If its not one thing its an udder....

There is a truth about farming which is that everyday is usually the same - but something different always happens. Today we learned that if its not one thing its an udder...

This morning I went out to find our full sized, La Mancha doe (Debbie) stuck in the feeder. At first I thought she was dead - but thank heaven she was not. She got her head stuck in the feeder and the top fell down, trapping her. Aside from the huge knot on her head where the top hit her, she doesn't appear to have any injuries.

(The chickens came in to help me out )

However, since she is pregnant and not due until March we are really concerned she will loose the kids. We did what we could and consulted everyone we knew.  So far so good. She isn't showing signs of premature labor and I've been sitting with her on and off today monitoring the situation. Of course, this is the coldest day in weeks. We are having single digit wind chills and tonite it will be well below 0*.







Unfortunately this is the part of farming that isn't any fun. Altho we care about our animals (for heaven's sakes I almost cried over Fred!) we have to think of our farm as a little business. We have to think about vet costs, what if she looses the kids, what if we can't milk her this spring/summer, etc. Otherwise this little venture becomes an expensive hobby. On our farm everyone has to work - dogs, pigs, chickens, and us. OK the inside cats don't technically work - but they are snugly so they are exempt employees.

Having dairy goats dramatically dropped our feed and grocery costs last summer - not to mention that it helps us with our goal of being self sustaining. They have already offset our expenses to the point where they have almost paid for themselves. But if we don't have kids to sell or butcher, if we don't have a milking goat this spring, then we have think about what to do with her. This is where farming gets hard - making decisions based on factors you can't control.

I came in for a warm up and will go back out and check on here later. Hopefully this is just a little bump on the head and later in the spring we'll have cute little bouncy kids. Until then we'll keep the vet's phone number handy and keep watching her.