Well, it turns out that EVERYBODY is pregnant. Apparently, Super-goat Louis was able to corner Shadow where us lesser mortals have failed. However, that means Farmgirl MUST catch her sometime in the next two weeks so she can wormed and vaccinated. Anyone know where Goat Roping classes are offered?
Babies are 5 weeks away, which is a little scary, because Tiny and Bailey look way farther along than that. It's already to the point that when Farmgirl brings fresh hay, they look at her and groan, "Oh man, you mean I have to get up?? Can't you just bring it over here and put it on the ground in front me?" Usually, fresh hay and grain delivery are stampede-worthy events.
Farmgirl is very nervous about this year's deliveries. Last year was her first year to go through that, and she felt SO blessed and thankful that everybody came out feet and head first, just like they were supposed to. Tiny and Socks were even nice enough to have babies in the middle of a very nice day. Books and You-tube videos are great, but there is no substitute for real-life training. Farmgirl is nervous that perhaps they've decided that this time, she needs real-life lessons in problem deliveries. It's already been a hard year of health problems for 4 of the 5 girls, with lots of vet visits and anti-biotics. In fact, Socks has renamed Farmgirl. She is now known as "the B----- with the needle." Socks has gotten more shots than everyone else put together, and now she is almost as hard to catch as Shadow.
Everyone is hoping and praying that we do not have the progressive and fatal CAE (Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis - kind of like dairy goat AIDS) on the farm. Socks has very swollen knees, and has been limping for a week. That leaves Farmgirl with basically two possibilities: mycoplasma or CAE. On the off-chance that it's mycoplasma, Socks is getting hard-core anti-biotics until the results of the blood test come in. Farmgirl knew this might be a risk...she bought her first girls from the goat equivalent of a puppy mill, back before she knew anything about goats and what to look for. She thought about testing for CAE last year, but didn't feel comfortable drawing blood at that point. If those tests come back positive, then Farmgirl will have to be very vigilant about delivery so she can take babies away as soon as they come out. Ugh...bottle feeding was not in the plans this year. If Socks has it, it's a safe bet that everybody has it, since the original three are sisters. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
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