Rosie's birth story

Last week I went to check on Miss Rosie around 11pm Wednesday night. I could tell something was off her poor feet were even more wobbly than normal.  I checked with a goat friend and we decided she was in labor.  Around 2am the temperature had dropped and was hovering around 0.  I was cold and so was Rosie, We moved to a warmer place. At 3 something wasn't right I spoke with my friend again and she thought a kid maybe was stuck so I gloved up and went in.  Finding that her cervix was not dilating, she was a fingertip.  Poor girl I manually stretched the cervix on and off till 7:30.  Nothing! I called the vet around 8, and her first owner, Jackie.  Jackie came over to try and help. She took one feel and said get her to a vet.  I loaded Rosie in the back of my truck and rushed her to the vet.  He was able to stretch her open and get a buckling out but he presented wrong and as he was coming out Rosie's cervix ripped! She was rushed back for a c-section. The buckling's twin was born alive but I don't think the techs knew what they were doing :-( they were swinging him around instead of just holding him upside down and sucking his airway.  The third little doe was a stillborn. (she was sooooo pretty too, just like a mini Rosie!).  Rosie was touch and go for awhile but they were able to stabilize her.  I took the buckling home with me where we bottle fed him a few times till I received a phone call around 4pm, " can you please come get your goat she's up and trying to eat everything in the surgical room!" Best call I could have got.  Rosie since then has continued to recover and is doing well.  I don't believe we will be rebreeding her, the little guy is doing great and was just de-budded this morning and is doing great we named him Billy the Kid.(eye-roll I know)

soon I think...

buttercup

 I just came in from checking on the girls and bring out warm water for everyone...It feels so much nicer out now that we're not in the negatives! I noticed Rosie has bagged up even more from this morning, really hoping that means we'll have little ones in a day or two all this waiting is maddening! Buttercup is as big as ever but not showing any signs of being close, so for now we're good. HOping to get good sleep tonight and have babies tomorrow AFRER costco!

Rosie

foot tapping....

NOTHING STILL NOTHING!!! I cannot figure these goats out, they are bagging up poor Rosie looks like she could sneeze and the babies would come flying out!  I guess they are waiting for it to warm up, which would be nice but I'm getting sick of running out to the barn every few hours to check...I have given up at night if they go then they're on their own! Rosie's ligaments are gone have been for a week now!
 

This is from a week ago! Her milk has come in even more since then.

The chickens are doing good, I"m looking at new blueprints to make a smaller coop that can be moved when we move. I just asked my FIL to draw up some blue prints, we'll see how it turns out...Sadly nothing more to report :-(

Fingers crossed

 When feeding the girls this morning I was checking them over, feeling their tummy's, rubbing them down and checking for any signs of near labor.  Since I didn't suspect they were pregnant until recently I have NO IDEA how far along they are.  I can remember in August and september signs of them being in heat but thats the last I recall.  Therefor I'm going off of September sometime.  Anyways Buttercup has a but of slimy wetness, I'm really hoping she just sat in something for now.  Its to cold for a baby to come this week! Either way I"ll be running to the store tomorrow and gathering all the supplies I need. I'm hoping the thrift store has a lot of sweaters left with zippers.  Any suggestions of size for kids? I have a feeling there are going to be long days the next few weeks!

Hell has frozen over...

And landed in Minnesota! 

We have had a very cold busy day around here!  Bill was put down this morning due to an injury. Which saved him from the freezing -18*s but made Rosie loose her snuggle partner.  To improvise I gave the girls jackets. It did take a bit of trial and air though.  I learned regular ACU tops will come right off if they are not covered by another jacket with a draw string and the waist.  You can see with Buttercup here this was prior to me learning this, notice how loose it is at the "waist".  

Buttercup

I went outside around 9 p.m. tonight to double check on them, the temp right now is -18 windchill has to be somewhere around -40's.  When I got out there buttercup was topless.  So I added a fleece that had a snitch at the waist, which should fix the problem.  Right now both girls have two layers added an ACU top with a jacket over.  

