When my Great-grandpa died, my brother, Corbin and Mom flew down to Denver, Colorado, for the funeral. Corbin took his 100 year old banjo that Great-grandpa had given him to play at the funeral. I stayed home to watch my two younger siblings, Kayla and Calvin, tend to the animals and the house. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work as well! One day, I looked out the window and much to my dismay, saw a coyote very near to us. It was in our neighbor's field, but was as close as it could get to my goats as it could. I went outside after telling Kayla and Calvin to stay in the house, took our two bigger dogs and a tool that is like a hoe and headed out after it. The coyote ran to the back of the neighbor's field when he saw us, then started to run towards our field, despite the dogs barking at him. I then opened the gate between our field and the neighbors and let the dogs go. They chased after him hard, but as soon as they smelled him, they quit and just watched the coyote run around them! So, I started out after them. The coyote finally jumped the fence, then began running down the road one way, then the other way, then into a driveway and back into a field. After a while he left, for which I was glad!! The evening before Mom and Corbin were supposed to fly back, Valentines was showing signs of an approaching birth. So much so, that I didn't think that Mom was going to be able to get back in time to see it. The next morning, which was Saturday, Mom and Corbin made it on the flight (they fly as standbys) which was going to get them home at 1:00. I stayed home when Dad went to go pick them up at the airport. Valentines was moving along very slowly according to what most of my goats do. Some of the signs that Valentines was showing, if they had been on almost any other goat of mine, would have meant that the babies would have born early that morning. At 2:00 pm, Dad arrived home with Mom and Corbin. Mom came out to see me and Valentines. Another while went by, then I finally went into the house to eat lunch. I changed out of my 'barn' clothes and into a beautiful dress that I had sewed. I had just barely sat down to enjoy a relaxing lunch when Kayla came running in shouting "Valentines is laying down and baaing and I think that she is having a baby!" I quickly got up and not bothering to change again, hurried outside. There was Valentines with her baby's head out. Corbin called some friends that wanted to see this birth. They didn't quite make it, but they loved seeing the babies take their first wobbly steps. Then the Hahners came over and watched me milk the goats and feed the babies. They bought their first 'milk' goats from me and so wanted to learn how to milk and take care of newborn babies. Val's baby boy was born with a couple of issues. First, he walked on the heels of his back legs. Second, he had an overbite. Thirdly, he had an eye problem. The eye went through several changes. First, it had a milky blueish/whitish over 3/4 of it. Then it had a red rim around the border of the eye. Then, it looked normal, but when I looked closly at it, it had a marbly look. Then, lastly, it went normal. So, we thought that it would be approriate to name him, 'Miracle'. These changes took a couple of weeks to complete. The little girl was born with no problems. I named her, Unity.

Unity is the brown one. Miracle is the black one.

Grommettes Birth -

Grommette had a nice easy birth. This time I was there to see it. When I could tell that she was ready to begin pushing, I called Mom out to see the babies be born. Grommette quickly pushed out two girls and a boy. One of the girls was pure black that I named Bitty. The other girl was named Blossom & the boy, Bobby.

Suzie's birth-

Suzie started labor early in the morning & pushed out her girl and boy in early afternoon. She had a great birth.


Spice's birth-


I could tell that Spice was going to have her baby soon. Mom called us in to eat & while I was eating, Spice went into a little ditch & had her two girls. I was watching her out the window, but Spice never did show anything that made me think that she was in labor so I missed it! We named the babies Rosemary & Clover.

Grodivia's birth-

One afternoon, Grodivia's udder was full, so I knew that it would be soon. The next morning, Grodivia would go out into the field for a while then come back into the barn then go back out. I was busy doing schoolwork, but asked Mom if I could go out with her for a couple minutes. Mom said yes. When I got out into the field with her, she turned and headed back towards the barn. I followed her and sat down beside Grodivia. Soon she laid down and began pushing. When the baby bag appeared, I ran into the house and informed Mom. When I got back outside, I found to my surprise, that Grodivia had stopped pushing & was waiting for me. As soon as she saw me, she laid down and finished pushing her boy and girl out. I named the girl Snickers & the boy Hershey.


Winter's birth-


One evening, some friends were over that had goats themselves. They were the ones that got me started in goats. Rachel mentioned to me that Winter's udder was filling with milk. I checked it and indeed it was! The next morning the udder was full, so I called some friends that had let me know that they wanted to see a goat's birth. They came over and a couple hours later, Winter was in labor. It was a start and stop labor, but eventually I saw hoofs and then the baby was born. The next girl was born soon after. We named them Spring and Autumn.



Valentine's birth-



A few days after Winter gave birth, Valentines had her babies. I didn't know when Valentines' due date was, so just kept an eye on her. The morning that she had her twin girls, I checked her udder. It was empty, so I thought that it wouldn't be for a couple more days, but I had a fleeting thought that I would miss the birth. At 2:00 p.m. I went out to check her and Birch who was late by two weeks! There was Valentines' laying near a hay feeder with two girls tucked up next to her.


Birch's birth- that same day while tending to Valentines' babies I had another thought that I was going to miss Birch's birth. I hastily pushed it away. That night Birch's udder was filling, so I set my alarm to go off every 2-3 hours. At 2:00 a.m. Birch had two babies. I got there right after the 2nd was born. I sat down on a box and began petting and drying off one of the babies. Birch lay down and began pushing. I thought that it was just the placenta, but when I looked closer, I saw ears, and eyes and a nose. Another baby!! We named the two girls Hazel and Holly & the boy Hickory.