Archive for November, 2008
Nov
30
2008
 
Meet Nutmeg!Posted by: Christine in Our Farm Animals, tags: crazy goat lady, kid goat, pygmy goatBrownie surprised us Thanksgiving afternoon with a beautiful little doe that my friend and neighbor Rose named Nutmeg. This little one is very quiet and mom (who’s a very experienced doe), keeps an eye on her all the time. These furry little animals are so cute and cuddly! Friday early evening Marsala the fainting goat surprised us with twins! The little white buck I’ve name WhatWhat because of the sound he makes. As for his little sister, her unique coloring has earned her the name of Java. They are both so precious and WhatWhat is so inquisitive – what a boy! It all started with the surprise arrival of Gracie on Wednesday November 26th. As I wrote in another post, I didn’t even know her little mama (Sweety) was pregnant! It was a difficult birth but Gracie is alive and well and so is mom (Sweety is the dark gray goat). Gracie is the little white one in the video below. She’s annoying her “aunts”! On the previous post you can see her birth!
Nov
26
2008
A little Nigerian surprise for Thanksgiving!Posted by: Christine in Our Farm Animals, tags: birth, kid, labor, nigerian dwarf goat, pygmy goatToday was a busy day. I had to meet with a lady in Dayton about Boris and the Christmas parade and then I had to go shop for stuff to try to make him an appropriate outfit. No sooner had I arrived home that I had to meet a fellow at “the barn” to receive my winter/spring supply of hay. So I rushed down to organize that and I noticed that Sweety, a 9 month old Nigerian Dwarf goat was in labor! How could that be? That meant that she’d have been bred when she was only 4 months old!
I bought Blacky with her twins Sweety & Butty back in June. Although the twins were only about 4 months old, Butty was put in the boys yard to avoid any accidents. Well, accident there was because 5 months lady, poor Sweety was knee deep in labor pains. I put her in a separate pen and spent the rest of the day with her. Just petting her and comforting her. I was really apprehensive because of Sweety’s young age. Does this young sometimes die during childbirth or the babies die. Other times the mom won’t acknowledge the baby because she’s just not ready. It’s really a bad idea to breed before a year old. I felt so bad for her. She was in such pain and for quite a bit of time. From around 2:30 until the arrival of Grace around 5:30 pm. Grace was not presenting herself well. Her head came first and her front legs were bent back. I cleaned her face and mouth and just watched as they both struggled to accomplish the task. After a few minutes I “went in” and was able to pull one leg out. That helped a little but one leg was still bent back. It was heart wrenching to see Sweety struggle with this but after a few minutes, one big push and Grace slid in my hands. Sweety was exhausted and just lay sleeping quietly while I rubbed Grace with straw and made sure she was alright. During this time my husband was video taping (will be posted later) and he also put up a heat lamp – it takes quite a bit of time for the kids to dry completely. Does are not as thorough as dogs in this department. It was at this time that all hell broke loose. The donkeys had been let out of their pasture so their shed could be cleaned but they took that opportunity to head down the driveway towards the road. One of our rescue puppies also chose that moment to mutilate one of my hens (which Scott rescued and brought back to the barn). Scott couldn’t get control of the donkeys or the dog & I had to catch one donkey (then the other follows), and lead her back home. Scott caught the dog a little later. My pastures are all messed up because late last week a huge tree fell and damaged the fencing. That area is no longer secure for the goats so I can only keep the little horses there. The fence repair guy was supposed to be her 2 days ago but he got sick and won’t be able to make it until next week. I have to keep Boris away from the pregnant goats because he just doesn’t give a hoot where he puts his feet and could easily squash either a goat in labor or one of my fainters. I do have to keep Boris where he is because that’s where his pen is that we had built especially for him. I can’t put the goats in the other pastures because they would be too exposed to the elements for birthing. It’s not the end of the world but things can get a little complicated! At the end of the day, Sweety is doing fine and Grace is an adorable, mostly white healthy little doe. I’m assuming that Grace is sucking well but I’ll know in the morning. I love baby goats. They are so freakin CUTE!!! A bit of sad news.. the mutilated hen died of her wounds. Anybody want a dog?
Nov
04
2008
What’s new or coming upPosted by: Christine in Our Farm Animals, tags: abortion, chlamydia, kids, pinkeye, pygmy, vaginal secretionMy favorite time of the year is coming up in the next few weeks! What’s that you ask? Well kidding time of course! On the list are my 3 Fainting does. If not sold by then, I’m expecting all 3 of them to kid between the end of November to mid-December. It’s always a surprise to see what color they “pop” out! Also on the list are my Pygmys. Noel, Chausette, Oreo & Brownie who were all bred to Charlie, a new buck than just stuck around until he got all the ladies pregnant, are also due at about the same time. A sad thing happened yesterday, Blackie aborted sometime between yesterday and the day before. We couldn’t find the baby anywhere (goats are free to roam in the fields during the day). We could tell this happened because she was expelling the afterbirth when we rounded them up for dinner. She still had at least 4 weeks to go so we’re sure the baby was dead at birth. In a way I was expecting this to happen because Blackie had had “Pinkeye” about a month ago and lately had started to have vaginal secretions. Occasionally, after effects (or dormant causes), of Pinkeye is a disease called Chlamydia which is usually indicates impending abortion if the doe is pregnant. Pinkeye is a nasty contagious disease that usually spreads pretty quickly among the herd. Luckily I caught it quickly. Blackie was the second (and last), to get it. Goldie the fainter got it first but I believe she’ll bring her kid to term as she’s not showing any signs of vaginal secretions. I was very sad but death is part of life and nature has a way of taking care of its weakest ones on it’s own. Blackie was fine… just eating as usual! I’ll keep you posted as the kids come along! |
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