Josh and I had been reading up on preparing for Ellee’s babies to come. We moved Ephee (who we renamed to Cholo. He looks like a Cholo) to the back pasture so he didn’t hurt the babies. Oreeo moved to the paddock with Ellee and Frostee so Ellee could practice having a young one around. And we waited. We read some more. We followed advice given to us by family friends and made sure we had a couple bottles and a bag of goat colostrum on standby just in case. We put gloves and towels in the tack house. I bought molasses because I read that when she has delivered the babies she will need to boost up her electrolytes with molasses water. We were ready to meet these babies!

Saturday, we came home from running some errands and I heard Ellee’s baa-ing. It sounded different to me. I told Josh, “she sounds like she is in pain”. We went out to see her and we observed what we thought were some of the signs of early labor. We decided it was time to corral her away from Frostee and Oreeo so she could labor in peace. That evening, we watched from the house to see her progress. We read that the best thing to do was to give her space, and only intervene if absolutely necessary. So we did our best to not stress her out. We checked her one last time before going to bed and just prayed that nothing bad happened while we were sleeping.

The next morning, we went about our morning chores as usual. We noticed Ellee was resting under the tree in her separate area and seemed to be resting. When we went down to feed her though, we saw what had happened. At some point in the night, Ellee had her babies. There were two and, sadly, neither of them survived. We were devastated. It appeared that they were not fully developed so even if we had been there, there would have been nothing we could do to save them. We were concerned because she was still acting as though she was in labor. We watched her all day. She was uncomfortable, pacing, squatting, she was very vocal. We kept waiting for another baby to come. We stayed up all night that next night checking on her every 30 minutes. Finally, by the next morning, we decided to call the vet. We needed to know if there really was another baby in there. If there was, she would need to have a C-section to have it removed since it wasn’t progressing naturally. We just needed to know. I called the vet, and he was able to come right away. He did a field ultrasound and confirmed that she did not have any more babies in her. This was great news, it meant no C-section. It was bittersweet though, as we had been holding out hope that perhaps there would be one surviving baby. Now, our focus turned to getting Ellee back in good health, and give her time to grieve.

We read that when goats lose a kid, they will usually grieve for about three days. Those were some of the longest days of our lives. It was so sad to see her not interested in food or water, she just laid in her house and looked so sad. By the third day however, she started to perk up. By that evening, she was back to her normal, spunky self.

While I’m certain this won’t be the last tragedy we endure on this ranch, it was a great learning experience for us both. We are better prepared for next time we have a pregnant animal. We know what to look for with the labor signs, and we have a safe space already created for Mama and baby. And we will need to be ready… because in a few short months, Wallee is going to be a Mama sheep! Stay tuned… !