kids – U-Say Ranch

How to Bottle Feed Baby Goats

How to Get the Kid on the Bottle

If you do decide to stick with bottle feeding you might have to work with him to get him to suck on the bottle. What I do is sit down on a chair. Rest the baby’s stomach over my left leg — baby’s front legs draped over my right leg and baby’s back legs hanging down on the left side of my left leg. Put my left arm around the back of the baby and cup my hand under the muzzle, holding the baby’s head still and firm. Then I hold the bottle with my right hand and gently squeeze the bottle so milk comes out. He’s not going to like the bottle nipple compared to his dam’s teat so you have to be patient and persistent.

How we bottle feed and wean our bottle-fed kids (2003/2004)

With our kids, from 2 weeks to 6 weeks of age we have them on 16 ounces morning and evening, and they have free access to water and hay. We want them a little on the hungry side so they will begin to eat hay. I have observed 2.5 week old kids eating hay, and already starting to chew their little cuds.

On the 6th week, we begin decreasing the morning and evening feeding down to 1.5 cups morning and 1.5 cups evening. Usually I’ll do this very gradually. Like 2 cups in the morning, then 1 3/4 cups at night, then 1 3/4 cups the next morning, then 1 1/2 cups at night, then 1 1/2 cups for the next week or so.

Then about halfway through week seven, we start decreasing again. 1 1/2 cups in the morning, 1 1/4 cups at night. 1 1/4 cups the next morning, 1 cup that night. 1 cup the next morning, 3/4 cup that night. 3/4 cup next morning, 1/2 cup at night. 1/2 cup next morning, 1/4 that night. Then maybe 1/4 cup each feeding the next day, then we just stop the bottles altogether so weaning occurs at about 8 – 9 weeks of age.

I don’t know how old your kids are, but if they are 8 weeks old I would probably start right away by giving them only 2 cups morning and evening so they will get hungrier and start eating hay to get their rumen going (if it isn’t already). I’d probably stick to 2 cups morning/night for a week or so, making sure they are eating hay and drinking water, then the next week I’d start decreasing and wean them off the bottle within another week.

This is how we have weaned our kids when we pulled the kids and bottle fed.

Now (2005) we have had our does tested for CAE, and allow the dams to raise their kids. This is still in the experimental stage. The dam raised doelings (Moselle and Zoë) are a bit skittish, but we are working with them. We are thinking about giving the next set of kids one bottle a day, and letting them stay on their dams the rest of the day.

How we bottle feed and wean our bottle-fed kids (2006)

We did not bottle feed any kids in 2005. In 2006, Brooklyn passed away 20 hours after kidding from hypocalcemia. She gave us triplet doelings. We were able to place one doeling the day after she was born, as one of my neighbors has wanted one of our “spotty” doelings since she found out how spotted Dallas and Bambi were. The remaining doelings are named Little Brooke and Mocha.

We have changed our ideas about bottle feeding. If the kid is a buckling, and will be reserved for the freezer, we will wean him at about 8-9 weeks of age. This is the destiny of most of our male kids, as we do not have many purebred animals in our herd. However, if the kid is a doeling, we will keep her on the bottle until she is six months of age to give her a good head start in life as a milker. We start the kids out slowly at birth, with four feedings, at 6am, 10am, 2pm and 6pm. 1/2 to one cup at each feeding the first few days. At about a week we go to 3x day feedings, giving them about 1 cups at each feeding for a total of 3 cups daily. At two weeks we move to 2 cups morning, 1 cup noon and 2 cups evening. We continue this amount until they are three months old. We then go to 2x day feedings, 2 cups at each feeding. We continue 1 quart each day until they are six months old.

We have two other doelings from this year’s batch. Starburst, Dallas’ singleton doeling and Cocoa, Moselle’s doeling kid. Cocoa has been interested in and friendly toward me since birth. Starburst is less friendly, but she loves scratches. I am spending time with the four doelings the days I am able to, scratching and talking to them.

2008 Kids

Starburst kidded on February 19th, 2008. She was due to kid on Friday the 22nd. My son went out to milk and there were two dried off newborn baby bucklings, walking around and nursing. Another uneventful birth!

Dani and Lightning were bred to the same buck, but did not settle.

We were expecting one of The Brooklings, Mocha, to kid on March 12th. She delivered on March 18th.

