05/06/2026
"Life, uh... finds a way."
Back in February, our beloved, silly, loved to rub on everyone, Brian-obsessed buckling, Dash (Dashiell James Montgomery), passed away unexpectedly. We didn't post about it because, well, we were more than a little broken-hearted, and there just never seemed to be a "good" time to break everyone else's hearts, too. So, we kept it to ourselves, telling those who knew of and asked about him, but dealing with the loss behind the scenes.
Knowing how timid and small Dash was (he never grew after he broke his leg), and thinking we had added him to the big herd after their breeding window, we thought that was that. No kids in the next year or two, and no future kids at all. After some thought, we decided not to get another buckling. We even discussed not getting more goats after our herd aged out and passed on. Goats can be fragile. Keeping them can be a test in heartache.
Then a funny thing happened. Our (amazing, kickass) vet was out to treat Lilly for mastitis--more on that with the next post--and she was telling us a story of how an older doe she was seeing started to bag up, but there was no buck, which was a wee bit confusing since most animals don't come into milk unless they're pregnant (there's more to the story, but the gist was: female goat starts to make milk while not pregnant). That evening, as we were doing chores, I caught a glimpse of Brooke, and I started to question my own sanity.
I called Brian over and asked him, "Am I crazy, or does it look like Brooke is getting a bag?"
He looked and said, "Yeah. It does."
We stared a while longer, trying to process it all, then I started scanning the other girls. Giselle seemed to be bagging up too, but the others not so much. I didn't even bother looking at Samoa. That girl wants nothing to do with making babies, rearing babies, looking at babies, being around babies, or knowing babies. She is not a fan.
As we walked down to grain the cows, I looked back at my phone to see when Dash had passed away. Feb. 10th. Goats are pregnant for about 5 months.
We ran the math. I looked up the breeding window and learned that some of the breeds we have can get pregnant year-round, and others run April-December. If Brooke were pregnant, we would have magically hit the window right after putting Dash in with everyone. But the thought that Dash had worked up the gumption to do his buckling duties and the tiny glimmer of hope now flashing along the horizon was a lot to take in. We didn't want to announce anything for fear of this being a weird, one-off, false pregnancy. As the week went on, Brooke's udder grew along with our wish for there to be at least one baby waiting to greet the world in there.
Last night, I was in the stall with Lilly and Basil when Brian came in and said he thought Brooke was in labor. I asked why he thought that and he responded, "Because she's in the hut by herself, on her side." I went out and there she was, in labor, starting to push. I went into the hut while Brian went to get grain to keep the peanut gallery out of there, and hoped that Brooke would not decide now was a good time to relocate herself. Thankfully, she stayed put and did not care that I was right next to her. I watched as the water bag presented, then I breathed a big sigh of relief when I saw hooves, and shortly thereafter came the first baby--a doeling. Brooke got up and walked a few steps away, laid back down, and out came the second doeling, still in the bag. I broke it open and cleared some of the stuff off of her. By that point, a few of the herd had finished their treat and decided to see what the commotion was about. Soon, a couple more joined...including Samoa. Brian had me grab the babies and we brought them and Brooke out into the grass for some alone time.
Brooke started cleaning her weeblets, and the second-born kid was up in no time. The first-born took a bit longer, mainly because Brooke was more focused on the other kid, but once Brooke gave her a bath, she got up and started to toddle around. They both nursed some, then we put all three into Biscuit's stall to monitor everyone and let them get a good start before rejoining the herd. Side note: Lilly was very interested in the new babies. :) Everyone is settling in nicely and the babies are doing well. This isn't Brooke's first rodeo and she's been an awesome mom this time around, too.
One of my favorite things about goat kids is how friendly and curious they are from the jump. They come right up to you, letting you pet, love on, and hold them. It's the best. So, everyone, meet the twins. Still working on names. And yes, there could be more kids coming. Pretty sure Giselle is baking some babies, and there's still a possibility that Cocoa and/or Star are pregnant, just further behind. Even if these are the only two kids we get from Dash, we're already over the moon and so incredibly thankful for them. 💛🐐❤️
