We have Alpine dairy goats. We started out small with 2 little doelings, and in the past 3 years somehow we have grown to 6 does and 1 buck. Spring kidding has been beautifully easy up to this point. Each year nature seemed to take care of everything and we just enjoyed the ride. That easy ride ended this year. Part of the problem is that 5 out of the 6 does are first time moms. I had no idea animals learned how to parent just like people! I thought they were born knowing how to be great mommas. Not true. It has made me really appreciate our one experience doe who knows what she is doing.
Our first doe, Shadow, kidded while we were gone. When we got out to the barn, one of the kids was dead and the other one was pretty far gone. Shadow hadn't bothered to dry them off, feed them, or anything. She was just a scared new mom. This, of course, happened when Mr. Bechtel was out of town thus furthering our theory that everything interesting happens when dad is gone. Luckily, we have great neighbors and they came and showed me how to tube feed a baby goat. I made a little bed on the floor of my room and got up every 2 hours to feed the little guy but he died early the next morning.
The kids and I were very sad and buried them both with honors. We didn't have time to mourn long though since our older doe, Savannah, kidded right before school started. She had a beautiful little doe, Georgia Ann, and showed us how mothering should be done. The kids were happy because they were late for school, and so all's well that ends well. As M&M say, "kidding is a life and death experience"!
1 comment:
Sorry about your poor little babies, I wonder how the wild animals do it, they must just know by instinct what to do.
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