Martha Likes to be First!

Erik and Wendell were feeding and I went out to check Sandy to see if her ligaments were any looser. It was dark (about 7:00) I grabbed the flashlight and headed to the feeders since they were all chomping, snorting and shoving at the freshly stocked buffet. I could see Sandy from a distance at the feeder. I flashed the light inside their shelter just to make sure everyone was up and eating. There was Martha. I thought she was close, but not that close. I began to think she might be sick. As I got closer to her I slipped in a puddle of goo. Amniotic fluid is very slippery and I was just glad I didn't fall! I yelled for Wendell and Erik. They came and walked her to the kidding pen while I grabbed the towels, feed bags (to deliver the babies on) and kidding kit. I knew that she was in trouble when I found her because she wasn't pushing and the water had already broken. With Wendell and Erik helping, I put on my gloves and examined her. Sure enough, there was a tail and front legs presenting. Two were coming at once. I carefully pushed the little bottom back in a bit and found the back feet that belonged to it. With very little effort a black and white buckling was born. His numer is A1 and he weighed 5 lb 8 oz. Martha then started pushing with no result. I checked her and now there were 4 feet coming! Two back feet and two front. I found the ones that belonged to the head and tugged a bit. Out came a brown and white doeling (Alina) that looks just like mom. A2 weighed in at 6 lb 10 oz. Then another backward buckling that looked just like his brother. In fact they both look like their sire, PePe. A3 weighed 6 lb 4 oz. All are healthy and took their fill of colostrum from the bottle. They were walking around within minutes! Wendell headed in to set up the barn for milking and Erik weighed the kids while I fed them. Erik also cleaned up and got Martha some molasses water and grain for a job well done. Whew, here we go! Midnight feedings are just an hour away. So, Black Mesa Mace's Martha kicked off our kidding season with triplets! Two bucks with a doe in between. I suppose that she didn't get the memo that Sandy was supposed to be first :-)