This is the blog post I started back if Feb so I'm pretending I posted it in March.
As many of you know, Tulip was impregnated by her son Bud.
Very much inherited the dominant "white" Saanen goat genes...
And then, because of the unplanned nature of the timing of the pregnancy, we (I) weren't sure when exactly it would come to fruition. And Tulip was getting so big! Poor thing having a hard time getting around. And it was so cold, I was worried about possible frozen babies.
Aaron was nice enough to put a baby monitor in the goat shed so we (I) could listen and hear if anything was amiss without trecking out to the shed every couple hours. Of course, then they started sleeping in the metal shed. Sigh.
Well, eventually time passed and one Sunday afternoon I watched Emily go out and check on Tulip in her Sunday dress... And then come back in just a little bit more quickly than she had gone out. It had turned warmer for a spell for which I was very grateful.
I went out with her and then realized we hadn't told anyone Tulip was in labor and it seemed like birth was imminent. I went in to get more supplies, told Mom, texted Amy, got something for Mom to wear in the barn, and headed back out.
Jared and Amy rushed over and those who wanted to watch headed out to be the audience.
The reason I brought up the father's color is because we got really worried when tulip didn't seem to be progressing and the first sac was very dark... Blood in the sac is apparently a very bad sign. But then out came a dark buckling!
So small! We knew tulip had 3 but Emily said later she thought"oh no" when the first was small..
Tulip is a great mom and it was fun to have Mom there to help. She hasn't forgotten her nursing skills :)
There was some time between the first and the next, but another buckling, doeling,and buckling came rather fast...
For a total of 3 bucklings and a little doeling..
We didn't quite have enough towels... Wanted to dry them all off quickly because it was rather chilly..
What's funny about this story is that all this time sitting out with Tulip and her babies left Amy to get dinner all together... Poor Amy! But of course she did a great job and it was nice to come in to good food.
I, of course had to check on the babies every night. It took a bit to figure out a way to keep all the goats happy warm and safe.
But eventually we just put a bale of hay in front of the shed door so the adults could step up and over it but the babies couldn't get out...
Here is salt, the one baby that got his father's color. .
The three dark ones...
Ginger, the doeling.
Pepper, the darkest of them all (don't know where the black came from)
