Like cows, goats are bred for either milk or meat. I want to have milk goats. Correction. I want to have goat's milk. And goat cheese. Especially goat cheese. In June of 2014 I purchased a doe kid with the intention of having her bred so I can milk her. Scar the Goat is is a sweet little mix of kiko and nubian, so she's a meat/milk cross.
This fall I took her to a friend's farm to hang out with her boyfriend for a couple weeks. I didn't have her vet tested, and wasn't sure whether she was pregnant. We found out that she was when she miscarried earlier this week. A goat's pregnancy is 5 months, so she was mid term. It was quite sad.
We took care of Scar as best we could. I donned medical gloves and pulled the afterbirth and felt inside of her to see whether there was a twin that needed to be pulled. I couldn't tell.
We provided her with water, fresh bedding, and a heat lamp. We gave her vitamin shots and a special feed called Calf Manna. We put Apple Cider Vinegar in her water. Then we watched and waited. And we discussed our options.
Our farm animals are livestock, not pets. The cost of having a vet treat her would easily have cost more than twice what it cost to purchase her. Since Chris has left his city job and moved here full time our budget is extremely tight. We had to decide how much we would be willing to pay to save her life if infection set in or if indeed there was another baby inside her.
Farmers make really hard decisions like this on a daily basis.
I recently was part of a conversation with a farmer who had spent hundreds on a weak calf trying to restore it's health. He said, "I finally decided I couldn't spend anymore and the calf would have to either make it or not."
In both his case, and ours, there were happy endings; his calf lived, and Scar seems to be doing well. I'm still keeping a close eye on her.
Her buddy Timon is also sticking close.
But now I have some more decisions to make. Will I have her bred again? What are the risks of a second miscarriage? Do I need to make any changes to her environment or care? She won't be ready to breed again until fall, so I have some time to research and make a plan, but I certainly don't want to do anything to risk the health of one of our animals.
The loss of an animal is just one example of the types of hardships homesteaders and farmers face every day. Another friend of ours came home to a dead sow with eighteen dead piglets inside her. Not only does this take an emotional toll, especially after one has done his best to care for an animal, it affects the finances of the family as well. Those piglets would have grown up to provide food for his family, and the rest would have been sold and provided income. I don't think I fully understood how hard that would be when I decided to leave city life and be a farmer. We read and watch videos and attend workshops and ask mentors, but there are still times unexpected realities happen.
At Plan Bee Orchard and Farm we aspire to lead a more organic life with close ties to our food and land while providing quality produce and products for our consumers.
Being a small farm and keeping such "close ties" means we feel the pain of loss when we lose an animal, but it also means we celebrate all the more when an animal is saved.
Last year my mom had a calf that "was down". This means the animal is so sick that it can no longer stand. Often times it's impossible to bring an animal back to health after it's down. I had been busy working on our house build and mom was busy caring for my dad, and neither of us realized the calf was malnourished. I worked with the calf every day. I rubbed his muscles. I fed him a special diet. I got car straps under him so we could lift him and make him walk and exercise.
And to end on a happy note, here is his story:
