Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

My plan is to give her 24 hours....but it just changed a minute ago when I went to check on them. She's not doing well...the buckling is not doing well... I just dosed her with molasses and I'll take some probios and calcium out next but I need to get to researching. Never had a doe go down after kidding.

I'm second guessing myself now. She lost a lot of weight when she ate practically nothing for 5 days. Maybe she never really recovered from being sickly last week. Poor darling - and I talked crap about her...

 

[Mini Horses]

Hoping all goes well for you and her. Stress no on needs but "It is what it is". Being sick may also play into what she will do for the kids. At least you have others to give you milk -- always better than powdered!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

At least you have others to give you milk -- always better than powdered!

Yes - I have other does to milk and milk in the freezer.

She has perked up a little...doeling is perky and buckling is just ...ok.

 

[sumi]

Gosh, I hope she and he buckling is going to be o.k. Don't feel bad about giving out about her, you had some stress yesterday finding her minus babies and then the worry about them and the struggle with her Hopefully everything will work out o.k. now.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Hope buckling does alright, glad the other two are perking up!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks ya'll!

I went to bed last night not knowing for sure how it would turn out. Thankfully, this morning she is Mother of the Year material! Both babies went to her to nurse and she stood very patiently for them with no interference from me. The buckling is still puny - he'll get some selenium today. Actually, they all will. His rear legs are just horrible...but that could be because Conan's back legs are so horrible, lol. I cringe every time I see his cow-hockiness! Mostly though - his babies are coming out with decent legs. We'll see how this little guy comes around after his selenium. Won't matter much - cuz I'm planning on eating all the males (except maybe Cameo's buckling).

Mom is still puny...lethargic...not much appetite and thin. She's always been on the low end of the totem pole as far as herd rank. I feed all animals together and while she scrambles at first to get her feed she'll walk away when the tussling gets too rough. Combine that with a week of feeling bad and not eating more than a few bites of hay for 5 days - she literally looks like a walking skeleton right now. I'll be heading to town in a bit to get her a bale of alfalfa. I'll need to be careful introducing that into her diet. Don't need her having an issue with overeating/change of feed. It'll be a balancing act for the next few days. So glad this happened when it did - it would be tough to coordinate if I were at work this week.

Cooked some delicious steaks last night using Mike's recipe from over on BYH. Great marinade using balsamic, soy sauce, olive oil, a touch of honey and a bunch of minced garlic. I used it on some chicken too and they were both delish! We'll have leftovers tonight.

I worked on a raised bed yesterday so I'm trying to decide what to put in there. I want peas - but we might already be out of pea weather. I'll likely try it anyway - might get one batch and then I can follow with something else - maybe green beans. I've got two big tubs that aren't in the pig pen that I'll try to get moved and planted with something. Woohoo - I won't be totally garden-less this year. I'll be digging some of the great "stuff" out of the red shed to supplement the soil in the tubs. It should give everything a nice boost.

DH was the administrator on call over the weekend. I swear if his phone rang once last night it rang about a dozen times. I won't miss that at all when he retires!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Oh good mama goat, big relief that she's taking care of those babies! She'll be happy not to have to fight for her food for a while!

Yay on some sort of garden!

 

[sumi]

So glad to hear momma settled with the babies and they are doing o.k. Hope she and the buckling will perk up soon!

 

[Mini Horses]

Hoping the momma goat & kids continue to perk up for you. It would sure be a stress reliever!

You know you are going to envy DH when "retire" happens!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

You know you are going to envy DH when "retire" happens!!

Definitely!

Mama has been kinda up and down most of the day. She ate a bunch of blackberry leaves and a handful of clover and sampled the $20.50 bale of alfalfa that I bought for her. I always worm my does when they kid so I went ahead and wormed her and of course she wouldn't eat anything after that. She got some probios and a shot of Banamine - just because. Actually, her stool is somewhat soft and she seemed to be cramping a bit. She would hunker up to pass stool, and strain really hard and pass a soft stool - so I thought some banamine would help calm her belly a bit and stop the cramping. Maybe overkill - but about 20 minutes later she was finally resting. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings...