Goats normally kid at 150 days +/- 5. On Wednesday, Farrah was at day 153. Anna came into the house about 7 and announced that Farrah was in the kidding stall and had some mucas discharge. Some friends who live a couple of miles down the road were interested in seeing what signs of kidding are, so they came over. About 8, we went to check on Farrah and she was in early labor. Vicki and our friend’s daughter got to hang out in the shed watch for a while. Things didn’t really progress, so the girls went to bed around 9. As the evening continued, Farrah’s labor didn’t improve.
By 10:30, it was time to intervene. I gloved up and reached in and found back legs. The kid was in breach position and I was not at all able to rotate the baby. We had no choice but to pull him out back leg first. Once the kid was out, he was not breathing. Despite our best efforts to clear lungs and do goat CPR, the kid never revived. He was a 10.9lb buckling. There were no other kids. Farrah will get some antibiotics to help prevent infection and we have already begun milking her. We will dump the antibiotic laced milk and then start harvesting for the family.
A disappointing start to kidding season. Hopefully Maggie will do better. She is due in 4 days.