MORE GOATS

Ohhh Dr. P were art thou? 

As of Sunday morning, I have 11 live goat kids on the ground.  2 died post-delivery, suffocated in the afterbirth.  They were night time births.  Being as I have to sleep some time, I'm fairly pleased with my midwifery. 

I rant and rave that Dr. P ought to get rid of the goats and get us a real herd:  cattle, buffalo, even llamas for cryin' out loud. Alas, my aversion to the goats has been whittled away by the neediness of the nannies and the helplessness of the newborns. Conspiracy...  

Dr. P's departing instructions were to "do the best you can" and don't spend any money on them.  Gee whiz, how did he know that  I keep three vets on speed dial?

Nanny #43 has been trying to die since Wednesday, but I won't let her.  I observed her staggering around and collapsing in the pasture.  In my familiar bovine dairy experience, those are the unmistakable symptoms of milk fever (a deficiency in Calcium in the bloodstream).  Unable to reach Dr. P, not finding any Ca solution in his dispensary, I did some brainstorming with Dr. Kjar.  My friend is a retired large animal vet from Nebraska.  We concluded that an oral drench of ground up Ca/Mg would be better than a kick in the shins.  I put 43 in isolation and proceed to pump her full of minerals, electrolytes, vitamin suspensions.  This will be the fifth day that I've been attacking her with the water syringe four times a day.  I feel it necessary to continue because she won't drink water of her own will.

A call from Costa Rica came through, finally.  I was instructed to hit 43 with 2x daily thiamine injections.  I found the thiamine, expired in 2007.  Can't do any more harm, I suppose.

Saturday night, I rush home from work to find 43 down with two teeny hooves sticking out of her posterior.  When I realized that she still too weak to have proper contractions, I assisted.  My first true delivery!  I was squatting down to pull when the kid shot out and we both fell backwards.  I was just coaxing the first to try to nurse when the next one started out.  Remember The Slimer from Ghostbusters?  Well, the movie creator must have gotten the idea from seeing a farm birth, I'll say no more, even though I really want to give you all the details about the goo in my hair, on my shoes, all down my front.




#43

 All this time spent on the goats has kept me from proceeding on the coop project.  No matter, the weather has been to cold for them to be placed outside anyway.  And a vital component is still being manufactured in Oregon.  So, for now, I've divided the chicks and turned a back room into the chicken room, complete with poultry condos.




Might need to add a few more towers by next week!

 Eventually, I will get to work today! 

Adios,  Jamie