The day my goats went to college

 Oregon State University was offering a free goat clinic this week.  They had free ultrasounds for pregnant does and castration for bucks.  I've been wondering the last couple months if all my does were bred, I knew that 2 of them were, their milk dried up and they got their baby-bellies, but the other 2 were a mystery.

I loaded the kids and goats up early in the morning and drove the 200 miles to Corvallis.  I dropped the kids off at my girlfriend's house, and took the goats to school.

 About 8 veterinary students met me to help unload and take the girls into the examination room.

Everyone got weighed in, Twinkletoes weighed the most at 72 pounds.  So much for being a light-weight dwarf!!  No wonder my back hurt when I was done loading them up!

There were 4 ultrasound machines and the girls were quickly examined.  They are only about a month out, so the babies are all very large.  

 The ultrasound confirmed pregnancies in all the goats, but were unable to get the precise number of kids and the sexes.

 I also asked the students if they wanted to practice blood draws.  

 I wanted to test for CAE and CL before they kidded.  CAE is an arthritis that passes through the milk and I need to know this result so it doesn't pass to the kids.  I plan on bottle feeding anyway, but if the milk is CAE positive, I will pasteurize it to kill the CAE, just an added step in the process.  My first goat died from CAE and I definitely do not want to experience that again!
Now we're just counting down the days until the goats kid!  About 40 days to go!