Don’t Get Too Attached

Never get too attached to anything on a farm, especially a goat. 

The weather for the last week has been horrible, cold, windy and raining.  Goats can usually withstand 2 of the three.  But all three at once for days on end has been brutal.  This was a set of triplets born yesterday. The two in the foreground aren’t dead, just cold dishrags. 

They made a trip to the house with another kid for hot water baths, blow drying, heating pad and tube feeding.  Miraculously, they recovered and are in the barn with mom.  I am still supplementing them because it is difficult for a nanny to raise triplets. 

It takes lots of towels and heating devices to get them warmed back up.

Unfortunately, two out of this set of quads were dead on arrival.  We lost several over night on Thursday. I spent 16 hours dealing with the goats yesterday. My fitness app says I walked 7 miles and did 60 flights of stairs.  Our final check was at midnight, 40 degrees, wind gusts up to 40 mph and still raining. 

Today was a better day.

It was still windy but at least the sun was shining and the temperature got up in the 60’s.  Some of the goats even felt like playing.  In the afternoon Emily and Keiran were here and walked though the goats.  Emily came back to the house and insisted that there was a new goat that the mom wasn’t cleaning.  I had just checked and the mom in question has a single she was taking care of just 5 minutes before.  But I went back out (only 5 1/2 miles today) and sure enough she had had a second one and it was the size of a rat.  I thought it was dead but no, it was still breathing.  I thought it would die before I could get to the house with it.  But it managed to stay alive.  I got it warmed up and dried off.

And amazingly, it could sit up.  I weighed it and it was 22 ounces.

 This evening it could stand briefly.  It is still not nursing on its own yet.  

But it enjoyed a little bit of lap time with Keiran.  I am not naming it until it is a week old, because I am not getting too attached.