What did you do today?

[Nanno]

Yesterday my friend Jordan called to say that a very young first freshener of her's had kidded somewhere out on her 40 acres and they couldn't find the babies. The goat had come in with bloody mess on her back end but no kids. So Phil and I went down there and joined in the search. They had released the goat in question and had followed her around in the hopes that she would lead us to where she kidded, but all she would do was follow the other goats. They had the dog and even the pig out there sniffing among in the bushes and hills for afterbirth with no results. Phil and I got there and spent an hour baa-aa-ing around at the underbrush and listening for a response. Nothing. It was beginning to get dark when we noticed the doe pawing and trying to lie down. I went over and bounced her belly and felt a hard little hoof poking down right in front of her udder! We'd spent over an hour looking for a lost baby that was still inside the mother! What Jordan thought was afterbirth was actually the goo preceding the birth, which was abnormally abundant in this case and was red instead of amber. The poor goat had been marching all over the property with us while she was trying to go into labor! She gave birth to a single healthy little black doeling, and I hear mama and baby are doing great this morning. What a happy ending to what at first looked like it would be a tragedy!