Thirteen and Counting

Has it really been almost six seven months since I've blogged?  Where does the time go?  The fall seemed to have consisted of stressing over the drought and lack of pasture for the livestock; buying super expensive bale after bale of hay; weaning kids and a calf; sending some cows away to Mr. Morrow's to feed until spring; trying to keep the bucks contained (unsuccessfully, as I'm now birthing babies that I had hoped to have in the spring); hosting two weanling kids with intestinal problems :( for over a week in the house; and that's just one of my lives.  For my birthday, I bought an old tractor so I no longer have to get the kid from across the road to come over and help me try to roll 800-900 lbs. bales of hay out of the barn.

And the fun beings.

It has been a real challenge trying to keep new babies alive.  Fortunately, I got home from work one day in late January in time to find Snowflake beside the barn with two shivering little ones still wet.  Brought them into the house to dry and warm then put them in a nice warm spot in the barn with their mother.  I was not so fortunate four days later when I returned from meetings in L.R.

I did what I always do first thing when I get home -- count -- two were missing.  The sun was going down, so I start  running around the pastures like a crazy person trying to locate the two does.  Finally found Little Mama down in the woods, checked her and saw that she had one large dead baby (cold by this time), so just left her there to continue my search for the other one while there was still some light.  Found Delta in a far part of the pasture with twins that were doing just fine although I did have to get them into the barn for warmth and security.  Easier said than done!

Goats are an interesting animal and I've yet to figure out an easy way to lure them away from the spot where they give birth.  I tried picking up the babies to get Delta to follow, sound doesn't work because they cry and she can't seem to locate the direction of the source (even when only a few feet away).  Sight doesn't work because she could be looking right at them and not be close enough to figure it out.  Smell is closer to the key, but that doesn't work well because then when they cry she panics and runs back to where she birthed them.

So I ran back to the house to get a bucket for the babies and a rope for Delta.  Couldn't keep the babies  in  the bucket and Delta was dead set on not being led or pulled from her spot.  Not wanting to keep choking her, I fashioned a halter out of the rope, gathered up the babies in my arms, wiggling and legs dangling, and started dragging Delta toward the barn.  Finally, after too much time stopping to readjust babies and catch my breath, I got them to the barn.  Then back to the woods for Snowflake.

By now it's pretty dark, but fortunately she's white and I know where to look.  I put the dead baby in the bucket, tied the rope around her horns, wrapped the rope around my waist for leverage and trudged out of the woods, up a small hill and over a little spillway.  It was really sad to find Snowflake laying next to her baby, licking and "talking" to it.  I had heard that goats do not have good memories, but really don't think that's the case.  After being penned up for a couple of days, the minute I let her out she headed toward the woods calling for her newborn.

Two-week reprieve.

Those babies were Grey Boy's, the next batch is Buster's, according to the timing of their previous escapes.

Thank goodness it was a Sunday (Feb. 12).  Dawn (Delta's sister :) had triplets (which I filmed if I can ever figure out how to put the clips together, edit and post).  Had to do some intervention with this birth.  She's a first-time mom and I was hoping for just one -- no such luck.  She just couldn't get the 2nd and 3rd one cleaned up and dried off fast enough and they were getting chilled.  It was another cold day and I called a friend of mine who used to raise goats to get a "second opinion."  She said if they weren't actively trying to nurse (they weren't), it probably meant the cold had gotten to them and they needed to be taken in and quickly warmed and dried, so into the house we all went.

That was Sunday.  Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon, Dawn was at my front door to greet me when I came in.  She and two of the babies had gotten out of the pen I had fashioned for them and had made themselves at home.  Fortunately, there was no evidence of any mischief and all seemed well.  It was a fairly warm day so I moved them to the nursery area of the barn.

What didn't go so well on Tuesday was that Little Sister, Too had birthed triplets in the barn and two were dead.  So after getting Dawn and her crew settled, I stealthily removed the two dead babies and tried to focus Little Sister, Too's attention on the healthy one.  I dug the hole (no small task as the soil in NWA grows rocks), put them in and waited for her to pass the placenta which I also buried by the light of my flashlight.

