Hindel Kidz 34: Goats With No Names
Hindel Kidz #34
Goats With No Names
On March 12th, Sven, Rhonda and Grace went up to feed and hold Baby Lainie some more. Jack said Lainie would have to get used to people handling her baby. When they got up there, they saw Lainie and her baby were in the front half of the pen. The rest of the goats were locked in the bigger pen…and Becca was in the birthing pen.
“Looks like Becca’s going to kid soon,” Grace said. Even though Becca ate the half slice of bread Grace gave her, Grace could tell she was in the first stage of labor. Becca was walking around, pawing at the ground and acting very restless. Grace kind of wanted to stay. But a watched pot never boils and a watched goat never kids. So they all left. Sven told Jack to call down if he needed something. Jack laughed because he could just see Rhonda and Grace arriving up there on the four- wheeler or garden tractor. Rhonda said she would bring Grace back up in the morning.
Becca and her baby was the only thing on Grace’s mind for the rest of the night. She was silently going crazy. And Sven knew it. Every so often he would mention it. He just loved to torment Grace. He had called Jack before going to bed and he said Becca was still going strong. Grace hated feeling hopeless, but with only seventeen baby goats surviving, it was hard to be hopeful. Sven thought it was pretty bad that two grown adults were obsessing over a goat.
Around 9:18pm they were all in bed when the phone rang. Sven said, “I’ll be up.” And hung up.
“What?” Grace asked.
“Just stay in bed,” Sven replied and left.
Grace was left speechless. She knew something had happened with Becca. As she sat there a thousand scenarios were going off in her head: Becca had the baby and it was alive, Becca had the baby and it was dead, Becca had the baby and didn’t claim it, Becca needed to go the vet… In the past Jack had always asked Sven to help load the goats when they needed to go the vet.
“Please let Becca’s baby be okay,” Grace silently wished although the feeling of hopelessness was nagging at her. Her heartbeat quickened when she heard Sven pull into the garage. When he walked into the bedroom, he turned on the light and saw Grace staring at him. He grinned, but didn’t say anything.
“You’re not going to make me beat it out of you, are you?” Grace asked.
“I’m going to bed.”
“Not until you tell me.”
“It happens to him every time.”
“Becca’s going to the vet?”
“It happens to him every time,” Sven repeated.
Jack had been watching Becca stand up and lay down over and over. When Charlotte asked Jack if he wanted something to eat, he said, “Look at the screen.” Becca had stood up once again and this time the baby was coming out; back feet first and it was hanging by its shoulders. By the time Jack got out there and pulled the baby out, it was already dead. Come to find out Becca had twins. Jack found one of the legs of the second one, but couldn’t find the other leg or the head. And he couldn’t pull it out. Charlotte called the vet and at 9:30pm they were on their way to Mt. Vernon which was an hour away. Usually when a goat has one stillborn baby the other will be stillborn as well. Baby Lainie had been a rare case.
Dr. Robb decided to do a C-section on Becca. He even had a hard time finding the head and the leg. Jack finally got home after midnight. Both babies had been girls which made it that much worse. Since they had both been born before midnight their birthday was March 12th which was also Jack in the Box’s birthday.
Come to find out later, Jack had chosen four goats to breed instead of just the two they knew about. He had also tried to breed Libby and Belle. But neither one of them had taken. He picked out the goats he thought wouldn’t have any problems. Becca and Lainie caused him nothing but problems.
When Grace and Rhonda show up, Baby Lainie was eating and Becca was lying in the birthing pen. She looked to be all right physically and was standing. She let both Rhonda and Grace rub her. Grace noticed one of the stillborns was laying on a hay bail. It looked to be fully developed.
“Are you going to breed Becca anymore?” Rhonda asked Jack.
“I am not going to breed any of them anymore,” Jack replied. Of course he had said that last year and look what happened. Rhonda wasn’t sure she believed him. After this it seemed all the more fitting to call Baby Lainie Lucky or Miracle.
Two days later Becca was back with the rest of the goats. She was also bellowing nonstop. She even went over and smelled Baby Lainie, but then decided it wasn’t her baby. Jack said she and Lainie would have to share the one baby. Between Lainie and Becca bellowing, Libby looked to be quiet. Sven went to make a phone call, but had to leave the yard because Lainie and Becca were too noisy.
St. Patrick’s Day turned out to be an unlucky day as far as the goats were concerned. Baby Lainie was no longer with them. She had passed away at nine days old. Something hadn’t been right from the start. She never was as active as the other baby goats. Unless it was because she didn’t have a brother or sister to push her. The other ones had always been running and jumping by the time they were two or three days old. She had spent most of her time lying under the heat lamp. Lainie seemed to be taking it pretty well. She had been quiet all day. She must have known something wasn’t right with her baby. Animals have a sixth sense about those kinds of things. And now Savannah couldn’t show her at the fair. At least Savannah wouldn’t be manhandling her anymore.
Becca had also become Jack’s buddy. Ever since the night when she had her stillborns wherever Jack was she was right there beside him whether it was in the building or out in the yard. She knew had been there and she wanted her babies back.
If this episode doesn’t make Jack stop breeding them nothing will.
