Happy ending to a bad situation

Jillis · #1 01/08/09, 09:23 PM

Yesterday night I woke up at 3:30 thinking a heard a goat call. Listened and listened, nothing. Started drifting back to sleep and thought I heard it again.
Listened, listened, got up, opened the sliders, looked at the barn, heard nothing, saw nothing. I could hear some snowmobilers in the distance, and I thought maybe a goat heard them and thought they would feed her or something.

I will NEVER not check again when I hear a goat in the night!

6 am I was praying with my dh, and I heard her again--he had alreadyb started his truck up and come back in to pray with me before leaving for work. The truck was parked two feet from the goat pen.

When I heard this call---I jumped up in my jams, threw on my coat and boots and ran out.

I got to the pen, it was stilll dark and snowing, looked to the side---right in front of the truck! My favorite doe was stuck on her back in a round feeding tub and her head was also hanging through a hole in the fence!!!

She must have thought someone was going to help her when the truck started. When we didn't help her, I think she summoned the last of her strength for the desperate call I heard!

I climbed over, pulled her head through and dumped the tub over. She couldn't stand at first, but her eyes looked good. Dh ran for warm water and a towel and I rubbed her all over, until she could stand.

Amazingly, she was not bloated!!! She had to have been that way for at LEAST 2 1/2 to 3 hours!

I spent a lot fo time that day hating myself for being too lazy to go out and check at 3:30 AM. I had done it so many times before and it was nothing---a doe in heat, someone with moon madness. This one time, it was a real emergency.

At first, one of her rear legs looked like it had a contracted tendon. I brought her in the barn and she drank more warm water, and ate some hay. She was chewing her cud and had good rumen sounds.

I gave her some banamine and kept checking on her.

Today she is walking better. She looks like she spent some time licking the base of her spine over her tail. I believe she is pregnant.

I am so angry at myself thinking that she suffered for three hours more than she had to! I will never, never not check a goat sound again!

I am also very thankful she is alright.

Jill~

cathleenc · #2 01/08/09, 09:26 PM

3 hours is not so long.... please be kind to yourself.

And so glad your girl looks like she'll pull through fine!

Chaty · #3 01/08/09, 09:31 PM

I agree I had a buckling get stuck and didnt go see either till later..I felt so bad as he was hung where he just couldnt get out unless he broke his own leg. I had to really try and work to get him out, he limped for a day or 2 but is fine now...I will from now on check also...sometimes we just have to learn the hard way...Hugs

beccachow · #4 01/08/09, 09:40 PM

Aww, don't be so hard on yourself. She is OK, and that is the important thing.

Minelson · #5 01/08/09, 10:14 PM

Thank goodness she is ok! Try to stop thinking about her being stuck...when it comes into your mind, start thinking about baby goats. After awhile the intensity of the situation will wear off and you will feel better. I have regrets too...but it doesn't help to linger on them. Hugs to you and your doe!

fishhead · #6 01/08/09, 10:57 PM

Put that energy into fixing the fence holes. It seems to be almost impossible to make anything goat proof.

Jillis · #7 01/09/09, 06:15 PM

Aw, thanks guys. I know she is okay because she ran everybody over getting to the cedar brush my son cut for them.

Fishhead---it wasn't a hole in the fence exactly---just one of the openings in the cattle panel. Her head wasn't even stuck in it, it was just through the opening because that's where her head happened to be after she got stuck in the tub.

Poor baby...okay, there I go picturing her in the tub again!

Bye!

HappyFarmer · #8 01/09/09, 06:27 PM

I'm glad to hear she is fine. I myself went out 3 TIMES last night to see what the girls were barking at. Froze my keester off, to once again not know WHAT it was. The does were fine, bucks were standing outside as usual, but I keep thinking the ONE time I don't go out, someone will be hurt or down. Thanks Jillis for reminding me why I do it.

Again, I'm glad she is ok.
HF

DQ · #9 01/09/09, 06:32 PM

its good as a reminder. I have trudged out so many times in the middle of the night to find out absolutley nothing was wrong. but its not all those times that count eh?

farmerjane · #10 01/09/09, 07:45 PM

All the more reasons I LOVE my wireless cameras, it is too cold here to be making a dozen midnight runs to check on them. Just flick thru the channels, Glad you goat is fine .

goatkids · #11 01/09/09, 08:14 PM

Glad your girl is OK, none of us like to see our animals hurting, especially if it is our fault- the important thing is that you do love your goats and you do your best to take care of them

Again, glad everyone is alright- hugs!

powderhooves · #12 01/09/09, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farmerjane

All the more reasons I LOVE my wireless cameras, it is too cold here to be making a dozen midnight runs to check on them. Just flick thru the channels, Glad you goat is fine .

WoW...wireless cameras....I'll have to check and see how pricey they are. Awesome. Instead of watching infomercials when he can't sleep my hubby can watch the goats! But then we wouldn't be the proud owners of the bowflex treadclimber (gotta remember to dust that tomorrow), toxin removal feet pads from Japan, and this nifty little thing that speeds around the house and spins collecting dust. We've got 350 years of replacement pads. That figure is calculated on how often we've been using that one.