Seeing Double

Today was very exciting. After a day of rest, due to a big snowstorm, I was eager to get to work. Me and another intern, who also stayed home yesterday, apparently had missed the birth of twin goats. Eager to see the new crew we volunteered to feed the pigs and cows while the other two interns fed the chickens and rabbits.

When we went over to her pen, I saw these two tiny black and white goats, huddled with their mama (good thing we put together those kidding pens last week.) I fed her some hay. A little while later I went back to check on her and she had buried her babies under the hay and they were bleating. So we uncovered them and they walked away wagging their little tails like dogs.

As we fed the other goats and cows we heard one goat mehhhhhing loudly. Someone yelled out that she was giving birth, so I ran over. She was sitting on her side with her legs out, and you could see two little hoofs poking out. After a half and hour she hadn't made any more progress, so the farm manager came over and gently worked the kids head out, and she finished up the rest. This slick creature came out and the farm manager brushed away the guck from his face to help him breathe easier. The mama goat and her kid were placed in one of the pens and she immediately started cleaning him. In between yawns that is. The farm manager said that he thinks she might also be carrying twins. Sure enough, 10 minutes later another one came out. This time much quicker. This tiny one was a girl.

So, now we have two sets of twins! So adorable.

We were told to monitor them to make sure they were up and walking, and feeding within an hour. Since the temperature is in the 30s and they only have so much brown fat, their body temperature can drop too low if they don't start feeding. Also, we were told to look out for the dark brown jelly shit. The first shit that comes out. If that doesn't come out pretty soon, the kid gets blocked up and can't absorb much energy. Then we would have to do a soap enema....fun?