Well, our watch for goat kids has had to start slightly earlier than we were planning. Pepper is due March 30th, eight days from today. I wasn’t planning on setting up any kind of monitor until perhaps the 24th, but she has been showing distinct signs of being ready to go, which necessitates the monitor to ensure that we’re there to assist.

What kind of signs, you ask? Well, her udder is really developing, and her kids have dropped. She’s spent most of her pregnancy like Flora:

See how Flora’s carrying her kid(s) high up by her sides? Well, now look at Pepper:

Notice how her sides are looking awfully sunken in and hollow? That’s a very recent development, as her kids have dropped into her abdomen.

There have been a couple of other signs that she’s close that I’m not going to share here. We’re a family farm blog, not the latest edition of Modern Veterinary Science. (Read: I’m sure not everyone wants to know about it!)

So, we’ve set up a system to monitor the barn at night so that if Pepper does go into labor overnight, we’ll hear and wake up. Of course, she could just be fooling us and wind up carrying a week PAST her due date. It’s probably the more likely scenario, but given the signs she’s presenting I don’t think that we’re being overly cautious. Plus, the next day or so will have some LOW temps, so I’d rather make sure we’re on top of things and there to help in case she chooses to deliver in the cold.

I’m not actually that excited for the goat kids themselves. Yeah, they’re cute and everything, but what I’m looking forward to is the MILK. We’ve wanted to have a home dairy for years now, and we’re right at the cusp of having that happen. Yes, it’s been nice recording yields of duck eggs on the calendar, but I’m not a huge fan of eggs unless they’re, say, an ingredient in chocolate chip cookies. Milk? Butter? Cheese? Ice cream? That’s what I’m in this for.

Watch closely! It could be tomorrow… or it could be three more weeks. Who knows? That’s what makes this whole thing fun!