DS has three sets of twin lambs so far... the first two sets were identical- one black lamb with a white "snowball" on its face, and one brown lamb. We had to hurry to get eartags on them before the ewes decided to play "trade babies"...
I've never been a goat or sheep fan... I prefer animals with a bit higher intelligence! But I had to learn about them, as it seems no vets have any clue about the species.
Last week, I had a woman stop by to ask if I could try to save a doe in labor. She had called eighteen vets (really!) over 48 hours, and none would come out. She finally decided to see if she coukd find an Amish to help, but they all referred her to me. Sigh...
I agreed to try to help, but warned her thereafter 48 hours, the chances weren't good... the baby(ies) were certainly already dead, and there were no guarantees on the doe.
When I saw her, my heart sank... she was a tiny dwarf breed of some sort, and the morons who owned her (the current owner said she had "rescued" her from the place about a month earlier) had let her be bred to a full sized buck.
Oh, it was ugly... she was in a stall about 3' x 6', and couldn't stand any longer. I had to cram myself in behind her, essentially with her in my lap. And once I got the twins untangled, it was just sheer brute force. I was shocked when I finally got the first one out... it had vpbeen dead for probably a day, but it was *huge* (for a goat kid). And the second one wasn't much smaller. The poor doe couldn't have weighted over 35#... those two kids weighed 9 1/2# and 11#! If you figure amniotic fluid, placenta, etc, she was carrying the equivalent of her normal weight!
I treated her with colloidal silver for infection, and we have her some electrolytes, but when I left, she was on her feet and eating. Goats are tough!
Summerthyme
DS has three sets of twin lambs so far... the first two sets were identical- one black lamb with a white "snowball" on its face, and one brown lamb. We had to hurry to get eartags on them before the ewes decided to play "trade babies"...
I've never been a goat or sheep fan... I prefer animals with a bit higher intelligence! But I had to learn about them, as it seems no vets have any clue about the species.
Last week, I had a woman stop by to ask if I could try to save a doe in labor. She had called eighteen vets (really!) over 48 hours, and none would come out. She finally decided to see if she coukd find an Amish to help, but they all referred her to me. Sigh...
I agreed to try to help, but warned her thereafter 48 hours, the chances weren't good... the baby(ies) were certainly already dead, and there were no guarantees on the doe.
When I saw her, my heart sank... she was a tiny dwarf breed of some sort, and the morons who owned her (the current owner said she had "rescued" her from the place about a month earlier) had let her be bred to a full sized buck.
Oh, it was ugly... she was in a stall about 3' x 6', and couldn't stand any longer. I had to cram myself in behind her, essentially with her in my lap. And once I got the twins untangled, it was just sheer brute force. I was shocked when I finally got the first one out... it had vpbeen dead for probably a day, but it was *huge* (for a goat kid). And the second one wasn't much smaller. The poor doe couldn't have weighted over 35#... those two kids weighed 9 1/2# and 11#! If you figure amniotic fluid, placenta, etc, she was carrying the equivalent of her normal weight!
I treated her with colloidal silver for infection, and we have her some electrolytes, but when I left, she was on her feet and eating. Goats are tough!
Summerthyme
Hahahahaha! My dad still tells me the story from his childhood about one of their goats getting on my grandfather’s new car. The goats were sold soon after that!Almost made me miss having goats, then I remembered the part "until they start tearing the place apart ".
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