They're Coming!

        Who's coming? Why goatlings of course! It is my pleasure to announce that my darlin' Eponine is expecting and is due to kid mid November. We received word yesterday, although Eponine herself (and Thorin as well, it seemed) has probably known for quite some time. :)

        She's already been pregnant for over two months, but we had some complications with the bloodwork and pregnancy test. You see, we didn't want to draw blood and send it in until we were sure she was pregnant, so we waited to see if she would go into heat every 21 days (or rather, for her, 19). When we noticed that, we drew the blood and mailed off the vial in layers of bubble wrap and paper towels. I think we sent it on a Monday, USPS, and it was meant to arrive at BioTracking in Idaho on Thursday. Well, days went by, then a week, and we figured it got lost. The tracking said it left the post office in our town the day after we mailed it, and then, nothing... So we had to draw the blood again, my mom and I both yelling disparaging things about our postal service as we backed the squirming goat into a corner and stuck her with a needle. It's really not the easiest thing, and we usually end up with more blood on ourselves and the ground than in the vial. So we packaged that one up and sent it off. Again, nothing. We insured this one, though. After two weeks of the post master trying to track our packages down, one finally reached Idaho. Granted, it was three weeks late and the blood is only guaranteed for two, but it got there. The lab inspected it and it was unspoiled, and they ran the test and got the results to us the next day. Pregnant is anything above a .21. Eponine is a .90. Yay! 

        Although it was a huge hassle and cost us a hundred phone calls and walks across town to the post office, we have the results and the babies are on their way! I am bursting with excitement for November! We're pretty sure Lily is pregnant as well, and she should kid about a week after Eponine. I'll be leasing Thorin out to a lady with 4 does for breeding November-December, and I'll see if anyone wants to lease him after that as well. Since he is double registered and comes from good milk lines, he's worth a lot. I personally couldn't care less about the whole registering thing, but since I'm not keeping the babies I need to be able to sell them easily. 

        I'm so excited for the goatlings! I've already started thing about names for them, which is going to be so fun!

Blessings,

Reyna