So Little, Too Early

 

We don't really want to name these goats unless they make it. We have tentative names, but will share them if they make it past a few days. 

Doe 1 - one pound 9 ounces (25 ounces) 

Doe 2 - one pound 10 ounces (26 ounces) 

Buck - one pound .4 ounces (16.4 ounces) 

Doe 3 - one pound 4 ounces (20 ounces) 

Does 1 and 2 have been up on their feet and body temps seem to be normal. The other two kids are on a heating pad trying to get body temps up. All kids have had Bose shots.

We brought the kids in because they were getting stepped on by mom.

I milked all the colostrum from mom and was able to feed a little by syringe to the two bigger girls.  The smaller girl doesn't know how to suckle and so I used a dropper to give her a bit.  The little buckling is not ready and I really do not think he will make it.  As soon as these babies are up and walking around, I will put them with mom.  Until then, I will have to keep them with me and feed momma's milk. 

Power Outage, but Life Went On

Thursdays are typically pizza night.  With only four of us here, we didn't need to make much.  Around dinner time, however, I noticed the power start flickering from the weight of ice on power lines.  So I looked up a recipe for stove top pizza and started cooking it.  It turned out pretty good, but since the crust was too thick and the burner to powerful, the pizza was burned, but not HOT.  Still good, regardless.

I was able to finish canning the beef broth and pulled it from the canner by oil lamp light. It was a pretty image. Not sure why.  

This morning I used the French press to make coffee since the power wasn't on yet.  I later made some toast in a skillet (like grilled cheese) and some scrambled eggs.  It was very good!  Hit the spot like a good breakfast should.

Last night when checking on Wendy's babies, I noticed her little boy, Timber, had two feet curled.  He was walking around fine which is why I never noticed earlier.  So I took him in and gave him a shot of selenium, and promptly returned him to his mother who was screaming for him.  This morning, his feet were absolutely perfect and HE is absolutely adorable.  

Our little bottle baby, Serenade, is doing absolutely wonderfully!  She is strong, active, and beautiful.  I plan to put her outwith the two little does so she doesn't get beat up by the other moms.  Then when the babies get separated for milking, she will have some friends.  

This ice storm has been a great tool to show what things need to be in line for next time.  Simple fixes as well as some that might cause more money.  One thing is for sure, no animal is worth more than the life of a human.  There is no reason to risk well being to get to animals.  Al fell two times before he found his boot spikes.  Once he found those, it was easier to get around to do buckets.  Obviously, once the power went out, all of our birds were vulnerable and heated water buckets froze.  This obviously added more work to the load this morning.  

So, here I am, sitting down to share the latest...load of towels going, dishwasher going, and most of the sabbath prep clean up done.  I have relearned (yes, learned again because I learned it before) that I hate when phone lines are not direct phone lines.  I do not like relying on cell phones with poor to little coverage.  I can do just fine without electricity because life goes on.  But when we are cut off without communication - that stinks.  It is nice not looking at social media, or even being online for the many stupid distractions people find.  

There you have it...a nice little run down of the past 18 hours of no electricity.  

Arctic Blast Babies

This morning we were looking outside at the sheet of ice two inches thick and wondering how we were going to handle chores without killing ourselves.  Al had walked out to break the ice on the freshened doe's water and was slipping everywhere. I noticed some smaller goat bodies near Wendy and knew she kidded early this morning.  

Al and I suited up and went to the goat pen only to be hindered by the frozen gates and no way to get in. So we came back to the house.  Al went back out to get to work on the gate latch.  Once into the pen, he looked in on Wendy.  He told me there were three but I needed to come out because one didn't look so good.  

I suited up and went out with towels.  I scooped up the little one and rubbed her down.  She was pretty vocal, but clearly cold and weak.  The two chunks were quickly determined to be bucks.  Typical!  I really didn't need to check the little one because usually it is the doe. 

We brought in the little girl to warm her up in hot water, give her a blow dry, and put her on a heating pad.  Temp was lower than desired, but she was proving to be feisty.  While she warmed up, I went back out for supplies and to care for the goats and milk some colostrum from Wendy.

