Udder watch begins!

This is when it starts getting exciting....when the pregnant does begin to develop their udders.  Ginger is definitely getting ready for her April 10 due date with her funny, square Boer-influenced udder:

A closer look:

Yup, something definitely happening there.

Boer goats are bred for meat and not for milking, and their udders are famously difficult to hand milk.  Ginger is only 25% Boer, but there it is, in her udder and her huge body.  The rest of her heritage is dairy, and she gives a reasonable amount of rich, sweet milk, but my hands would cramp in the 15 minutes it takes to empty her udder.  Hence the purchase of the milking machine.

Peach is a little less obvious, with her April 17 due date:

Thank goodness she got her paternal grandmother's udder, a La Mancha, a dairy breed.  Grandmother had a prize-winning udder, and Peach is a peach to milk.  The milk practically falls out of her udder.  I can milk her out in 2-3 minutes or less.

I'll be checking these udders daily for change, becoming more and more obsessive as April progresses.  Then ligament watch will begin....when the ligaments begin to soften due to the hormone relaxin, which is released about 24 hours before delivery.  Can't wait!