Deirdre, Registered Grade Nigerian Dwarf Doe
We are getting ready and counting the days for the goats to arrive. Today we had the hay delivered and are so thankful to have found a no-spray hay with delivery! And we had the chance to meet another local, like-minded beginning farmer who grows a very nice looking native grass hay just 40 miles away in Kendrick, ID.
This is Deirdre (Delilah on her paperwork, but comes from her current owner as Deirdre) and she is a Registered Grade Nigerian Dwarf. She has just returned from her physical exam before she comes to our farm with a clean bill of health. She's about 90 pounds right now and her current owner thinks she's looking like she might be pregnant with triplets. She has had triplets before, delivered and nursed all of them with no help.
I anticipate that since this will be my first season kidding goats that I will be quite watchful and spending lots of time in the barn. I think we'll invest in a baby monitor so I can listen for labor sounds without having to get dressed and tromp over to the barn in the middle of the night.
This is a view of the barn we are leasing from our neighbor. He built this barn for draft horses and so some modification is needed for livestock on the other end of the size spectrum. We will be adding stall doors, new hay feeders and moving the milking stanchion in there as well. It has good lighting and even a radio. We are fortunate to live where we do and have access to this kind of infrastructure.