Rosie and Buttercup

I keep bringing buckets of hot water out for them.  Rosie seems to enjoy the fresh water over the main water bucket (which is heated).   Right now we're just trying to make it through tomorrow, they say it will start to warm up then!

 

  Rosie seems to be missing Billy too, they've been together for over a year now, she will not leave the gate, and keeps calling for him.  When we got Billy the people told us he'd need to be re-dehorned, I didn't think it would be a big deal I saw the paste at the store.  The more I learned about it I realized it couldn't be done anymore, since he was older.  The only way would be to have a vet put him to sleep and surgically remove it, since a piece of skull would need to come off too.  I had noticed his horns growing in but figured they'd turn back out. Yesterday, I went out to feed them and he was bleeding.  The horn had been growing in  and down the top of his head had split open. He didn't seem to be in pain, but we didn't want an infection to set in either. Nor did we want him to get to the point of pain.  This morning Billy was taken to the butch and we should be eating Billy Burgers this weekend. . . hey come on now this is a farm! What does goat taste like?  Not a clue I'll fill you in later, I was told though he's going to be more gamey tasting since he was not a wether. We'll see I don't have anything to compare it to yet. . . Any of you want some meat to let me know there is going to be well over 100 lbs! 

The Chickens have three heat lights going constantly and seem to be okay.  Baloo and Lady are nice and cozy in the laundry room, and the kitties have been banished to the basement since one of them hasn't figured out the litter-box up here. Causing way more laundry than I'd like. 

  Speaking of kitties, funny story...

    Sarah's, Thing 1, likes to dominate Micah's, Thing 2.  Lot's of "wrestling" Eye-roll I think one of them will be neutered in the near future!

   Overall, were just trying to stay warm and inside! Brian should be off the next few days so if he can just make it through tonight he should be good. The trains don't stop for anything apparently!

  Thats all for tonight I want to get this house picked back up before I head to bed. 

Jen Hatmaker - Brave Moms Raise Brave Kids

Jen Hatmaker - Brave Moms Raise Brave Kids

fast catch up

So it's been awhile since I've been on here.  Life is still crazy there was a balancing act that was hard to figure out!  We took the girls down to once a day milking in september, and that seemed to help me balance family and animals. Since then we've had a sick billy, I got to give my first shot to a goat.  He's much better now.
   As for the girls, I think their expecting.  I didn't think that they were at first but now after reading more about the breeding processes I'm 99% sure Rosie is at the very least.
  Early fall I was grossed out that Billy would stick his face in the girls urine stream, come to find out that's a sign mating is near. GROSS!
  Brian and I have also had may discussions on where we want to go with the goats.  After talking with my grandpa, (and really really really not wanting to take his advice) we're going to be selling billy and artificially inseminating from now on. (still not sure who will actually do it, crossing my fingers it will be Brian!)
   As for the babies, We'll be selling the males for meat and keeping the girls. (Time to start spreading the word, send goat eaters my why!).  We've done some research and it's pretty apparent Minnesota has a high population of ethnic groups that like the meat.
  I keep saying it will be a few years before I can eat one, we'll have to get away from the pet mentality.  ALthough if one pisses me off enough who knows.
  We're down to 9 chickens, luckily the dogs are not the cause of them dying.  They seemed to have some illness.  I switched their feed to a medicated one for a few months and that has seemed to do the trick.  We were just talking about how many chicks we are going to order this spring.  THe kids are excited Micah remembered that they start off in boxes in the kitchen!
  Thats a fast catch up and I hope to be a lot better in the future. I'm off to see why the dogs have been barking for 30 minutes.
******* Anyone out there with any suggestions for birthing send it my way.  I'm starting to make a list of supplies.  I'll have to get them soon too because if they are the kidding should be in a few weeks!