First chore of the morning, hay the goats. Midnight’s boys are doing great.
Major agenda item, fly control. Mocha, Latte and Posie share a small pen and they all pee in the same spot. Wet manure draws flies. All the wet bits get dumped in chicken pens. The chickens will scratch through it, eat some of the waste hay and pretty much all the fly larvae. I mucked out about 35 buckets. To say I’m a bit behind is and understatement.
I cleaned the milk stand and the area around it. I put a good bit of lime down to help dry things out. While I’m loathe to use it loose I did scatter some fly bait just outside the pen. 
This little garden looks a bit sad. I’m not sure if it’s infested with nematodes or not. A dwarf mulberry, two figs, a rose and some random stuff in there. It might just need more regular watering. So I watered while I cleaned the goat pen.
And an exciting find while I watered the potted tomatoes.
Unmolded the soap from yesterday and made another batch. I also made another batch of lotion.
Storm didn’t get up right away when I took out afternoon hay.
She was in labor. It was 106°. Fortunately we got a little bit of a breeze. And the sun was starting to go down.
Twin boys. The little black one was first and didn’t have his legs in quite the right position. The front legs should both be extended so the kid comes out feet first with its nose resting on the legs. This guy had one foot barely under his chin. When I hooked that one and got it straight I realized his other foot wasn’t out. His leg was curled under and it was pretty easy to get hold of and then he just plopped right on out, followed quickly by his brother.
The black boy is a bit smaller and weaker than his brother; he keeps doing the splits when he’s trying to nurse. So I held him up while he got his first drink. And at first Storm wasn’t too sure about this nursing thing. Amazingly Esmarelda hung out and seemed to just ignore everything going on. Of course she is most interested in filling her stomach.
I went on and started milking (about 45 minutes late, everybody was hollering for their snacks). Almost done, I went to get more grain and the little black boy was laying all covered in hay dust, with his head turned back and I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not.
In a terrified panic I ran in and scooped him up. Whew he’s breathing. But not very lively at all. Maybe too hot? Maybe didn’t get enough to drink? I grabbed the bottle from the kidding box and since I was in the middle of milking I grabbed the warmest jar and poured some in. Once I got him to latch he ate with gusto and downed about 1-1 1/2 ounces. (Good amount for newborn!).
Whew. Ok back in with mom but I’m worried you are going to get lost again since you aren’t as sturdy on your legs as your brother. Finish milking, feed chickens, fill water buckets. Get milk put away. Thaw some frozen colostrum and break a canning jar while I’m at it.
Boil more water, get out more colostrum, wait for it to hit 100°
Talk with my friend, another goat keeper. She reminds me some B complex might help. So prep a syringe ( it’s an injectable). It’s after 8 and full dark. Go out with my headlamp and sure enough little guy is separated from brother who is sleeping and mom is eating hay. Sigh. He just keeps falling down and the pens slopes so he ends up down hill. Not interested in the bottle now, hopefully that means mom has fed him some more. A little B12 by mouth and a B complex shot in a teeny little hip. Put him over with brother and mom comes to snuggle up with them and chew her cud. Fingers crossed we’re good in the morning. A cup of tea, finish writing this and now it’s waaaay past my bedtime!
Zzzzzzzzzz
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