Tuesday, March 31, 2015

There's Somethin' in the Water This Time of the Year!

Well, we have been a little busy lately here at Blue Mountain Farms!  First, I would to report on the kids.  Daphne, Scooby, and Shaggy are all doing very well!  Their daily routine is the following: eating like crazy, bouncing around, and sleeping.  Meanwhile, I have been putting Peek-A-Boo in a sling every day three times a day.  It isn't an easy task, but it needs to be done.  She has shown so much improvement that it is hard to believe!  She is trying harder everyday and I am really hoping that she can stand on her own soon.  Our veterinarian, Cindy, was even impressed when she saw Peek almost stand.  It was pretty interesting that Peek wanted to get up mainly because she is not a fan of the vet!  Quite surprising since Peek-A-Boo loves almost everyone.

On March 18th, Flo, Ashley's sheep, was contracting!  She was not acting like herself since that morning and now, she was having her lamb or lambs.  She pushed about two times, then hooves, and finally, a ram lamb!  Right away she was licking and cleaning off her little lamb.  A few minutes later, she started pawing at the ground.  "Was there another one?"  we all thought, but my mom was thinking this from the start.  We all thought that Flo was done after the first lamb, so we didn't believe mom until Flo started pushing again.  Like always, mom was right.  Another ram lamb!  Flo is such a wonderful mother!  She has, now, two happy, healthy ram lambs.  

Since Flo had her lambs, we knew that it wasn't going to be too long before everyone else had their lambs.  So we had a hourly barn check.  Every time we would go out to the barn, we would have to check Flo and her lambs, Pam (Flo's sister), Oats (another one of Ashley's sheep), Harley (yet another ewe of Ashley's), Willow (one of my Angora goats), and finally Borealis (another Angora goat).  The days just kept on passing by until finally, on March 29, yesterday, Pam went into labor.  I went out to the barn to check on everybody and give the kids their bottle.  I looked in Pam's pen, and there she was, pushing!  I ran to the back door to call for mom and ran back out.  She pushed and pushed and then mom said, "She needs help.  She is having trouble."  My dad went in to hold her and mom tried to pull the lamb.  I ran into the house to have Tyler come out to the barn, but, by the time we arrived, the lamb was out, another ram.  To our surprise, it was all black!  This was new and quite shocking since both parents are white!  Genetics are a curious thing.  

After about twenty minutes, Pam had the lamb all cleaned up and he was already trying to stand up, but Pam started pawing again.  We did not expect her to have twins!  A few pushes later, a new born ram.  Oy vey, another ram.  How many rams are the sheep going to have?  There were still two more sheep to go, and hopefully one of them has at least one ewe.  Unfortunately for the second ram lamb, Pam had no intention of cleaning him off.  She wanted nothing to do with him in fact.  This meant that she was rejecting him!  We can never really understand why a mother does this, but sometimes it happens.  Needless to say, he spent the night in a crate in Ashley's room, but all he did was cry.  He cried all night long and let's just say that in the morning, the crate went outside to the barn.  No worries, he is getting plenty of attention and bottles.

This morning seemed normal, so I didn't think that there would be any lambs or kids today, but around lunch time, when only Ashley and I were home, Oats started crying, a lot.  I ran out and watched her for a little while until she began contracting.  Immediately I ran to call Ashley, working in the mill, and raced back to Oats.  Ashley came down and we waited and waited.  She was pushing but nothing was happening!  We waited for about seven minutes, then we saw hooves!  We knew that she had to have this lamb soon or else it was going to die.  The only thing was that no one else was home!  It was just Ashley and me.  We knew that she was going to need help, but finally, after what seemed an eternity, mom pulled into the driveway and I alerted her about Oats.  She didn't hesitate to run to the action packed stall.  After Oats pushed about two more times, we knew she needed help.  My mom and Ashley went in and Ashley tried to pull the lamb.  Mom held Oats and calmed her down.  In less than a minute, one ram lamb was welcomed to Blue Mountain Farms!   He is strong, healthy, and Oats loves him!  Hmmm - Ashley currently has a perfect record of ram lambs with only one more ewe, Harley, left to go.  

