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.

More Babies

Besides baby goats, we got our next round of pigs. Because it is spring and they all happen to be female, we went with flower names. The black one is Orchid, the white one in the foreground is Iris, and the white one behind her is Poppy. They should be due for harvest in September. They are already unpersonable. I have a saying: Pigs, they're not like Babe.

.Mercy had babies on March 4th. She originally had nine and six survived. Mercy is our most successful mother rabbit. She makes very good nests and cares for her babies attentively. Until they are about 5 weeks old, then we have to remove them because she, well, is ready for some alone time! 

They start getting cute about 2 1/2 weeks old. Their ears perk up and and their eyes start to open. 

One of the babies in the litter is a runt. He was roughly half the size of the other babies. He furred later than the others, his eyes opened last, and now, even after 3 1/2 weeks he is still very small. 

He will not really be fit to eat because he will be so small. We were originally going to sell him to someone as a pet, but the kids were worried that the new owner might not care for him properly. Gramie and Grandpa to the rescue!! They will be visiting in 7 weeks and they have agreed to take him as a pet. He even as a name: Amos Moses. 

At first I thought this was my parents way of telling me they had joined the Amish Church. While I have a lot of respect for the Plain People, I don't see my dad giving up his computer and buying a buggy. I was assured this was not the case but apparently a singer by the name of Jerry Reed sang a song about a Cajun crocodile hunter names Amos Moses. What this has to do with a little runty rabbit, I don't know, but my heard of goats have marijuana themes names, so who am I to judge? 

Here is the song if you were interested! 

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! 

Oh wait, that's not normal?!?!

Sometimes I think my family is just like every other American family. I don't think of us as belonging to a sub culture or minority. After all, we are a white, middle class, heterosexual couple, married with children. That's America's majority right?

But then I think of all of the sub-culture and minority groups we belong to: Mormons, homeschoolsers, military affiliated, large family, (aspiring) self sufficient homesteaders. Those things are just us...until I find or see something that screams "Not everyone has/does this!!"

Case in point: The other day I was cleaning out my car and I came across a Ft. Huachuca Active Shooter Protocol Handbook. Heather was standing behind me and I held it up and said, "Not everyone has one of these do they?" Nope. Apparently not!

Anyway, on our way to Texas Road House (the same trip where the kids pointed out the "sad cow" steaks in the window) this conversation transpired:

Leigh: What is better, store eggs or our eggs?
Elliot: Store eggs! There is no poop on those eggs. The store's chickens are cleaner.
Leigh: There are no chickens at the store.
Elliot: WHAT?!?! Where do they get their eggs?
Leigh: The eggs come from a farm far away. The farmer collects the eggs, washes them (which is not good for the eggs) puts them in cartons and then they are driven lots of miles to the store.
Elliot: That is just weird!

Out of the mouths of babes ladies and gentlemen!!!

Grow House

This semester for science we are studying botany. We use the Apologia science curriculum. I really like it and you can check out all their different elementary science courses here. It is a Christian based curriculum, which I swore I would NEVER use. I also swore my kid would not eat french fries till they were five...what do I know? 

Anyway, the religion is pretty separate from the science and if I do find an off the wall evangelical tidbit, it is easy to skip that paragraph and none of the science is lost. There is a lot of pretty advanced information in the text, but I just emphasize the basics and we work through the botany journal and the kids are learning some really cool stuff. They know taxonomy is a way to organize things, the difference between a seed and a spore, the difference between vascular and non-vascular plants, and the difference between angiosperms and gymnosperms. (Most of that I didn't even know.) So now at the conclusion of unit one we are making a grow house to grow herbs. (Later we will use the herbs to cook or make soap).

We went with Seeds of Change organic seeds from Lowe's. We bought organic potting soil and took some time to talk about why we chose organic over other things like Burpees seeds or Miracle Grow potting mix. (We know these kinds of things sink in because the last time we went to Texas Road House the kids were looking at the cuts of meat in the window and asked if it was made from "sad cows.") 

Then on to the fun part! Diggin' in the dirt! 

They each picked out their pots. The fact that they all happen to coordinate with their outfit for the day was a total coincidence! And even though Liam looks grumpy, he was really having a good time. 

We took a plastic tote with a lid and I drilled 1-1/4 inch holes in the top. $6 clamp lights from Lowe's with the clamps and shades removed (we are currently using the clamps on the chicken brooder) fit snugly in the hole. "Daylight" compact florescent 60 watt bulbs screw into the underside. 

We lined the inside of the tote with aluminum foil. We talked a little about the reflective properties of light (science is everywhere!!!) and why having the light reflect within the box would be beneficial for the plant. 

We snapped the lid on, we'll water it regularly, and in 40-75 days we will have organic slow bolt cilantro, garden sage, dill, and Italian flat leaf parsley. Now on to unit two: seeds! 

Random Noteworthiness of 2014

I have been far from stellar about keeping up with my blog this year. Sorry about that. But I have done some back-blogging and put some events into their proper places. I have come across some pictures that need to make it into the books of Muckey Family History. So enjoy some random glimpses into our last two months.

Since we were jyped out of a winter (seriously it has been in the 60's and 70's all winter) at least we get to see the almond tree blooming early. Now we need to hope that a late frost does not kill them.

I built more bunny housing. I was thinking they looked like condos, but they were built slightly haphazardly, so I call them "bunny military housing". 

Elliot zip-tied his thumb so tight we couldn't get anything under it to cut it, luckily Lea had a pair of finger nail clippers handy and we were able to save the thumb. 

Liam lost his two front teeth. Well, he came to me and they were bleeding, so I yanked them out. 

We had disease sweep the house in the form of a chest cold. Even with a high fever, Noah smiles for the camera. 

Quinn, however was less apt to work the camera. 

On the 26th of Feb we loaded the pigs up to take them to U of A. We seemed to have perfected the loading of pigs onto the trailer. One person puts a bucket on their head. They then try to back out of the bucket and a second person steers them by the tail up the ramp of the trailer. Just don't let them steer your hand between two pieces of ply wood! 

 Leigh and Quinnie had some tea time. 

Julia also got her show chickens for her 4-H poultry project. She is not willing to show anything that you eat or you sell for meat. So that left her with dairy or eggs. She opted for eggs.

That is pretty much all the happenings around the farm. I will try and be better about posting as they happen!