A Surprise in the Field

A month before the expected arrival of kidding season, we handle all the exposed does paying close attention to the obvious pregnant girls, but there always seems to be one that fakes us out. Wouldn't you know it, on a bitter cold day where the wind chill hovers in single digits Ralph found a fresh kid in the field when he went out to do the afternoon feeding. At first, he thought it was dead, but when he picked it up the little girl sprang to life. He brought her in the house where I warmed her in a pot of warm water while he went out to bring the momma into the nursery. Despite being chilled, the kid was vigorous and aggressively trying to nurse. Just to be on the safe side, Ralph and I milked a few ounces of colostrum from the momma and bottle fed it to the little doe while drying her off inside. Less than an hour after we found her she was in the barn back with her much relieved momma who was hard at work licking her and coaxing her to nurse.