Catching Up...Again!

Anyone whos read this blog regularly know I've had trouble with both cameras and computers for a long while now.  I'm a very visual person, and not overly great with words, so I really rely on photos to round out my posts.  This has all stalled my blogging for a while now.  My camera has occasionally worked, and I've got some photos I've taken with the plan to blog about those things.  Unfortunately, the computers not working well has caused a serious backlog on posting.  Usually when the camera and computer cooperated at the same time, I had to take advantage of it to add something to my FB business page or my goat blog, as I wanted to sell some kids and advertise my herd.  I thought I'd share some of those collected photos with quick comments here, and we'll be caught up with some of what's gone on last fall and over winter.

My green bean crop was lousy lousy last summer.  When Mama Pea heard about it, she generously gave me the last of hers. :)

Thanks bunches, Mama Pea!  We enjoyed a lot of canned beans and dilly beans.

First batch out of the canner.

On the other hand , the tomatoes kept me really busy, both those ripened on the vine, and these which I'd stored in paper bags and ripened later in the fall.  This was October.  I still have a lot of frozen chopped tomatoes to use. :)

Canned more venison late fall.

Ate some lovely bacon wrapped venison tenderloin for Thanksgiving.

I thought I'd get farther into winter than this, but again the computer problems interfere.  Apparently, those photos are stored on another computer.  LOL!  It's been a bit crazy.  I'll have to leave that for another day.

Panzy's Kidding

I said the next post would be about Panzy's traumatic labor and delivery.  I just didn't day it would be four plus weeks after the fact!  lol!
Panzy was in early labor on March 9th when I went out to do morning chores.  She was "talking" to her unborn babies, and looking at her belly.  I kept a close eye on her all day, and around 4:00 is seemed like she should be getting down to business, but she wasn't really pushing at all.  I decided I'd better try to see what was going on, as things just didn't seem "normal" (whatever that is).  At first I didn't feel anything at all, so I waited another 15 minutes, got on the phone with a breeder friend to discuss it, and then tried again.  By that time, there were parts presenting, but either not the same baby, or baby was sideways and presenting a front and back leg.  Not sure which.  I didn't know what to do, so I called my local vet, who is strictly a dog and cat gal.  Fortunately, she did a stint with cows and hogs as a young vet, so she's had a bit of experience. She agreed to try to help Panzy.  By now, the first bag had broken but no baby was following.  We put Panzy in a sled to get her to the van, and loaded her on a tarp with straw on it in the back.  Drove 20+ miles to the vet in a snow storm.
The sweetest part of this is that my daughter had met a gal, Alisa, who wants to learn about goats as part of her goal to have a goat farm one day.  She came to see her first goat birth just when we were going to the van, so she jumped in and went to the vet with us.  It was great having company, and an extra helper with us.  My Hattie girl came too.
We got Panzy out of the van and she walked into the vet's office.  The first baby, little K** in honor of the vet, was born breech with help within minutes.  Things were looking up!  Unfortunately, that was the end of the good news for a while.  The big hold up and tangle in the womb was caused by a large dead doeling.  That kid would NOT come out.  It took about an hour and a half to get it out, and then in pieces.  One front leg had to be removed at the shoulder to get it to fit.  There were actually lots of loud cheers when the kid finally came out, even though she was dead.  It was a rough, rough kidding for poor Panzy, but the whole time she just wanted her baby, called to her, licked her and tried to get her to nurse.  So sweet!
After we had everything all cleaned up, and loaded Panzy and new doeling back into the van, I got it stuck on the road.  Right in the middle of the road, not the ditch!  Couldn't go forward, backward, or anything!  Thankfully, a nice guy with a plow on his truck came by pretty quickly and helped us out. :) We got home around 9:30.
Panzy is still somewhat recovering from her ordeal.  She went through three courses of different antibiotics to fight the uterine and possibly urinary tract infection she got as a result of her ordeal.  There have been some scary moments since then, but I think she's getting better now.  Her doeling is growing fast, and I LOVE her!  I decided to keep her because I'm still nervous about Panzy's condition, and a bit concerned about breeding her in the fall.

Starlight kidded the next evening quite easily.  She had a breech tail first that needed a bit of help, then a full breech, and last a normal nose and toes.  I was never so happy to see the successful kidding and the end of a kidding season!  The best part was that Alisa had just come to get her car, and managed to be there for Starlight's whole labor and delivery, and helped a lot!  It was great that it worked out so nicely for her. :)

Please see my North Forest Farm Nigerians blog to be introduced to the newest members of our farm, who aren't Nigerian Dwarves!  I am really very excited though a little nervous about how everyone will get along.  Praying for peace and safety among all the critters here on the farm. :)

I couldn't resist a sneak peek at what will be joining us here on the farm!  There's a clue as to the breed if you look closely! :)  You can see more on my latest blog post at North Forest Farm.

How Cupcake Said Goodbye

Sweet Cupcake

Cupcake had been unwell for the last couple months of her pregnancy.  Not so unwell as to be really ill, just unwell enough to cause me to wonder.  To wonder if I'd made a mistake in breeding her.  To wonder how she would handle labor and nursing kids again.  To think that I wouldn't breed her again.  Her heart just seemed to work harder than it should.  She seemed to breathe faster than she should.  Her feet hurt.  She's never had the best feet, and they seemed to be too weak to support her when she was so large.
Cupcake got really, really larger as her due date approached.  Her breathing got faster.  It was hard to watch her like that.  As her labor seemed to be starting, she seemed to work harder to breathe.  She was restless, unable to lay down all day.  It seemed her chest was congested, and she couldn't breathe when she laid down.  She began to choke/cough.  At midnight, she finally laid down, rasping out her breaths, quick and shallow.  At 2:00 AM, she began to choke up clear fluid, and lots of it.  It was awful.  She passed away at 8:00 AM.  The vet believes that she had a weak heart, and passed away from congestive heart failure.
I spent so much time second guessing how I'd handles everything, from breeding her to how I fed her.  It was a hard thing to go through.  I spent a lot of time praying for peace, and trying not to be anxious about the next two kiddings coming up...
Next time, I'll share about Panzy and Starlight's kiddings.  Thankfully, the stories get happier as they go. :)

The babies are here!

Please CLICK to see posts about what's been going on for the last week and a half here at North Forest Farm!

It's been a crazy, sad, amazing, tiring, exciting, and joyful ride!