All in a days work !

Alicia is the perfect mom. Patient and kind, her cute little twins Bonny and Buster are thriving. We do have a little issue…the poor doe is no longer symmetrical. It appears that only one side of the milky bar is attracting customers, the kids clearly prefer the right teat and the left side of Alicia’s udder is engorged. A lob sided udder and an engorged, ignored teat has to be uncomfortable so Greg has to do a “half milk”. Milking the goat this year was not part of our plan but plans are made to be changed …right ? So, Alicia is the perfect mom (almost) but things can’t all go smoothly  on Gentle Giant Meadows Ranch, we would get complacent ! Just to keep us sharp, Acorn the brown doe is quite the opposite, truth be told Acorn wins the award for WORST mom ever !!!  All day Tuesday we watched an increasingly miserable Acorn. As the barn lights were turned out and the truck engine growled a last check of the forlorn goat confirmed that the patter of tiny hooves was close but not immanent and baby watch was postponed until after dinner ( farmers have to eat too !!). After 9pm Acorn’s misery had clearly increased to intolerable and kid number one made it’s appearance…..the wrong way around….butt first ! Greg had his work out extricating the tiny brown body and as the newborn landed in the straw,  Acorn took one disgusted look at her offspring …and exited, stage left !!!. Little Peanut wasn’t breathing, he was wet and it was cold, very cold. Acorn had no interest in being a mom to the little alien lying motionless in the straw and it was left to poppa Greg to bring life back to the little body. The kid had aspirated as his umbilical corn had been broken before he was born and he had swallowed amniotic fluid which had to be cleared. Things weren’t looking good and then it got worse. Twin number two arrived. Greg held his breath, Acorn began to lick the new arrival ……and then head butted it. Two tiny wet shivering kids, a very cold night and a mom with no interest….looks like we are back to bottle feeding. Things couldn’t get much worse…or could it ? Wednesday morning a check of the less than enthusiastic mom proved that she had retained the placenta and was clearly not a happy goat. Back to work…..take care of two hypothermic kids and a sick momma goat ….that’s farming !!

Got to go, Peanut and Thumper are alive and well. Enjoy the photos….we are off to the barn, work to do !

Take care, keep safe, M