Although it’s not sunny and warm, the temps are still hovering in the low 50s although it has been rainy and cloudy off and on. It puts a damper on spring fever. Especially when one of our doe goats delivered twins outside in the cold rain. She had not shown any signs of kidding prior to that, either. One kid was born dead and the other, a buck, was chilled and weak, unable to nurse or even stand up. I rushed him into the house and put him in a box next to the wood stove. Then I tore back outside and got the mother on the milking stand and quickly milked a quart of colostrum from her.
The buckling wouldn’t suck so I tube fed him about 2 oz. of warm milk. I repeated every two hours until he finally started sucking on the bottle. But last night he was very bad; I didn’t even know if he was alive but I still tube fed him, finding he was breathing but very, very lethargic. I didn’t expect him to last till morning.
He did. And this morning he not only took the bottle but actually sucked vigorously. Now he’s acting like he just might live, after all. We hope.
Will’s been peeling the long, black ash poles he cut in our woods for the front porch railings. There are three sections needing railings so he cut plenty so we’d be sure to have enough. Luckily, being green, they peel very easily. Now he’s finished and they are stacked with the other logs by the sawmill, drying. Hopefully, we can get the railings sanded, stained, and assembled soon.
I got my morning glories planted this morning after soaking the seeds all night in cups of warm water. That helps them get germinating faster as the seeds have a thick shell. I can’t wait to see them bloom. — Jackie
Lois and Rick,
We call him “Rocks” mostly because he’s as dumb as a box of rocks. But I do like the “Sir”. Maybe he’ll get re-named as he picks up in smarts.
zelda,
After planting morning glory seeds for over 65 years (they were my very first saved seeds!), I’ve found that soaking them in very warm water gives me a much better germination than nicking or sanding them does. And it’s also less work. But with many things, what works for one person, might not be the best for another. These morning glories had seeds as large as corn kernels and the seed coating was tough! Now they’re just about all up and growing like mad. Sort of like Jack and the Bean Stalk……
Thanks for sharing photo of your new buckling. We loved having goats. One year our Sally had triplets. They were a hoot. They would gang up on our billy and he would get furious. One time all three jumped between a split trunk tree in their pen and he attempted to follow. Of course he got stuck and bellowed his head off until I backed him out. As soon as he was free the three little monsters terrorized him again. I worried that he would hurt them until I saw how they ganged up on him. He was in more danger than they were.
Miss Jackie, I like Lois suggestion of naming him Survivor but we would probably call him Sir, as in would you like your bottle warmed, Sir?
I love morning glories but they never amount to much for me…. Rick
I am so sorry you lost one of the babies, it is totally heartbreaking to lose any young animal before its time. I am so glad one of they made it though, it sounds like he is going to be one tough little character if he made it through all of that. :) What did you name him? Maybe you should name him Si for Survivor :)
Morning glories have a really really hard seed coat that doesn’t easily absorb water so sometimes soaking isn’t enough or doesn’t work. It sounds silly, but you might get better and quicker germination if you sand the seeds lightly with coarse sandpaper or a small metal file. An emery board used to smooth fingernails might also work. One to several spot s should be enough but I’ve done entire seeds very lightly. Stop when you see the inner lighter seed. Plant immediately.
So sorry you lost a baby.
I started to get misty-eyed about the new goat and I was so glad to read about the happy ending. New life signifies the arrival of Spring.
Comments are closed.