- Thread starter
- #21
Wehner Homestead
Herd Master
Wow! We’ve had some ups and downs since the quads arrived.
Nellie didn’t act excited about her feed yesterday morning but she was nursing her kids. I checked her later and she hadn’t touched it. She was more lethargic, her eyes were slightly glazed, and when she got up she was obviously weak.
With her recent history of possible mastitis, I immediately checked her udder. Milk present. No chunks or discoloration. No hard areas and no area with a warmer temperature or redness.
Next was a temperature check. 105.3! Definitely made my head spin. Dug through my supply of meds and conferred with two awesome goat friends and mentors. Decided to do lute and penicillin. I’d have given her banamine if I had any. Made sure she was drinking.
This morning her temp was 103.1. Evidence of drinking, eating a bit of feed and a little hay. More active, moving better, more alert. Gave another dose of pen and talked to vet. Offered a different antibiotic but wanted to give her more time if this one was working instead of changing it up.
Tonight she’s much better. Temp was 102.3. She has eaten more feed and hay and is drinking water. She’s also cleaning her kids.
We did see her push once tonight and several times last night, leading us to believe she retained the placenta. I ended up getting a globe and some lube and was able to get two fingers in and feel that her cervix was closed. (This was mainly to rule out another kid being present and unable to enter the world. Not suspected with quads but figured it wouldn’t hurt to check.)
In the meantime, I noted that the two doelings appeared hungry and thinner. The two bucklings were robust and shoving the girls out of the way to nurse.
I had to run some errands and pick up a few things to have house goats. We pulled the bucklings tonight after a few pics and updated weights. They are housegoats for now since it’s in the 30s at night and I don’t have a safe, warm place for them outside.
I made 4oz bottles for the boys. They each readily took an ounce but went to sleep. I was tempted to keep the milk for the next feeding but felt like I should offer it to the girls. Each of the girls inhaled the other three ounces. I’ll give the girls another chance to take a bottle in the morning but I’m hoping that without the competition, they’ll now thrive.
We pulled the boys because they won’t be retained. They are destined for the food market and will quickly head there after turning 8 weeks. I won’t even stress them by castrating or dehorning them.
Our milking is on a modified system. DD2 ends up in the hospital randomly for varied amounts of time. This is difficult because someone has to milk. If we have kids on our milk does, they can be left together and we can start separating again when we are home. Finding someone to do chores is hard enough but milking seems impossible. This doesn’t always work but it helps. Caramel is still nursing her October girls, Rapunzel and Snow White, and we just separate them at night.
As far as weights, Buck, Sweetheart, and Gunner were all 3.0# when we weighed them at birth. Flower was the smallest at 2.4#. They were born Saturday early afternoon. We weighed Flower Sunday evening and she was up to 2.8%. That made me feel better. We didn’t get weights done last night between worrying about Nellie and DH’s asthma glaring up. Everyone got weighed tonight for another comparison. Buck and Gunner both weighed 3.5#. I was glad because that meant they are both gaining. I was disturbed by the girls’ weights. Sweetheart weighed 2.8# and Flower weighed 2.4#. Both had lost weight! I’m actually going to use a different scale to weigh everyone morning and night tomorrow for another evaluation.
My kids are thrilled about having the boys in the house!
All four! L-R: Buck, Sweetheart, Gunner, and Flower
Quarters in the farmhouse.
Nellie with L to R: Buck, Gunner, Flower, Sweetheart
Buck and Gunned getting comfortable.
Did anyone notice that “Buck” is the BUCKskin BUCK? Lol
Nellie didn’t act excited about her feed yesterday morning but she was nursing her kids. I checked her later and she hadn’t touched it. She was more lethargic, her eyes were slightly glazed, and when she got up she was obviously weak.
With her recent history of possible mastitis, I immediately checked her udder. Milk present. No chunks or discoloration. No hard areas and no area with a warmer temperature or redness.
Next was a temperature check. 105.3! Definitely made my head spin. Dug through my supply of meds and conferred with two awesome goat friends and mentors. Decided to do lute and penicillin. I’d have given her banamine if I had any. Made sure she was drinking.
This morning her temp was 103.1. Evidence of drinking, eating a bit of feed and a little hay. More active, moving better, more alert. Gave another dose of pen and talked to vet. Offered a different antibiotic but wanted to give her more time if this one was working instead of changing it up.
Tonight she’s much better. Temp was 102.3. She has eaten more feed and hay and is drinking water. She’s also cleaning her kids.
We did see her push once tonight and several times last night, leading us to believe she retained the placenta. I ended up getting a globe and some lube and was able to get two fingers in and feel that her cervix was closed. (This was mainly to rule out another kid being present and unable to enter the world. Not suspected with quads but figured it wouldn’t hurt to check.)
In the meantime, I noted that the two doelings appeared hungry and thinner. The two bucklings were robust and shoving the girls out of the way to nurse.
I had to run some errands and pick up a few things to have house goats. We pulled the bucklings tonight after a few pics and updated weights. They are housegoats for now since it’s in the 30s at night and I don’t have a safe, warm place for them outside.
I made 4oz bottles for the boys. They each readily took an ounce but went to sleep. I was tempted to keep the milk for the next feeding but felt like I should offer it to the girls. Each of the girls inhaled the other three ounces. I’ll give the girls another chance to take a bottle in the morning but I’m hoping that without the competition, they’ll now thrive.
We pulled the boys because they won’t be retained. They are destined for the food market and will quickly head there after turning 8 weeks. I won’t even stress them by castrating or dehorning them.
Our milking is on a modified system. DD2 ends up in the hospital randomly for varied amounts of time. This is difficult because someone has to milk. If we have kids on our milk does, they can be left together and we can start separating again when we are home. Finding someone to do chores is hard enough but milking seems impossible. This doesn’t always work but it helps. Caramel is still nursing her October girls, Rapunzel and Snow White, and we just separate them at night.
As far as weights, Buck, Sweetheart, and Gunner were all 3.0# when we weighed them at birth. Flower was the smallest at 2.4#. They were born Saturday early afternoon. We weighed Flower Sunday evening and she was up to 2.8%. That made me feel better. We didn’t get weights done last night between worrying about Nellie and DH’s asthma glaring up. Everyone got weighed tonight for another comparison. Buck and Gunner both weighed 3.5#. I was glad because that meant they are both gaining. I was disturbed by the girls’ weights. Sweetheart weighed 2.8# and Flower weighed 2.4#. Both had lost weight! I’m actually going to use a different scale to weigh everyone morning and night tomorrow for another evaluation.
My kids are thrilled about having the boys in the house!
All four! L-R: Buck, Sweetheart, Gunner, and Flower
Quarters in the farmhouse.
Nellie with L to R: Buck, Gunner, Flower, Sweetheart
Buck and Gunned getting comfortable.
Did anyone notice that “Buck” is the BUCKskin BUCK? Lol
