I would have come home to a disaster if I had worked today. The babies started dropping before I came into the barn. A total of 5 moms delivered 8 babies today. Two sets of twins and three singles. Four does and four buck kids, I think. It required moving moms and kids out of pens and new moms and kids in. No one here to help hold horns so it was quite a rodeo all day. It was a mad scramble for sweaters because it is freezing cold here with snow all day. I had to throw lamb sweaters in the wash to shrink them down for goat kids. These babies are tiny, tiny, tiny and I'm so afraid of them chilling. I only have one heat lamp and I gave that to Celeste, the oldest mom. She had black twins, one of each. Rowena, who I was worried about for weeks because she couldn't walk comfortably, had white twins, one of each, but won't stand up and nurse them. When I tried to roll her over to allow the kids to nurse from her udder, she tried to bite and gore my back. I have never had this much trouble with goat moms! Sheila, first time mom and pictured here without her baby because I think my camera is lost somewhere in the barn, had a tiny little black buck. She has been standing still and rigid all day in the corner of the pen, and isn't helping her little one nurse. A good mom will guide the baby back to the nipple, but not her. I had to pull her down and lie down on her to let the baby nurse and trim around her teats. When the pens filled up I turned around to see a new mom with her kid, in a corner, doing everything right. Happy baby up and nursing. Thank you, thank you, I said. I would let more goats do that, but they want to keep them in the freezing end of the barn. The pens are in the warmer end. Without the moms being shorn, you don't know if the babies are sucking on a teat or a wet piece of mohair. It's time to do hay, grain and water now. All I've been doing all day is getting moms situated with babies, and squeezing teats to get some milk in the babies before nightfall. Moms tend to lie down at night and the babes have to wait until morning. If a tiny newborn doesn't get enough nourishment, it goes down hill fast. I am going downhill fast myself. Matt is on the way...feels like the Marines are about to land. I think I have four more goats to deliver and three sheep. Matt is right, we should take a year off. I have more sheep and goats than I can afford to feed, and my moms can use a break, too. It's Easter and I didn't even get Hannah and Luke's package in the mail. It's sitting here looking at me. It will have to be their post-Easter package. I've misplaced my driver's license and debit card...I was too tired to carry my big purse into the grocery store and put them in my pocket. I hope I didn't drop them in the parking lot. And now the camera. This farmgirl is not operating at maximum efficiency. HELP!! Someone help me get out of this chair and on with my chores!!! An outreach person stopped by looking for immigrant farm workers so he could get their kids registered in school. I told him to find some for me and I would be very grateful!
No comments:
Post a Comment