our one girl

Our doe Thirteen is a very easy milker, she has big teats which make milking easy for beginners - but very hard for goat kids! Last year we had a problem with the triplets not being able to suckle the first three days or so - I milked her out and helped the kids until they figured it out. This year she had twins and the buck's a big kid and could suckle on his own within a day - unfortunately his sister could not and after a 20 degree F night pretty much gave up... I went to check up on them early morning as I had not seen her suckle yet (she did not take direction well) and found her nearly dead...


I rushed her up to the house, where fortunately the woodstove was already going, had her on the hot tiles in front of the stove all day (I remembered the stories of farmers putting hypothermic lambs in warm ovens!) while force feeding her mothers milk with molasses and low and behold, by the end of the afternoon she started to perk up! I actually saved one!!

I kept her up at the house overnight, on a warming mat, just in case. By evening she was drinking from a bottle, with a good suckle, so at least that was looking good - now hoping the mom would recognize her and have her nurse again!

Fortunately, I needn't worry - the moment she heard Cookie Doe's tiny bleats she rushed out to meet her, lick her and seemed genuinely happy (and surprised!) her little kid was back safe and sound. Nursing was no issue, at least with a little help from me and the bottle for a few days, as she figured out how to get that enormous teat in her tiny little mouth. As my four year old would say: "good job!"