monica is down...

I already thought it curious she did not try and steal Gazelle's food that morning and when I went to give them their evening meal she did not come into the barn... I looked around and found her down next to the little bachelor pad! I could get her back up, and she trembled her way back to the barn, but did not want to eat or drink, and pretty much collapsed again.

Something about this triggered my memory, something about new moms, milking and some sort of deficiency, so I contacted Cornell Ambulatory Services right away and they suspected hypocalcemia or milk fever. The vet was nice enough to let me pick up the meds (it was after hours) at Cornell and for a mere $20 she was all set! I gave her 80ml of calcium and thiamine plus vitamine B complex and within minutes of injection (under the skin) she tried to get up, ate some washing soda and started munching hay! wow.

It took about a day for her to get back to normal. I kept her in the kidding stall overnight to get a break from her kids and even tho the next day she was ambling along looking real tired, she did have milk for them and was able to let them drink without falling over :)

I sure am very grateful to have such a great resource as Cornell right around the corner...

more boys!

I know, I know, it's a little behind the fact - Monica delivered her two boys little over a week ago, but still, it's something to commemorate - healthy kids and an uneventful delivery!


She again delivered mid morning, which I'll remember for next year, and we again missed her delivery, this time by minutes! The orange one still had his birth sack wrapped around him, which completely grossed out my four year old - he did not want to get into the stall until 'that thing' was removed LOL

Simon went ahead and named these two boys; the orange one is now Pumpkin Pie (Pumpkin) and the mostly white one is White Guy (Guy) which is I think the first time he named animals and not called them 'Simon'... And yes, last year we had five girls and this year we have five boys! And a girl, who almost did not make it and now is the most affectionate of all. And jumps on my back... those little hooves do not feel all that good...

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!"