Lightning was rebred to our buck, end of December. If she settled this time, we expect kids from her end of May. She did not settle.

Disbudding Kids by Irene Ramsay

The age to disbud kids varies from breed to breed. An approximate guide is:

BUCK KIDS
Breed
Toggenburg 1-7 days
Saanen & Boers 2-10 days
Alpine 4-18 days
Nubian, Angora, feral 5-20 days

DOE KIDS
Breed
Toggenburg 2-10 days
Saanen & Boers 4-21 days
Alpine 6-21
Nubian, Angora, feral 7-25 days

Toggenburgs have a much broader horn base than the other breeds, which is why their hornbuds ripen earlier. Some bloodlines in all breeds have early maturing hornbuds, and some have slow maturing hornbuds, hence the wide timescales I have given. I have both fast and slow maturing hornbuds in my herd, and sometimes when I have crossed the two lines, I have had one twin needing early disbudding, while the other has been left another week.

It is important not to disbud too soon. If you do, you will find the hornbuds difficult to remove, and there will be a lot of scur regrowth – more than if you do the disbudding a few days later than the optimum for that particular kid.

A hornbud which still looks no more than a tiny pinhead pimple on the skin is too immature to do successfully. Wait until you can feel a raised area forming under the pimple, which will also broaden. Kids which are born overdue may need disbudding earlier than the guide says. Kids which are born prematurely should be left until their official birth date or longer, if possible, as prem kids often have noticeable hornbuds because their skulls haven’t grown into them. The worst case of regrowth I ever had was doing a prem kid’s horns a week before he should have been born.

It is possible to disbud horns which have emerged through the skin to a height of about 2 cm but it can mean some messy regrowth in the wider hornbase breeds (Togg, Saanen), and is a longer job for the kid to suffer; not to mention the bruises you’ll get because the kid is bigger and kicks harder.

Disbudding irons may heat off car batteries, gas bottles, electricity, a blowlamp or an open fire. The old-style open-fire types are very heavy and the working head is too small in diameter for kid buds – newborn calves’ hornbuds are smaller.

The irons I use are adapted soldering irons. The 50 watt iron has a head 19 mm in diameter, which experiment showed was the maximum size for that wattage. It does most doe kids. The 90 watt iron has a 22 mm diameter head and is used for buck kids, and doe kids with wide or overripe hornbuds.

Any wattage lower than 50 does not seal the wound sufficiently as it isn’t hot enough.

Some breeders like to use up to 200 watt heat, but it is necessary to work very fast because the extra heat can cause brain damage, and the faster you work the less likely you are to do a thorough job, unfortunately. Also, a 200 watt iron is much too heavy for most women to use with dexterity. Like footrot shears, disbudding irons need to be matched to their users.

My irons are both concave, so that they burn round the edge of the hornbud. This type has the advantage that you can feel when you have burnt through the skin to the skull, and can flick the hornbud out. I have used a flat-head iron but found it slower, and hard to judge when I had reached the skull. As the hornbud is not flicked out with this type of iron, if you don’t go deep enough, regrowth is considerable. I don’t recommend it for novices, although you may find you prefer it after doing a few dozen kids with a concave iron to get your hand in.

An electric iron takes 20 minutes to half-an-hour to reach full heat, depending on its diameter, and you won’t get a good result if you try to use it too soon. If you are using it outside, a cold wind can stop it from reaching full heat, too.

I now plug my irons in through an anti-surge plug, because they were affected by power fluctuations in this area. Whatever form of heating your iron uses, you can test it on a piece of wood – if it leaves a dark burn mark, it is hot enough.

You will also need:

a sharp penknife
a small bottle of methylated spirits (methyl alcohol)
a pair of sharp short-bladed scissors for cutting the hair off the hornbuds
a water-base felt tip pen – I prefer a green one as this shows up on all skin colours
and a powder dressing for the wounds

I use Aureomycin Pink Eye Powder as I’ve found the Terramycin itches and the kids scratch the wounds with their hooves. Charcoal powder from the pharmacist is also good. It is wise to have Negasunt on hand for the rare kid which bleeds and won’t stop, as it is a good clotting agent as well as a wound dressing, but care must be taken not to get it in the kid’s eyes. I haven’t used Negasunt more than a dozen times, and I’ve done 100’s of kids by now. [Negasunt now requires a vet prescription. You’ll get the same result with baking soda, cayenne pepper, or flour, just don’t get them in the kid’s eyes.]

