A Tough Winter Day

As another winter storm looms on the darkening gray horizon, a gloomy day on Rainbow Gate Farm is almost over.

One of our aged dairy goat does delivered twins this morning, three weeks too early. The twins, both girls, were born dead. They both looked like the goat in the picture. Their sire was a La Mancha - the breed with the tiny gopher ears.

"Grandma", the doe who'd given birth, was lying in a corner of the barn, thrashing and moaning. She is an older goat, about eight years in age. Although the twins were born early, my first suspicion was "Milk Fever."

"Milk Fever" occurs when the pregnant or "fresh" (having just given birth) animal cannot compensate for the large amounts of calcium being demanded by the body to produce the milk. As the blood levels of calcium drop, the animal becomes lethargic and then begins to convulse. If the condition is not treated, death will follow within hours.

Hurrying to the milk house where we keep our animal health drugs, I ran back to her with a bottle of Calcium Carbonate, a needle and syringe.I injected twelve cc's (milliliters) of the calcium underneath her skin and then continued until I reached the maximum dose of fifty cc's.

Within a few minutes, she scrambled to her feet. We offered her warm water and grain. She ate and drank, but she will need further care, to be sure she does not relapse.

It always amazes me to see a goat recover from milk fever. They can be literally dying, and within minutes of receiving the calcium into their body, they are standing up, eating and drinking. It reminds me of how delicate the balance between good health and illness can be.

We will begin milking Grandma in the hope of encouraging her to "come into milk", but she will probably have a shortened lactation time due to her age.We are expecting the other does to begin 'kidding' (delivering their babies) in two to three weeks time.

Our old vet used to say, "If you're gonna have livestock, you're gonna have dead stock." It's a sad fact of farming.Within a few months, our entire farm will be teeming with new life, warm sunshine, and green grass. We will have baby goats, ducklings, chicks, turkey poults, kittens, and foals.

I'll try to keep that in mind as I head back outside through the snow drifts tonight and pray the next time I see baby goats in my barn, they will be standing on wobbly legs next to their mama, trying out their new lungs.