Since bringing the girls to the house it has been a constant learning experience. They are wonderful! They play and eat and sleep and are just so darn cute! Being bottle fed they seem to regard me as the herd leader and will follow wherever I walk. No need to call or herd them. They just seem to not want to be alone so they traipse after me. They nibble and butt at my fingers and legs. Padua has taken to jumping and climbing and is becoming quite the parrot!
Part of this learning curve revolves around health. These babies are right in the middle of the weaning cycle. They get bottle fed every morning and every evening but each week we drop the dose just a bit to encourage them to forage and graze for food. This is the normal procedure and it works out quite well as there is plenty of brush and brambles for them to nosh on. What I forgot to take into account is that as babies, their little digestive systems aren’t ready for all the nutrient rich leaves that grow in spring. Lady Marguerite was the first to get a bit glassy eyed and lethargic. She wouldn’t eat or drink and just stood around looking incredibly uncomfortable.
After research and thought and observation I came to the understanding that the poor thing was constipated. In goats this can also pair with something called bloat. This isn’t the same bloat as a human might get and in babies it is quite serious and can lead to death. Needless to say, I was very worried. I never in my life anticipated that I would be so interested in another creature’s bowel movement. I made an enema of warm water, olive oil, and mild soap and administered it. I massaged and rubbed her belly trying to help any blockage along. After the third application of the enema, what seemed to be a huge rock hard blockage was pushed out. After seeing the backed up traffic that was released I can definitely understand why Lady Marguerite looked so uncomfortable! I force fed her baking soda to counter-act any gaseous buildup in her rumen and the next day she was bright eyed, bushy tailed, and eager to eat again! Since then, Tink also became bloated and the same “cure” was applied. It didn’t have the same effect and I worried it might be something different, but again it took only a day for her to be back on her food and hopping around!
As much as I’d like to let the little ladies free range and eat all the tasty leaves and brush they just can’t handle it yet. Dale built a fantastic wire manger that hangs on the inside of the pen and we bought some good quality hay for them to browse. It doesn’t have nearly the richness that the fresh spring growth does and we’re hoping it won’t affect their little systems too much. I still let them out for an hour or so in the evening to eat brush and so far cutting them back to that has proven effective as they are happy, healthy and growing like the weeds they so love to nibble!
