The Unwound Third > Jam Session
Gardening
Johnm:
Thanks, Harriet! Our second goat, Lulabelle, kidded Saturday night, around 2:15 AM, a little doeling named Nettie Lu. I"m attaching a photo of mother and daughter. NOTE: For some reason the site software rotates the photos. If you rotate your computer 90 degrees clockwise, you can view the photo as it was taken.
All best,
Johnm
harriet:
Thanks for posting Nettle Lu and Mom' picture - I think it displayed correctly on my computer - exciting time for you and Ginny I would imagine.
Johnm:
Yes, exciting and tiring! I'm not used to the all-nighters. But it's wonderful to be around new life. And these baby goats' coordination develops so quickly, it's amazing. Nugget is a week-and-a-half old and he's tearing around the paddock and jumping up and down off the play structures. In a little bit Nettie Lu will be able to join him in the romps. And then the moms can concentrate on eating.
lindy:
1977 or 78 I was working on a project in a small farming community in Eastern Washington. A couple of friends I made owned a sweet little goat ranch, about 20 acres in the foothills of the Cascades.
They came into some inheritance money and decided to treat themselves to a late winter canoe trip in a warm place. They asked me to take care of the property, warning me that three of their goats would likely give birth while they were away. But they said 99 times out of a 100 the goats take care of everything on their own and wouldn’t need my help except to clean up the mess and make sure the mama had access to water laced with some iodine.
This Staten Island born-and-raised 20-something, who never had a pet growing up, had to deal with a 1-percenter, 2 or 3 in the morning, during a howling blizzard, near-zero temperature. Same as Lulabelle, her kid had one or both hind legs bent backwards/sideways, and mama was screaming in pain.
My friends had warned me, “And sometimes you just have to reach in there and pull ‘em out.” What a mess! I had to somehow secure mama so she wouldn’t thrash all over the place.
That’s enough detail — believe it or not, youtube has many vids of goats giving birth if you need a visual aid. Mama survived, kid survived, somehow I kept the contents of my stomach down. Thankfully the other two births didn’t require anything on my part.
A great memory for a city boy.
Lindy
Johnm:
Wow, I don't envy you that experience, Lindy. That was a kind of cavalier thing for your friends to do, leaving you in the lurch like that, with no previous experience. I'm glad it turned out okay, but time sure slows down in those circumstances, doesn't it?
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