You will also need something to lay the hot iron on when you aren’t using it – a thick piece of wood or a coal shovel are popular. It helps always to lay your tools out in the same order, so that you can work without hesitation – the less stress on the kid, the better. I also have an old sack to kneel on; this is easier on my knees and more comfortable for the kid, as I tuck the kid between my legs and sit on my heels to hold it in place ( the sack also soaks up the occasional little accident, buck kids are worse).

You may prefer to have someone else hold the kid, or use Val McMillan’s tattooing box. I’m short-sighted enough to be a danger to the head and hands of another holder – at least my left hand knows what my right hand is doing and it has to be a very wriggly kid for me to burn myself by mistake.

Always pick a place with good light, preferably at an angle across the kid’s head towards you, so that you don’t have awkward shadows.

Now, the tools are laid out ready, the kid is restrained by whatever method you’ve chosen, you are ready for stage one:

Open the penknife, dunk the blade in the meths and lay it aside to dry.
Put the top back on the meths bottle, you don’t want to start a fire by mistake.
Next trim off all the hair round the hornbuds. Be generous, cut off plenty, so you have a good view of the working area. It is best to have at least 5 mm of clear area beyond the diameter of the iron. The less hair to get into the wounds, the less likely an infection can occur. Take your time, and trim off all the hair between the hornbuds. For buck kids, trim further forward and further back than for doe kids, as the procedure is slightly different.
Mark the centre of the hornbud with the felt tip pen. For some kids this mightn’t seem necessary but it is a good habit to get into, because with coloured kids and all buck kids, you will need the dot as a guide.
Next, fold the kid’s ears back under your spare hand and hold them tight to the sides of the head – this keeps the ears out of your way, and the head still. I also rest the kid’s chin on my thigh.
For doe kids: aim to get the green dot in the centre of the iron when you lower it firmly to the head. If you aren’t firm the kid will wriggle out from under and the wrong things are likely to get scorched. The kid will undulate and yell as you press down, rotating the iron slightly until you feel it grate on the skull. Make sure the grating is right round the circumference of the iron. Once you are through the skin all round, the kid should stop yelling (Alpines don’t always) as you have killed all the nerves.
Lift off the iron and use the edge of it to flick the hornbud out of the centre of the burn. If you don’t flip it out, it can re-attach and the kid grows horns.
Once you have flipped the bud out, use the edge of the iron to sear the damp skull dry. This helps seal off the temporal artery if your original burn hasn’t completed the job. Some kids can bleed slightly, but often just on one bud.
Now that the bud is done to your satisfaction, use the penknife to clean any detritus from the iron. Make sure the muck doesn’t land on the kid’s head.
Now do the other hornbud the same way. Dust the wounds with the powder of your choice and return the kid to its owner/mother/mates.
Clean the iron again, wipe the penknife and dunk the blade in the meths. You are now ready to do the next kid.
Bucks grow their horns in ridges forward and inwards, and their musk glands are inward and backward, so disbudding aims to deal with both horn growth and demusking. If your iron is small diameter, you may need to do three burns. A wider diameter iron will need only one burn, but it must be in the right place.
The green dot on the hornbud needs to be off-centre of the iron this time, with more of the iron’s head towards the centre of the skull and slightly forward. If you are behind the kid’s head, like me, the left green dot should be 8 o’clock from the centre of the iron, and the right green dot at 4 o’clock. See diagram.
At first sight, it seems simpler to hold the kid’s head still by gripping the nose. But, if it wriggles hard enough, or the disbudding is a long job for some reason, you can restrict its breathing, so this makes it panic and wriggle harder, or throttle it altogether (I know 2 men this happened to), or leave a deep groove across the side of the nose from your thumb pressing into the soft bone, and the goat goes through the rest of its life with a wry face. I did this to one of mine, which is why I developed the over-the-ears grip.

Working from behind the kid means you are at a better angle to the buds, as they slope backwards and it is easier to burn through to the skull at the back if you are at that angle, especially if the buds have been allowed to get a little too big.

Disbudding is usually done cold turkey because goats are bad subjects for anaesthesia. For safety’s sake the kid needs to be at least a week-old for anaesthetic, and by this time the hornbuds can be well overripe especially in bucks.

