The Surprise “Christmas Gifts”
12/04/2018

A Short Story……

When a few of the Buck boys and I left for the Fall Frenzy Buck Show – late October…I breathed a sigh of relief…”Just one doe left to breed when I get home! The hold out…Echo. I had given her the prior kidding season “off” because I thought she needed are “rest”. Prior years she had a great span of handling BIG kid (10 & 12 pounders – triplets etc) multiple births and I thought I’d risk all the warnings I’d heard…( she may not breed again or you shouldn’t let them have time off it’s not a good practice).

WELL……..When I got home and checked out all the girls…I did a double “take”! Echo wasn’t her usual big doe self – she had started to make an UDDER! WHAT!

As you know……..it can happen in the Best of Families – but this is just a little more complicated than that. “Kids – Who’s your Daddy?” No bucks had ever jumped the fence or escaped from the 15 foot wide alley between the bucks and the does pastures. I’d heard tales of through the fence breedings but….??? It would have to be “just perfect”. Well – now I am a believer. Who had made it from the buck pasture over into the alley fence? (I have three boys in mind along with a future “electric fence” on the buck pasture side!)

AND the vet tells me…it CAN be more than one Sire!

The QUADS arrived just before noon on Monday December 4th – by C-Section (our very first time). Echo’s kids just ran out of room in there and labor had started full throttle – it was not progressing. Out of time and this one was way above my pay grade – I could not even get in for discovery!

Today – Echo and Quads are doing great! Echo made -0- colostrum the first 24 hours – 1 ounce = NOTHING. Warm packs…massage…dynamint – all yielded Nothing. Thank Heaven for the “frozen” stash and the frozen milk. She’s now 11 days into her lactation and yesterday produced 11.5#.

The vets estimated them to be about a week early…weights estimated were 7 and 8 pounds, 6 and 6 pounds….Buck, Doe, Doe, Buck….all beautiful and growing like magic!

The first two little bundles of magic are to be named Kolar and Kendi (after the vets who delivered them) the next two are Kalypso and KO! After all it is still the year of the K!

Forward ON….thru the magic of DNA – The search for the truth begins!

I’ll keep you posted!

 

NEWS FLASH…..February 2019!

UPDATE……………….THE JURY IS IN!  UC DAVIS Laboratory…. DNA REVEALS….

THE SIRE IS:

Yearling…..CASTLEKEEP JURY!

2 x Senior Reserve Champion October 2018 Fall Frenzy Mountain Grove Missouri