End of The Line Farm

Owen means young figher and that is just what he is!

Owen is Aspen's first and he is so cute! 

Unfortunatly I had to sell Owen and it broke my heart to do so.  But he has a wonderful home with Robin in VA.

Video of him and Mason

Owen 3 months old

Aspen and Owen June 23rd

 

Owen is 3 days old here and it was his first time outside (read below for the reason for this)

Owen and his mom Aspen

Aspen is a great mom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He has more engergy then the energizer bunny!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

he loves this little spot

 

 

 

 

 

he is always stoping to come and get a head scratch or just be petted. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will update soon with his tramatic beginning and how it is a miracle you are seeing him on my website today.

update below

Written in Journal Wednesday April 25, 2007

 

Remembering one week ago 4/18/07

 

Early that morning before work I checked on Aspen and she had some bloody discharge.  I still had to go to work since there was no sign that she was pushing and going to have her kid any time soon.  Her ligaments were gone but other then that she was acting normal.

 

I told Matt to keep me posted and I threw a ton of information at him that I doubt he understood, not because he is only going on 13 but because I was saying it so fast.

 

He and Caleb did keep me posted throughout the morning.  At 11:45am Mommy called to say that she had kidded.  The kid was not being very responsive, just laying there and acting like it was sleeping.  It was chilled so she had brought it inside and put it on a heat pad.

 

I skipped school to come home and attend to the kid.  Once I arrived home I discovered that It was a HE.  I tried everything I knew to get him warm.  I gave him eyedroppers of warm coffee and honey mixture, warm gateraid, I rubbed him and kept him on the heat pad and had a space heater blowing on him.  Still his temp was not registering on the digital thermometer.  FINALLY it did.  It was still very low and I continued to try to warm him up.  Once his temp was up a bit I got some warm colostrum in him.  Through all this I was talking to Pam on the phone, posting on Goatweb and relying on Liz to help me by retrieving things, typing etc.

 

As the hours went by his breathing got worse and worse.  His temp never got above 99*F (normal is 101.5-104*F) and he only stood once after I made him, it was very wobbly and he didn’t do it again. His mouth stayed cold.

 

Pam warned me that he just may have something wrong internally (his heart or lungs) and he wouldn’t make it.  She wasn’t being harsh just trying to help me realize I was doing all I could and something’s can’t be helped.

 

I was bawling and sobbing.  Daddy and Mommy came in to pray with me.  That is when Daddy dubbed him “the little fighter”

 

After a few more hours I couldn’t take it any longer.  I felt the most human thing to do was put him down.  He was just like a limp rag panting and breathing EXTREAMLY fast.

 

I was reminded of the Mt. Laurel Animal hospital.  I looked on their website and they were open 24 hours – good. I called them and they said that yes they do take emergencies – I told them it was a goat but they didn’t say not to bring him in.  So I scooped up his limp panting body while sobbing and headed toward the truck.  Once Daddy realized what I was doing he decided to take me ( I very much appreciated it).

 

When I arrived at the hospital they were surprised to see a goat and one lady said to me “They told you, you could bring WHAT in here?” but she called a technician once I said he was dying.  I told the technician he couldn’t breathe and she wisked him away.  I was left to wait with Daddy. 

 

Another technician came out and asked if they could take x-rays and we said yes.  Finally the Dr. came out.  She said her name was Dr. Rose and said that his prognoses wasn’t good because there is blood in his rectum and in his mouth.  His heart and lungs were fine but they didn’t know where the blood was coming from.  They had him on all sorts of stuff but she didn’t think he would make it without a transfusion which would require his mom and would cost aprox 300.00 with no guarantees.    After a few minutes she came out again and said yes that was his only chance for life and we need to make the decision ASAP.  It took about ½ to make that decision and while talking to Dr. Rose again Daddy said “we are going to do it”  so we drove home, I jumped into my truck, threw the cage in the back, grabbed Aspen put her in it, picked up Daddy and we were off.

 

We got Aspen there at aprox 11:00pm  and they whisked her away.  A few minutes later they gave her back to me and said to wait for Dr. Rose.  We waited and waited.  When Dr. Rose came in she was not optimistic but slightly hopeful.  She said we were to pick him up in the morning.  She had pulled enough blood for two transfusions so would give him more if he needed it.  She said she would call if anything changed in the night.  Told us to pick him up around 7:30am.

 

Dr. Rose suggested we let him and Aspen meet.  Boy did Aspen go nuts over him.  He responded a little but was still extremely weak.  I milked Aspen out per the request of Dr. Rose just in case there was a need to feed it to him.

 

I had a terrible nights sleep, I dreamt that he didn’t make it, or they said he was worse, no better etc.  I dreamt of Aspen crying for him, oh it was awful!

 

Mommy and I drove to pick him up that following morning.  By then they had given him another transfusion and he was doing MUCH better much to my complete surprise and delight.  Dr. Rose said he was walking and I should try the bottle.  He took to it right away and tears sprang to my eyes!

 

We took him home and set him and Aspen up in the kitchen.  I went to work (yah stupid!) and then skipped school again because I couldn’t keep awake and I knew he needed me at home.  Mommy said he wasn’t taking the bottle or his mom.  I gave him some B Complex syringed some colostrum then took a nap for 2 hours.  After my nap he seemed to be doing a bit better at latching on and Dr. Rose said I could give him an injection of B Complex.  I gave him more colostrum and I check on him throughout the night.  Each time I checked on him he was nursing! 

 

Friday came with me living on little sleep.  I ran home between my jobs and milked Aspen out some.  He seemed to be nursing pretty good so I didn’t feed him anything.  By that evening he was nursing quite strong.

 

Saturday came with me much more rested.  We took them outside where he proceded to jump and bounce everywhere!!!!  He would NOT stay still.  It was so cute.  I had to put him back in the cage throughout the day to make sure he got rest.  It was at this point that I allowed myself to believe he would live.

 

Dr. Rose said she was afraid to call Friday because she said she figured it wouldn’t be good news.  But wonderfully so there was.  We continued to keep her updated and offered her to come out and visit but she didn’t.

 

He spent his first night outside on Sunday night.  I was worried and had to check on him twice but all went well and he and Aspen now have a companion, Destiny, who is due any day.