Today I bade goodbye to my best friend

Cactus*Point Jesse’s Girl 1*M

Over the last 5 years I have had one goat that stood out above the rest in terms of her endearment to me.

She came to me as a 4 year old doe who had just had Twins. A mottled black doe with the eyes of an angel and the face of happiness. Jesse quickly wormed her way into my heart and my show string as my Fit and Show doe.

We spent many a long hours working on show routines and just hanging out in the pasture, her being convinced that she’d given birth to me and that she must guard me from all other ‘usurpers’.

A few years ago I retired Jesse from having kids after two particularly traumatic kiddings back to back. She’s since just hung out with the herd being a pasture ornament and teacher to the younger ladies who have graced my herd.

Always a calm and reasonable doe, she was first one to the milk room each morning(even when she wasn’t milking) and the last one to bed most nights. I could spend hours just snuggling into her and staring at the sky as the time passed us by.

She had a tough winter this year with the four feet of snow in December but I thought that we had turned a corner finally with the advent of Spring earlier this week.

This afternoon my sister went to do chores, and came running for me saying that Jesse had gone down. Instantly I was out the door and in the goat pen, but the moment I saw her I knew that I would be saying goodbye.

Jesse had suffered a stroke and lost the ability to control the left side of her body, and was having mini-seizures on her right side. I quickly tried to get her to a sternally reccumbent position, but found she couldn’t so covered her in my sweatshirt and sat on the ground with her waiting for the reinforcements to hurry up and eat help move her.

Called the vet and explained what happened he said he’d be out as soon as he could and to keep her comfortable. We moved her to the barn where I settled in to say my goodbyes and wait with her.

Thankfully when he arrived he quickly confirmed my diagnoses and prognosis, and agreed that I had made the right choice.

I know you will be waiting for me my dear friend, someday at the Rainbow Bridge. Until then, enjoy the pastures.

About death

****DISCLAIMER****

If you are squeamish you may not want to read this post, as it goes into some odd details

****END DISCLAIMER****

In an order to keep it real around here, and to live up to my title of 'Kick ass Real Goat Farmer', I am going to share something with you.

Yesterday(last night really) we ended up losing two baby goats, in the birth process.

Sprint:

Sprint is a 5 year old, and this was her 3rd time kidding. The last time she kidded it was a breeze no real problems to speak of. The kidding before that had been HELL, with two GIANT kids, who were all tangled up in each other.  I was able to intervene early enough(and she was doing her part) to be able to salvage the kidding and get 2 buck kids(of course).

Yesterday's kidding was MUCH MUCH different. It all started about 2 pm. My dad was out at the pen and noticed that she was passing some blood. So I went out threw new shavings into the stall and dragged her happy butt into the barn. I tossed her up onto the stanchion to do a perfunctory exam and see how far along she was. I did an exam, found her to have a water bubble presenting, but did not break it since it wasn't out of the vaginal vault yet. I found her to not be fully dialated, but didn't consider that odd, as she wasn't showing any real signs of labor.

I put her into the stall and sat down to watch her, and almost immediately she passed the water bubble that had been presenting, and broke it. With in a few minutes she was having 'bursts' of contractions. That's where she would have 2-3 hard contractions, about 4-5 minutes apart.  So I sat, and I waited, and watched, and watched and watched. I had the camera ready since it  looked like it would be a 'normal' birth and I would be able to get some good shots for my kidding series.

About this time, is when the kids probably died in utero according to the vet(more on this in a moment).

So Sprint quickly passed, another bubble that didn't really seem to be doing anything. I attempted several times to go in and check her progress, but as she was still not dialating; I wasn't able to get any farther in than my 3rd knuckle(and I have narrow small hands). At this point I noticed that she had cotyledons on the sack(which should have been a clue that something was horribly wrong). So I sat and I waited some more(it was now probably 4:30ish) after another short wait I decided I'd had enough and was going to pick "My Gods"(aka the vet) brain. So I called and of COURSE it was after hours(because when isn't it on the weekend?) but I got through to him on the Large animal hotline. I explained the situation, explained what I was seeing, what I was feeling, and got his opinion. He said to wait a half hour recheck her progress, and if there was none to go ahead break the sack, and start feeling around.

By the time I got off the phone with him I was FREEZING so I went inside for a half hour or so to warm up. I went back out to check on about 5:30 ish. I got her up on the stand broke the sack, and started fishing. I was able to get into about my wrist where I could feel a foot, and a head, but I wasn't able to trace it back to the body to make sure they belonged together. At this point I started getting an inkling that something was pretty messed up in there, my mind of course going for the horror scenarios that I have encountered.