Now it is Willow's, Borealis's, and Harley's turn.  I hope they have no trouble and they are all healthy. 
Peek-A-Boo this morning.

Peek in the sling this morning.  She loves when I give her snacks! 

Pam's lamb.  Isn't he cute? 

Pam's other lamb, Suess.  He is the poor lamb that Pam rejected, but he is happy with his bottles, attention, and crate!

Willow and Elle are pretty funny goats, don't you think? 

Secret is enjoying the Spring like weather! 

Ashley having some fun with the kids

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

I'm not Kidding Ewe!

Hello everyone.  This was a very interesting weekend.  First, I have to start with what I was doing.  I am a part of the 4-H Exchange club, and what we do is do an exchange with another group of wonderful 4-Hers in a different state.  So, this year we are exchanging with a group of kids in Montana!  Obviously, we will need some money for that, so we had a fundraiser this past weekend.  We were actually able to help at a dog show for our fundraiser!   We always help with ring crew, setup, and tear down.  It's easy to say that this is my favorite fundraiser that I help with.  I love to watch the dogs run their course and have a great time doing it!  I was there on Friday and again on Sunday.  My mom, Papa, and I went on Friday and on Sunday, Tyler and I went.  

For the past few weeks, my mom and I have been keeping a close eye on my goat Peek-A-Boo.  She was due to have her kids and we knew that she was going to go soon, until last week she went down.  She laid down and couldn't stand back up again.  This was terrifying considering that there was a chance that the kids would have to be pulled.  Right away our vet received an email from us that Peek wasn't doing well.  She replied within minutes and told me about a few shots that I should give her.  I also gave her CMPK drench for some energy and strength.  She still wasn't standing so I just kept an eye on her and kept contact with the vet just in case.  Within a few days, Peek still was down.  We asked Cindy, our vet, what we should do.  She said that we should induce her labor with 5 ML of Dexamethasone.  We waited 24-36 hours, but the medication didn't take.  Cindy told me to give her 10 ML.  I, of course, did what she said, and then the clock started, again.  

I was hesitant to go to the dog show, but I went.  On Sunday, I was in the ring at the dog show when Tyler came up behind me and said, "Hey, Peek-A-Boo had her kids."  A million questions rushed through my head at that second: Is she okay? How many? Boys? Girls? Are they okay?  I also thought, "Did mom have to pull them?"   This thought scared me because I knew how hard it was for Cocoa deliver Bubba and she was strong, but Peek-a-Boo was weak.  As far as Tyler knew, she had triplets, two boys and one girl.  He also knew that they were not positioned correctly. 

I waited, for what felt like forever, until the class of dogs was finished so I could share the news.  I was very excited to come home to see the three kids!  The one thing that I was not looking forward to was seeing Peek as weak as I could imagine her being.  

After the next few hours, it was time to go home.  Once we made it home, I met three beautiful goat kids.  One buck weighed ten pounds, the other buck weighed eight pounds 7 ounces, and the little girl, who is just a peanut, weighed five pounds 4 ounces.  The sight of them made me happy, but in that same stall was Peek-A-Boo with her glazed-over eyes.  She was still laying down.  She had been through a lot that day and there was more to come.  We have been trying to rotate her from one side and back to the other, but she always rolled back onto one side.  By doing this, she made her right hind leg useless.  We had to get some blood-flow to that leg, so we put her in a sling.  As carefully as we could, we rubbed her back leg to make it less numb.  

Another thing that we had to stay on the clock with was feeding the kids.  They needed the colostrum in their system before they became weak as well; since Peek wasn't going to be able to nurse them on her own.  One of the bucks was curling his back legs and he couldn't walk.  I had to put splints on him to make them straight which seemed to help him walk a little bit better.   

