My epic fail proved him a "Champ"
This is Champion.
"Champ" for short. He's just a little over a day old. He's got a story to tell. So here we go:
On Monday morning, my good friend, neighbor and fellow Nubian enthusiast called to let me know she thought one of her does- Crow's Dairy Eidel- was possibly showing signs of early labor and invited me over to be a second set of hands.
Eidel's kidding was textbook! She delivered her kids within hours of her tail ligaments "disappearing". She didn't hardly bleat a peep during pushing. She relaxed between her contractions and kidded two perfectly presenting bucklings. At first they both seemed to be doing fine. But the second buckling wouldn't nurse or suck from a bottle and wasn't able to really get up on his feet well. He was a "weak kid" compared to his firstborn brother who took to the bottle and his mom's teat without any trouble and was up bouncing around within the hour after he was born.
("Champ" in the front right after he was born. His firstborn brother in the back.)
(My friend Victoria trying to get Champ to take a bottle)
(Champ, not looking too good a couple hours after he was born. Getting ready to tube his first feeding here.)
We decided to tube feed "Champ" (who did not have a name at that point) some of his mother's colostrum in hopes that he would perk up and start eating. But he didn't. Last night I returned to my friend's house to tube feed him again and give him the recommended BoSe and Banamine shots the vet had recommended. This is where my epic fail begins and Champion gets his name.
I have not given BoSe or Banamine to a goat kid before, but feel very comfortable giving injections since I'm a nurse and I've given my own goats their yearly vaccines and such. So when I read the dose on my neighbor's text from the vet and drew up the amounts in the syringes I confidently went out the barn with my friend to give the injections to the little weak kid. This was mistake #1.
As a registerend nurse for 14 years I have never given a patient an overdose of any medication I've given them. This is mostly thanks to a healthy fear that follows me daily at work that causes me to, no matter how busy I am, stop and look at the vial and look at the syringe and look at the ordered dose and do a double and triple take and then, if I have any cause for concern, go investigate further before giving the medicine. I do not ever want to be responsible for harming a person because I was in a hurry. But last night, with the drugs I was giving this baby goat, I didn't have that healthy fear. I do now!
As you can guess I overdosed this little guy. I gave him way too much Banamine. And it wasn't until after I administered the injection that my friend and I realized I had given too much. Here I was trying to help save this weak kid and now I probably had just killed him. I was crushed. My neighbor was very gracious since this kid was probably going to be meat if he had thrived. But I was a wreck! I couldn't believe what I had done. The poor little guy. My neighbor suggested I take him home, consoling me and knowing he was probably not going to make it.
I took him home in a tote, put him beside my bed, set an alarm to wake up and tube feed him again at 2 AM and laid there and sobbed. I watched him and figured he'd be gone by the time I woke up.
Much to my surprise at 1:40 AM I was awakend by the squeaky, weak cry of this little baby goat. I got up and fed him and explained why there was a goat in our bedroom to my husband who had gone to sleep not knowing I had brought him home. Once I fed him and laid him back in his tote I fell back asleep and again thought for sure he would never make till morning. But, at 6 am the little guy was calling for food with a much stronger cry. He weakly sucked (more like gummed) a bottle and I tube fed him what he didn't finish from that feeding. By 9 am he was up walking around on wabbly legs in my kitchen. I couldn't believe it.
At 10 am my neighbor called to check on him and suggested we get together for our regular Bible study despite being exhuasted, just to get our mind's on something good and right. I agreed and brought my little guy in his tote with me. At the end of our study he was standing up in his tote and when I put my hand by his face he latched on to my little finger and began sucking vigorously. We hurried and got a bottle of colostrum together and he gulped it down. I was thrilled! I couldn't beleive it! Maybe he would make it! I really thought he was a gonner.
So at that point I was torn with whether I should give him back to my neighbor to let his mom take over raising him or keep him as a bottle baby or try to get my Darla, who had lost her babies last week, to adopt him. After some back and forth about what to do and after my husband and kids' input of wanting to keep him as a pet, my neighbor and I settled on me keeping him.
I did introduce Champ to Darla today, but she wouldn't have anything to do with him. He's going to spend the night in the house in his tote tonight and maybe tomorrow night too and I'll keep trying to get Darla to accept him. I did rub some of the afterbirth discharge she is having on him today in hopes she'd accept his scent. We'll see. If she doesn't adopt and feed him we'll bottle feed him and keep him with the herd to raise as a farm pet.
(Bailey, our 10 year old lab- she's so motherly. Licking and guarding this little guy.)
I certainly didn't plan to have a second wether as a pet at Lil' Toad Ranch, but this little guy has won me over. I am gonna have to develop some thick skin from here on out 'cause I can't keep every kid that wins me over.
