Hindel Kidz 21: All Goats Go To Heaven
Hindel Kidz 21
All Goats Go To Heaven
Shelly wanted to know the exact date Ruby was going to have her baby. Jack thought she would be due the end of June.
“You know as soon as Shelly finds out Ruby’s having her baby, she will be camping out down here,” Sven said.
“She wouldn’t be the only one,“ Grace thought.J
Shelly told Jack, “If you need any help with Ruby, call me…even if it’s at 2:00am.”
On June 15th, Grace got ready to go up and feed just like she had for the past three and a half years. It’s about three fourths of a mile up there one-way. So almost every day she walked a little over a mile. Since she decided to ride her bike, she couldn’t take Molly with her. She also didn’t feel like fighting Molly all the way up and back. Grace and Sven take her up to Jack’s so she can run, get some exercise and burn off some of the extra energy. By the time they get up there, she is too hot and tired so she just lies down in the grass.
Grace can’t explain it, but when she got up there she had a feeling Ruby might be having her babies or have even had her babies already. Sometimes Grace can sense or predict something that is going to happen in the very near future. She considers them to be premonitions. She sat out in the back yard for a little while, but Jack didn’t say anything. She was wondering if he was just going to let her find out for herself. She can’t believe he wouldn’t tell her. He knows how much she enjoys the baby goats and being there when they are born.
Grace must have been blind and stupid not to pay attention to all the signs. First, she saw a fan blowing into the birthing pen. She thought it was for Belle and Libby since it was going to be in the upper 80’s for the next couple of days. Belle and Libby both eat in the birthing pen so they don’t have to fight the other goats for the pellets. Next, Grace didn’t see Ruby come outside with all the other goats. She usually likes to come out have someone rub her right above her tail. Jack tried to pet her head or her neck, but she just turns around and wants him to rub her backside.
“In my delicate condition, I should get whatever I want,” Ruby thought.
Grace figured she was just lying down inside. The third sign, which she should have caught onto right away, was she didn’t see Ruby climb up on the spool at feeding time. Finally, Grace noticed a little block of wood that had latched the birthing gate closed.
She let Belle and Libby into the birthing pen and continued to feed. When she came back from feeding the dog, she noticed Jack had let Belle and Libby out of the birthing pen. That is when she looked in and saw Ruby laying in the corner. Grace hadn’t even seen her. She looked at Jack and asked, “Is she having her babies?”
“That’s why she is over there.”
Even though, Grace was debating whether to go home or not. Just like with Pearl, Grace knew she would be kicking herself if she were at home knowing Ruby was having her babies. She had played midwife for all the other goats and Ruby was no different. At least this time the weather would not be a factor. Ruby would get up, paw the ground, sit or lay down and acted like she was trying to push. She had curled her lip back just a couple of times. She laid her head down and might have fallen asleep a couple times also. Then she acted like she wanted to come out. Grace sat out in the backyard for a while and then went into check on her every so often.
While Grace sat up there she was silently beginning to think of names. Her first intention was to name the babies after gemstones since it didn’t happen with Carolyn. She couldn’t name the babies after June’s birthstone because it was a pearl. The June flower was a rose so it could work. Although, Grace didn’t think Jack would like that name to well. She also thought about naming the baby Angel since Jack has always considered Ruby to be his Little Angel. That was if it was a girl. She wasn’t quite sure what to name a boy yet. She thought Zoey would be a cute name for a goat as well as Lily or Lucy.
Three hours later, Sven showed up with Molly. When Grace told him Ruby was having her babies, Jack said, “She is just in pre-labor.”
If it was pre-labor, Grace finally felt it was safe to go home even though she had another feeling Ruby might have her babies overnight. She would rather the babies be okay and not being there to see it than to see dead babies born. Grace was going to assume Ruby’s babies would be okay until she had some definite reason not to.
Grace was sure Ruby was going to have single. She was small compared to what Pearl had been. Of course Pearl had had triplets. Grace thought Ruby looked like what a normal bred pygmy goat would look like. She had a pretty good size milk bag on her though. According to the book, if a goat had triplet boys then she will produce more milk then if she had one and it was a girl.
The next day Sven called Grace from work and said, “The babies didn’t make it. They were both stillborns.”
Ruby had twin boys on June 16th. Sven had gone up at 6:00am and she still hadn’t had them. She finally had them around 7:30am. They were full term. Pearl’s weren’t. So Ruby didn’t deliver early. There were only fourteen days left until the end of the month.
When Grace went up to feed, Jack barely said two words to her. He was unhappy, upset and frustrated. And not only because they were Ruby’s babies even though that was one of the main reasons. He doesn’t understand why he hasn’t been able to have any registered babies. That is except for Carolyn. Porsche can pop them out left and right no problem. Shelly doesn’t understand it either.
Unfortunately, it was too late for Ruby to be shown at the fair. Even if her kids had been okay they wouldn’t have been weaned by the time the fair came around.
Lainie, Carolyn, Libby and Belle had all gone to the fair. They all did quite well; thanks to Jack even though the kids had been down to walk them more than they ever had before. But they all complained about it. Jack said if they decided to show goats again next year, he wasn’t going to walk them around the house for them anymore. He was tired of hearing them complain. Sven and Grace didn’t blame him. He didn’t pay over $900 dollars for goats they didn’t want to work with. Jess already said she wanted to show Belle and Jane next year. Charlotte also thought Jane would do well at the fair since she had pretty markings. It was too late to sign her up this year. She could have only been used as a back up.
Lainie won first in her class and reserved grand champion (second place) for a goat under two years old. She also won reserved grand champion over all. Even though the judge said Savannah didn’t work with her enough. There’s a shocker. Libby also won first in her class as well as grand champion for a goat under one year old. Carolyn and Belle both won third place in their class. Belle and Libby had competed against each other and so had Carolyn and Lainie. They brought home ribbons and trophies.
Belle also competed in the dress up show. This was for the kids who weren’t old enough to be in the 4-H program yet. They all won ribbons no matter what. The little girl who showed Belle was dressed up like a bumblebee and she dressed Belle up like a flower. Poor Belle. She was so proud of the little trophy she won. She was the only one who sent Jack a thank you note
