Giselle

After working with Giselle for many hours and trying everything that we could think of, she continued to go downhill rapidly. I found a scalpel and gathered my towels, so that we would be ready when she breathed her last breath to open her up and try to save her babies.

She died in my arms and my DH went to work as quickly as possible. He had no problem locating the first kid and handing it to me. I immediately gave it a gentle swing to try to clear it's lungs and passageways, and started toweling it off but put it down when I got no response and took the next one, the same thing happened. He handed me the third one and quickly searched for more before turning to help me.

We worked and worked, slinging, thumping, rubbing, even giving some mouth to mouth but none of them ever moved or responded in any way. A black buck, a black and white spotted buck and a mahogany spotted doe.

This turned out to be a bad Easter for me, my new Easter dress went unworn and I am wondering if there was something more that I could have done for Giselle or for the babies. My Dear Husband says that this is just life on the farm. You are always going to lose a few battles, I suppose. But it still really hurts...

Happy Easter!

Easter is as early this year as you will ever see it again in your lifetime. Everything seems early this year, we were looking forward to Spring but it came up in such a whirlwind that the temperatures haven't had time to catch up yet.

Giselle is still not doing well, she is off her feed and not getting up at all, she did go outside and stand for just a few minutes today but then went back inside to lie down and she hasn't moved since. She hasn't eaten any hay or grain, she wouldn't even eat treats. I took some warm molasses water to her at about 11:30 tonight and she drank quite a bit, but that is all she has had.

Her tail end had some goo hanging from it this morning which is a good sign that labor is close but I have been checking on her every 30 minutes all through the night and she isn't doing anything. She is just lying very still and has a glazed look in her eyes.

It is now 3:03 in the morning and after checking on her the last time I have decided that she has all of the symptoms of Pregnancy Toxemia and I have mixed up a drench for her again, karo syrup, molasses, nutri-drench, B-complex vitamins and crunched-up tums. I am giving her the drench syringe full (50 ml) every two hours, then following that up with 50 ml of yogurt. She isn't happy about it, she just wants to be left alone. No sleep for me tonight...

Worrying

I am a worrier, I'll admit it but I would rather worry about things and then not be surprised when the worst thing happens, than to be optimistic and get caught off guard.

Giselle is huge and uncomfortable but I started worrying that she was just a little too dull. She was laying around all of the time and didn't want to get up, her hind legs were swollen and she was grinding her teeth. When she stumbled and fell when I tried to get her up to go out to the goat lot, I decided something was wrong and it wasn't my imagination. I consulted my expert forum friends at GoatBeat.net and they told me to look into Pregnancy Toxemia / Ketosis, which I did. It is caused by the build up of excess ketones in the blood, due to the incomplete metabolic breakdown of body fat. Giselle had some of the symptoms.

I started dosing her with Corn Syrup, Nutri-drench, Vit.B Complex and Molasses and also increased her alfalfa hay ration. I am not sure what caused this unless it is because she was fat during the first part of her pregnancy, maybe too much grain, the wrong type of grain, too many babies or large babies. But I do think that I am seeing an improvement in her, she is jumping right up for her doses of medicine, she loves it.

Angel Update

I have been a little nervous about my goats kidding with Angel around. I know that LGD's are excellent midwives with some experience, but since Angel is still just a pup, I don't know if she is prepared for kidding.

Since we have moved Giselle and Cinder into the horse trailer at night, Angel is sleeping halfway between the goat lot and the horse trailer. My DH ("Dear Husband" for those who don't spend any time in private messaging, chat or on message boards) said that when he went into the horse trailer to feed the girls this morning, Angel came in right behind him. That is pretty desperate for a dog who is used to being scolded and pelted with BB's for being out of the goat lot. That tells me that she is very serious about her job as a Livestock Guardian Dog and her job is to protect all of her herd and not just what's in the goat lot.

We are not disciplining her for checking on the horse trailer and when the babies are born, she will be invited into the horse trailer to help, as part of her training. She will also be allowed to eat the afterbirths and any dead babies (hopefully we won't have any), which is also the job of a LGD. They clean up anything that might draw in predators.

Angel ~ my Great Pyrenees

Home Sweet Home

The snow is already falling, it wasn't suppose to start until 1:00 but it started at around 7:00. The roads are slick and the local schools have just announced dismissal at 12:30.

We put Giselle and Cinder in the horse trailer last night and they acted really happy to be there, nice, dry and warm with lots of straw. Angel isn't happy about it she is running back and forth from the goat lot to the trailer that is setting up here by the barn. We aren't giving her a hard time for leaving the goat lot this time. She is just trying to do her job.

Since I mentioned that we live in our barn, I thought that I would post some pictures of it. We live in the side with the window, there is a drive through aisle and then stalls and storage on the other side and of course a nice loft.

The Two Older Does

Cinder the oldest(2004) and mother to Giselle(2005)and Calico(2007)


Giselle and Cinder


Giselle will finally be a Mommy in March

My Goats

Since my eldest Son is now calling me "Chicken Lady" because he says all I blog about is chickens, I will change the subject today.

My goats are running full time with the buck now, so come the end of March, I should have my first kids and a fresh doe to milk. My eldest Son should be happy to hear this because he gets free milk and he is a big milk drinker. Something is clucking at the door, I will be right back.

Cinder is my oldest goat, she is a Nubian, Giselle is around 75% Nubian and 25% LaMancha, all the rest of my goats are around 75% Nubian and 25% Boer.

Cooter, my buck was turned in with the oldest two goats, Cinder and Giselle, on the 25th of October and then I put the young does, Colette, Calico and Paris, in with them on the 13th of December, so they shouldn't start kidding until the middle of May.

Giselle is a three year old first freshener. We had her in with a buck for a short time as a yearling and she came up empty, then we took her back to another buck as a two year old and she came up empty again. This was her last chance, my husband didn't want to continue to support a barren goat. But she is obviously pregnant this time, she is going to have multiples by the look of her.

Cinder is my herd queen, she rules supreme. She has always given me twins, always a boy and a girl. She is the mother of both Giselle, three years ago and Calico, last year. We sold Giselle and Calico's twin brothers. I think that Cinder herself was either a triplet or quad.

Cooter, Paris and Colette were all triplets from different does. So I have a good chance of getting multiples from all of my girls.