Saturday was an interesting day in a lot of ways. I was not on the schedule so I was planning on taking it easy and maybe work in the greenhouse or something like that. Anyway, I was sleeping in when I heard a knock on the door and Ed telling me he needed help with a goat (sometimes, having small hands is not always good). I was not too thrilled but sometimes you have no choice; and honestly, I am happy to help delivering babies (i wish the goats would chose a better time to give birth though!). When I got to the goat, the situation did not look too good: she’s been having contractions for at least a couple hours but nothing was happening. Usually, it is not a good sign and lots of bad things have time to happen inside: umbilical cord breaking, baby getting tangled up,etc. Anyway, the goat, “Salina”, was not dilated so first i had to put some evening primrose oil inside her vagina to help with dilatation. And it is not easy to get inside a goat when she is not dilated. After about 15 minutes, i went inside her (the oil worked great!) and felt that the baby was shoulder first and head back (last time that happened the baby died) and was at a lower position in the stomach, so it did not look good. Somehow, I found the front leg and the head (it is so hard to feel anything and to figure out what is what) and tried to pull them forward. The poor mom was already exhausted so i gave her a few minute to rest and somehow during that time, the baby came closer to the exit. I am not sure how that happened but when i went in again i had three legs and the head wanting to come out at the same time: this is just not possible. By that time, i was not sure what to do, i was feeling helpless and i had no hope for that kid. I took a guess about the front legs, pushed the back one inside, all while the goat is trying so hard to push me out of her. After what seems like an eternity, the baby came out dead. I let Salina rest for few more minutes and went in again to check for another baby. I found a lumpy little leg and knew right away that it was dead. When i pulled it out, the baby was not totally formed: there was no fur and the eyes were missing. Who knows how that happened: one was not formed and one was! The placenta was weird looking too and Ed said he has never seen that before. Salina was having trouble passing the after birth so we gave her a special herbal tea for retained placenta, and after about 24 hours, she passed it. Usually goats pass the placenta within few hours of the birth and they get pretty uncomfortable until they pass it. It is really serious and you have to monitor very well whether they pass it or not because it is deadly for the goats if they don’t. The whole birthing experience took about 1 1/2 hours and it was VERY traumatic, for me and Salina. What a way to start a day, especially before coffee!
Fantasia, the russian princess that i mentioned in an earlier blog, also passed away few days ago. She was not feeling well and had a tough 2 weeks. It could have been complication from birthing (the baby died inside and she got an infection) or pneiumonia, which is very common among goats. Anyway, we don’t know why she died and it is kind of upsetting because you can’t really prevent something from happening if you don’t know what the problem was. Rest in peace, Fantasia. I am also finding out that veterinarian don’t know much about goats. They know about cats and dogs and cows and pigs but they don’t know shit about goats. Or organic ways of treating them. I find it so interesting and wondered why it is like that. Are goats so different? At the farm, they try to use the vet as little as possible because first, it is very expensive, and second, the vet has very little knowledge about goats. When they have questions, Ed and Vicky have a couple people they can turn to, people with years of experience, and one of the lady is a goat consultant and charge a small fee for advice. It sounds like a better deal than paying hundred of dollars for someone that is incompetent.
I don’t want to say that you get used to kids dying or to death in general but it happens so often on an animal farm that you kind of don’t get so upset everytime. I mean i am a sensitive person so it bothers me everytime but I let go pretty quick of this sad feeling and don’t let it put me down: I would be too depressed otherwise! Dying of kids is sad but that’s how it goes when you have a dairy farm: life and death, the cycle of life.