Thank Goodness that my mom is a trooper because she took the 1:00 am shift to feed the kids.  I also made sure that Peek was eating and drinking.  The kids were a little weak the first day, but by today, they are bouncing around and drinking, a lot!  (we had a surplus of frozen goat milk which is now being used for the kids) We are all working together to get Peek-A-Boo up and moving, but she isn't up yet.  She is showing some improvement though!  We have started putting her up in a sling for a few minutes three times a day.  Today she put some weight on her back legs and tried walking on them!  I am so glad that I have all of the chances and opportunities that I have!  

Me with Daphne

Well, I think Maddy has a favorite. 

The one the purple is Daphne, the little girl, and the boy in the green is Shaggy! 


Daphne just chillin'

Bubba is enjoying the warm weather


He loves to pose for the camera

Shaggy is getting used to these legs of his 

Maddy, my friend, and I have decided to make it a project on clicker training the three kids!  I am so excited to get started!  

Monday, March 9, 2015

We Aren't Kidding Ewe...

Hello everyone.  It is feeling like spring, finally, but, when comes spring, comes kidding, lambing, and calving season.  This past weekend was very busy and interesting.  Where do I start? Well, Friday evening, my mom went out to the barn for the annual every hour on the hour barn check.  To our surprise, Rosalind, Tyler's cow, was in labor!  In the amount of time that it took for my mom to run to the house, call me down, and run back to the barn, Rosalind had already delivered a beautiful, happy, healthy bull calf. The really good news is Rosalind is a wonderful mother and protects her little guy all of the time.  

Now, when Saturday rolled around, one of my friends, Abby, was here and she was excited to hear that there may be some kids in the barn later that day!  We checked on Peek-A-Boo and she wasn't getting up.  You know something isn't good when the hair on the back of your neck stands and a shiver runs down your spine.  My first thoughts were, is she okay? Is she in labor? Will she be able to stand soon? Is she going to eat her grain? What should I do? Right away, I let my mom know and she contacted the vet.  I did feed Peek and she ate all of her grain as if nothing was wrong.  During all of this, the animals still needed to be fed, so Abby, Tyler, Ashley, and I had to continue what we were doing and feed the rest of the animals.  Around lunch time, we checked on the animals again.  Peek still wasn't standing, but she was looking a little bit better.  We made sure that she drank some water and we even gave her some CMPK drench, a calcium supplement, and Nutra-Drench to give her some energy.  She did try to get up, but instead just rolled on to her other side.  We then checked on Cocoa, I didn't expect to see much, and she was laying enjoying herself.  After that, I came in the house and we all had lunch.  

My other friend, Maddy, was on her way to come and visit for a while too.  So, after lunch, Maddy arrived and we checked on everyone once more.  We peeked on Cocoa and she looked fine from what I thought, but within fifteen minutes, my mom called us back out to the barn!  I could hear the excitement in her voice.  I knew that one of the goats was in labor!  We all thought that the attention was on Peek until we saw Cocoa pushing!  I couldn't believe my eyes when I finally saw what looked like the hooves of a baby goat, but, it wasn't the hooves.  I felt that hit to the stomach when you know the kid isn't positioned correctly and you have little time to save it and its mother.  My mom and I rushed in and were scared to see a ear and the side of a jaw.  This wasn't going to be easy!  My mom looked a little pressured when I saw that she had a crowd around her.  Abby, Maddy, Maddy's mom and dad, Bri and Olivia (Maddy's sisters), and my dad.  My mom tried and tried to find the hooves when, finally, she found them!  Cocoa pushed and my mom pulled.  The worry on everybody's faces when my mom said, "I can't do it! I can't find the nose"  Right away, I tried to find the nose.  My mom took a deep breath and tried again and finally was able to pull out an adorable buck kid! All I heard was a big sigh from everyone as a cry came from the newborn kid.  

Today during feeding, I saw the kid, named Bubba, hopping all around the stall!  I am so glad that Cocoa is a wonderful mom to this kid and thank you for reading this blog.


He looks like he is smiling!

Coco and Bubba!

He has his little sweater!