Trials & Tribulations

Ari & Mo

When I went to feed the goats on the morning of March 21st I noticed that Mo was scouring.  Given his age I guess it was probably Coccidiosis  By the morning of the 24th he was showing no signs of improvement so we took him to the vet.  A fecal was done and he did have an overload of Cocci.   Since then he has been on three different medications and finally as of this past Friday his fecal is finally starting to show a reduction in the number of Cocci present.  Throughout this two week ordeal he has shown none of the typical signs of a kid with Cocci, (other than the scouring,) maintaining a normal temp, appetite and energy level.  In fact he even gained weight.   Prayerfully he will be fully healed by this time next week.

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Gloria, Casper & Johnny

Thursday afternoon while I was incapacitated with a severe migraine the children went down to the doe barn and caught Mame's doeling Gloria (gold/white kid) and decided to give her a bath.   A brisk breeze was blowing and outside temperatures were in the mid 40's so it didn't take long for her to be chilled almost to death.  The children finally came in the house and told me what they had done and I stumbled outside and brought her in the house in a desperate attempt to raise her core temperature.

I really didn't think she would survive the shock, especially as she is already so small.  As I listened to her ragged gasping for breath I kept expecting each one to be her last.   But after a couple of hours snuggled against me in front of the heater she started improving and was finally able to stand on her own.

At that point the best thing for her was to go back out with her brothers and dam.  But unfortunately Mame, wouldn't accept her back even though it had only been 2 hours.  After 24 hours of having to hold Mame' so that Gloria could nurse, and Mame' getting more and more violent about shoving her away I made the decision to make Gloria a bottle baby.    So last night Mame was separated from the kids and then I milked her before turning the buck kids out with her.   Gloria didn't have too much trouble switching over to drinking her mothers milk from a bottle, but was still crying for her mom's attention.

Because of the nasty weather that is keeping the herd cooped up I can't leave the buck kids with the main herd or they will get trampled so they are in the pen with Gloria and I am just letting them out a few days a day to nurse.   Definitely not an ideal situation, but sometimes you just have to improvise and adapt.

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The ladies enjoying their new feeder

On a positive note I did manage to get the barn cleaned out and a new feeder installed for the does.   My dad gave me this 8" PVC pipe that he had used for growing strawberries.  The high sides keeps the goats from spilling alfalfa pellets while eating and since it is attached very securely to the wall they can't knock it down either.

Finally here are a few pictures taken during the only bit of sunshine we have had in a week.  As with all the other pictures, clicking on a picture will show you a larger image.

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