get in this position, anyway??? Oh, well, I have a new milking tool that I've been waiting to try - I'll keep you posted on how (or IF) it works as expected.