I've been trying to get this posted since Saturday, but blogspot was having some issues - or it just didn't like me. (One more reason to move to wordpress, right?!)
At Long Last - We have babies!! Ms. Gerie had triplets on Friday July 12, 2013.
11:15 p.m. - Doe (light tan and white paint) - named Tess
11:20 p.m. - Buck (black and white) - named Aberfeldy (though hubby calls him Lord Aberfeldy)
11:34 p.m. - Doe (Black with sable points) - named Charlotte
Without delay, we brought them all in the house along with mama (dogs safely shut in the living room).
Our good friend came over and sat with us and the babies, and gave lots of moral support to us and love to the distressed baby goats.
As they started to cool down, we gave them electrolytes (3 cc each) by syringe. Then about 30 minutes later, when they were cooler we gave 3 cc of colostrum, milked from Gerie. Aberfeldy was more than definitely interested, and by the time Charlotte was down to the last cc, she was trying to nurse on the syringe. Each of them went to mama for nursing after their syringe.
Little Tess though just didn't want to perk up. She didn't even want to swallow, so it was quite literally one drop at a time, and massage her throat to make sure it went down. Then another drop, another massage. etc. By the time we were done she still wasn't interested in nursing on her own. At this point, we really did not think she was going to make it.
She still had not passed her meconium, though both Aberfeldy and Charlotte had.
She lay back down on the carpet and rested. About an hour later, she got a dose of NutriDrench followed by 1.5 cc of colostrum. Finally, she started to perk up.
Hubby stayed in the house with them while my son and I went out to feed. We finished and were working on tipping off the knurled end of Neville's short horn before it could puncture his skull, when he (Nev) went batshit crazy on us. (Bucking, Twisting, Butting, Full On BatShit Crazy!) The wire saw flapped from the nearly finished cut, on the thankfully tethered stinky boy! Hubby and son traded - Hubby came out and helped finish this little rodeo while son went in and sat with mama and the babies. We finished as my son rushed out onto the deck shouting. "TESS POOED!!!! SHE POOED AND IT TURNED YELLOW!!!! And She is NURSING!" Then he realized what he was so excited about and said "I never thought I would be so excited about crap!" LOL
That was exciting news though. We finished up in the barnyard, passed through and went to the garden to take care of that and by the time we came in again she had nursed again, this time for a couple of minutes according to our son! When the sun started to ease down the western sky, we took everyone back out to the pen and shelter. In the morning, the rain had begun and with it came much appreciated cooler temperatures - just what our babies needed to feel better!
There was a great meeting of minds at the fence while Lulu met what will some day be her new herd members to protect. She was suitably impressed - Penny got bored... *sigh*
This is better than Harry Potter! It is real life! I am so excited about all of it! I don't think many people would be willing to bring their farm animals into their house, but you did and I think that's wonderful. What sweet looking babies. I think "Tess" is the prettiest.
ReplyDeleteI will admit to having a partiality to little Tess! The heat and humidity here have been more than a tad challenging, and the little family has ended up in the house again a couple of times. As long as we get through the first few weeks and the babies get some size on them, all will be well.
ReplyDeleteNext though is Balvenie and her twins. The latest we anticipate their birth is Aug 22... though after the runaround Gerie gave us, it could be a guessing game. I cannot wait for the boys to have their very own pen so that we don't ever have to play this guessing game again! LOL