another week gone by

Well, I thought last week was busy but I hadn’t seen anything yet: the last three days have been VERY busy (working from 6 am until 8pm) and it seems like the goats wait for Derek and I to be on duty to give birth! We had 29 kids in the last three days and another traumatic experience (and I am sure it was also traumatic for the goat!). Sandy, the goat, was having contractions for a long time without any luck. Her first kid came out well but she was having trouble with the second one so I decided to gear up and checked out what was going on. I could feel two legs and what felt like the bottom but the truth is I think I was feeling the neck. The baby came out shoulder/neck/legs first while the head was twisted backward: ite was dead coming out, either from suffocation  or broken neck…The  bright side of the story is that we saved the mom, which is the number one rule:  save the mom at all cost. I felt bad because I  wondered if I did everything I could to save this little life. 

Here’s the procedure to follow when a kid is born. First, we clear the mucus from mouth and nose so the kid can breath; it is very important to be fast and do a great job because if some mucus goes into the lungs, the kid is a goner (it happened to one few days ago and it died within 24 hours). Then, we dry the kid with a towel and friction its little body/head vigourously. We put it close to the mom so they can bond: the mom starts licking the baby all over and sometimes eats the umbilical cord and/or any left over mucus on the kid. We also dip the left over umbilical cord and the navel in an iodine solution to prevent any infection. We put on a paper collar around its neck with the mom’s name, the date, female or male and draw special markings if the kid is a keeper (so we can identify it more easily among the other kids). Then, we write in the 2011 kidding season log: the time of birth, date, mom’s name, number of kids, detailed description of the kids, any important information regarding the birth such as easy or assisted birth, if the mom passed the after birth, if the kid’s position was weird, etc. Within fiften minutes of the birth we try to hook up the baby to the teats: some get it fast and some are a little slower. I have to say that the girls are usually smarter than the boys, no offense guys. That way, the kid gets the colostrum right away with all the good stuff in it (the colostrum is usually produce during the first three days)and it helps to boost the kid’s immune system right away. 

We also had another crazy birthing experience where the first kid came out dead (I did not kill that one, I swear!) and the second one came out barely breathing. Derek is a hero. I wish you could have seen him swing this little guy around to try to clear the airways and blow in its nose and mouth. If the situation would not have been so critical it would have been pretty funny to see it. Anyway, Derek saved the kid and it ended up being a strong little one. Sometimes, the umbilocal cord breaks before the baby comes out and the kid end up suffocating with the mucus. You don’t really have a way to know if the cord breaks and you want the goat to give natural birth as much as possible so I always wonder how much you wait before it is too late to help?

We have goat milk! I’ve been drinking so much of it already: it is delicious, rich (between 3.5 and 6%), sweet and creamy. And it makes the best lattes. I’ve been trying to quit drinking coffee since we’ve been here and I was doing well until a couple days ago…Now, I just don’t want to give it up anymore: I haven’t been able to find a good enough reason to stop drinking it and I enjoy it soo much (that is a good reason for me to keep drinking it). It is official: I am now hooked on raw goat milk. In the next couple days we are going to make yogurt and next week we should start making cheese.  If you guys have a chance to try goat milk, please do, you won’t be disapointed. Plus, it is easier to digest than cow milk and it does not taste “goaty” at all (well, if you get it fresh it does not; older one is “goaty” tasting).

I still have some issues with separating the moms and the kids and I am trying hard to keep the thoughts in my head from making me go insane (and trying to not hear the mama goats screaming for their babies). I feel like a terrible person to take their babies away especialy when I know that the kids are going to end up in taco meat.. Some of the moms don’t cry, they just look at you with this special look, and I am not sure what I hate the most: the cries or the depressed look in their eyes.  I try not to get attached to the babies, but I am only a human being, a very sensitive one, and I do have my little favorites. Yesterday, we sold 36 kids to the goat meat lady and it was not easy for me. The only bright side is that we won’t have to feed 36 kids at 2 am. Anyway, life goes on, but it gets me thinking that I am not sure I want to be a dairy goat farmer: I want to do something that I am comfortable with and I am not sure I will be happy sending kids to the slaughterhouse, which you have to do when you have a dairy goat farm, because you don’t want to keep 110 kids, unless you are crazy! It takes a special person to do it and it is not me.

The weather is warming up -in the high 40’s- and the snow is starting to melt. It is great news, exept that it still freezes during the night and it is nasty in the morning. I love my Sorel boots because they work great in the snow but they are useless on the ice: it is like going ice-skating with rubber boots! I had a couple nasty falls on friday and ended up hurting myself pretty bad ( fortunately, I fell on my butt and I have a good booty so the fall could have been worse than just a big bruise). Ed got us some special traction to put on our shoes that day and no more falls since then. Thank you Ed!

CC