Kidding season itself is exciting, the waiting is nerve-wracking. Unless, of course, you don't realize the doe is going to kid. Yucatan, my two year old LaMancha is a prime example. Rebekah and I had been watching her closely since mid-February when she started bagging up. We had two possible breeding date, both by AI. Sure, she was getting close, but her udder wasn't tight, tail head ligaments still present and accounted for, appetite healthy - nothing to suggest imminent birth, right? I got home during a rainstorm and immediately realized that Yucatan, typically very social, wasn't with the remainder of the herd at the gate. A quick search of the paddock revealed Yucatan hidden away in one of the shed stalls with a good sized, almost pure black kid, standing behind her. Dry, clean, fed and fluffed up. As a side note, this makes AI doe kid #3 for the year - twin doe kids from Katie - Arizona and Alaska, and now Argentina from Yucatan.
One of the older AI doe kids, Alaska, broke her leg about a month ago. The first week of the fracture was something of a trial and error to find the best splinting method on an active, spunky kid. Then two weeks in the splint and last week I removed it. At first she was hesitant to place weight on it, but this week, she's bounding around with only a slight bowing in of the front leg and thickening of the canon bone due to the callus , which will hopefully resolve with time.
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