And then, the very next day . . .

The next day, I left work early because two of the does seemed close when I checked on them before heading to work and I really didn't want more dead babies.  When I got home, Mae (sister of Daisy :) had birthed triplets, again one dead.  Think I probably missed that by about 20 to 30 minutes.  Dug another hole and buried baby and placenta.  In the meantime Little Sister (sister of Little Sister, Too :) started having contractions about 3:30 p.m. so I was keeping an eye on her.  She's one of my pros at birthing, so I'm feeling fairly confident that all would go well.

At 4:30 her water broke and at 5:15 I called the vet.  He said I have three hours after the water breaks and 30 minutes after seeing a body part.  He called to check with me at 7:30 just as I was getting ready to call him again.  By this time, Little Sister is exhausted and making a sound with each breath so I'm thinking she is in pain.  Each time the contractions come she pushes really hard and I hold my breath.  I did see a body part but it wasn't the part I had hoped to see.  The doc said "it's time to go get your bucket of warm, soapy water and gloves. . . you have 30 minutes."

Needles to say, I was hoping will all my heart that she would be able to do it without me, but at 8:00 I called the vet again to ask for instructions about what I was to feel for and what to do depending upon what I felt once I got inside.  So, put gloves on, lubricate and in I go.  I felt the backbone and was searching for a leg or head when something popped out -- it's the tail so I have a breech-birth on my hands.  Found a leg but couldn't get it up over some ridge and, by this time, I'm thinking the baby is probably dead and I just want to get it out so Little Sister doesn't die.

Things were really, really slippery in there and at one point I had both hands in trying to find something to grab on to in order to pull.  All this time Little Sister was laying there, patiently allowing me this monumental intrusion and pushing a little at times.  Finally felt what I assumed was the pelvis and, as gently as I could, started pulling.  Out it came -- surprisingly, it was alive.  Little Sister and I immediately started clearing mucus from it's head and body and it seemed to be okay.  I did worry a little that I might have damaged something tugging on the tail a bit when it had popped out earlier (as if I could pull a baby out by its tail).

Soon she started pushing again and I helped another one pop out.  It was head-first and alive so I put it beside the first one so she could tend to both of them.  She was working so very hard at her job of cleaning and drying and I was so grateful for that.  Then more pushing and, with a little help, out comes the third one, butt first.  Next hurdle was to make sure everyone was cleaned off, dry and had some colostrum asap.

By the time it was all over, around 10:40, I had sacrificed two more of my bath towels for the cause, gotten my long outdoor extension cord rigged up in the barn and used my hairdryer to help warm and dry the babies.  I was exhausted and I really didn't want to have to bring them into the house.  Everyone got the nourishment they needed and were bedding down with mom, so I added some hay around the group for extra warmth and left the barn.  I put the dead baby and placenta in the bucket and what do you do with a dead baby in a bucket at 11:00 at night?  Not in the house, not in the storage building . . .  in your Subaru.  Buried it the next morning.

NO bottle babies.


Saturday, I had gone into work to do some catching up and when I got home I discovered that Mae had a bad case of mastitis.  Called the vet who said I needed to give her a shot of a particular antibiotic, so I started my quest (it's about 4:30 by now) -- Farmers Co-op and vet supply places all close by one, so hoped into the car and headed to Tractor Supply after first checking to see if any neighbors had any on hand.  Called on my way to town, because closing time was getting near.  They didn't have it, so called others as I headed to Springdale -- no one did.  In one last-ditch effort, I called my neighbor again and he was just walking in the door and happened to have some (about a mile from where I live), so I rushed back home to get my syringe.

I had told my vet about the one who had just one remaining baby and he suggested I try to get her to take one of Mae's --I should put them in a small pen, tie her up and tie her back leg so she couldn't kick the baby away.  I had some hog panels in the barn that I planned to use to make kidding pens (yes, a little late, I'd have to say).  I was able to bend them around, bracing them against the wall and post, to form a small pen; lured Little Sister, Too and her baby into it; tied her up and scooped up one of Mae's babies and put it in.  As I was trying to get the little one to the teat I thought it felt like Little Sister also had case of mastitis.

