It is kidding and lambing season and the goats decided that February would be a good time to have babies.  Ivy went first and had a big beautiful boy full of moon spots.  She had one boy last season and kidded very easily, and I am thankful for that.  So many things can go wrong, but this time it was easy for her and me.

That same afternoon, Violet decided she wanted to go and she had triplets.  I was stunned because she didn't look that big.  I was sure it was twins, but triplets! And to top it off she had two that were polled.  Violets little boy was also polled.  I was ecstatic.  That meant I didn't have to disbud them which I hate doing.  Everyone settled in and were doing great.  Violet was handling the triplets with ease and things started to quite down.

Exactly one week later, Diva went into labor.  She is an old pro at kidding so I was really excited to see what she was going to give me.  I put her in the barn, thinking she was in early labor, only to come back a few minutes later to two babies on the ground.  One of them was stillborn, the other one was doing well.  I stayed with her and a few minutes later she had two more.  Another one was stillborn.  Diva still looked awfully big and I thought there might be another, but she was finished.  Four babies and only two survived.  I was heartbroken.  She ended up with a boy that looked exactly like the daddy and a little girl that looked exactly like her.  I was thrilled.  I left the barn that night very happy.  Little did I know that things would go very wrong very quickly.

The next day, I found one of my sheep away from the herd.  I was concerned and went to check it out.  She was having a hard time breathing and had a lot of mucous coming from her mouth and nose.  I got my husband to help carry her to the porch and I spent the rest of the day and night doing everything I could to help her.  I called a vet but couldn't find anyone to come help me; I was frantic and felt helpless. She passed away in the middle of the night.  I was devastated.

The next morning, I went to check on the goats.  I went into the barn and Diva was laying on her side.  She was dead.  I lost it at that moment.  What could have gone wrong?  She was fine when I checked on her before I went to bed.  Now I have two kids that have no mom.  I cried and cried.  I lost two of my animals in a matter of hours.  I was starting to question if this life was for me.

A few days later, one of the ewes went into labor and I had my first little lamb born on the farm .  It is a boy and he is so stinking cute.  That little life helped me with how low I was feeling.

I decided to let Diva's little girl go to a family that bought from me last year.  I was going to keep her, but after thinking about what direction I wanted the farm to go in, I let her go.  It was very hard for me to part with her.  She was all that I had left of Diva.  I loved Diva and I still miss her terribly.

We have sold all of the kids from this season and I have also sold the lamb.  They will all go to their new homes as soon as they are weaned.  I am hoping to have more lambs sometime this spring.  I also purchased three new doelings to add to the one doeling that I am retaining.  I am hoping the rest of the season will be uneventful.  I love new life, it is full of promise.