Sometimes, all of my diligence of checking goats frequently pays off. Of course, Haley didn’t do anything the several times I checked her in the night; although, I could tell she was working on it. This morning in pasture, she was talking a lot. When she came back to the barnyard by herself, I shut her in the chicken coop. It wasn’t long before she was having strong contractions and fluids leaking. But that was it.
Haley Blackboer
Sometimes, it just takes longer, but sometimes, they quit pushing when babies aren’t positioned correctly. I checked. I could feel one foot. That was it.
I waited a few minutes to see if my checking had helped move things along. This time, I couldn’t find a foot, but I did feel one unidentifiable body part. How I wish they came with braille labels. Usually, when I can’t even figure out what part it is, that means I need help. I called the vet’s after hours answering service and waited for the return call.
In the meantime, Haley kept moving and checking her back end out and finally a gush of fluid came out. That means a bag broke. I decided to check again. This time, there was enough room for me to feel a tail. That is not good. They are not going to be born tail first. I pushed the kid back forward and followed up the body to find the first back hoof. I gently tried bending it and then extending the hoof back. There is not much room in there to start with, and I’m always afraid I’ll break one of those little legs when I’m trying to do this. I got it. Then I found the second one and got it positioned to the back. Then it was an easy pull. I quickly cleaned off the baby’s face and vigorously rubbed it’s side while I had the head tilted down. Sometimes, pushing them back in like that causes their little lungs to fill back up with fluid. He started breathing.
One
About that time, the phone rang. I told the vet I got the baby finally, and she asked if I still needed her. I told her I thought we’d be okay. She said to call back if I needed to. Then I went immediately to see how Haley was doing with the second kid. This time, I felt a nose! That’s good. However, I also felt three feet. She was still trying to have two kids at the same time. I tried to figure out which feet I needed, and I was starting to regret telling the vet I didn’t need her. Finally, I felt my way up one leg to the head and tried to sort out which other leg I needed. Trust me. If you have legs from two different kids, you are not going to be able to pull one. Luckily, I had the right legs, and baby boy number two was here.
Two
Since I already knew there was a third and the bag was already broke, I went right back in for him. I found two legs, but there was no head. A quick feel left me confident this one was back feet first also. A quick pull, and buckling number three was here!
Three (standing) and One
It was a little dramatic, but Haley and all three bucklings are doing well! I’ll try for some better pictures tomorrow, but they really need that heat lamp today.
If you want, there’s still time to enter Friday’s Hunt. This week’s items are at the top of my side bar.
I’m sharing with SOOC Sunday, and Saturday’s Critter’s.
Teresa
Eden Hills 