She toyed with us for days. A little nesting behavior here, an over inflated udder there, and nada. I had a sinking feeling that she was going to save her labor until I was home alone with all four kids (nephews are here) and no one to help either wrangle kids or stimulate babies. And she almost did, that Turkey!
Bill went up the hill to check on Gert one last time before bed last night and discovered the baby, just delivered. He came down to the house and got me. We waited there for another 30 minutes or so, watching to see if another was coming. Nope, just the one. She was awfully fat for having had just one little peanut in there! I'm sort of relieved that it was just one though, as this is Gert's first, and she's an "older mother" as goats go (four or five by the vet's guesstimate), leaving me feeling a little leery of her instinct/ability to mother her babe. So far so good, with the exception of the baby escaping by accident by walking right through the fence. She's tiny!
So here she is, our as yet to be named baby girl -
We're not sure yet whether or not we're keeping her. A lot of things depend on whether or not Gertie ends up being a good milker. Let's hope that she's at least better than our other Nigerian Dwarf.
So our littlest Mama became a mom on Mother's Day - just barely. Now I'm off to share the good news with proud Papa Scout's owner. :)
We're still pondering about what to name her. Any suggestions?
