Nelson

Despite Nelson's initial improvement, he began to steadily decline after that day. On the 8th I noticed that he was not eating as much as the other goats. Then on the 9th he completely stopped nursing. I would tip the bottle up and milk would pour out. He would swallow, but he was not sucking. By this time, we had determined that he was completely blind on one side and significantly, if not completely, blind on the other. Blind animals can still thrive in a farm setting, but they have to be able (and willing) to eat.

On the morning of the 10th I came out to feed the bucklings and Marley and Willie met me, tails wagging, but Nelson was conspicuously absent. When I walked into the shed I found him lying down and unable to walk. I picked him up and he immediately fell back down without putting any weight on his legs. He seemed to have no use of them whatsoever.

Losing an animal is always difficult, but when that animal is less than a week old and you have taken an active role in its daily care, that loss is felt a little more sharply.

I have noticed that since the loss of Nelson, feeding time for the baby goats is less stressful. I knew Nelson was not going to make it. I knew that every day I went out to feed and snuggle him I was getting one day closer to losing him. It is easier to go out and see healthy, thriving babies.

After Nelson died I was on the verge of getting rid of our entire herd. We lost Fey on the 6th and Nelson on the 10th. There was this toxin present that was killing our goats but we didn't know where it could be. After discussing recent events with out vet, we determined that when we dug out a portion of the goat pen to put hay on the garden, we dug up some decomposing hay (which is great for the garden, but toxic to goats). Bailey ate some and got sick. Fey ate some while pregnant and it killed her and caused some amount of brain damage to Nelson. Nelson died as a result of that brain damage. .

This realization made me feel better and worse at the same time. It was our actions that caused the death of Fey and Nelson, but it was no longer a mysterious toxin lurking ready to kill the rest of our herd. We were fighting a known enemy. Now we have a plan of action. By attempting to clean out the pen right now we will be exposing all the babies, Mary Jane and Bailey to more of the toxin. In the coming weeks we will be borrowing a tractor, pulling down the fence (it needs to be replaced anyway) and digging out the entire pen. New bedding will be put down and a new feeder installed.

We made a mistake and we can not go an un-make it, but we can learn from it and improve the way we manage our herd.

Baby Goat Update

We just completed the first 24 hours of bottle feeding Marley, Willie, and Nelson. Things have gone very well! They have adjusted to the bottle exceptionally well. We purchased some big bottles and lamb nipples at the Cal Ranch. The feed store only had cow nipples and those are just way too big for the little goats. We don't have to buy milk replacer as whole cow milk from the grocery store works fine (And it's on sale this week!!)

Nelson is doing well. He is a little delayed compared to the other babies. (More on that later)

Marley is the dominant of the brothers. He eats first, and the most. He is bigger and more energetic. (He is also my favorite. Shhhh! Don't tell the others!)

Elliot got in on feeding the kids. He would get frustrated when he forgot to hold the bottle upside down enough and they would head butt him. 

 Noah thought it was fun to feed them too. Quinn, on the other hand, just thought it was fun to take the bottle and dump the milk into the water bucket. She was also rather annoyed when the babies would head butt her for the bottle. She sure was offended when I suggested she put the bottle down. 

Now, back to Nelson. When Nelson was born, we could tell he was different. He stood very still all the time. He stood with his head curled in and it looked as if he didn't have a normal neck. I didn't have much time to spend really looking at him and watching him interact because we were dealing with Fey, but this morning I noticed more specifically what was different with Nelson. He didn't walk. The other goats were already running and bouncing off stuff, and Nelson just stood there.

Even though the other two were with me at the bottles, Nelson wanted to come, and he stood there crying, but he would not walk to me. I picked him up and carried him to where I was sitting and fed him. I then plopped him down in the middle of the shed (knowing he would want to return to his corner to sleep off his lunch.) I was determined to watch him walk. He stood there FOREVER. Then finally I saw him take a very few steps.

Of course! Now all these things were running through my mind. He had a broken leg, he was brain damaged, he was going to die!!! Unfortunately (or fortunately) I didn't have much time to sit and worry because I had a house full of kids who I needed to care for. Nelson was eating and peeing and pooping and that would have to do for now. Because he didn't seem in any immediate danger, I figured I would reasses at a later feeding. 

