More Babies!

After a wonderful time at church, we came home to find that Salsa had a baby while we were gone.  What fun!  We love baby animals and goats are about the cutest things.

See, no ears!  She is so sweet.

Salsa is a LaMancha dairy goat.  Her breed has almost no ears- just little nubs.  When mixed with a nubian, the babies will have little nubs with just a bit of ear hanging down.  Just precious.  Not only did we get a cute little black doe with a touch of white on her head, we will get fresh goats milk in about 2 weeks.  I don't milk, other than to milk out colostrum, for the first 2 weeks.  This gives the mother time to settle in and get the baby off to a good start while allowing all of the colostrum to leave the system.

Colostrum is the first milk that any mother produces, humans included.  This first milk is very thick, like Eagle Brand Milk, and very sweet.  Not only is it sweet, it is very full of antibodies and vitamins that a newborn needs to be strong and healthy.  If a new born baby doesn't get this colostrum, they usually die.  During the first few hours after being born the cells in a newborn's stomach and intestine are unusually large which allow the antibodies to pass through directly into the blood stream.  This protects the newborn from disease and illness until their immune system gets going.  So, it is very important that a newborn nurse as soon as possible.  Sometimes things happen and a mother may die or become ill and not be able to nurse her newborn.  This is why I will milk out colostrum and freeze it- just in case I ever need it.  You can buy colostrum in the feed store, but man-made stuff just doesn't make for a good replacement. 

Kidding season is under way!  Right now we have 2 more in early labor down in the barn.  I expect to wake up to babies or at least to babies being born.  It is hard for the kids to go to sleep knowing that such a thing is going on.  This is what makes all the days of feeding and watering and fence repair worth it. 

It amazes me how a newborn can sleep!  Sweet baby girl

Jonathan with his goat, Maple.  She is one of the 2 having babies shortly.