kids are here!

Hi everyone,

We got lots of snow this week:  8 inches a couple different days, and it is beautiful outside. The last couple days have been warming up and it is starting to melt. Derek went cross-crountry skiing for the first time this week and the half frozen baby lamb that we found Saturday in the early morning is doing great; we just put her and the mom out with all the other sheep, in the outdoor pen.

On a eu beaucoup de neige cette semaine et c’est super beau dehors. Ces derniers jours ont ete un peu plus chaud et la neige commence a fondre. Derek a fait une premiere tentative avec le ski de fond et il s’est bien debrouille. L’agneau qu’on a trouve a moitie gele se porte bien et on l’a mise avec sa mere, dehors avec les autres moutons.

The first kids showed up on March 1st and three kids were born within an hour. Two births happened on their own and two others needed help. I had my first hands-on experience as far as delivering my first two baby goats, and one of them was kind of an emergency. Honestly, I am surprised that the baby was still alive when it came out. The head was out and normaly, you should have the legs and the head comimg out, so without help the baby was not going anywhere. We tried to pull on the head but nothing happened so we tried to push the baby back inside, with not luck. I would call this delivery a traumatic experience  for the mama ,as it was hard to watch her go through hell and suffer so much, and for me, as I had to stick my hand in her vagina and try to find the baby’s leg while only the head was sticking out. I was under a lot of pressure because I knew that if I didn’t do it right, the baby will surely die. Being inside the goat vagina was bizarre and there is not much room in there to do anything. Plus, she was trying really hard to push me out of there. After what seems like an eternity, I found the leg so I wrapped my hand around the hoof to protect the mom’s uterus and slowly brought the legs outside. And then the baby was out. You have to be careful to not tear the uterus when you try to pull the legs out . Right after I was done with this goat, I had to go help another one. This one was not as traumatic: I went inside her to make sure the baby was in the right position ( which is usually head and two front legs first) and it was so I just had to pull the legs and the baby came out. The mom was just having a hard time pushing and the baby would not come out. I guess it happens a lot with the first time moms because they don’t really know what to do.

Les premiers bebes sont arrives et on en a eu trois en une heure! Au total 4 meres on accouche, 2 accouchements se sont passes sans probleme, et deux avec des difficultes. La deuxieme naissance etait un peu dur, pour la mere et pour moi: pour la mere car elle souffrait beaucoup et pour moi car j’ai du l’aider pour l’accouchement et c’etait dur mentalement. D’ailleurs, je suis surprise que le petit etait en vie apres tout ce drame: seulement la tete etait sorti et rien ne se passait pendant plusieurs minutes.Alors j’ai du mettre un gant et je suis alle a l’interieur pour essayer d’attraper la petite patte et de la faire sortir en premier. C’est pas facile d’etre a l’interieur du vagin d’une chevre car il n’y a pas beucoup d’espace et elle essayer de pousser pour te faire sortir de la. En plus il faut aussi faire tres attention de ne pas abimer l’uterus de la chevre. Bref c’etait laborieux!Ca arrive souvent d’avoir des difficultes pendant les naissance avec les jeunes meres car elles ne savent pas trop comment faire.

All the moms so far have been good moms, cleaning their babies, being affectionate and letting them nurse. I guess sometimes they are not as cooperative and they don’t really care about their babies. The mom and the kids stay together for 3 days before being separated. I am not looking forward to it because it is going to be heartbreacking I am sure. Although I know human feelings don’t apply to animals I am sure a mom is a mom, and it does not matter if you are a goat or a human. Separation is happening tomorrow so I have a full day to get myself ready for that. 

Jusqu’a present toutes les meres ont l’instinct maternelle: elle leche leurs petits, s’occupe d’eux et les laisse se nourir. Quelques fois, il arrive qu’elle rejete leurs petits. Ici, a la ferme, on laisse les petits 3 jours avec leurs meres avant de les separer et j’imagine que ca va etre difficile, aussi bien pour la maman et le bebe que pour moi. La separation est pour demain alors j’ai 24 heures pour m’y faire.

As far as what we do with the kids, well, everybody is not fortunate. We are going to keep the girls of the best adult moms and the rest is going to be sold for meat, as there is a big demand for goat meat amomg the Mexican community. I know I don’t like this side of the business but I am not fighting reality: as cute as they are, they are going to end up in someone’s freezer! I understand and accept it but I still don’t like it. Night shift is tough as we have to get up every 4 hours to check for new birth and feed the babies. We try to get them used to the baby bottle so they are ready when we take them away from the mom and they know how to feed themselves. Anyway, waking up at midnight and 4 am to go from a warm bed to the cold  night is pretty radical, especially when you are only half awake. Every time I go out on a night watch I pray for no new born so I can go back to bed as soon as possible!

Pour ce qui est des enfants, tous n’ont pas la meme chance. En effet, tous les garcons vont etre vendus pour la viande, qui est tres apprecie dans les communautes mexicaine, et seulement certaines filles (celles dont les meres donnent le plus de lait) aurant la chance de rester; les autres aussi finiront dans le congelateur. Je n’aime pas trop ca mais bon, c’est pas mes oignons. Se reveiller toutes les 4 heures la nuit n’est pas tres facile, surtout de sortir d’un lit bien chaud pour aller dans la nuit noire et glaciale. Je prie pour qu’il n’y ai pas de naissances la nuit afin que je puisse aller me coucher le plus vite posible!

Here’s some new pictures. Enjoy!

Voici quelques photos. J’espere que vous aimerez.

CC

P.S. We just had our first triplets a couple hours ago and it was an easy birth (meaning the goat did a good job on her own). The last baby came out with his butt first, which is not normal, but everything was okay. We were ready to take action if necessary. Pictures to follow on a later blog.

P.S. On vient juste d’avoir des triplets il y a deux heures et c’etait une naissance facile, pour la chevre je veux dire, car elle n’a pas eu besoin d’aide. Le petit dernier est arrive dans une mauvaise position (fesse en premier) mais tout s’est bien passe. On etait pres a intervenir au cas ou. Je mettrais les photos un peu plus tard.