update

Thank you so much for your kind comments!

A quick update:

Hazel is acting more herself, 

and she is eating almost normally.

I am relieved.

She's still approaching chaffhaye very delicately,

mouth barely touching the chaffhaye,

but managing to eat at least half her ration, eventually:

And for comparison, here is mum Azalea,

demonstrating the typical full-muzzle-pushed-into-palm approach:

Hazel is also eating hay and treats,

so definitely feeling better.

I still don't know what happened to her mouth,

but hopefully she'll be 100% soon.

~~~~~

penny for your thoughts

This will always be one of my favorite snaps of Hazel.
(She's the tiny one.)

Well, this may not seem like major news, but this morning Hazel ate a carrot penny and then asked for another. I hope this means she's turned a corner, because for the past two days she has not wanted to eat or drink anything. More accurately, she would approach her water bucket or food pan and either brush her nose over it - in the case of her pan of chaffhaye - or take food and start to eat it, but spit it right out - in the case of apple slices or carrot pennies. 

As with many livestock injuries or illnesses, it's a matter of searching one's memory and imagination to determine what could be causing a behavior. Hazel wanted food, but not enough to pick it up...had she overeaten earlier and was simply full? She wanted a favorite treat, but could not or would not swallow it...was her throat sore...did a piece of alfalfa twig get caught in her throat or scratch the inside of her mouth? Was moving her jaw painful...did she get a bruised jaw from mixing it up with another goat? Was chewing painful...could she have a loose tooth that is uncomfortable to bite down on? I did my best to test these possibilities, but all I can tell you is this: you would be surprised how sharp goat teeth are.

Yesterday she was still peeing and pooping, so I decided that *if* I could get a bit of nourishment into Hazel, I would hold off on a stressful vet visit. When all the usual temptations were refused throughout the morning, I came up with the idea of blending a half-cup of oatmeal with a cup of warm water and a little salt, putting it through a sieve, and slowly hand-feeding the liquid with a 60-ml syringe. Hazel had mixed feelings about it at first, but did take about 100ml at lunchtime, and she seemed a bit brighter in the afternoon. When I hopefully offered a second serving of oatmeal smoothie at bedtime, Hazel was less willing to have it, which was disappointing. But she accepted 50 ml, and then a syringe of water, so I felt that she would be alright overnight. If she was no better in the morning, I would try to get the vet out.

Yesterday's all-day rain finally stopped in the wee hours of this morning, and Azalea and Hazel were both in the barn paddock when I went out for morning chores with a pocket full of carrot pennies. More like half-pennies, as they were sliced very thin to minimize the need to chew them. Hazel accepted one, and, while I held my breath, swallowed it. Then asked for another. And another. She was still not willing to even taste her alfalfa, and I didn't see her take a drink. But she ate about a carrot's-worth of pennies, and a couple of peanuts. And since it is not raining today, I opened the inter-paddock gates and Azalea and Hazel headed right down to the Upper West Side as usual, moving from rock to rock as much as possible, to stay out of the mud. So, fingers crossed that the worst is over and there will be continued improvement today.

So, how is your December shaping so far?

~~~~~

real snow

Sunday night looked like this:

Monday morning 3:30AM looked like this:

Heading out for morning chores on Monday...

 

...with my pocket loaded with carrot pennies.

A tarp "veranda," one of the extra shelters - there are always extras so scuffles won't lead to a goat being pushed out into bad weather - had collapsed under the weight of Sunday's snow, so I moved Violet and Sambucus up to join

the smaller group in the big barn paddock.

Here they are in the roundtop, happily tucking into the hay:

Here is the view from that roundtop.

All these images are a bit dark - the sun was never visible yesterday.

As usual, you can click to embiggen if you wish.

Put your boots on first.

After feeding and watering, I walked through all the paddocks,

dragging my feet to make a bit of a trail between all the shelters.

I save that chore for last because it's rather tiring and I am soaked with sweat by the time I'm done, and ready to head back to the house.

The goats don't really mind snow, but they do like it when I break trail for them.

Although I think Hazel, experiencing her first Real Snow, was looking for a place to attach a zipline in the barn so she could get to me and my pocket full of carrot pennies without wading through snow deeper than her belly.

(Don't worry, she got her carrots without any wading.)

By Monday afternoon the birdfeeders - which I had cleaned off first thing in the morning - were the scene of constant activity. The first flock of juncoes appeared, in a group of at least twenty. I always think of them as a sign that Winter is here.

This time, though, I really didn't need any extra signs.

I cleaned the feeders off again after evening chores.

~~~

At 4 AM this morning:

And out I go!

~~~~~

hazel catkin

Azalea's daughter, Hazel Catkin, is dressed for Winter

even though she has never seen Winter before.

 Hazel is a sweet goat, and reminds me of her mother as a youngster.

Last summer she would only eat her oats if I held the pan for her.

I would sit in my sketching chair, directly in front of the massive barn fan, holding the pan. Hazel would trot right over - she knew the bigger goats couldn't steal her supper while I was there, so she really relaxed and enjoyed her oats and a bit of attention. For me, it was the best ten minutes of many a day last summer.

Today, when I enlarged the above photograph, I had to laugh:

She reminds me of a kitten who got distracted while having a wash
and forgot to put her tongue away.

I wish I could breed Hazel next year, but I won't ever breed her nor will I breed Azalea again, as much as I love the qualities and personalities of both. You may recall that Azalea had a problem with a weak horn when she was a baby, and to my dismay, both her kids have had a similar issue - one weak horn that, in the general rough and tumble of babygoat life, would sometimes get banged and bleed a bit, and possibly break at the tip before gradually becoming strong and solid. As the goat - and the horns - grow, one horn remains shorter than the other. It becomes only a cosmetic difference, but still, it's not a trait I want to risk perpetuating.

So there we are.

Two of my nicest does, neither of whom will be adding offspring to the herd.

This is just the way things go when it comes to breeding animals.
There are sometimes disappointments, and losses, and hard decisions.
I try to focus on the positives.

Here's my favorite photograph of Azalea.
Notice anything?

~~~~~