We decided many years ago to make animals a part of our homestead. We wanted to begin raising all of our own meat for many different reasons. Eventually, we began adding different animals to the farm. Running out and picking a new animal has always been the easy part. Feeding them and giving them water and a house is work but all relatively easy. Something very few people talk about and you can never truly understand until you experience it are the sad days.
I would like to talk about one of those sad days so that you can be better prepared when YOU add animals to your survival plan. Its important to realize that raising animals is sometimes challenging, sometimes frustrating and sometimes sad. I can't make any of those things easier because there are some things you just have to experience yourself. I can try to prepare you for reality though.
This week has been busy with kidding season. Added to that we have had a rare ice storm which hasn't made things any easier. Its been difficult to make sure that all of the babies were born safe and warm out of the weather. Sometimes that means checking on the goats at all hours of the night. Its meant lost sleep and slogging through the freezing rain and sleet. We have managed to have seven successful kids born so far.
Most animals have a pecking order which means you have an hierarchy in the herd. There is always a queen goat followed by the buck. They are the two which all the other goats respect. Then the rest of the goats are progressively lower in the pecking order. Sometimes what that means is that no matter how much housing you offer its never enough. The higher up a goat is in the hierarchy the more space she takes for herself and her chosen few. Some of the lower goats prefer to stand outside rather then push for a place inside the houses. I have sometimes seen particularly bossy goats claim an entire twenty foot house for themselves. Try as we might there is never enough housing to go around. We could build a house for every goat and one goat would take two or three. Sometimes we have to go up there and put a more timid goat inside the house when the weather is severe. After much fussing and finger shaking they usually respect their owner and let the timid goat come inside for the night. Sometimes a house can stand completely empty and the more timid goat still won't go inside on her own.
During kidding season the goats get very protective of their newborns. They will fawn over their new kids and sometimes won't let any of the other goats near them. They will take over a whole house as they try to keep it for just their own baby. Occasionally, one goat will try to steal another goats baby and take it for her own. We had one this year that did that right before her own kid was born. I had to take the kid away and give it back to her mother while the rogue mother tried to fight to keep it. I thought she was going to try to head butt me at one time but she actually BIT me on the forehead. I was able to move the little girl back over to Maypop's side despite all Zoe's attempts to keep her. Shortly afterwards Zoe had her own girl and everyone settled down happily.
Last night when we got home from work we checked all the goats and all was well. One goat had a new kid and all the other new babies were safely beside their mothers in the houses. The other goats usually respect the new mothers and babies and leave them in peace in their corners of the houses. Even the more timid goats are allowed inside when they have a new kid. All the goats love the new babies.
We checked a few more times during the night and everything was peaceful and quiet. We thought that for now they would all hold off until the morning. That was a good feeling since the skies were clouding up and we had a heavy rain on the way. When I finally went to sleep, I was tired and thought that I could leave the goats until morning.
Well the rain came. It poured and poured. I couldn't hear or see anything up the hill and thinking all was well, I didn't go out in the downpour and check. I should have but it was just so heavy, cold and wet that I thought it would be a wasted trip because of course the goats would stay inside.
Early this morning we went to check on the goats and found that Wilma had a beautiful baby overnight. They both did perfectly fine. Unfortunately, Tootenanny also had babies. She had two big healthy looking girls BUT she went outside into the pouring rain and the ice which is still on the ground. Both kids were dead when we found them. They didn't have a chance. They froze in the cold and rain. Tootenanny was standing beside them licking and talking to them,sad and heartbroken. I kneeled in the mud and ice and placed my arms around her neck and cried with her as she mourned. We grieved for the two little kids together. She looked to me for help but I had none to offer. I couldn't bring life back into those poor little bodies. All I could do was give comfort where there was little to be had.
I can't understand why she went out into the rain and ice to have the kids and she doesn't understand why I wasn't there to help while she had them. The only thing we both know is that its a loss of two little beautiful babies. So, its a sad day on the farm. Tootenanny is calling for her babies because she is full of milk and she doesn't really understand. She checks all the other babies to make sure they aren't hers. She keeps calling in the hopes that her kids will answer. All we can do is wait and comfort her and later we will bury the little ones. Perhaps another goat will have triplets or quads and Tootenanny's full bag of milk can save another babies life. I do believe there is a purpose in all things.
Now, why do I tell you all of this? It seems cruel to speak of such things. The simple reason is because if you decide to raise animals then death and loss are a fact of life. They will have to be faced eventually. Whether you lose an animal to predators, illness, childbirth or even if you butcher one their death is something you will have to deal with. I want you to know that it happens to us all. We have to sleep. We have to work. We have to sometimes leave home and do other things. When you wake up to two little lifeless bodies you may blame yourself. You may decide that raising animals is not for you because you can't face that. I want you to know that it happens to us all. Even the best most vigilent homesteader will sometimes lose an animal to death. Its a sad day but its not the end. For every one we lose, there are twenty more who make it. Just looking across the pasture I can see the joy of life in the other new babies. They are beginning to jump and play and there is nothing so joyous and happy as a brand new baby goat. So, this IS a very sad day but the joy of new life bouncing in the sunshine all free and cute makes it all worth while.
Southern Wood Elf