YAY! He was improving. My the 9 pm feeding, he was walking pretty well. He was able to go the length of the pen and came out to meet me when I brought the bottles. He was even able to get a little spring in his step when one of his brothers wanted to play. He still falls down more than the others, but hey, I fall down more than most people, and I'm allowed to live here. 

For whatever reason it seems like Nelson didn't learn how to walk that first day. He is not as strong of a nurser and I am not convinced that he sees very well, but for now he is improving. Mobility and basic bodily functions enables you to see another day here at Mediocre Acres, and for now (and hopefully in all the days to come) Nelson has made the cut. 

The Circle of Life

Today was a bad day. Like a really bad day.

It started out rough...Now, I am not saying I am psychic. Not at all. If I was I think life would be a lot easier, but there have been a few times in my life that I had a "feeling" about something and it turned out to be right. Today was one of those days.

Our Alpine goat, Fey, had babies on Friday. I have been meaning to blog that. Anyway, She has three bucklings. She has two brown and black ones, and a white and black one. We named the white and black one Marley after Bob Marley and the brown and black ones Willie and Nelson.

Marley: 

.

Nelson:

 Willie:

I was not very concerned with Fey's mothering ability as this was the third time she kidded. I heard her in labor and went out to check on her. She delivered Nelson, then Willie a few minutes later. Withing a few minutes after that she was on her feet cleaning and tending to them.

Elliot, who had watched the whole thing said, "Mom, look there are some feet in her butt." I looked and there was a little nose and two little hooves poking out. They popped back in and Fey continued to care for her other little ones. Having only witnessed one goat birth ever, I was a little concerned that Fey seemed unconcerned about a third baby. I messaged Chrissy and asked how long the baby could stay there. She was working, and before she was able to get back to me Fey let out a very loud scream and out popped Marley. She was standing when she delivered him so he fell right on his nose. She quickly truned to care for him as well.

I was so happy that she was attentive and both her and her babies were up and walking within 30 minutes or so. I went back inside.

The first 24 hours everyone looked great. Fey was eating and drinking and peeing and the babies were nursing and peeing and pooping. What more could you ask for? Last night Leigh noticed that she was dragging a little. She was not getting up as quickly as normal and her head hung a bit and her ears drooped a little. I brushed it off as having had triplets the day before. Mary Jane was not her spry self for about 3 days after having babies.

I woke up this morning at 2 am because Quinn had climbed in bed with us. I had an overwhelming feeling that Nelson had died in the night. (Nelson is the smallest and weakest of the three and was not nursing as strongly as the other two). I brushed that off too. When I woke up this morning at 7, I was dreading going out to the pen because I did not want to find a dead baby goat.

When I went out to the pen I was surprised to find three happy bucks, but Fey was down. I could not get her to stand and she looked terrible. I called Chrissy (Sunday is her day off and I felt really bad!!) but she answered right away. Chrissy had me take her temperature (97.4, NOT good!) and after describing her symptoms, we decided to drive Fey and the babies to Tucson so Chrissy could examine her.

Upon arrival her temp had risen to 99 and it was clear she had mastitis (her milk was bloody) but she had labored breathing, was drooling, couldn't stand and was in shock so badly Chrissy could not find a vein. Within 20 minutes of our arrival, Fey had died.

Less than 24 hours ago Fey was the attentive mother of triplets, and now she lay dead at our feet. We agreed on a necropsy because with Bailey's Polio less than a week ago were were worried for the rest of our herd. For whatever reason Fey's rumen was full, but dry. It has become impacted. (Apparently a rumen should be gooshy and watery with fermenting feed...yummy!)

The exact cause for this was unknown. As a precaution we threw away all of our remaining feed and bought new. We were fearful of mold or a toxin in the feed.

This all happened so fast and it left us with a few problems. The most pressing was the three bucklings that were now orphans. We had worked so hard to ensure that Mary Jane was a good mom so we would not have to bottle feed kids, and now we had three to feed anyway. Luckily goat kids can drink whole cow milk from the store and you can start with 4 feeding a day (no overnight feedings) for 2 weeks and every 2 weeks decrease a feeding and wean them by 8 weeks. Not too terrible!

