Kids, kids, kids

D’Arcy

D’Arcy kidded on Sunday the 22nd.  I thought Cassie would be the one to kid, since she had her front legs elevated and was yawning and stretching.  Her ligaments had been soft earlier, but were firm when I checked them late afternoon and evening.  I had given them both Pulsatilla that morning and put hay down in the stall to kid on.

About 2:00 in the afternoon, my computer alarm reminded me to clip their tails for kidding.  I ignored it for 15-20 minutes, and when I finally went out, D’Arcy had a kid on the hay, licking it clean, just born, still covered with mucous.  I ran into the house, grabbed some towels, phoned Olivia to tell her there was a kid born and to come over, and by the time I got back to the barn, the second kid had dropped onto the hay.  The first one, a doe, is marked just like Mime; the second looked to be all white, another doe.  Later we could see that she has a small black spot on her left side, but hard to see unless you ruffle her fur.  Two doelings, both lovely, the Sable born about 2:36 and the Saanen born 5-10 minutes later.

 Olivia and Lynne showed up shortly afterward and we all went out to tend to them.  The Sable kid found the teat and latched on; the second didn’t do as well.  Suddenly Lynne or Olivia said, “their ears are hard, is that normal?”  I didn’t think too much of it at first, but when I touched the ears, the moisture of birth was freezing on the ears.  Oh, crap! All I could think of was frostbite if we didn’t act quickly.  Lynne was ahead of me.  She was already packing up the white doeling and sheltering her under her coat. They were both half way to the house when I came along with the Sable doeling. 

After the two kids were warmed, fed, and completely dry, I took first one, then the other, back to the barn.  It had been a couple of hours, and D’Arcy was munching on hay.  She hardly noticed until the Saanen kid started to bleat.  She replied and came over to start nuzzling and licking her.  A while later when she woke up, I brought out the Sable. D’Arcy kept sniffing her and checking her out, as if something weren’t quite right.  She let her nurse when I held her, but wanted to move away.  As time wore on, whenever the Sable kid nursed, D’Arcy would bite her tail or her butt.  I finally took her back to the house.  An hour later, I came for the second.  It’s bitter cold out there, and I wanted them together. I found my Sepia and gave it to D’Arcy, hoping it would change her attitude.  It was too cold for them out there, with a low of around 8° F.  I don’t really mind bottle feeding them, since D’Arcy will be on milk test and they’ll need to be bottle fed on test day. 

The next morning I repeated the Sepia once.  By afternoon she was letting the Sable doeling nurse and by evening she was actively taking care of her..  These are the only kids that have names so far:  Crooked Shade Fanciful, or Fancy Free (haven't quite decided yet) and Crooked Shade Fiona (or Feona).  who is now wearing a turquoise collar to tell her apart from the other white kids.

Dandelion

I spent most of the wee hours of the night of the 24th getting up every hour to check Dandelion, who thankfully did not kid in the middle of the frigid night. A small show of blood to let me know things were starting to happen had me worried that she was going to kid right away, but—sweet girl!—she held of until late morning.

I was quite exhausted, but didn't dare take a nap. Every time I went out there, Dandy looked at me quizzically, as it to say, "What are you doing here again? Do you think I can't do this without you?"  Ah!  but when they finally came, she was glad to have me there, looking at me pleadingly.  A first time mom who didn’t know what it was all about.

A buckling was born at 11:10, a doeling at 11:22, both completely white.  This is the doe that looked so skinny a couple of weeks ago, but she plumped out the last week or so. She had twins hiding in there, but I don't know how. 

Dandy’s a wonderful mother, right from the start. She licked and cleaned them, took care of them, pushed them toward her udder, fussed over them.  No rejection on her part!  When I took them in for the night, because it was much too cold still to leave them out, she was upset, and both relieved and ecstatic when I returned them the next morning—after 10:00, when the temperature had risen above 20°.

Dolly

Dolly’s experience as a first freshener was traumatic, to say the least.  After watching her pass a lot of fluid and goo, watching for over an hour, and seeing that she was not progressing at all, I called the vet—who confirmed that yes, I had to go in and see what the obstacle was.  After feeling with just my fingers, all I could find was a nose. Normal birthing position is feet first, nose afterward.  I had to reposition the kid, whose head was presenting without legs.  It took a while, but finally got one front leg pulled forward.  I just couldn’t find the second, I wasn’t sure whether Ii was feeling his leg or the second kid’s, but by now poor Dolly was screaming so loud and pushing so hard, that I gently pulled that one leg to tilt the shoulders and she finally got him pushed out.  Less than 3 minutes later she stood, and the doeling followed, sliding easily onto the thick hay..  minutes after the first. I gave her 1M Arnica for the birth trauma. About 30 min later I followed that with  1M Aconite.  She was in shock, staring straight ahead, and didn’t want anything to do with her kids. She refused to   clean them off, or even sniff them, turning her back when I moved them in front of her.

