Within a day of returning home from our trip, we noticed that one of the newest goat babies needed some extra attention. He was weak and stumbling. It was clear he wasn’t getting as much to eat as his siblings – our second set of triplets this season.
We brought him inside and went to work with powdered goat milk and a bottle. We warmed him up, made him a cozy spot in our half bathroom and took turns trying to feed him every few hours. Aaron was up with him multiple times through the night – and, by the next morning, it really looked like he was going to pull through ok.
Bo – as Isai named him – spent the day curled up on the floor next to my desk. My office goat. He soaked up the sunshine, drank his bottle and even stood up a few times to move around.
For every sign of “things are going good,” he would give us a sign or two of “huh, we probably need to be worried.” Other than some small bursts of energy to stand, he was pretty lethargic. His ears stayed perky, but a lot of times, he would lay his head over and act like he had no energy at all. My research turned up Floppy Kid Syndrome – which is what it sounds like. New baby goats are persistently “floppy.” Sometimes they grow out of it within a few days. Other times, they don’t.
The difficult part of the whole scenario is that we couldn’t be 100% sure he received colostrum from his mama when he was born. We checked her out to make sure she was producing milk and his other womb-mates were eating ok. While Aaron was doing this – he realized that three babies in the barn were still eating from this mama.
Suddenly, everything clicked. Bo was the fourth of a set of quadruplets.
Twins are pretty normal for goats. Even triplets are to be expected. But, quadruplets are much fewer and farther between. Mama had been trying to keep up with feeding them all and hadn’t fully rejected any of them – so there simply hadn’t been enough milk to go around.
Knowing this, we’re pretty sure Bo didn’t get the colostrum he needed either. When that happens, animal babies experience significant developmental issues and typically do not survive.
Sadly, we said goodbye to Bo last night. Despite Aaron waking up for frequent overnight feedings, he wasn’t able to pull through. It’s a tough reality of raising animals. Today, my office nook is a bit quieter and much less cute. We’ll miss you, little Bo. Thank you for the moments of joy you brought to our farm.