What is it . . "the best laid plays of mice and men . . ."  -- go back to neighbor and borrow more antibiotic, put Mae's baby back, give Little Sister, Too a shot, unmake the pen and let them back in the nursery.  So now that means I need to supplement Mae's two babies.

Thankfully, I keep kid replacement dry formula in my freezer and I'm currently giving
supplemental feedings four times a day, while trying to keep them going to Mae's good teat to keep her milk flowing and, hopefully, not ending up with two bottle babies long term.  I'm trying to keep a low profile but they already recognize me as a "source!"

Only five more to go! And, by the way, I was wrong about the second one having mastitis -- she just had an extremely full udder, thankfully.

Make that four one!


Feb. 20 --Last night when I went out to give the little ones their supplemental bottle about 6:30 (down to two a day), I saw that Lucy had gone into labor so I watched and waited.

Now it's March 11 --Turns out Lucy, another first-time mom, was also going to have "issues" kidding.  Gave her 30 minutes of watching legs and nose come into sight then recede, so as I was following her around, I grabbed the legs as she was walking away and out came the baby -- don't think she really knew what had happened.  She kept pacing, looking and acting distressed, so I figured she was going to have more.  I had to take care of cleaning up and drying off the baby because she clearly was occupied with what might be happening next.  Had to tie her up to get her to stand still long enough for me to make sure the little one got some colostrum.  Two hours later, I see two hooves (that's good) and a nose (that's also good) -- only problem was the two hooves were on top of the nose and upside down (not good) -- no way could the hooves belong to the "nose."  In hindsight, I should have started working with her right then, but waited just to be sure I was actually seeing what I thought I was seeing and trying to picture what the situation might be like inside the birth canal.

Called the vet (a different one I use) and he said wash up and go in -- don't worry with gloves.  He had me put him on speaker phone (my iPhone) and said he would walk me through it.  Only problem was that I couldn't hear him, but he could hear me going "oh, geez! oh, no! oh, no! oh . . ." (you get the picture).  Unlike Little Sister who had helped me help her, Lucy was more like "you want to do what!  --  are you kidding me"?   So here I am, trying to block Lucy's getaway with one arm and the other is going in.  It felt like a tangled mess in there, so I got back on the phone and the vet said to try pushing the nose back in -- I had to get one out of the way.

I really did try, but by then the whole head was out and I simply couldn't.  So I did the best I could and started pulling the legs.  Out it came, alive, and then in a short while out came the other one, dead.  It probably strangled in the birth canal and I felt really bad about yjat.   Towels, hair dryer, water, blah, blah, blah, left dead baby and placenta covered with hay in the barn and went to bed!

The next day, dug yet another hole and then noticed that Rosie was looking like she was going into labor.  Stayed home from work, but she had no major problems birthing her twins.

Spent last week (when not at work) watching Mae's teat turn black, checking temperature (she loves that!), and giving shots to bring it down when it's too high.  The vet said that whole side of the udder could die and slough off -- sounds quite gruesome.  I asked him if he could just perform surgery and remove it, rather than waiting to go through all that -- he doesn't but he felt I could find a vet who would.  Decided to just stay with him on this and suffer through the process.  Currently, teat is black and the black has begun slowly moving up the udder.  I'm still supplementing her two, plus Dawn's third and smallest little guy.  With two teats, the bigger, stronger kids get the goods.

Came home from work March 1st to find Jasmine up on the hill and Crystal missing.  Have probably bored you enough, so will just say it was easy getting Jasmine in, but took just about all I had left to get Crystal and her two out of the woods into the barn -- in the dark.  Thank goodness for a nice bright moon.

Then, last Wednesday, 7th, came home and Alice had had twins, one was dead.  Couldn't figure out what could possibly have happened.

So, that's all my larger does -- I have one young weanling who got nailed and I haven't a clue when she is due -- could it possibly this next weekend when Courtney, Katherine, Glynn and great nephews will be here?  Glynn thought it would be great if the boys could experience this, but Courtney definitely is not of the same mind.  Time will tell.

Five sets of triplets, six deaths, 22 new babies - 59 goats!