After an hour of her rejection, I milked her out to feed the colostrum. The  kids’ suck reflexes weren’t well developed, perhaps from being in the birth canal so long--2 hours or more.  I took them inside to feed them.  My friend Kim came over to help me tube them, but thankfully, that wasn’t necessary; instead, she showed me another technique that went a lot more quickly than what I’d been doing.  After 6 hours they had suck reflexes (thank goodness) and with the last bottle they each took about 3-1/2 oz.

When I returned to the barn, she had passed one placenta.  Hours later I was sure the other was retained.  Strain as she would, membranes dragging on the ground, nothing happened.  Membranes were hanging out  She wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t drink, didn’t want to be touched or handled in any way.

After giving 2 or 3 homeopathic remedies, I repertorized and Cantharis and Bellis were confirmed. I'd already given her Bellis with little result.  I gave her a handful of white willow bark for pain, about a cup of Raspberry leaf/Nettle/Squawvine tea (syringed it down her) to tone her uterus, and finally gave her a dose of homeopathic Cantharis to expel the placenta. Within 10 minutes of the Cantharis, she started to eat, walked over to her water, but only looked at it. Still, it was promising, the first time she’d shown any interest in water at all.  The next morning, her water bucket was down 3 inches, both kids were nursing and the placenta was passed and nowhere to be found, apparently eaten. Dolly was looking perky, swelling had gone down, she was making mil --which was pretty hard for her to do before since she wasn't drinking anything.  I’m sure the herbals helped, but the dramatic change after the Cantharis is what makes me love homeopathy.  When it’s the right remedy, there’s no doubt.

Cassie

          Cassie was the easiest of all. She had shown a little goo, but was not in any discomfort that I could see. Still, Shawn and I both kept an eye on her.  Not closely enough, though, as when we went out to treat Dolly, she had two bucks in the hay, one a sundgau, one black caped.  They weighed 7 lbs and 6 lbs respectively a few hours after birth. 

She had them so quickly that it came as a complete surprise.  We arrived seconds after the second had been delivered, his foot still inside her.  Shawn had checked on her only an hour before, and I an hour before that, she didn’t show any signs of impending labor, but goats just live for the pleasure of doing their own thing.

I stopped only long enough to towel the second kid and then let her take over again. Once she had completed that, she turned and started eating the placenta.  I let her.  In the wild, or with no one around, she’d do it anyway, and I thought, “Maybe she needs it.  Maybe it contains nutrients her body craves after kidding.”  Cassie’s a second time freshener, so I didn’t feel that I had to hold her hand, as it were, and she didn’t disappoint me.  I milked about 6 cups of colostrum after her kids nursed.  That went into the freezer for times of need.  Her kids got short shrift, though.  They had to wait for pictures.

So now kidding season is done for a while.   Beatrice and Leah aren’t due until May, so I have plenty of time to regroup and just enjoy these babies.

A clean herd

I just received test results from WADDL (Washington Animal Diagnostic Lab).  All my herd are negative for  CL and Johnes, and those tested for CAE are also negative.. Beatrice and Leah have been CAE positive for years, but asymptomatic, so I didn't bother having them tested.

Since I run my herd together, l give everyone CAE nosodes--homeopathic immunization--which I buy from Ainsworth's, a homeopathic pharmacy in England, because they carry a higher potency than what is available in the U.S.  That makes for a more effective immunization program. 

Dr. Isaac Golden, an Australian homeopath, did his doctoral work on the efficacy of homeopathic immunization vs vaccination.  In all cases, homeopathy is just as effective as vaccination; in some cases, it's even more effective.  In the case of CAE, there are NO vaccines, but homeopathy can still protect my herd.  For those wanting more information, his website has a free course for parents.  Though Dr. Golden doesn't treat animals, the principles are the same as for humans.  I do love homeopathy!

I also use homeopathic nosodes to protect my dogs from kennel cough and other diseases, and have used nosodes to protect my horses from Rhinoneumonitis and West Nile Virus.  This is an alternative that I'm grateful for, that is proven, and that, unfortunately, conventional medicine has a field day bashing, because they don't understand how it works.  Frankly, I don't care how homeopathy works.  I'm just glad it does.

