Just got back from Albuquerque last night, and stayed at my boss' place north of the dairy. It's been a long week, so I'm halfway sorry for not having written lately...but not really.
So we're up to 85, at last count. The hired lady says we're over 90, but I'm not sure about that, though after the umpteenth bottle during morning feeding, I thought it quite possible that they secretly clone themselves in the back pens while our backs are turned... We were up to 87, but two were smothered in a tragic cuddle puddle yesterday afternoon. One of them was one of my three "Chihuahuas" who look like this:
They're all super tiny...like tea cup chihuahuas...And one little doe got caught on the bottom. I've been paranoid about that, so whenever they start huddling up I go around poking and making sure all hind ends have a corresponding (and responsive) front end. It's easy to see how it happens - the bigger and more assertive ones will crawl right on top of the kids laying on the ground and just hang out on a bed of their siblings and cousins...as if the ground is too cold and hard for them - they need warm fuzzy flesh to rest upon. As someone who very much enjoys being surrounded by soft, warm-fuzzy things, I can see how the top spot would be coziest...but the lack of empathy is disappointing, and in this case, fatal. I also found it disturbing that the people working last night left the two dead babies in the barn in the corner...which meant all the mama goats went right by them as they came in. I wonder if the mamas noticed. :(
Cuddle Puddle pics:
I should have counted them and then had a contest - like guessing the # of M&Ms in a jar - how many baby goats are in this cuddle puddle? :P
We had a rough birth on Thursday morning when Mike was about to leave for Albuquerque to prepare for the Fiery Food Show. He had to give the doe oxytocin again because she wasn't contracting, and had to reach in - the first to come out was already dead and the two others popped out ridiculously fast. The mama kept licking the dead one, and I half-heartedly wiped it with a towel, hoping and hoping that its little white tongue hanging out the side of its mouth was just some strange defect and that with enough rubbing and warmth it would perk up. It was definitely dead...so I gave the mama a live one to care for and wrapped it up in a towel for Mike to take with him when he left...and I continued with the feeding. I did it by myself that morning and for the 84 we had at the time it took me about 5 hrs to feed them all - 6 total, but I was interrupted by two births. My nighttime hallucinations are out of control. Mike had a pile of clothes in the corner of the guest room I stayed in last night, and while I was half-awake-half-asleep I anxiously dismantled it thinking baby kids were getting smothered on the bottom. :( At the hotel I found the open seam of the duvet cover thinking one had crawled in between the duvet and the comforter and was stuck and having trouble breathing. This is up there with thinking my two crumpled socks on the carpet was a decapitated kid. I'm thinking of asking Ed to write me a prescription for some sort of sedative. Recommendations?
The days are going by crazy fast...so many births... I feel like I spend pretty much all my time feeding babies. I'm up to help with chores at 5:50, start feeding the babies by 6:30, finish by 10:30, clean up and work in the cheese room for a few hours, nap for an hour, then back to feeding at 4:30/5 until 9 or 9:30, 10 if I'm feeding by myself...get everything washed up, eat, go to bed at 10:30...up at midnight to do nighttime check, feed any newborns and mark any new moms, back to bed by 1:30...up again at 5:50. If I had to do this all year, I think I would probably have died a week ago. Totally wiped. But the biggest spike is over, and we're going to chill out on the night checks in the next couple weeks since births have slowed down...
I'm trying to come up with some ways to have more feeding at the same time, so I've started wiring 2 liters to the fence...and just let them fight over it while hoping not all of it spills out of the nipple... Hm. I found an old fence panel this afternoon that I'm going to try to bend and attach a bunch of bottles to... We'll see...
And me with the surviving Chihuahua... <3 She's trying to milk my earlobe. Good luck, kitten.
Random silly pics of the yearlings, whom I have unfortunately been neglecting lately... :( They've gotten biiiiig...and some are pregnant.
The food show was cool. I'm not really into BBQ or super spicey salsas, but it was fun to see so many wacky people decked out in chile paraphenalia. These New Mexicans are way into their chiles. :P
Two full weeks of work, plus a day or two with my friend here...then I'm gone! Unbelieveable.
Miss you all.
<3 Julia.
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