Disbudding takes about 2 minutes all up, and once it is done, the kid isn’t bothered (I’ve heard a human baby scream for 20 minutes after being vaccinated) – it is much like a trip to the dentist, except for a kid, it only happens once. However, a kid will take 12-24 hours to throw off the effects of a general anaesthetic, during which time it must be kept warm and carefully monitored in case of pneumonia from lying around too long. If the weather is very hot heatstroke is a real risk post-anaesthetic, too. The kid may be slow to start feeding. A kid under general anaesthetic screams and thrashes round more than one done cold turkey, something to do with the way goats’ nerves work, so that the tendency is to increase the anaesthetic which endangers the kid’s chance of survival.

Using local anaesthetic infiltration round the hornbuds appears to cause as much pain as it saves, and has the disadvantage of making the working area (the tissue being burnt) thicker and wetter, with a greater chance of infection because of this. Also, local anaesthetic has an anti-clotting action on the blood and the temporal artery may prove difficult to seal in consequence. I haven’t heard of anyone using spray-on anaesthetic, principally because of the cost factor, I should imagine, as the strength required would probably be about $30 per kid just for the drug. Cold turkey is kinder on both kids and their humans.

Disbudded kids need to be kept dry for a few hours after the job so that the body’s own healing liquids can seal off the wounds to prevent infection, so don’t disbud on a wet day if you can help it.

DO NOT TOUCH THE WOUNDS AT ANY TIME with fingers or cloths FOR ANY REASON.

Be careful not to let milk splashes get into the wounds.

These precautions must be maintained until the scabs drop off, usually about 6 weeks later. Occasionally a kid will knock a scab off early and bleed. Dust the wound with your chosen antibiotic powder.

More occasionally still, a kid will get an infection. This usually looks like grains of raw sugar and the surrounding skin will be reddened. The kid may throw its head from side to side and yowl. Drench it with ½ a soluble aspirin in a little water to fix the headache and lower the inflammation, and spray the infected wound with iodine, having first put your other hand over the kid’s eyes. The iodine dries and heals the infection. If all your kids get infections, the questions are:

Was the iron hot enough?
Did they get milk splashes?
Did some stupid * put fingers or cloths in the wounds?

I always instruct children as well as parents that they must not touch, because it is an unfortunate fact of modern life that many children don’t obey their parents any more, and in extreme cases, kids can die of disbudding infections which shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Regrowth of scurs is fairly common in bucks as they have such strong horn growth, and sometimes happens in does. The bits are usually loose and get knocked off in the ordinary give and take of herd life. You should not need to interfere unless a scur does a U-ey and starts growing into the goat’s head. The easiest way to remove it is to grip the scur firmly with a pair of slip-joint pliers, the goat does a big objecting wriggle complaining mightily, and you should be left holding the scur while the goat scarpers, somewhat bloody but unbowed. If the scur is firmly anchored to the head, use a bolt-cutter or wire saw to cut through the scur at the arch of the U. That way you are releasing the pressure on the skull, but you shouldn’t hit blood. The scur often grows off in a different and safer direction. If you do hit blood and it pulses out (that temporal artery again) slapping on some stockholm tar (from the saddler) will stop it. A scur which has come off with the slip-joint pliers is only a surface attachment and the blood will clot in a few minutes. On the rare occasion it doesn’t, Stockholm tar is again the best dressing.

It is not a good idea to disbud for an audience unless they are well out of your light, and far enough back so that if they faint they won’t flatten you and the kid with the hot iron under you. For preference, any viewers should be seated, or at least those closest to the demonstrator.

– Irene Ramsay.
Click here for all the Wisdom of Irene Ramsay articles

Irene asked that I include her email address for anyone that has queries. Her email address is shown below in an image, you may also use this contact form.

I am acquainted with Irene Ramsay through the Holistic Goats list on Yahoo Groups. I read all of her posts as they are always full of wisdom and natural remedies for healing. I am honored that Irene Ramsay has agreed to allow me to publish some of her articles on my website. I hope they will be as helpful to you as they have been to me. Thanks, Irene! Please note that Irene lives in New Zealand and sometimes the items she recommends won’t be available in the US under the same name. Copyright 1974-2020 Irene Ramsay. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy without express permission of the author. Thank you.