The other issue was what to do with Fey. We were not in a financial position to cremate her, but Chrissy's clinic cannot dispose of animals on the premises, so we had to take Fey home. Once it was determined that the steroids, vitamin B and fluids we gave her would not harm the pigs, we decided the best thing to do would be to butcher her and use her as feed.

This may seem very callous, but in our eyes cremation and burial are very wasteful things to do. Fey died and she can become food for another living thing that can then become food for us, then the circle of life as God intended it is continuing. Elliot even opted to feed his pet rabbit that died to the pigs because he didn't want her to go to waste.

So after having to say goodbye to a very dear little (well big, she was about 150 lbs) goat we then had to butcher her. It was a very difficult task, and was the first gutting and skinning I was a part of. Though it was difficult, we were at peace that her remains were respectfully prepared and purposefully used.

It is hard to go out to the pen and not see her. It is hard to hear her babies call for her, but I think the hardest part is hearing Mary Jane call for her. Goats form herd bonds. Fey was the matriarch of our herd and we can tell Mary Jane misses her. We miss her too.

Polioencephalo---what?!?!

Polioencephalomalacia. That's what.

Ya. I had no idea what it was either...until the pygmy goat, Bailey, got it yesterday.

I went out to check on the goats like I do everyday and I saw her in the shed with an arched back and shaking. Immediately I called Chrissy (our fabulous vet-aunt). She had me give her 10 aspirin because it seemed like she was in pain, but she was on her way to an appointment so she would call me back.

After another conversation, Chrissy (had while her arm was literally inside a horse...now that is dedication ladies and gentlemen!) said Bailey had a vitamin B1 deficiency. By that time Bailey could not stand upright, she was convulsing and screaming. I didn't know it at the time, but she was also temporarily blind.

All I had to get was injectable B1 supposedly available at the feed store. I went to every feed store in Sierra Vista. Apparently there is not a big enough goat population here for feed stores to carry it. Also there is no human use so no pharmacy carries it. Small animal vets don't have it on hand either.

Chrissy calls a prescription to All Creatures Veterinary Services in Benson. I just have to go pick it up. Well, Benson is 35 minutes away and I currently have NINE children under the age of nine at the house.

As soon as the additional kids were picked up I loaded my kids into the car and went to Benson. Unfortunately, Bailey had been left to convulse for several hours. I was going out several times an hour to pick her up, as ruminants cannot lie on they sides for extended periods of time without...well, I'm not sure what, but I know its bad!! I propped her up between cinder blocks and the shed wall.

A hefty dose of B1 almost 6 hours after I first noticed her odd behavior, then 2 more doses over the following 12 hours has greatly improved her condition. She is still limping but I think that might have to do with muscle strain from hours of seizure-like activity. We still have to figure out what caused this, but that can be dealt with later.

I did learn 2 valuable lessons through this situation: 1) A livestock first aid kit is a necessity. We do not have one and that is a danger to our animals. That will be being rectified ASAP! 2) Farming is a community endeavor. Living in a community with like-minded people, with like-minded priorities makes this lifestyle much easier. Moving out of Sierra Vista and away from "city folks" is quickly climbing our priority list.

Velma and Daphne

It is spring time and on the farm that means BABIES. It is always exciting to have baby animals here, though it presents some additional stressers. Babies eat different things than adult farm animals. That means additional feed bills. They are more delicate, so we have to stress about kids over handling them or hurting them. The babies have less defense against predators and sometimes the dogs get too interested. And then there is the stress that even if you have done everything right, sometimes babies still die.

We have experienced this every time we have gotten chicks. There is usually a 10-15% mortality rate. The same goes for rabbit breeding. We have never had every baby born to a litter survive. We allow the doe to raise her own babies, and a few usually die in the first few days.

