Last Friday, I was trying to close out a work week that was both busy and short (bad combo). Andrea had the luxury of staying at home with two people kids, two goat kids, a sick infant, a nursing doe, and another doe ready to kid at any moment. About nine in the morning, I got my first panicked call. Kelly, the doe ready to kid, was laboring, and things weren't going well.
Kelly's kid was backwards, not uncommon, but only one leg was showing, and the other was caught. That's a problem. My advice was to call the vet and then let me know how it when it was over. She did call the vet, and also solicited the help from a neighbor. She called Mr. Duke, the local beekeeper / ag-expert / jack-of-all trades (he drives a tractor, surely he knows what to do!). He was about to go out of town, so it was nice of him to come and provide some moral support. According to him, when his family used to raise cattle, they just let them "do their thing." So when he saw the one leg, he figured all was well with world, and couldn't figure out why Andrea was in such a fuss.
To make a short story short, Andrea got her instructions from the vet over the phone (He was in surgery and couldn't come. Probably just as well, as time was a huge factor here). She washed her hands, donned a rubber glove, freed the leg, and saved the day for Kelly and the goat kid. Something that 95 to 1 would have been my task had I been home. Andrea doesn't have the nerves for such things when she has a choice not to. Thankfully, though, she is quite capably when need arises.
The kid is a beautiful little doeling, weighing in a 8 ½ pounds, and looks almost exactly like her mother. Despite her traumatic entry to the world, she has the good fortune of bearing the name Chod - administered by Elias.
Here are some pictures to make all of the above words worthwhile:
Chod
Hadawn
Tecot
Oscar with Hadawn
Timnah with Tecot (or Hadawn. Hard to tell.)
Strawberries from out patch (slightly embellished with a passion-flower)
Elias with his friend the worm