Goat Baby Sweaters

I have to admit the first time I saw a pattern for “goat baby sweaters” on one of my favorite goat sites, Fiasco Farm, I thought to myself, “What is WRONG with people? Making SWEATERS for goats?!” Being in Arizona, with it not getting THAT cold here, and since we make a point to plan for March or later babies, I just couldn’t see the point in wasting my time.

Well, since our herd queen produced one little baby girl, and she isn’t being overly motherly with the youngster, I thought it might be a good thing if I crocheted one up for her. I am really glad I did, because after a record breaking 144 days without rain, it is finally raining and it is VERY cold outside. It is currently 43°F with a windchill factor of 36°F.

I worked on the sweater yesterday, and got it finished by 10pm last night. My gauge was off (I eyeballed the gauge piece — it LOOKED right — I made the majority of it while Kevin was driving, and we were waiting for his turn to take his driver’s license test — I didn’t have a ruler with me), and now in retrospect I realize I put the sweater pieces together backwards. However, since my gauge was off to begin with, if I’d continued on with the pattern the sweater would have been hanging down another four inches off the back of the doeling, so I had to put it together backwards. And even with my mistakes, it looks fine. I ran out of pink and moved on to purple and it looks like I planned it, lol!

I took it out to put on her last night, and this morning when I checked her she was snuggly warm indeed.

I’m sold on baby goat sweaters, and hope to make a few more to have on hand.

Originally written March 11, 2006

Dallas 3rd Kidding – 2006

DOB: 3/10/02
Age: 4 y 1m
3rd Freshening: Gestation 148 days; 1 doeling
Due Date: March 11, 2006 Kidded on March 9, 2006
Previous Freshenings:
1st Gestation 150 days; 1 buckling, 1 doeling
2nd Gestation 150 days; 2 bucklings

Sire: N.AZ. Anatolians Keci’s Bambi is a registered American buck
SD: Az High Country Spotty is a registered American doe
SS: Ragels Ziegenhof Keci is a Purebred Nubian

Dam: The U-Say Ranch Dallas is a recorded grade doe
DD: AZ Apache Vales Thelma
DS: AZ Apache Valley Joseph

Let me just quote dh to our ds upon my arrival home (from work): “All went well, Mom wasn’t here.”

They like to tease me about my having had to “pull” kids in previous kiddings.

So no kidding story for Dallas this year. There is however, plenty to yammer on about. This young lady has an unusual looking bottom. I suspect hermaphroditism. You may not be interested in what this looks like, so I’ve placed the pictures on a different page. Click here if you are interested in seeing the images. I am not sure yet, so I am asking some of my goat mentors for their opinion and how to tell more if this is her condition. UPDATE: Several goat breeders responded to my question on one of the lists I’m on, and they assure me this little one is normal.

And here are some pictures of mama — the herd queen — and her newest baby princess. Mama has more spots and patches then she knows what to do with, and the sire is spotted, but together they seem to produce plain babies. This little girl does have a white spot on her head, and one white spot on her left side.

March 11, 2006. It’s finally raining after a record breaking 144 days. I crocheted a sweater for the little princess. Click here to read about it and see her modeling her baby goat sweater.

Lightning’s 2nd Kidding – 2005

DOB: 4/8/03
Age: 1 year, 11 months
2nd Freshening Gestation 149 days; 2 doelings
Previous Freshenings:
1st Gestation 149 days; 1 buckling, 1 doeling

March 18, 2005 Day after Lightning gives birth.

Sire: N.AZ. Anatolians Keci’s Bambi is a registered American buck
SD: Az High Country Spotty is a registered American doe
SS: Ragels Ziegenhof Keci is a Purebred Nubian

Dam: Lightning is a 50% recorded grade doe
DD: U-Say Ranch Dallas [DS: AZ Apache Valley Joseph DD: AZ Apache Vales Thelma]
DS: Jacobs Pride Peanut [DS: Six M Galaxy Milanis Pistachio DD: Six M Galaxy Aisha 5*M]

I’m very proud to share our latest birth story with all of you.

I’ve been home from work this week, on birth watch for our two does. Dallas already kidded on Sunday, and we’ve been waiting for Lightning to kid.

