Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[sumi]

Oh man... Hope mom gets the hang of this soon! Otherwise maybe do what baymule said above and tie her up?

 

[NH Homesteader]

Well I hope you have a cooperative new mama today, you don't have time for her shenanigans!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Really no reason for a goat rodeo, lol. She's not rejected the baby she just doesn't know what to do with it! She doesn't fight the baby and she WILL stand if I hold her and/or give her feed. But, this morning gave me a glimmer of hope. Went out and they were all curled up together. I put down feed for mom and held baby up...she went straight to the teat and latched on. Mom only lifted a foot a time or two but stood and let her nurse. I didn't have to restrain her at all - only had my hand on her back giving her a good scratch. Feed might have helped too. I'll check again when I go home for lunch to feed the others. I have a suspicion that this won't be a long term issue.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Sounds like a case of a FF going... what the heck just popped out of me and what the heck is it doing? Lol sounds like she'll be fine. Hope that's the case!

 

[tortoise]

I love my sheep. They have their lambs, unassisted by me and raise their lambs. I don't have a camera in the sheep barn, I don't go out in the middle of the night to check on labor and delivery, and I don't want to.

Same here! 5 years and I haven't even seen lambs born (not for lack of trying).

The only birth we intervened on was a terminal caesarean. (euthanized ewe, cut and removed lamb). Not a fun day. And the lamb died about 6 months old from parasite load (despite fecals and worming). Not really worth it. :/ That was my ewe who broke the ball off her femur. We were able to keep her incubating her lamb on pain meds for about a month, but that morning she had just given up on life. She was done. Lamb was 3 weeks early.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ahhh - that's a really sad story. Sorry it ended up that way. I have a similar one.

Doe in labor. Nothing happening. No birthing that baby in any shape or form the 'regular' way. I shot her - rolled her over and got the baby out. Had pre-milked colostrum and got the baby a full tummy. I was exhausted and went to bed. My nurse DH put the heat lamp too close to the baby and when I got up the next day her temp was over 105....ARGH. Baby lived for quite awhile. I babied her, bottle fed her, taught her to walk...but she had major brain damage. She was blind and would walk into walls and never stop....she'd be up against a wall and her little feet would still be churning....I had to euthanize her after figuring out she would never get better... Saddest thing ever! And, sometimes it is better to just let them go than prolonging the inevitable...

 

[NH Homesteader]

Ugh awful stories guys! But seriously, it takes some tough folks to farm doesn't it?

Waiting for an update on the baby....

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Back from my mid-day trek home. Sigh... goats! Mama still loves on her baby...better than a lot of mama's in that aspect. But she won't stand still for nursing. Not running away from her or being aggressive - just takes a step away. I checked her udder and it's really tight. She's a Red daughter so she's got abundant milk. I'll move her up to the front barnyard when I get home and milk her out so she's not so uncomfortable.

Really hoping that will do it - if not I'm going to get a harness and hang her up from the rafters with her feet all tied out to four corner posts so she can't kick and certainly not walk away. Then the baby can come nurse whenever she wants to, lol! Okay - only joking. A day late for the April Fools jokes I guess.

Got a call from the dentists office today. It's time for me to go get a cat scan of my mouth so they can make a template of sorts to line up the spot for the implant base. Ugh... Can't I just skip all this mess? Teeth are over-rated, right?

 

[NH Homesteader]

One of my FF's did that last year. She got over it. But then she started trying to murder everyone else's babies so ya know... she got the boot anyway lol. Hope your doe settles down. Being more comfortable might help!

 

[sumi]

I really hope she'll get the hang of this feeding story SOON. You really don't need this hassle now, you have your hands full enough.

Regarding teeth... I find it really unfair that sharks can shed and regrow teeth and we can't