Parties

Friday we went to our church's home school group Valentine's Day party. There were lots of kids there, games, food and of course valentines.

This is the only picture I got where both of the boys' are facing the camera. Kaden is front row in a white snowman t-shirt (he picked out his own party clothes) and Kolin is on all fours to the far right in a red long sleeve button-down.

Unfortunately it seems that Kolin picked up more than valentines, he woke up Saturday with a fever. So he did not get to go to a friends birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. I took Kaden and he had a good time, what kid doesn't at Chucky's? In the picture the birthday boy is on the left, he is turning 5. The other boy is already 5. Kaden is still 3 and he's in his socks. I think people think I'm joking when I tell them he's 3.

Back Outside She Goes

Tonight Little Bit will stay outside for the first time in a while. The barn is open if they want to go in they can. The weather was beautiful today and it's shouldn't be terribly cold tonight. She has her jacket on. I'll check on her first thing in the morning.

Update on Little Bit

Tuesday:
So I'm not sure I even mentioned what was actually wrong with Little Bit. The vet said she just got too cold and her body quit working. He mentioned hypothermia and hypoglycemia, but I'm not sure he officially determined which she had. He was consulting his Sheep and Goat Handbook so it didn't seem like he had seen this too many times before. She is the runt of the triplets. Her two sisters are twice her size and though she is a fighter I'm not sure she's getting a good share of the milk. Her fur is different from the other babies too. It is very soft, the others are a little coarse. I'm not sure if that is affecting her ability to retain heat or not.



Our night feedings went well. Tuesday the boys and I took Little Bit on a road trip. We went through the drive-thru at Captain D's then to TSC for some milk replacer. She also rode with us to Aldi. We are going to start giving her one or two bottles a day so supplement what she is getting from Kay. The weather is supposed to warm up soon so we will probably return her to the barn/field with the other goats then.

Friday:
She won't take the bottle, so I guess she's not starving. She is asleep in her bucket with the boys. She really doesn't make any noise until she gets really hungry. I took her to the barn at 1AM last night for a feeding then put her in her box and she didn't make a peep until 8AM this morning.
The boys and I went to the pet store today and bought her a sweater. She's very cute in it. I bought purple so if we needed it in the future for a male kid it wouldn't look to girly :) While at the pet store Kolin discovered they were having a snake exhibit next Saturday. He wants to go. Any volunteers?

Kid in Crisis

I had just talked to an out of town friend who asked how the goats were doing and I said they were all good when Konrad called me from the barn.

He said that one of the triplets was dying and did I want to come down and look at her. I said no, but asked for her symptoms and went to the internet. Konrad said she had a stiff neck. I diagnosed this as tetanus but I called our Extension Agent to see what she thought and she also thought tetanus with the description. The is almost always fatal in goats. She suggested I call the vet to see what he thought so I got the number and headed down to the barn. I want to point out here that I was in my red moose pajamas, but I threw on my coveralls before heading to the barn.

She was laying on her side all sprawled out, legs fully extended and head tilted waaaaay back, like laying on her back. Her eyes were open and she was breathing. The vet had said I could bring her in. Konrad and I decided that though we were sure she would die we would pay for a $30 vet exam to determine what killed her in case it was contagious.

I had picked her up as soon as I got to the barn and wrapped her in a towel. With goat in my arms I walked back up to the house, grabbed a real shirt, my purse and keys and left. I turned on the heat and put her in the passenger seat so I could change my shirt as I drove.

The vet looked her over and took her glucose which didn't register on his machine bc it was so low. He took her temperature and it didn't register either because it was so low. So he put her on a heating pad and started a line in her neck (including 2 stitches to hold it in place with no anesthesia and she barely winced) and put in warm saline and glucose. Then we waited. Then he tubed her down her throat and gave her more glucose. Then we waited. After about an hour he got a temp of 90-normal is 100-102, but her eyes had started to twitch and he said that is sign of brain damage! Eventually he moved me to the surgery room where I just sat and held her and the heating pad all wrapped up in blankets for a long while. He checked on her a few more times as her temperature went up, the eye twitching was getting a little better.

Her temp went up to 95 and he sent me home with instructions to be her mama for a few days, keep her in the house on a heating pad and feed her every couple of hours. He said I could either milk Kay (her real mama) or if she seemed up to it I could let her nurse.

We didn't have a heating pad so I went to Walgreen's....in my coveralls...with no makeup...poop on my shoes...and a towel-wrapped baby goat in my arms. All the heating pads shut off every two hours (who knew you couldn't buy one without auto shut off?) but I bought one anyway.

I took her straight to the barn to collect milk. Konrad came down. He was *supposed* to be sleeping so I was surprised to see him. He suggested I let her nurse. I really didn't think she would but he went and got her out of the passenger seat and sure enough she went right to nursing, aggressively.

So though we didn't intend on using any *heroic measures* to save her, I'm glad she is alive and as I was leaving the vet said she would probably make it. So at this time our plan is to take her to the barn every few hours to nurse, which means removing the other two kids and putting Kay in a headlock so she will stand still and quit worrying about her loud mouth kids on the other side of the barn.