Lightning seemed uncomfortable last night. Grinding her teeth, yawning, stretching. But there was only a little bit of discharge. No “copious” amounts. So we got the baby monitor set up and went to bed. I set my alarm for 2am, but didn’t sleep well, fretting about Lightning. I got up before the alarm went off, and went out to check on her. I had to go into work for a few hours and decided to go ahead and leave right away, thinking maybe she would wait until I arrived home several hours later. I felt she was going to kid soon, in spite of there still being little discharge.

I got 20 minutes away from home and my cell phone rings. My ds says, “Can you hear this?” He puts the phone by the baby monitor and I hear this god-awful screaming, grunting, growling, moaning, roaring. I know the sounds well! It was Miss Lightning pushing out a kid!!!!!! I found the nearest turnaround (I was on the highway) and dashed back home as quickly as I could. Speed limit in town is 35mph, I did a bit over that (shhhh! don’t tell!) and drove at 80 once on the highway again. About 8 minutes back toward home I got a call that she’d had one kid. I got home in about 15 minutes, parked outside the gate, let myself in and rushed into the house to get some warm water with molasses, the camera, a towel, newspaper — things I knew were not with the kidding kit.

I rushed out to the barn and found she had just pushed out the second kid. This second one has a beautiful white belt across her back and chest. Just gorgeous. Notice Lightning’s matching belt across her left side.

I stuck around a while and helped dry off kids, milked mom and tried to get the kids to take the bottle, no dice. They were screaming indignantly. We had already decided to let the dams raise their kids this year, but I wanted to get the babies to take a bottle first just in case we would need to give them a bottle.

We feel so blessed and thrilled to have these two little girls. With their genetics, they should make awesome milkers. Their granddam gives 2 gallons a day, the genetics on the dam side are heavy milkers with lots of stars.

AND it was an uneventful birth!!! We did not force Lightning to dry up; we continued to milk her until she dried off by herself naturally on her 121st day of pregnancy (gestation is 150 days).

Notice how Zoë’s standing on her back legs. She is not standing on them properly. Irene Ramsay said she should straighten out within a few days, and she did. Note in the picture dated 4-17-5 how straight she is standing on her legs.

July 25th, 2005. Lightning’s doelings are a bit skittish, so we have started working with them on the milking stand. Both doelings come out of the kid pen with the dam, while she is being milked. They are both doing well. I am also training them to allow me to lift their feet while on the stand, so I can do hoof trims more easily.

August 29th, 2005. Zoë’s udder started feeling thicker about 3 days ago. I wrote for opinions on Holistic Goats, and Irene Ramsay is the only one that responded. She said we may need to milk Zoë out, especially if her udder is swollen and tight. Well, it was not swollen and tight, but there was a pea-sized nodule at the top of her left teat, so I decided to see if there was anything in her udder. She has milk in there! Irene calls an unbred doe, a maiden milker. It was very difficult to milk her, I could not direct the milk into the can I was using at all. The tiniest streams of milk came out, and her teats are very small yet. They are maybe an inch long, and about as big around as a drinking straw. I decided to milk her out in the afternoon as well. Now she thinks she should live with the big girls, because she’s a milker. 😉

We decided to allow Lightning’s doelings to continue nursing until they are six months old. Irene says they need the milk in order to become good milkers. There are also a couple of books that make this recommendation.

November 12, 2005. Lightning and her eight month old doelings. We did allow the doelings to nurse until they were six months old, and then kept them from their dam for 6 weeks or so. We tried putting them back in with their dam at a couple of weeks, but they kept nursing and she let them. But now they are totally weaned and living with the adult does.

We have decided to not breed Lightning this year, but are going to see how she does “milking through”. It is very common (in the US) to breed one’s does every single year. But some believe (folks who live in other countries) it is hard on the doe to produce kids every single year, and some believe the doe produces as much or more milk (if she is capable of “milking through”; this will be dependent on her milking background) if she is not bred every single year. Some people find it more advantageous to breed their does every single year, especially if they are into showing and have very high quality purebred stock. When they can command $400 for a kid, it makes economical sense to produce many kids every year. Plus, having kids every year gives the chance to see if you can produce a champion.

However, we are not into showing, and our does are recorded grade. They are registered, but they are not purebred.

Lightning’s next kidding will not be until Spring, 2007.

UPDATE: We changed our minds; Lightning was bred to Bambi and her due date is April 26th, 2006. Read Lightning’s Kidding for 2006.