Pride Goeth Before a Fall

"Pride goeth before a fall" was one of my mom's favorite sayings. She was right. I have been feeling very smug about living on a farm,where life doesn't change much because of "sheltering at home" during a pandemic. I have animals to tend, plants to tend and/or gather and eat, hiking trails for recreation. All good and all true. But...

On Monday, March 30, Jessie Anne colicked. Horses are prone to colic but she never has before and I have no idea why she did. All I can guess is she ate something that gave her gas as it was apparently a gas colic. When I went out that evening, she did not come for her supper, was grinding her teeth, and was pawing to lie down... all signs of colic. So I put a halter on her and walked her. Horses have incredibly long intestines which are prone to getting stopped up. They need to keep moving to get things inside them moving again, but when their guts hurt, they want to lie down and roll, which can make things worse. So we walked for a very long time. I periodically stopped and listened to her insides... They were gurgling some, a good sign. After a longer time, she stopped grinding her teeth and trying to lie down. And, finally, she passed a copious amount of gas. My panic subsided.

The next morning she was hungry and feeling fine. I was exhausted. That was March 31. I have not put her back on the suspect pasture since. Instead, all three horses either get to go out for several hours on the grass in the orchard and by the barn, if it's not muddy, or they get lunch served in their paddock. (They always have breakfast and supper served in their respective parts of the paddock/barn.)

The next day, April 1st, a goat, Cindy Lou, had twin bucklings. She had no trouble having them and I thought I was home free. But I wasn't. She had a congested udder. So I spent much time massaging her udder. The kids got their necessary colostrum and appeared to get enough out of the udder to satisfy them... barely.

A few hours later, another goat, Starry Night, kidded with a doe and a buck. And a congested udder. So I have spent every day since massaging udders periodically throughout the day, rubbing salve on them, and watching the kids carefully to see if they are doing okay. Fortunately, they are and they work at nursing often enough that both udders are beginning to soften. I have no clue why these two does had congested udders. I have not had such problems for many, many years. Was it something I'm feeding differently? Who knows. I just hope the third doe due to kid (due the 2nd, actually, but still not acting ready...) does not have problems. Her udder feels soft so far. One can only hope...

So much for my idyllic life on the farm... I suffered a fall and pride fled.

But the kids are fine. Here is each set of twins a short time after birth... before I knew their moms had congested udders.