Treating burns with heat

A couple of days ago, I was taking hot pans out of the oven.  In a rush, and not paying attention, I started to pick up a hot baking dish, but quickly let it go--too late.  My fingers burned!  Remembering an article I'd read a while ago about using hot water instead of cold to treat burns, I immediately ran hot water, as hot as I could stand, over my fingers and hand.  Then I rested my hand in a bowl of hot water--again, as hot as I could stand--for about 15 minutes.  When I got through, the results were nothing short of miraculous.  My fingers had a mild sting, barely noticeable, with no blistering whatsoever. 

The next day, there was no sign of having been burned at all, not by sight nor by sensation.  The baking dish had come out of a 400°F oven only 5 minutes before, it had not cooled, my fingers grasped it firmly before I let go.  I've grabbed hot things before--who hasn't?--and have always had at least mild blisters, or at least reddened skin, but not this time.  

It makes sense, when you think of it.  We treat frostbite with cool water, slowly raising the temperature of the skin, then why not decrease the temperature slowly as well, so as to avoid tissue damage?  Treating burns with heat is very homeopathic, to say the least.

Now, I don't know if I'd use hot water on a burn from liquids.  I'll have to think about that.  However, for dry burns, I'm keeping this one in my repertory.

Oh, and as an aside, I searched for this treatment on the internet.  Maybe it can be found on page 1004, but no matter how I phrased the search, I was unable to find any reference to treating burns with heat.  So much for information availability. I don't remember when or where I read about it, but I can't find it now. 

Violet's kids

Violet had two bucklings.  The first, with a spot on his forehead, weighed 7 lbs 10 oz, the second weighed 9 lbs 2 oz. She had me coming and going for a while, though.   

Early on, I though that maybe, just maybe, Violet was going to kid today.  She didn’t finish her breakfast and when I opened the door to let her out of her stall, she didn’t want to go.  In fact, Bella stood there trying to go in, and Violet didn’t even challenge her.  She just looked at me and gave a soft little bleat.  I closed the stall door and watched her for a few minutes.  She was bleating softly, little bleats here and there, then went and stood with just her front feet on the pallets, stretching, so it seemed, whimpering, looking at me as if I might be able to help.  Could it be?  Could it really be that she’s was in labor?  That she would kid today?

As time wore on, Violet would push, but ineffectually, and as if she really weren’t putting, or maybe even couldn’t put, a lot of effort into it. After observing her for quite a long time, l gave her a couple of pillules of Pulsatilla, just in case there were a malpresentation.   A while later I noticed that when she’d get a contraction and push, there were crackling noises.  And about an hour after that, the noises were gone and labor commenced fairly quickly.  At 3:30 the first buckling was born, and at 3:38 the second came along.  Violet was so busy licking clean the first that she hardly had notice for the second.  I cleaned him off thoroughly; it seemed as if he might have aspirated some fluid, though, because right away he was coughing and sounding like he had fluid in his lungs.  I sucked at his nostrils to get out any fluid, but there really wasn’t any way I knew of to take fluid from his lungs.  After a few more minutes, I placed him in front of Violet so she could clean him, too. 

Licking Kid #1 clean, while Kid #2 struggles to get up

Kid #2 finally meeting Mama.  Kid #1 is hidden by Violet's head.

It's wondeful to watch how quickly kids get to their feet, and nothing short of amusing to watch them try to figure out where the lunch spigot is.  They nibbled on her legs, on her chest, on her belly, on the inside of her thighs; they came from behind and nibbled on her hocks, tottered under her belly once again, and finally--TA DA!-- latch on!  

They both nursed well, and surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly) the smaller of the two was the more vigorous.  But then, he did get to the birth canal first, didn't he?  

I watched them for a while, intermittently, leaving Violet alone but checking in several times.  Kid #2 still had a rattle when he breathed.  At 10:00, it was no better, so I gave him a nosode, Pneumococcinum, hoping it was the right remedy. It was.  The next morning, his lungs were clear.

Violet is such a good mother, and (okay, here I go with anthropomorphizing) is pleased as punch with her two kids.  I had to milk her out twice the first day, and 3 times today.  Once those kids start growing, though, they'll take it all.

Day 2

Encouraging the kids to step up

Proud mama

Full Circle, or A trip around the block.

Ever get the idea that you're just not supposed to do something? Yeh, me, too, and it must be that these two goats are supposed to be here, at least for now.

A few days after I sold them, I got a phone call asking if I'd take them back.  These two does are CAE positive, but pretty healthy for all that, and I sold them with full disclosure. The buyer was okay with it at first, but was scheduled to have surgery just about the time Leah was due to kid.  Too much in too short a time, and second thoughts about the CAE.

