There's a new kid in town!

Literally.

Last night Bumper the lady goat went into labor. After a long night of contractions, maaaaa-ing and pushing, she managed to push out a healthy little buckling, who is marked pretty much like his father, Chris-Billy.

It was pretty cool, we were nervous about it because goat breeding last year was a complete failure, with Bumper going into labor prematurely and losing both kids, then Chocolate (the other doe) suddenly dying from bloat the next day.

She stood up and pushed, she laid down to push, she walked around. Eventually her water broke, then a little hoof stuck out (pointing the right way, so we knew it was in the right position and we wouldn't have to get involved), followed by a second one a few minutes later, then a nose! She laid down to rest, then pushed some more and out came a little brown head and shoulders. At that point the big pushing was over, and she laid down with the baby half hanging out of her and began to lick him. It was 3AM, at least I think it was because the roosters started crowing not long after, and they usually kick in around 3.

We got to bed around 5AM.

I've got some pretty cool pictures of the event, but haven't cropped them or uploaded them yet. For now, here's a pic of the happy goat family, click on it to see a larger sized one: