Lancelot Acres

My first milking experience (Easter Sunday 2005) (sad story)

Well, I'm not sure how to start this story.

DH and I acquired two nubian goats in August of 2004.  We didn't breed them that year, as they weren't very big yet, when breeding time came.

DH started purchasing goats at an auction in fall 2004/winter 2005).  Mostly Boer goats, as he was/is interested in selling the offspring. 

Well, I attend these auctions with him occasionally, and I am a complete sucker for sweet animals.

We had the two nubians already, and I really liked them.  So, at one of these Saturday morning auctions, DH and I bought a nice BRED registered Nubian Dairy goat.  She has a long complicated name that we shortened to Rosie. 

Rosie was due in April, we bought her in February (2005).  So we knew we would be milking, but we had a few months to acquire the needed supplies and read all we could on the process.  We planned to bottle feed the kids and milk twice a day.

Ok, so we ordered from Hoegger, and got all of our supplies.

In March (2005) we attended another auction.  Well, being the sucker that I am, I fell in love with a Nubian doe that was there.  She was so SO sweet.  She came into the ring and I just kept bidding.  That guy over there was NOT going to outbid me!  DH kept saying not to bid any higher, but I did anyway.  I had my grocery money with me and I just gave that to DH to add to the money he had on hand to pay for her.  Yes, I won.  $180.  I was happy.  DH was not so sure.

I named her Sweet Pea, and she was the sweetest thing you've ever seen.  She was also sick.  We found out when we got home and noticed her runny nose.  DH gave her a dose of goat serum to boost her immune system, but she continually got worse.  It went into pneumonia.  We don't have a local vet, and the one vet that we drove 45 minutes to see one time previously, knew less about goats than we did.

So we treated her with meds advised to us by Hoegger.  Her pneumonia grew worse, went into pink eye.  A week and a half after we bought her, she was completely blind in both eyes.  She was still so sweet.  So sick and so sweet.  I spent a lot of time out with her, talking to her and petting her.  She was very calm for not being able to see.  She adjusted to her new home very well, and seemed fairly comfortable.  Her pneumonia started ease up, but the blindness was still there.

Easter Sunday:  Two weeks after we bought Sweet Pea, DH was outside adding onto her stall before our holiday festivities were to start.  Well, he comes into the house and says for me to bring towels that something is wrong with Sweet Pea.  I asked what happened, and he said he didn't know...that water and stuff had just come out of her bottom.

Now keep in mind we have never had a birth on our property, or even seen one for that matter.  We didn't know Sweet Pea was pregnant, though I had mentioned to DH a few days previous that I thought she was getting round and her bag seemed to be fuller.

So I head out with towels, and when I do out there, there is a doeling on the hay.  Sweet Pea was cleaning her off.  The doeling wasn't moving.  Barely breathing.  We knew we had to tube feed, the doeling could barely breath, much less eat/suck.

Luckily we had bought the feeding tube when we purchased our milk supplies from Hoegger.  So we brought the doeling inside to keep her warm.  DH tells me I have to go milk Sweet Pea..Doeling needs colostrum. 

To say that I wasn't sure what to do, would be putting it mildly.

Sweet Pea was still blind, so instead of putting her on the newly built milk stand, I just sat down on the ground beside her and milked that way.  She was so calm, and it didn't take long to milk a few ounces from her.  It was messy, and I think I dribbled most of it out, but we did get a couple ounces in a container for the doeling.

So I came inside and DH and I tube fed the little doeling.  She was so beautiful.  The tube feeding went well and we wrapped her in warm blankets to keep warm while we cancelled our plans for the day.  We tube fed every few hours (per the instructions).  The doeling seemed to be doing well.  She died overnight though.  I cried and cried.  I thought she was doing better :(

Sweet Pea was heart-broken over her baby.  I was so sad for her.  I milked her every 4 hours the first the two days, then every 6, then 8, then twice a day straight through until Thanksgiving 2005.

The first few days the milk got everywhere but where I wanted it.  It would drip down my arms, spray in all directions, spray a nice stream in the opposite direction of where I wanted it.  It was horrible.  By day 3 I was a pro.  Or that's what I told myself when I finally finished milking and both of my wrists were dry!  LOL.

Sweet Pea began healing.  Her blindness started healing, and she was playful again.  She LOVED milking time, and so did I.  I would just milk her by sitting down beside her on an upside down feed bowl. 

Once her blindness healed, we started milking on the stand.  I would occasionally milk on the ground, even then.  It would just depend on my mood.

In mid April, Rosie (remember her?) gave birth to 2 kids.  My one day of sleeping-in each week...Sundays...DH would do the morning milking on Sundays for me, so I could sleep in (we milk at 5AM and 5PM).  Anyway, he comes into the bedroom(5:15AM) and says there are a couple new members of the family I might want to meet.  One doeling, one buckling.  So SO cute.  Rosie was doing fine.  Both kids were up and trying to eat, but she wanted NOTHING to do with them.  So I milked out her colostrum and we bottle fed the littles.  I was hooked.  They were so sweet.  I named them Dala and Vader (Amidala and Darth Vader, from Star Wars).  They grew up and are the nicest things!  Vader is gone now (new home), but Dala is still my baby, and I think she always will be.

Once Dala was weaned, she, Rosie, and Sweet Pea shared a stall together.  Rosie wasn't so sweet.  Not bad, just vocal and not so friendly.  She didn't have enough milk for her kids, so Sweet Pea's milk went to the littles everyday.

A month after Dala and Vader were weaned (and we were finally drinking our goat's milk)...one of DH's Boer goats gave birth.  We weren't expecting her to drop so soon.  I came home from a morning errand and found a kid laying in the mud.  I went in for towels, came back to a second kid standing and crying.  I called DH (he was at work), and DD and I went to work with the first kid...rubbing and helping him stand.  The mom wanted nothing to do with them (do you see a trend here?).  She kicked and cried and wanted them no where near her.  DH asked if I'd try to milk out her colostrum, but I couldn't get any from her.  None.  I guess she was dry?  I'm not really sure.  So they didn't get any colostrum at all.  I fed them Sweet Pea and Rosie's milk.  They were so sweet.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE kids.  They are so sweet.

So I fed them every 4 hours, then every 6, then 8, then twice a day following my milking.  So there went our milk again.  We milked from Easter until Thanksgiving, and drank the milk for about 2 months total of that time.  The rest of the time it went to kids.  If there was a cup or less left after feeding them, I gave it to the kittens.  It just didn't seem worth it to pasteurize that small amount.

Rosie dried herself up in October 2005...Sweet Pea was much more persisitant.  I dried her up at Thanksgiving last year.  I was sad...I was overwhelmed with the milking twice a day, but I missed our quiet time together.

I still spent a lot of time out with Sweet Pea and Dala.  They were my favorites by far.

In December 2005, I noticed a lump on Sweet Pea's neck.  It was CL.  No cure.  I was, and still am, devastated.  I had to separate she and Dala, so Dala wouldn't get it.  She still might have it, they lived in such close quarters for a long time.

DH put Sweet Pea down (quickly and quietly) in January.  I am still very saddened by the whole deal.  I am not even looking forward to milking this year.  It won't be the same without my Sweet Pea.

**I feel we did several things wrong here, and I hope to be of help to somebody out there. 

Try not to buy your animals from a livestock auction.  That may be your only choice, but you honestly do not know what you are getting when you do that.  I am devastated about my Sweet Pea.  I know now that the people selling her probably knew that she was sick and they were probably just cutting their losses.

**I think if we had left the littles with Rosie a little longer, she might would have adjusted to them and let them feed.  I am not so sure with the Boer, I think she would have killed the kids.  She was very agressive toward them.  She has since gone to a new home.

Live and learn I guess.

WOW!

{ 04:04, 2006-Feb-16 } { Posted by spinninggrandma }

And you still are milking? Sorry about Sweet Pea .. how is Dala doing? Quite a story, there!! And lessons to be learned.