The only babies we have never lost any of are pigs, but we have always gotten our pigs after they have been weaned, and at that point they are amazingly hearty and able to defend themselves.
We have been expecting the birth of baby goats for a few weeks now. We mated our Nubian, Mary Jane, with an Alpine buck back in September. Having never bred goats before, this was very uncomfortable territory, but the best way to learn is by doing. I had been on the phone with Chrissy (our aunt and large animal vet extraordinaire) and she had told me what to expect when it came to the delivery. Mary Jane just turned one in February so we had no idea how well she would kid.

On Sunday the 23rd I came out of my bedroom and found our living room destroyed. There was clothes and shoes and FOOD all over the floor. The TV was on, even though the room was empty and there were some spilled drinks on the floor. There were many, many things wrong with this picture, so I began to yell (yep, I'm a yeller) for the kids to get down and clean up their mess.

Julia appeared from upstairs promptly and began cleaning. Liam strolled in a few minutes later from outside.

"Where are the little boys?" I asked him.

"They're outside. Elliot is watching a baby goat come out of Mary Jane's butt." No excitement in his voice. Afterall, this news was not even worthy enough to mention without my asking.

I ran outside just in time to see a baby goat be born. It moved very little and I was worried it was not alive, but I saw it breathing so I didn't intervene. One more yell from Mary Jane and a second baby popped out. Chrissy had told me there was most likely twins in there.

I immediately called Chrissy. Seriously, right now, you as the reader know as much if not more about caring for a newborn goat as I did at that moment. We were a little concerned about how well Mary Jane would do as a mother because she was a rejected kid and was bottle fed from day one. Also having been bred in her first year, her maternal instincts were a little less developed.

After being instructed to move the babies by her face Mary Jane took mucc care in cleaning the two DOELINGS. (Yes I was so happy to know that they were both girls because that meant we could keep them both and neither would befall the fate of an unneeded, mixed breed buck.)

Despite her initial interest in her babies, after a few hours, Mary Jane was content just to allow the babies to fend for themselves. She had zero-and I mean ZERO-interest in allowing the girls to nurse. Back on the phone with Chrissy (this would be a recurring theme over the next 48 hours) and I was given instructions to make it so Mary Jane could not move away from the babies. It was goat jail for her. 

She stepped on them a few times, peed on them once, and even pooped on them, but I got them to get a little colostrum. That first night Leigh and I got up three times to hold Mary Jane so the babies could eat. 

Now, why did I not just milk Mary Jane and bottle feed the babies? Because! I have 5 kids of my own to take care of! I don't need two more! That, and Chrissy kept telling me not to because I would regret it. I called her two more times ready to bottle feed and she was able to talk me down and convince me to give Mary Jane a bit more time to learn how to be a mom. I was so glad I listened. But let's be truthful, why would I not listen? I honestly had NO idea what I was doing. 

After 24 hours Mary Jane had gotten the hang of nursing (and the babies did too because there was a learning curve for them too!) and we had two healthy, beautiful little goats! 

Daphne:

Velma:

Ya, so we might be Scooby Doo fams here! 

After only 7 days Daphne and Velma are energetic, happy goats. And I could not be happier that I am not responsible for feeding them! 

Meet the Goats

I know I am behind on this but, hey! I'm proud I got this posted at all! 

About a week ago we purchased two Alpine goats in milk. A friend of Leigh's was downsizing his farm so it was nice to be able to buy these ladies from someone we knew and someone who was willing to answer a lot of our questions. We fly by the seat of our pants a lot of the time!

They came with the names but they just didn't fit with our naming schemes on the farm. We decided that they needed new names. They were soon dubbed Ernestine and Nedra Faye. 

Back Story: My grandmother was born and raised in a tiny town called Christiansburg, Virginia. We have several keepsakes from her life. Among them is a yearbook. Two of the girls who signed her yearbook were Ernestine Slusher and Nedra Faye Tucker. Upon hearing these names my mom knew she needed two little girl kitties names Ernestine and Nedra Faye. This was probably close to 15 years ago. Every cat she has gotten since then has been a boy. I never saw them as kitties, I saw them as goats. So I got two goats before she got two kitties, so I win! 

As a side note that will probably be of little interest to anyone but my mom and myself, I found Ernestine Slusher on the census: 1920, 1930, and 1940. She was the oldest of 4 children, her parents were Quinn and Elsie Slusher. In 1940 she was working as a dental assistant in a dental office in Christiansburg.

