Remember our milk goats Pepper and Running Water? Well, even though we sell or trade our goats we make sure they go to great homes and we stay in touch with folks. We traded these for a pig and a female kid to be born. Pepper is a Nubian and was bred with Skippy, our Alpine so any girls born will produce lots of milk with high butterfat. Community is extremely important to us. I was on my way to work when we got the call Pepper was in labor and had been for a while.
When we got there we could instantly tell something was not right. We have had many goat have kids without any incidence but we knew it would some day happen... no one is immune to the stress of nature.
She was exhausted and trying to push. Right off we notice how bloated and hard her abdomen was, something we had not seen before.
Dude called the vet and the vet suggested there may be a dead kid blocking the way for the others and Dude needed to get in there and get it out. He has done this before but he knew this would be different.
He pulled out the first kid. There was no sack around it and it smelled horrible. We all knew the worse had happened. It was dead and probably had been for a while. Farmsister, Alethea's son had come out earlier and said something smelled . None of us had noticed but leave it to a young nose to notice what none of us had. Lesson one... always listen to the young.
Lesson two...with homesteading you do deal with death. Sadness and tears but we had to keep going. Pepper was ready to push but she was weak.
She is tired and exhausted. We help her push while Dude goes in and pulls gently on the next one.
Number two, a boy. Healthy one but he seems a bit tired.
Pepper wants to take care of him but she is just too tired. Contractions began again...
This is the first one all cleaned up.
Jamin, Alethea's husband built these warming pods for the kids. They are genius and worked great. Just what they needed. We are definitely going to steal this idea!
One more to go. Another boy finally born. Can you see it, it is white...the opposite of the one above. Healthy and loud. A very good sign.
The birth was very stressful for Pepper. Lesson 3... she couldn't stand or walk. Alethea called the vet who said it was fairly normal. A round of antibiotics and steroids were ordered. She should be fine in a day or two.
If you want to follow their journey too you will find them at Green Prairie Farm.
peace
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