I gave her a selenium shot which seemed to work rapidly and before we knew it she was standing and crying for milk.  Her temp was at 99.6 and I decided to go for it.  (Goats in the wild logic...) She drank 1 1/2 tbs of colostrum and was content to sleep.  

Before long that little girl was up and almost literally running down the hall to Caleb.  I have no doubt she will be fine.  She seems to have a liking for Caleb and follows him everywhere.  I told him she can't stay in the house because the warm temps will throw her body off.  I plan to take her out in the afternoon to see how momma handles her, but may bring her back in at night. I haven't decided.  

You can find more pictures on Hickory Hill Goats. 

Wendy's Winter Storm Babies

 

Wendy Darling decided she wanted to go a day early in an icy mess. Getting to her was an absolute NIGHTMARE with a solid sheet of ice on a slope and gates frozen shut. 

She had two chunky bucklings and a small doeling. When we got to them, the doeling was looking near dead. We brought her in, warmed her up, gave her selenium, and checked her temp. After warming, she took some of momma's colostrum like a pro. 

We know from experience that babies like this have no chance against two big bucks. So she will be a bottle baby. 

Introducing: 

P6 - buckling - Hickory Hill N Jack Frost (buckskin) 

P7 - buckling - Hickory Hill N Shiver Me Timbers (brown) 

P8 - doeling - Hickory Hill N Snowy Serenade (roan buckskin)

And Then There Were Five

I brought a rather reluctant Jersey to the pen where Mocha was.  Of course it took a bit of coaxing, but finally she went into the pen only to have Mocha get angry that she was entering her domain.   

It didn't take long after doing chores before the ice started falling from the sky.  Jersey had been outed from the shelter and was trying desperately to get in to her babies.  Mocha being the dominant goat and overly protective mother, decided Jersey wasn't allowed in the dome again.  I worked in the cold to get Jersey in, but Jersey hates me...STILL.  So she decided to run around the dome and stare at me like a deer in the headlights.  Mocha would charge her from inside the dome every time she tried.  So I resorted to pulling Mocha half way across the yard so Jersey would go in.  Finally, she went in and I released Mocha.  She walked to the dome and jumped in...and then decided to teach Jersey a few more lessons before settling in on eating hay. 

At any rate, the babies are hanging together now and don't seem to care whose mother is whose.  

O' Jersey Girl Kids

We just had a big storm, why not name goats appropriately? 

Introducing...

Hickory Hill Stormy Skies (doeling)  

and Hickory Hill Thunder Rolls!  (buckling, blue eyes)

 Sire has not been determined yet.  DNA to be done this spring. 

More Pics!

 The little Mocha babies are doing great.  All three are getting plenty to eat from momma.  They are active and jumping around!  I think Cuppa Joe is the smallest of the three!

Jersey appears to be in labor now, so we shall see what today brings.  

First Kids of the Year

 We have had our first kids of the year.  So happy to share with you all these three beautiful babies.

THIS IS NOT A POST OF GOAT KIDS FOR SALE!

Doe 1 - Tattoo P1 - Hickory Hill N Kahlua

Buck - Tattoo P2  - Hickory Hill N Cuppa Joe

Doe 2 - Tattoo P3 - Hickory Hill N Amaretto

Dam: Betterwayz Mocha Latte

Sire: Hickory Hill Nashville

Death, Then Life

 God is good!  We knew that baby goats were coming, but we didn't know we would lose so many animals on our homestead in the last year.  I was running through the list of all the goats we lost and I was shocked.  

We lost Orinoco and Java last February.  In March we lost a little doeling, Winnie. Mid summer, Genevieve had twins, the doeling died.  In October, Anne kidded prematurely, both babies died.  Ten days later, Anne had to be put down.  Pearl had to be put down that same month or the next. Last month, we lost Grady (Genenvieve's other kid), Woodstock, Galveston, and Jazzy Jay.  Yesterday, we lost Cocoa and all her babies.  She had absolutely no chance of surviving in my opinion. 

