Pretty Quiet Today

Got to the barn this morning and Bruce announced that all the goat kids were in the "cooker"!  The two new ones yesterday were having trouble remembering to go to the heat lamp so Bruce was out making sure they were ok.  Once again it was 11:15 when he came in but he was happy everyone seemed to be safe.  This morning we noticed one of the does with twins had one side that was big and red and warm.  The kids had both been eating on one side so the other got engorged, and then sore so she wouldn't let them eat, and from there it just continues because she won't hold still.  After getting kicked a few times I guess I can't blame the kids either, they just stick to what works. Our assistance with the problem was  I got to hold the horns and Bruce milked out that side so she would feel better and hopefully they will figure out they have 2 options.  Bruce milked 1 1/2 cups of milk off....I was surprised there was that much in a small goat.  A single kid was breathing hard so she got an antibiotics shot last night and this morning.  We don't think she has eaten, and has perhaps forgotten how.  Again we have a doe  who is swollen and warm so Bruce milked both sides on her tonight.  I never knew a goat had that much milk!  No wonder the little buggers grow so fast!  We force fed her kid 24cc of milk with a syringe in hopes that she would start nursing.  She looks much brighter tonight so she got another shot and we will see.  Once a little one goes downhill there is nothing much for us to do.  I don't think the moms had initial appreciation of our efforts but I am sure they feel better already. We bought a pail of kid replacer (lol formula for goats but it sounds funny) because we were afraid the triplet that was adopted wasn't getting enough to eat.  We still aren't sure but she seems to be holding her own.  Other dairy excitement--we have a heifer that started sticking her legs through the stanchions when we were gone.  Thats all ok if they remember to pull them back before getting up but if they don't they will get banged up.  For years Bruce has just tethered their legs back with dog collars and ropes.  He tethers them far enough back that when they lay down they have lunge space to get up.  More than physically keeping their legs back it retrains them to lay down farther back so they can get up without struggling. This one seems to think she can lay down with her leg straight out, so last night Bruce physically bent it so she remembered she could.  Tonight she seems to be getting up better, atleast she is remembering to bend it under and is getting up easier.    As a general rule they are retrained in a week.  This one seems to be a slow learner : )  Seems like we have one that needs help every couple years.  Thankfully its not routine.  By the looks of things when we left we could have new calves in the morning.  After drying up 5 more cows I am thankful to have some calving soon.  Our milk tank weights have done a serious free fall in the last month.  It will be nice to see it stabilize soon.  The cattle at Ed's got bedded today with corn fodder stacks.  Bruce brought a few stacks home in hopes of bedding the cattle in the back of our barn but its just too cold to open the doors and then take the risk of freezing drinking cups and water lines.  The forecast says it should be warmer in a couple days so they will have to wait til then.