Welcome, I am the Farmess.

This is a blog about a grass roots approach to sustainable farming, experiences from everyday lessons learned, experience gained and mistakes made. Life, animals, photography, gardening, adventure  and cooking.There are a of stories along the way of being a farmer, and being a woman who has to work solo when the farmer is away. This is an account of our very blessed story. Thanks for stopping in, make yourself at home and stay awhile....

Not Just Kidding....

Kidding season for us opened with a bang. We decided to move our kidding date to April this year rather than end of May. You can never count on the weather, and this year has taught us that we might have been too ambitious. Some decisions have factors in which you cannot control as a farmer, and they can come with really hard lessons.

April 2016

April 2017

Bella is one of our prettiest Does. She is also one of the most unfriendly goats in our herd. She actually thinks we have claws, fangs and that we stink. Her opinion of us is seriously low.

 Last year was her first year kidding, she surprised us with a lovely set of twins, a doe and buckling.

In her typical fashion, she was completely disgusted with the result. She wanted nothing to do with them. So, in we went to insult her further by helping the kids nurse from her. She got used to this process, as well as being milked and seemed to be accepting it. We gave her a roommate, moving Beau in next to her, who had  a single buckling for her first kid.  Upon the proud moment of "well look at that, these new moms are doing great", we went off to bed pretty happy. By the next morning, Bella outsmarted us. She had sent the kids through the feeder panel to Beau, who was now feeding all three. Humm pretty and smart, this one. We really did try to keep  Bella's twins in her pen and forcing her to nurse. Yet with triplets being born, other kids on the way, as well  as a bottle baby, we gave up and let them nurse from Beau. We would still encourage her to feed them, by holding her a few times a day and milking her. Beau had an excess of milk and was in no way unhappy about the relief of feeding them all. This endeared Bella to them slowly and she began to feed them on her own, and then took to them happily. We were thrilled as she raised lovely kids and so we bred her again, timing her with her friend Beau so they could bunk together again just in case.



 

That brings us to this year, Bella was first to kid. With some worry of course due to her lack of interest last year, I was feeling a bit of trepidation to her skills of mothering. She was a day past her due date to kid out, on a sunny afternoon, with the farmer, myself the cats and dog in attendance. Of course we had a full afternoon of fencing planned, so that was ideal timing on her part. She seemed in great condition and kidded out her first easily, was happy to see him and spoke to him in mother goat the entire time. He was a big strapping fella. Due to her sheer bulk we had a feeling it would be twins. I helped clean his airway and left her to her work of cleaning him up. She then laid with her fella in front of her, to produce a lovely wee doeling, who was born very small and with great yelling protest at the cold ground. We happily watched Bella take care of her too and by now the buckling was on his feet. The farmer went off to the barn to bring some hay and I gave her some water and electrolyte's and all seemed to be well and good. Then she lay down and low and behold, she had another in there. Triplets, have only happened on our farm once before so we were surprised. The third was a doe as well and seemed weak from the labour. She took longer to rise, so with some help from us, she soon was standing. We moved them into a stall for the night and got up to do night checks and they were all seeming to thrive.

By the next afternoon, we realized there was something seriously wrong with the third kid. She was not standing or nursing and was very weak. After doing everything we could through the night, she died while the farmer held her. Also by then the other little doe was in the same weakened  state, not able to stand. We had them in next to the woodstove, and were checking every 15 minutes, attempting to get her to nurse from a syringe and keeping her warm. The little buck was completely fine, strong and nursing, it was not something I could put my finger on, and just did not know what I could do. But after loosing the one, I was ready to try everything I could think of. It could have been a variety of things, but as I lay on the floor next to the woodstove with this tiny creature, I fell asleep, only to wake up to the pitter patter of little hooves on the tile and a very hungry baby goat full of life.

It could be that it was the cold snowy night outside where the temperature dropped too much, even in a stall and they got a chill, or it could have been any number of things. In the end we managed to save one. She was so small and Bella so full of milk, even the little buck got the runs. The little doe has to be weaned from a bottle back to her mother, which equals a severe lack of sleep for us and a lot of patience from the mother doe. Bella, has forgiven our presence, and has even almost started to not mind us so much. I can only hope she understands we are helping, and I think she does. I learned that given a situation where you feel helpless, and scared to do the wrong thing, you feel even more helpless not doing anything. What saved the second doe was the last ditch efforts of warm milk, warm fire, baking soda and pepto bismol with a lot of hope. She is strong today and that is what matters.

As a farmer you know you will experience losses. No matter how many times you tell yourself that the worst is always possible, you are never prepared for the heartbreak that comes. The many good byes of small furry things, that you spend so much of your life invested in. With a heavy heart I buried that little doe next to her Grandmother goat. It was a lesson learned, I will breed later to avoid the early April weather. I will be prepared to always do more and never less. So very much of farming is done on instinct, and your intuition. This was a lesson in listening to that voice. I also will never take for granted the miracle of life as I prepare for Beau to kid any day followed by four more does with four more stories of the birth of their kids.

Farming can break your heart and fill it to bursting all in the same day.