Anyway, we call then Ernie and Faye for short. 

Here is Ernie:

Faye had to push Bailey around a little bit just to prove she was bigger and bossier. 

Here she is rearing up for a head butt. 

Despite being bossy with the other goats, she is very sweet. 

Seamus needed to come in and supervise the goat meetings. 

If you look carefully in this picture you will see Elliot in a purple shirt. He was out there just chatting up the goats. I finally asked him if he wanted to get into the pen. 

Never was there more joy in a little boy's face! 

He did ask me why one (Faye) had "big milkers" and the other one had "little milkers". I tried to explain that animals are different just like people. Faye gives almost twice the milk Ernie gives, but Faye has kidded 3 times and Ernie has only once. That seemed satisfactory to him. He then wandered off and I heard him mutter, "I like big milkers." Well, there you go. 

Ernie says, "You sayin' there's something wrong with my milkers?"

We will be drying off the goats in a few weeks, even though we just got them. We will breed then in September and we don't want to have to milk over the holidays. 2 weeks after they kid we will start milking them again. 

By far goats are the most work we have ever had to put into livestock, but I love not having to buy milk anymore!! 

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Goat Diarrhea

And probably more!

So we are new at this whole livestock rearing. Unfortunately for our livestock there is a learning curve. We did well with the full grown chickens, but when it came time for chicks, we did not know that chicks cannot eat layer feed. We lost all but Shiny and Tiny. The chicks had diarrhea and vomiting, then they died. We learned from that experience. Chicks get grower feed and layers get layer feed. Pretty simple.

The pigs we did well with. Though there was a scare when the male pig got rectal prolapse. It was gross and bloody, but eventually popped back in. Yuck! We hear he was delicious none-the-less though!

The bunnies we have not done as well with. One of the bucks escaped never to be heard from again. I am waiting to see little Californian/cotton tail mixes running around the neighborhood. Then we had the remaining two bucks get in a fight and one of them ripped the other ones penis and intestines out of a hole in his thigh...that was lovely. It was on Father's Day too. So Leigh and I got to butcher our first rabbit on Father's Day. He will soon be rabbit sausage. The other buck we lost to the heat about 10 days ago. We did everything we could to keep him cool, but it just wasn't enough.

Now for May Jane. We did not know that chicken food will kill a goat. Mary Jane and Bailey both love it. When we let them out of the pen they would scrounge any they found on the ground. Yesterday we let both the goats out for their daily romp, but Phoebe had ripped the wire off the front of the chicken coop. (She was trying to get at some rib scraps we had given the chickens after Fourth of July.) I didn't think anything of Mary Jane going in the chicken coop. Apparently she ate a lot of chicken feed. 

This morning she was lethargic and had horrible diarrhea. We called Chrissy (who is on vacation, so I think we just got voted worst niece/nephew) and she informed us we made a terrible mistake. Apparently chicken feed can be lethal to goats. Luckily over the counter Maalox is safe to give a goat. Leigh went and bought a huge bottle of it. Then we had a debate over how much to give her. 

Leigh was telling me that we had to give her 2 grams. I was thinking there is no WAY that could be right. 5ml is 200mg. So that would mean we would have to give her 50ml which is 10 tsp. That is almost 1/4 cup! I had Leigh call Chrissy again because I didn't want to over dose her. All I heard Chrissy say was, "Ya. Its a lot!" Then she expounded on how we needed to make sure she was well hydrated and she stayed moving. 

So after syringing a crap load of Maalox down Mary Jane's throat, every hour we had to walked her over to the water tub and there she would drink and drink and drink and drink. Then we had to walk her around and massage her left side in attempt to keep her from getting bloat. Vets can fix bloat, but it is really pricey. 

Towards the evening she was looking much better. She stopped having diarrhea, but I haven't seen normal stool. She was also a little less active than normal, but over all, seemed much better. 

So today we learned a valuable lesson. Don't let your goats eat the chicken food. We also have a renewed gratitude that Chrissy completed vet school! Thanks! And sorry we disturbed you on vacation!