So, they're back, and I'm in milk again.  Hooray!  I might not let Sanuba go again.  I had second and third thoughts about it, and though she will never give me any registerable kids, I could breed her to a Boer and have meat goats.

Violet and Leah

Leah, bless her pea-pickin' little heart, still has an udder that I don't like, but until I find the perfect home for her, she's here to stay, and keeping Violet company.  They were SO glad to see each other!  Once in their stall together, they immediately butted heads, again, and again, and again! Bam!  Bam! BAM!  Then they cuddled up together for the night, and they've been hanging out together even more  than before Leah left.  Goats are so strange. Or maybe, absence makes the heart grow fonder?

Beatrice is CAE+, too, but she's not going anywhere.  Too good of a milker, bloodlines too good to let go of, and a wonderful udder. CAE+?  Fine, I just pull the kids and feed the pasteurized milk.  I started that last year and was surprised to find it wasn't a hassle at all.  Feeding was more of a hassle than pasteurization. 


I'll continue my CAE protocol:  giving CAE nosodes monthly, giving Apis mellifica during labor to deter congestive udder, and making sure they're well mineralized and as stress-free as possible.  So far my does are symptom free.  I plan on them remaining that way, and if no one else wants them, so be it.  As for their kids, they'll be bottle fed heat-treated milk and live in separate quarters until they're weaned or sold. 

The CAE crowd is divided into two camps:  those who think it's a horrible thing and goats should immediately be culled, maybe even euthanized; and those who wonder what all the fuss is about.  I'm convinced that the first camp consists of those who have never had CAE in the herd, and the second is those who have.  One vet called it "an economic disease", because no one wants to buy them.  He wonders why it's blown so out of proportion.  So do I.  There are so many serious diseases to be cautious of, to really want to eradicate, like Johnes, Caseous Lymphadenitis (CL), Brucellosis, and Tuberculosis, that can wipe out a herd, or even be passed on to humans.  CAE, on the other hand, becomes symptomatic in only 10% of goats that test seropositive, and often very mild symptoms at that.  The worst thing it can do to humans is give them immunity to HIV. Hmm.  Come to think of it, that's not such a bad thing.

Some thngs just shouldn't be done...

...And one of them, I'm convinced, is transporting goats in cold weather.  Violet had a bit of a cough when she arrived, but nothing major.  Next night it was awful: racking, croupy, wet.  Aconitum 1M, then Herbiotic herbal remedy several times last night and again several times today.  She was improved today, cough still awful when it occurred, but not the racking cough that she had last night. 

I let her outside for about an hour or two late this afternoon, after locking up my other goats, who very much protested since they know there's another goat here and they want to meet her.  No fair!  How could I do that to them!

Violet stayed close to the barn, checking things out, following me around as I cleaned, filled hay racks, and water buckets.  I brought her in some fir boughs, but she wasn't interested in them--and even ignores apples and grain.  What kind of goat is this?  She did try out carrots and thought they were tasty, but only as long as I hand fed her.  The pieces I put in the feeder are still sitting there, waiting for her attention.  

Tonight when I went out for final check, she coughed several times in succession, but this time a dry cough.  So it appears she is better in the morning and worse at night.  I gave her a different homeopathic remedy.  It's a pretty cold night out there, and I found my head shaking as I marveled at the Father's incredible engineering that allows animals to stay warm in weather that sends me rushing to the warm house. 

On milk, homeopathy, and herbs

Sanuba, bless her pea-pickin' little heart, is up to a quart a day of milk--and what wonderful milk it is! Sanuba, as her name implies, is Saanen/Nubian cross.  My other milker is a full Saanen, and though Bea gives delicious milk, it's low in fat. Sanuba's milk, on the other hand, is rich and full of butterfat.  I can actually skim it right off the top the next morning. Yum!

Buckling, Sanuba and Emily

Sanuba's doeing is already gone, sold at a week old, and her buckling is happily playing outside with the others, dodging horses' feet, investigating geese, and generally taking life as it comes. 


I'm milking Snub (Sanuba) three times a day, not because she has such a huge quantity of milk, but because we're still battling congested udder. I've been working with Glen Dupree, a homeopathic vet in Louisiana, to resolve this, and we're definitely making progress.  From one teaspoon of milk, painfully (for me) extracted, she has increased steadily to a little more than a quart today.  Her buckling is getting all he wants, as well, and I'm sure he's consuming at least a quart or more a day.  This has been a long road for both of us.  I've been massaging her udder at every milking, applying hot and cold packs twice a day, giving her herbs, Ester C, and homeopathic remedies as directed, and though she's much softer and more pliable than before, we still have a way to go.