Any volunteers for the 4am feeding??

This is a picture of Little Bit in the bucket in the living room with her heating pad, and my bed for the night on the couch.

Six to Sixteen in Seven Days

We've had a very successful kidding season. Last Sunday we had six goats, this Sunday we have 16. What a week!

This morning our last nanny had twins. An 8lb solid black female, and a 7 1/4lb true brush goat colored female. She looks just like Jessica, kind of gray/white.

We have really enjoyed being present at so many of the births. We have also enjoyed watching some of the first goats born on our ranch back in 2009, now having kids of their own. We've come full circle. I am also so happy that all of these first time nannies are proving to be such attentive and nurturing mothers.

Kaden is already beginning to wrestle with the baby goats. His favorites are the brown ones and he says that brown is his favorite color. The kids born Monday are beginning to play and hop around and that just makes Kaden laugh and want to roll around with them. It is so cute to watch and hear him giggle.

Since all of the babies are doing so well we might start letting them out tomorrow, However, that will depend on the weather forecast and I've been so caught up in the maternity ward that I haven't seen the news all week.

We have ten cute new baby goats and they would love to see you. Come visit us anytime :)

As Suspected

I had a sneaking suspicion we weren't done for the day. Mimi had twin boys this evening. She started acting funny yesterday and today appeared to be in labor but didn't move into active labor (pushing) until about 5PM. She had them both within ten minutes or so. I thought she would only have one, she wasn't very big. Kolin bet on twins and Kaden took the long shot bet of triplets. Konrad woke up and made it to the barn for the birth. Both of the billies are solid black. One was 8 1/4lbs, the other 7 1/2lbs. I think that's all for today, but we do have the last nanny penned up in the barn, just in case...we wouldn't want her to be outside tonight, too cold. Plus Night Train, the billy, was acting a fool when Mimi was in hard labor. So he has lost his barn priviledges for tonight.

The Expanding Herd

This morning at 10:00AM Flower dropped a 10lb female kid into the barn. That's our largest kid yet, but I'm not even sure if that will be the last kid born today. Mimi is acting very suspicious...

Twins!

The fresh snow last night seems to have sent Hipster into labor. Hipster, the first goat born on our ranch back in January 2009, had her first kids this morning. She had a 9lb male first.

He is white with a black head. Then she had an 8lb red/brown male.

He has a white patch on his stomach, like the billy, Night Train. He also has one white foot. Both have nursed and appear strong and healthy. Hipster is doing good too. She has eaten, had fresh water and some Craisens.

Snow Much Fun

Here are a couple of pics from our first snow, but not our latest snow. We got a great snowfall (for us) of about 5" but I had left my camera at a friend's house so I didn't get any pictures of it :(

We went sledding at the church, Kaden is a wild man, fearless. He will follow his big brother anywhere and sometimes beyond.

AT LAST!

After MUCH waiting and GREAT anticipation we finally have some baby goats!



On Sunday Kay appeared to be very close to giving birth and on Monday Konrad said he thought she was in labor. Kay was in the barn and our billy goat, Night Train was standing guard at the goat door of the barn. Konrad went to check on her before leaving at 4PM and called me immediately and said "there are babies on the ground, I repeat, babies on the ground!"Kid #3


Our friend Amy Shimabukuro happened to be visiting that day from the big city of Boston and I'm sure she thought we were crazy as the boys and I threw on our coveralls and ran out the door. I had just finished telling her that I had a Call List of friends that wanted to be notified when the kids were being born. I think she thought I was joking, but I actually had one and grabbed it as I ran out the door.

Two kids had been born in the barn so Konrad moved them into the maternity ward which is a clean stall on the opposite side of the barn-out of the poop and visible but out of reach from the other goats. I think Konrad finished the maternity ward before Thanksgiving anticipating a birth any day.

Nanny Kay, brown 9-pounder, and black 5-pounder.


On the call list were three home school families and they all made it in time to see the 3rd kid be born. There were at least 10 kids there, not including mine, ranging in age from 2-18. They were amazingly quiet during the birth as we had asked them to be. It was a fun time and everyone got a good education that day.



Kay did a wonderful job and is proving to be an excellent mother. These are her first kids so I am very happy that she is doing so well.

2 Days Old

All three kids are females, the do not yet have names. We [I] still aren't 100% sure they will all live so we aren't in a rush to name them, though with each day I give them a higher percent chance of making it. The last one born is the biggest (9 lbs) which is odd, usually they have gotten smaller as birth order progressed. We aren't sure of the birth order of the first two but one is 8 lbs and then there is the little one that is only 5lbs. She is tiny compared to the other two, several inches shorter, but is nursing and seems to be doing okay. Kolin really likes her so I hope all goes well. Kolin and his favorite.


Kaden likes whichever one he can get his hands on. He tends to be a little rough and has lost his goat-holding privileges more than once. I encourage him to hold the biggest one, she's the strongest by far. Fun times!

We would love to see you and show off our new kids here at the Rocking K Ranch. Hope to see you soon!