08/01/2024
I'm falling behind again in farm posts! In my defense we have had a crazy month between a wedding, covid, births, and transitioning jobs. It's been a bit nuts.
So let's do a quick summary of July farm happenings shall we?
Early July (right after the wedding) Calamity developed a goiter on her neck from either iodine deficiency or worms. We treated her for both and the goiter disappeared after a few days.
Then about a week and a half later B and I came down with Covid. Gracie (who was due around the 10th) decided this was a great time to drop a huge single doeling in the pasture 6 days late. She was large enough we were sure she had 3 in there... but nope just one big, strong, polled girl. Our neighbors spotted her first. The poor little doeling was panting and all the way dry in the 105 degree heat. Gracie was fairly freaked out as a first timer, but she was doing her best to keep her baby in the shade. Once we were able to catch them both we moved the mother/daughter duo into the stall next to Calamity. Who at the time was still pregnant and recovering from her goiter scenario.
I feel that it is pertinent to say that Calamity was technically due the 10th as well. Either the 10th of July or the 10th of Aug as she had (we thought) cycled back into heat after her first breeding. So when we were 6 days past her first due date we thought we were safe. Ha. Ha.
Calamity decided to live up to her name and shake things up a little. She saw Gracie with her huge bundle of joy, and must have thought to herself, "I could have one of those!" Because around 6 pm Brindon and I were back outside helping her to deliver THREE doelings. When she hardly looked large enough around to have one!
Calamity welcomed the tiniest little girl we've had born on the farm first. At just shy of a pound and a half she was scary small. But she has turned out to be a little spit fire. She was affectionately named Tinkerbell (Tink for short). Tink was rapidly followed by her two slightly larger but still teeny tiny sisters: Ever and Aspen. Now, when I say rapidly followed by, I mean like all three babies were out in under 10 minutes. Calamity, Brindon and I were all struggling trying to help get these girls cleaned off. It was so much... fun.
Then, Tink and her younger sister Ever (baby #2, cou blanc) had some serious issues lifting their heads. Every other bodily function was working fine, but their muscles were too weak to support raising their heads for any length of time.
So, while we recovered from covid, we also nursed Tink and Ever back to health by supplementing bottle feedings, providing daily vitamin E & B supplements and dosing them daily with selenium gel. We didn't want to use BoSe in this instance as the girls were very small, and our BoSe is slightly expired. Which means the selenium to vitamin E concentration is compromised. When that happens you are at a higher risk of over dosing the recipient with selenium. Ergo, we erred on the side of caution.
And that was only the first part of the month!
Now at the end of the month we've had another set of triplets delivered (2B1D) by Shy. Two days early. While we weren't looking. 😒 By the time we got outside one of the bucklings appeared to have been DOA, but the other two kids are doing strong. And these kids are huge! Like almost 4 and a half pounds each huge. Which means we've been treating Shy for some extra swelling to try and make her more comfy from the crazy labor she must have had.
All in all July was crazy, and I'm happy we are headed into a new month. This was a surprisingly doe heavy month for us after having 65/35 split in favor of bucks earlier in our kidding season. We are now closer to a 50/50 split! Hallelujah!
Side note - I never want to kid in July again. 😅 0/10 do not recommend. It's hot. Parasites are a pain. And the babies struggle regulating their temps more. Noooo thanks.
