Elwers ‘kidding’ around on the farm

Published:  Sunday, March 1, 2009 (1 year ago)
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Two-year-old Michael Garlock, grandson of Norm and Kim Elwer of rural Delphos, holds one of the newest members of the Elwer farm, a goat kid. The Elwers have had seven births to celebrate in the barn in the past week.By STACY TAFF
The Delphos Herald

DELPHOS — Three sets of triplets and one set of quadruplets were born last week to Norm and Kim Elwer of rural Delphos, who are bursting with pride. The fact these bundles of joy were born to the goats they raise did nothing to diminish their happiness.
According to the Elwers, goats are usually born in singles or twins and triplets are rare. For over half of the goats kidded by Norm Elwer to have three or more offspring is an uncommon occurrence indeed.
“They usually give birth to twins, but we’ve had a couple of singles this year,” said Norm, “When there’s a single birth, the kid is usually bigger in size. Triplets don’t happen often, at least not in a smaller herd like ours.”
Multiple births also come with some risks.
“In the four years that we’ve been raising goats we’ve only had triplets once,” added Kim. “And usually with triplets, you have one that’s either a runt or just isn’t as healthy as the other two but we’ve gotten really lucky. They’re all pretty healthy, except for two of the quadruplets dying.”
Norm says the births couldn’t have come at a better time.
“It was originally planned for them to be born in January but with that freezing weather we had, they probably wouldn’t have made it, so it’s a good thing that they came now when it’s a lot warmer,” he said.
As for why there has been a sudden occurrence of triplets and quadruplets among their herd, the Elwers can only guess.
“Usually we feed them hay and corn fodder but when we begin kidding them, we put them through this process called ‘flushing,’ where we feed them corn for two weeks which helps the does put on some weight,” said Norm. “When they put on weight they ovulate at an increased rate and that’s when we put the buck in with them. We don’t know whether or not the flushing is the reason for the multiple births, but it seems likely.”
Since the usual amount of offspring from one birth is two at most, the birth of three or four kids can sometimes present problems with feeding.
“The does only have two teats and when they have three or four kids, one of them is always left out and we end up bottle-feeding them,” said Norm. “It’s almost as though they’re bodies are developed to support two offspring at a time, so it makes us wonder just how unusual it is to have triplets and quadruplets.”
Of their small herd of 15 goats, 10 are reserved for 4-H and the other five will most likely be put up for sale.
“We chiefly raise them for 4-H but sometimes we’ll take them to market,” Norm said. “The best times for selling goats on the market is around a lot of the ethnic holidays, because some cultures eat the meat. The markets get really particular about weight and other details.”
Goats are notorious for being mischievous and more than a little cute and amusing. The Elwers consider their goats an enriching and enchanting part of their lives.
“They seem like they have individual personalities,” said Norm. “When we first get them they’re always a little scared, but after they get used to the family they’re very playful and funny to watch. One of the great things about goats is they’re non-threatening and easy to handle.”
“They’re good with kids too. Our 2-year-old grandson Michael gets right in the pen with them to play. They act just like pets,” said Kim.
If they’re just like pets, it seems only reasonable that they would name some of them.
“We usually just refer to them by the numbers on their tags but we’ve named a few of them. For instance, we have Mr. T, who’s a very ornery buck. Not too long ago he rammed his head against the gate until a nail busted loose and then we found him wandering around outside,” laughed Norm. “A few of the does we’ve named are Marguerite, Lulu and Rita. We have one we call Dora, after Dora the Explorer, because she’s adventurous. One time, when we had this fenced area outside that was divided in half, she’d always end up on the opposite side. We found out that she’d found a hole in the middle fence and kept squeezing through it.”
“Goats are funny like that. They’re escape artists,” Kim said. “We’ve had to change the locks on their pens a few times because they figure out how to unlock them and we’ll come out to the barn and they’ll all be in the center having a big goat party.”
“They’re definitely easy to work with and also pretty easy to maintain. I mean you have to keep them warm, and give them shots and clip their hooves, but other than that it’s just keeping them fed and watered,” Norm said. “They’re not really particular about what they eat, either, at least not usually.”
Besides being fun to take care of and extremely amusing, the goats have also provided valuable lessons for the Elwers’ son and daughter, Megan and Zac.
“People always say that every child should witness a birth and a death of an animal,” Norm said. “It teaches a valuable lesson about life and raising goats has given our kids the chance to experience that. It’s also taught them a lot of responsibility, to have a living thing depending on them. They’re very fortunate to have had that opportunity.”

2 Reader Responses to “Elwers ‘kidding’ around on the farm”

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  1. #1 — Added 1 year ago

    Norm is my brother. I visited the goats this past summer and had a great time learning about them. I, too, was raised on the Elwer Family farm and learned much about life from the animals we had. Congratulations to Norm, Kim, Zac, and Megan, who take care of the goats.

    Posted on March 1, 2009 at 9:57 am by Marilyn Roll

  2. #2 — Added 1 year ago

    Very touching article. I enjoyed reading and also learned more about goats than I ever had.Norm & Kim seem to be very blessed. And to have all these “Kids” without fertility drugs is an wonder as well.

    Posted on March 1, 2009 at 11:40 am by Mark J. Holbein