But today, Mocha kidded triplets.  Two beautiful little does and one absolutely gorgeous buck.  She had no trouble, and easy kidding, and is doing absolutely wonderfully.  

 

The Frailty of Life

 

Cocoa has never been a beautiful goat in my opinion, but she certainly has been one of my favorites.  She has a personality like no other:  not afraid of you, not needy of you, not even concerned what you might be offering.  She lived her life satisfied.  These last few years, you could usually find her head to the core of a huge round bale, totally content to eat and ruminate. 

We bought Cocoa in 2017 with her half-sister, Mocha.  They had been pets.  We got them for a bargain price and I knew good goats when I saw them - at least genetics and herd names. As I mentioned, Cocoa wasn't a beautiful goat and she became known as my "wonky goat" because she had an injury to her neck that prevented proper neck movement and posture.  She has always been more of a "dairy" animal than an animal known for better conformation like her sister.  

I was surprised to learn that she was pregnant last month when an ultrasound was done.  Multiples at that!  I was excited.  I wanted more babies out of her.  Her daughter, Mandy, was a beautiful doe and I looked forward to breeding her this fall.  Mandy fell ill and ended up dying.  

The other day, my Cocoa fell ill.  I couldn't put my finger on what looked odd at first, but the second time I visited her I realized her eyes were sunken in.  I looked it up and asked around and it seemed the consensus was dehydration.  But something didn't fit.  I couldn't reverse anything. 

Next day, I managed to get her to down electrolytes and she ate so much all day!  I was optimistic that she would turn around and get better. I could feel her babies jumping around, she was eating, standing, and seemed to be drinking.  She was more vocal than she was earlier in the morning.  

She went to sleep last night, belly full and ruminating.  

This morning, my girl was not able to stand up.  We carried her out of her dome into the sunshine.  She wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink, moaned and cried.  We lifted her to her feet and held her up.  She was only able to stand on her own four feet for a minute before I noticed her collapsing to the ground.  I couldn't feel any movement in her belly no matter how much I thumped or manipulated.  The babies "appear" to be dead.  Cocoa appears to be at her end. 

My thought is leaning toward pregnancy toxemia. She has been treated accordingly for well over a day.  I will never know for sure because we just do not have the money for the extensive blood work that is needed to pinpoint the cause.  We have a rule that the medical care can not exceed the cost of the animal.  It is a wise rule, but a difficult rule to live by. 

I was hesitant to take a photo of her sitting out in the sunlight.  I don't want to remember my girl at her weakest and quite frankly, her ugliest.  But I wanted to capture her frailty - the frailty of animals in general.  

These animals are domesticated.  In the wild, she would have been dead already.  Let's face it, most of our animals would be!  With all the intervention and protection, medicines, vitamins, minerals, and feed, these animals have their lives prolonged.  And in all seriousness - they are our animals and we should do the best we can.  

The best I can do isn't the same as the best someone else can do.  You may not have the same rule I have "to not have the medical care exceed the value of the animal", and that may a be far more willing expense paid out if you have animals worth far more than we do.  What is the same is the love we have for our animals.  We do the best we can to care for them and give them what they need within our means. Why do we think we can do any more than that?

I cried this morning when I realized that Cocoa was seeing her last day.  I want to quit after so many losses this last year.  I lost a handful of newborn kids, Orinoco, Java, Anne girl, Galveston, Woodstock, Grady, Jazz, Mandy, and now Cocoa will be next.  Her body telling me she just can't any longer.  

My heart screaming I just can't do this again.  

Another hole dug... 

another goat euthanized...

and another mound to remind us just how frail life really is. 

And Here We Go Again...

I know, back and forth, back and forth...

Truth is, I prefer blogging over social media.  The problem is that most people don't want to go somewhere other than social media.  So I am sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

Perhaps I can keep this one going and just share the links on the social media platforms for others to visit.  

So, here we are.  Once again blogging the homestead happenings.