Annabelle

Dear Friends,

Three weeks ago, we were happy to see three new baby goats born on our farm. This is the second year of our pygora goat breeding program. Last year we had one baby and this year we were thrilled to have one single birth and a set of twins. Thankfully, even though the weather has been unpredictable and even nasty, all three seemed healthy and were growing, despite minor setbacks here and there. Ace, the first born and a buckling, was born to Lady. She is a great mom and produced a baby doe last year(Lilly). Later the same day, Zoe gave birth to twins, both girls. One we named Baileigh is black and white smooth coated. The other, named Annabelle, was a silver white. We sure enjoy watching all the baby games they play!

Unfortunately, two days ago, Annabelle was acting strangely and was not moving around with the others. She was fine in the morning and by evening was acting very poorly. I took her temperature and sure enough she had a fever. We treated the fever and hoped it was just another blip in the road. The next morning, Wednesday, she was worse. I immediately called my vet for advice. He was not available until late in the day so I was able to find another vet who would see her that morning. His diagnosis was not good however. The vet felt that Annabelle had contracted an infection and despite the fact that it was not evident the day before, she became critically ill very quickly. He treated her with antibiotics and steriods for the inflamation. The rest of yesterday, Annabelle was very quiet and not really improving. By feeding time she began walking around with the others and then began running. Then she collapsed. Siezures followed and needless to say she went down hill even more from that point. I brought her to our house so she would not be picked on by the herd. After all what is one sick goat kid when you recently had a house full of chickens. I wasn't sure that Annabelle would survive the night but she did. I became hopeful this morning that maybe she could fight off the infection. Around 4:30 this afternoon, Annabelle gave up and died.

I know this was very lengthy, but you all have been so supportive of my goat venture that I wanted to tell you what happened and not leave any questions. I know that this kind of thing happens and it is part of farm life. It is just sad.

Thank you all for sharing in my excitement over the farm life. It truly brings me peace and joy and I am happy to share that with you my friends.

Ya' all come back soon

Love
Janet