Out to Pasture: Brrrrrrrrrrrr . . . then Heartbreak, Babies

Our unusual December-January warm spell

continued into the first few days of February.

But then on Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Dustin was rousted from his cozy warm bed for the traditional forecast.

He was so upset about having his nap interrupted that he predicted six more months of bitter winter.

Sure enough, arctic air swept down on Feb 5, beginning two solid weeks of misery.

It turned cold as hell – if, as Dante maintains, the core of the Inferno is a frozen lake

where Lucifer stands eternally trapped in ice.

Temperatures struggled above zero for only a few daylight hours the entire period and nighttime lows often dipped down to the -20s and -30s

with dangerous wind chills well below that. Wind chill warnings were in effect for 11straight days.

On Feb 13 our air temperature hit -34, setting a new record low for that date

and Valentine’s Day’s was less than “red hot,” with a record low of -33.

The ice cover of Lake Superior quickly grew from 10% to 40%.

It was so cold that even Ted Cruz abandoned us, heading for warmer climes.

The heated water bucket and Momma Kitty’s heated water dish frosted up but withstood the challenge.

Alpine troopers that they are, the goats bore the cold with resignation –

and frosty coats and muzzles.

Regular visitors to our front yard pigged out on the suet and sunflower seeds that Barb supplied to stoke their little furnaces.

Even in the bitterest cold Momma Kitty showed up at 4:30 every morning demanding her can of Friskies.

Dustin searched in vain for signs of spring

and then waited out the cold spell in front of a heating vent. Fortunately, the deep freeze let up in time for the first birthings.

Unfortunately, however, Cheeky’s delivery ended very sadly.

As her Feb 18 due date passed, she started to shut down. She developed ketosis, and the medications Barb gave her proved ineffective.

Dr. Angela Urban visited on Feb 21 to try IV hydration and recommended that the pregnancy be induced.

Cheeky went into labor the next day, but the delivery was difficult and complicated. Barb managed to carefully tug the first baby along

who went immediately to the bathtub

but the remaining two were jammed together in the birth canal and wouldn’t budge. Dr. Urban made another emergency visit and, after a long struggle, maneuvered the two boys out.

The ketosis might have killed them in the womb, or they might have died because they were stuck in transit for so long and had to be pulled out so forcefully, but, miraculously, both survived – and joined their sister in the bathtub, since after the long, traumatic ordeal, Cheeky was in no condition to care for them.

Her already weakened state and the hard delivery proved too much. She was very unlikely to recover and she faced a slow, painful death from metabolic disease. In consultation with Dr. Urban, Barb made the heartbreaking decision to let her go peacefully –

in the barn where she was born (with her sister Raita) on March 27, 2012.

Tzatziki was an amazing goat, flying magically through the air a few weeks after birth.

She ruled for a long time as queen of the MeadowWild herd

and is deeply missed.

Her miraculous babies got their first colostrum by bottle.

They were pooping and peeing up a storm in the bathroom and quickly outgrew their tote-in-the-tub.

They moved to a makeshift pen in the garage, where they by turns hop and caper about madly and then nap furiously –

not at first, of course, in the cozy nest provided for them beneath a heat lamp

but in nooks of their own choosing on either side.

They suck down bottles of “Kid Milk – Milk Replacer with Probiotics” every few hours and will soon be big and strong enough to move to the barn

where they will join their cousins, born three days later.

As usual, Kuiper decided to make things difficult.

Barb, who had a sleepless night checking her often when Kuiper first showed signs of labor on Feb 24, finally intervened in the late afternoon of Feb 25.

The first baby in line, upside down and breach, had to be assisted out. The second, full breach, also had to be repositioned and tugged along. A third followed in quick succession.

Terrific mother that she is, Kuiper set right about cleaning the babies off and attending to them:

Mom and kids were all snuggled together under the heat lamp at bed check early the next morning.

One of the boys needed help latching on to the faucet and required a few bottle feedings at first

but gradually caught on to the routine.

And on the last day of Feb both sets of kids look healthy and vigorous. It was a bittersweet start to the season, but all the babies seem to be thriving.