Today I got some udder salve and herbs from Fir Meadow to add to the protocol. I like Kat Drohval's products, and my goats eat them readily.  Her BWW Wormer is great. In combination with GISoother, it's kept my goats from being plagued by parasites.  The GI Soother targets Haemonchus contortus, a particularly nasty worm that Beatrice contracted from the sheep that was here when she got here.

Emily

Emily has already started to bag up a bit.  I thought her due date was May 30, but I'm thinking perhaps she actually had a false heat?  No wonder my goats keep me crazy!  They won't even let me know when the buck is no longer of interest!  At any rate, after Snub's surprise pregnancy, I'm going to be prepared for both a May 9 due date and a May 30th.  I hope she has bucklings so I don't have to pull the kids. CAE positive does do take some management, no doubt about it.

Leah

Leah is also bagging up, but the earliest date for her would be May 29th. Let's see now--I bred her because I wasn't sure anyone else had been bred, is that right?  From now on, I will not assume that no one's been bred, even if they're tail wagging to beat the band, batting their eyelashes seductively at the buck, and blatting their heads off--or even if they're just plain not interested when they see the buck.  Perhaps, after all, they just want a little privacy.  What a learning experience this has been!

Surprise kids

Here I've been wondering why my Saanen/Nubian doe (aptly named Sanuba) has such silent heats and why I could never catch her in heat, and it turns out she's the only one that actually caught when the Saanen buck came to visit last November.  I was totally unprepared, had not been feeding this doe as if she were pregnant, had never seen her responsive to the buck at all, so it was a shock when I went out to the barn last Sunday (April 17th), looked in the communal stall, and saw two little kids wobbling around, the doe still cleaning them off, a black and white buckling and an all-white, Saanen-looking doeling..

Unfortunately, all was not well.  I suspect one of them was malpresented, because my poor doe was very reluctant to stand.  She'd struggle to her feet, stay up for a minute or two at most, and down she'd go again.  This is not normal.  I wanted to pull the kids, because the doe is CAE positive, but I was frantically trying to track down some colostrum to feed them.  Thank goodness for good friends and neighbors!  KelLee, my neighbor down the road, quickly came over to help me get the doe up, check her over, and see what we could do to give Sanuba some incentive to stand on her own.  She was definitely acting sore.  KelLee had some colostrum at home, so I followed her there to get it, and when I returned, the placenta had passed and the doe had eaten almost all of it.  KelLee and my son Shawn had taught the doeling to nurse while the doe was lying down, but the buckling was very hungry.

Ironic, isn't it, that the doeling, who I'd most have liked NOT to nurse, was the one who latched on quickly?  Ah, well.  The buckling quickly took to the bottle, and the doeling absolutely refused to have anything to do with it.  Shawn helped me get the doe up and hold her up for 4-5 minutes so the kids could nurse more easily.  After 5 hours, I realized I hadn't seen her drink, so I offered her some water.  You could almost see the lightbulbs go on!  Water!  Omigosh, I'm thirsty.  She struggled up and walked gingerly to the water bucket and drank deeply.  I dragged over a bale of good second-crop hay, and she munched as she lay with her kids. I gave doe and kids a dose of Arnica shortly after the birthing, and later gave Sanuba a dose of Bryonia, as it seemed to match her symptoms well--thirstless, reluctance to move.

Throught the night I fed the buckling and checked the doe.  By morning, it was clear that she was not improving.  I'd already talked to my local vet, so I called her again and confirmed that she was needed. A shot of Banamine and a shot of a long-acting antibiotic, a look at 3 other critters on the farm, and I was poorer by some $200+ but easier in my mind. 

Next day, Sanuba was up and moving around, but had congested udder.  That is, edema of the udder.  The udder was cool to the touch, not red, but hard to the touch, and very little milk.  At that point, I emailed Glen Dupree, a homeopathic vet I think very highly of, having taken a class from him at MOFGA.  He gave me instructions on what remedies to give and when, and advised me to alternate hot and cold compresses twice a day.  Ugh.  I don't know which finds it more disagreeable, the doe or I, but we're both carrying on.

Today her udder is noticeably softer, and instead of getting barely a squirt and working at getting a teaspoonful, I actually got 1/4 cup of milk tonight. :)  Hooray!  Any milk I get is fed back to the doe, disguised as a coating for grain. She's not like Beatrice, who readily slurps down milk or kefir.

As I looked into her stall tonight and watched the kids bouncing all around, rearing up, bucking, and racing in circles, I know why I love husbandry.  I may have come late to the farm, but it's been in my blood for generations.  My grandfather walked these fields and woods with me when I was a child and instilled a love of the land.  This is the way life is supposed to be.