I called the vet, and left a voicemail for him explaining what I was going on. I quickly got a call back and was able to describe what I THOUGHT I was feeling(a long dead kid) and than quickly discussed options, all while I was still fishing with the other hand. We quickly came to the decision that I should bring her into the office so that he could assist.  Of course while all this was going on we'd had some visitors show up(nothing quite says 'welcome' like a messy kidding!) so I told my dad to get them to leave as we needed him to drive to the vet for us. He got them to leave and they quickly got the car ready to go as I stood there feeling rather useless.

The three of us got loaded up into the van, mom holding her head me holding other parts. I don't remember much of the car ride, though i DO remember it was the most akward car ride I've been on in a while. I remember hoping to high heaven that we didn't get pulled over(I can only IMAGINE how that conversation would have gone with the officer).

We arrived after what seemed like forever at the vets office(it was probably 20 minutes). Got sprint out and situated on the concrete to wait since we had, beat the vet to the office. We waited, and waited and waited at one point seeing a Vet truck coming down the road, got all excited only to have it pass by. Sat for what seemed like ages(all the while I'm still holding kids in) only for the vet truck we'd seen earlier to return and pull into the parking lot(it was the vet).

So we quickly got down to the nitty gritty business of pulling the kids while hoping that it didn't end up being an emergency C-section(those ain't cheap!). Thankfully once the vet got in up to his elbow he was able to figure out that what we had was 3 feet, and 2 heads presenting(which is a mess). It was then easy to push one kid out of the way and grab the single front leg of the other, and pull it out. A beautiful little brown doe.  He went back in and got a hold of the second kid and made a comment about having a good feeling. As he pulled the legs out(in a proper kidding the head rests back and on top of the front legs like a diver) I looked at them and commented that it was probably a buck kid(the legs were big). He pulled the kid out and examined her for a moment determining that she too had not made it. I had already checked mine(that I'd been working on half a foot away) and found it to be a doe. So out of curiosity I took a peek at the BLACK kid and found it to be a doe(of course).

From there we just got cleaned up, discussed post care(normal) and headed home.  I have pictures from during the waiting process, but am unsure wether to share them or not as they are most definatly for the squeamish or faint of heart.

RIP Rodney McKay and Jesse's Abigaile

For those of you who haven't heard the little goat mentioned in the last blog entry(yes I know its been a while), Rodney Mckay, had to be put to sleep later that same week on the 22nd of August due to complications that made him cross the line from 'sick' to the 'pain and suffering' side of life which I feel is just an unacceptable thing to make an animal any animal suffer. He fought a valiant fight while he was sick going through four days of intense treatment and rallying a little each day but in the end sadly his fighting spirit just wasn't enough to overcome whatever it was that took him out. We preformed a necropsy(the vet let me attend), and while we were both stumped by the findings(everything appeared healthy for the most part) and the results came back clean from WADDL(Washington Animal Disease and Diagnostics Laboratory), we have therefore been unable to determine what might have been a COD(cause of Death).



He was only on earth for a short 4 months but Rodney deeply touched my heart and my soul leaving his little hoofprints in my heart forever he will be deeply missed and forever I will be in his debt for teaching me so much in such a short time I'll miss you baby! (4/21/2007 to 8/22/2007)

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RIP TTLF Jesse's Abigaile





About a week after Rodney passed away his dear darling little sister Abigaile became very ill and sadly passed away. Luckily we know what was the COD on her I feel very bereft that I hadn't suspected the Coccidia and Strongyles sooner or I may have been able to save her. To my benefit though the vet did comment that she was a 'perfect' case of managment as she didn't show any signs of illness until the day before she passed away.


This little girl had a fighters spirit right from the start having almost died in kidding as she was a true buttling breech(where the animals butt is presenting to the birth canal), and was born with two sets of contracted tendons in her front legs that required her to have her front legs splinted for 10 days and stay in the house about 3 weeks when a 'normal' kid only gets at most 7 to 10 days depending on how fast they catch onto the bottle feeding process. Our "IC" kids get 10 days and around the clock(24/7) feedings and our 'NC' kids get 8am to 10pm feedings and time outside everyday. Abigaile was a very special "IC" kid getting to be carried around with me as her brother was an exceptional "NC" kid who was a quick study on the practice of life.



Abi experienced a very wonderful life and I was looking forward to watching her grow into a beautiful young doe and later maturing into a daughter that would make her mother proud as she was the last doe kid out of my beloved Jesse whom is now retired. I will miss you Abigaile but I know that you are at the Rainbow bridge waiting for me. (4/21/2007 to 9/2/2007)
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I will miss you both and I cannot wait until the day that I see you again kids have fun in the big green pastures up there while you wait I will see you when it is time for me to join you. Don't be sad I know that you aren't in pain, don't cry for me I remember you fondly, just play and run be happy and frolick gleefully in the pasture. ~mumm