I've turned that dreaded corner.

Friday i lost my first goat here at GGA. Sandspur Acres Double stuff Oreo was by far my ugliest duckling, but my favorite girl. She has never been a snotty goat. like some i have. Never balked. Never mean. I had hoped she wasn't pregnant. But she was. I was trying to get her to lose some pounds. Get back in shape with her feet and well, overall give her a break. Delilah kidded out 3 years in a row. and sailed thru it. Oreo did not. I'll explain at the bottom what i think happened but first i want you to meet oreo.

 

Oreo had the most lovely ears i've seen. Long and wide and big and her roman nose was just awesome. She was a big barreled goat. And TALLLLL.

She was a gangly kid growing up. but she matured into a lovely looking sweet, sensitive and oddly not herdish goat.



She would rather be in the house with me then out grazing with the girls. And sometimes i let her in. When i did? this is usually where i found her.

When Noble came along she took him under her wing and showed him
the ropes when the other 3 girls snubbed him.

when i taught clinics she was always the goat i used to help me.

And when friends came to visit she was the goat i pulled out
for them to learn on. She was just a wonderfully sweet goat.

And no matter how she was to look at she produced awesome kids. 

This is Syrah. First in her class at SFF.

Here's the scoop on what transpired.
Oreo died friday April 16,2010 from birthing complications. She went into labor around 3. I saw one or two hard pushes by 4. and then she stopped. By 5:15 she still didn't dilate. And could get a finger in to feel the first one coming one leg. By 5:30 only a foot out. Oxytocin was all i could think of to help her dilate. And vet sent word to send some over. The problem with oxy is that is harsh violent contractions can ensue and can rupture her uterus. (this is possibly what killed her). We dosed and still nothing. No pushing nothing. She dilated enough and we pulled kid #1 out. Alive. Another 30 goes by and nothing, pushing a bit, but nothing is coming out. Kid #2 was blocking the opening. (possibly this is what went wrong, waiting to long). Vet went in to find the head back. to no avail getting it righted. i tried, my hand was smaller and got the head around. During this assualt i knew we were just roughing her up too much. When you hear a goat scream like that its not good. (clue that she ruptured?).  Finally, after getting head righted, with my hand and vet pulling feet we got out #2. Amazingly, alive.
She did drop her sack within the next hour.

Wednesday night and thursday morning she was eating, but not much. It's not unusual for my 3rd fresheners to NOT take to the kids so i never thought this as a sign. So i just milked her out. She milked out beautiful colustrum wednesday and thursday but noticed thursday she wasn't increasing. (another clue missed). She would walk for me, but if i left her to walk alone she wouldn't. (another clue).  I was dosing her only with probios and banamine. And vitamin B complex. I made the mistake thinking she only was in pain, rather then her system crashing possibly from hypocalcemia. Which in hindsight also creates lack of pushing at birth. She was hypo and i just didn't see the signs till it was too late. I didn't put the clues together.

Thursday evening i stayed up with her all night giving nutri drench, red cell, potassium, CD, Pen G, Vit B, and all the things to get her back to right.

By Friday early am i was on the phone to the vet and she sent over some Calcium drench. Antibiotic. IV lactated ringers.  But by then i think it was too late. Her dehydration took ahold and even when we tried to IV her we just couldn't find a vein. This is when i realized she was going. Our last ditch effort was syringing Sub Q all the fluids we could into her. Doing this for 4 hours. 300 ml. It just didn't work.

The other thing i remembered was her vulva was white. and cold. Her gums, tongue, cold, early 4am friday morning..I was losing her then. I do think she was bleeding out. And also one of the reasons we couldn't find a vein. After 4 days of thinking on this and wondering and beating myself up about it. I think this is what happened. I'm not any less guilt ridden, as i'm also positive if she was in better shape, not so fat, and was as healthy as she could be we wouldn't have had the dilation problem in the first place.

Upon looking back i should have and will in the future always have the CMPK drench available. Also a tube. and learn how to use it on a full size goat. As well, all goats will be getting a calcium drench once a week till they kid. And know how to find  veins all of them from the leg to the thigh, we even tried ears. So in an emergency can get an IV into them. I think possibly drenching prior to birth might have helped, but i don't know. She was eating fine, acting fine, up until the birth and soon after. Then she crashed. I'm sure i did all sorts of things wrong. I'd like to think she ruptured while i was trying to get kids out alive and that she sacrificed her life for them, and that oxy was the only option.

But i'll never really know what went wrong. Just that it did. And a far different outcome then what i wrote about her birth last year. Happier days. http://jojosfarmlife.blogspot.com/2009/02/goat-homerun.html