In 2023, 7 kids born on our farm – all bucks. That is a first for us. Four of the does were bred to our new guy, Ronald and Betty was bred with Milo.
CLIFFORD
GEORGIA
CLAIRE
WILLOW
Willow is 12 years old and doing amazing, but IMHO too old to be bred. It wasn’t planned, but she was bred. The birth did not go well and we had to call the vet for the first time during a kidding.
My daughter noticed Willow was in labor, but that it didn’t look right. Sure enough, she had birthed the placenta first. As time went by, Willow occasionally tried pushing but nothing was happening. She has always birthed 3 or 4 kids with no problems, so this was very concerning. I gloved up and felt around and noticed one kid not in its sac. I tried helping Willow all I could, but eventually I realized I couldn’t help in the way she needed and she couldn’t push this baby out herself. My daughter called the after hours vet and as we waited the hour for her to arrive I just sat with Willow and tried to make her feel comfortable. It was horrible. She was asking me for help and I just couldn’t help her.
When the vet arrived, she inserted a huge syringe of lube and got to work. She said Willow’s uterus was low and deep and the baby was in there further than typical. According to the vet, because Willow usually has 4 kids her uterus was stretched out. This time, because there was only 1 kid there just wasn’t enough happening to tell her body what it needed to do and she wasn’t dilated all the way. It’s likely the placenta was delivered first because it was what fit and could move through the canal. The vet pulled pretty damn hard and got the baby out. It was still alive. I was shocked. I was prepping myself mentally for our first newborn that didn’t make it. My daughter and I tended to the baby, while the vet helped Willow.
Both Willow and the baby came through the ordeal and are healthy. For me, though, it was a lesson in sticking to my gut. I knew she shouldn’t have been bred and I should have triple made sure that didn’t happen.
BETTY
#2kpioneer
