It has been a busy week it seems. I had a very nice lady from Illinois visit me yesterday afternoon so that she could learn about care and maintenance of English Angora’s. I hope I didn’t scare her off from the breed! We did a breeding (GBF’s Chinook x ELS Maria Girl). We cut down Starbuck’s Gada. She got to hold babies and see the goats, turkeys and chickens.
Just as she was leaving, Abby and her friend Emily came running up to me with one of our roosters, Ozzy, in her arms. They had found him just laying out in the field; alive, but not moving very much. He had been picked on (head) by something or other. So, I said goodbye to Kelly, turned and walked into the barn with Ozzy trying to figure out where I could house him separately from the other chickens so he could heal up (hopefully).
I was right at the goat pen and heard a god-awful cry, looked in, and saw Nellie (goat) standing up with a baby goat head protruding out from her. Note: goat head and NO front feet. Oh my! That is not good. It’s very hard to deliver a kid with the feet back like that – the shoulders get stuck. So, I practically tossed poor Ozzy in the hay wagon, and started yelling for the girls, hoping they weren’t too far out playing to hear me. “Towels, towels. I need towels. Get my phone.”
I managed to pull the legs forward and out she came, with much crying from Nellie. The girls were there by then with towels. The kid was very weak, but alive. Five minutes or so later, the second kid came. Also, head first with the front legs back. And, this kid was huge. I couldn’t for the life of me break the sack around its face, so Abby grabbed a pair of scissors for me. Got her face wiped off and she wasn’t moving… she still was not out of mom though… just her head. I managed to get one leg forward but couldn’t get the other (a couple more birthings like this and I’m sure I’ll get better at doing this!). So, I grabbed behind the front leg and shoulder area and started pulling with the contractions. Poor Nellie didn’t like that one bit. Ouch ouch ouch. But, the kid was born. Alive. Another doe.
Number three came out like a kid should – quickly and correctly positioned. Thank goodness. Another doe!
We purchased Nellie as a weanling in 2005. We have never gotten live kids from her. Two years ago, she had triplets, but the first kid was turned wrong and we ended up losing them. Last year she didn’t get bred. Finally, she made up for all that waiting with three beautiful does. Nellie is 1/2 Togg and 1/2 Nubian. So, these kids are 3/4 Tog, 1/4 Nubian. Two are marked as Togs, the other is medium brown all over.
That was our last doe to kid. We have ten kids total – 6 doelings and 4 bucklings. This is the best kidding year we have ever had. No vets needed (although I did call!). No dead kids. More does then bucks. Whew.
This morning I was driving back home from taking the girls to school and saw a bunny sitting along side the road. There was a school bus in front of me. It went by the bunny and the bunny did not move. I thought, “That’s odd”. Then I drove by him. I looked in my rear view mirror and he was still sitting there. So, I stopped and backed up. Hopped out and sure enough the little guy had been hit. Not horrible though. His nose area was bloody and he was missing a patch of fur over his hindquarter, but his legs were all working and didn’t appear to have anything broken. I scooped him/her up (which he was not too thrilled about), tucked him under my arm and hopped back into the car. I knew that Gilmore Animal Clinic would take wild animals free of charge. So, that is where I went.
I know rabbits are low on the food chain, and he will probably end up being a coyote-snack in the long run, but I just can’t stand to see animals suffer. Hopefully, all he needed was a bit of Pen-G, some pain meds and a bit of cleanup work.