Confetti! You Expect it with a Surprise!

Sunday, we were walking around the farm with my mom and dad, who were over for a visit.  I happened to look over at our younger doe and OMGosh!  She had developed a milk bag!  I didn't even know she was pregnant.  So, it was like, dang....she's going to have a baby.
Monday, the kids were out playing and they came running in the house yelling, "Mom!  Raven had a baby!"  What?!?!  Wow.  Ok.  Grab the camera and let's go have a look-see....
When we got up to the fence, I noticed the baby lying off to the side and the mom at a distance.  The baby was sneezing, coughing, etc and mom was looking at it like it was a foreign object.  I was so distracted by this behavior that I LAID THE CAMERA DOWN.  yeah...I was *that* distracted.  Any time I've been around our goats giving birth, they are all over the baby....licking it, messing with it, whatever.  Not this poor little momma.  She looked as perplexed as a goat can get.  So, I got a towel and started drying the baby off and cleaning the goop off it's nose and mouth.

I took it and laid it near the mom who shied away from me even as I did it...  Hmmmm.... not working. So, after reading a website that suggested this, I put some of the goop on the baby's nose and put it near the mom.....because apparently that will make her smell the goop, lick it off, and bond with the baby.  Nothing.  Eventually, the baby slung it off.  Hmmmmm...  What to do, what to do??  The kids and I continued to try and place the baby near the mom.  Every time, she would maybe take a quick peek at it... and walk away.

I knew the baby needed something to eat..heck, it had been almost an hour....  so, I was thinking we could catch the mom and put her on the milk stand and get some colostrum.  Dang.  Have you ever tried to catch a goat that isn't the most friendly little thing, to start with?  I feel bad saying that.  She's a good little goat...she's just shy....and skittish...and I really don't think she enjoys being petted.  But anyway, so, we were going to catch her so I could get some colostrum for the baby.  The boys and I must have cornered her fifty times..and she managed to slip away EVERY daggum time.  And I seriously felt bad about it...  I mean, she JUST had a baby and here we are chasing her...  terrorizing her... but, the baby needed colostrum, so we persevered.  It was insane....  the milk goat decided she wanted in on the corralling, or maybe she was just jealous that the new momma was getting all the attention so she started trying to butt her while we were trying to catch her... which didn't help all that much.  Actually, it didn't help at all.  Especially when I finally got the leash on her neck and Annie (milk goat) was still trying to butt her which ticked me off...I mean, c'mon...she JUST gave birth....easy!! Plus, they were catching me inbetween...I have a goat allergy, for crying out loud!!  Which means, everywhere the goats were coming into contact with my skin, I was breaking out in hives...and my chest was getting slightly tight...  so, Sarah says, "somebody run to the house and get the epi pen!"....I just knew at any moment, one of my kids was going to go ramming that thing into my thigh....funny stuff....

We got her on the milk stand and I was able to milk a bowl full of colostrum ...which lasted until Tuesday morning....which made me feel much better about the health of the baby.  I read that the first day, they need to be fed every four hours...  I didn't have a bottle or anything handy....  so, I used a medicine dropper to feed the baby....

 Monday night, I got up and fed her every four hours...  (I guess night time feedings are never really over....heck, sometimes I find myself getting up at 2 am and 4 am and 6 am with the munchies... :) )  So, anyway, Tuesday, I ran out of the colostrum I had milked from the mom on Monday....and the kids had dentist appointments  before lunch.  I wanted the baby to have one more good dose of the antibodies so I got the kids (my two legged ones) and headed out to the goat pen.  Now, the goat may be shy, but she's not forgetful.  She saw me approaching with the lease and had flashbacks of the day before...and she was a little more steady on her feet..can't say the same for myself.  :)  It took quite a while, a couple (human) injuries, and some very unsavory thoughts, but we finally managed to get the little momma up on the milk stand.  I hooked baby up to her - hoping to get some bonding going on...to no avail.  I then tried putting them both in the pen together..  there is an open doorway for them, so I thought I'd nail some tin across it...just to confine them with each other and maybe make her reflect and accept the baby... sooo, I found a piece of tin and started nailing...SINCE I was in a hurry...and SINCE Sarah kept saying, "Mom....it's 10:00 ...Mom....it's 10:05 ...Mom...it's 10:10"... and SINCE I'm not all that great at hammering nails...  I decided to just nail down three corners and get a move on...   and all that work was totally worth it!  Not 5 minutes later, momma goat got fed up pacing, showing no interest in baby, and found her way past my tin door....through the end without a nail, of course.  Sheesh...  so, I pulled the nails back out... (ok...I'm lying, I couldn't work that end of the hammer... I ended up just hammering them over in a bent position so the goats wouldn't get hurt on them)  and putting the baby in the barn.  And I went to the dentist smelling like goat and broke out in hives.  And we were late. Which isn't unusual for me.  But we were later than usual.  And I was going to explain it to the nice little manicured girl behind the window..."I apologize for our lateness ...we had a baby goat the mom rejected and had to catch her..and...."...but, I took another look at her and decided, eh, nevermind...
So, now, day three, the baby...we named her Confetti....she's black with white splotches all over...like...well, confetti...  :)  anyway...she's doing great!  She follows us around like a little puppy..wagging her tail...  we are all in love...  :)  Oh, and I'm feeding her some of what I milk from my milk goat every day...