It is mid-January and baby season has officially begun at the farm. We love baby season! It is filled with fun, anticipation, hope, and also a bit of fear. We always worry about our mamas. Although the majority of our girls are seasoned veterans in the baby department, there is always the endless list of what if. For example, we were thoroughly convinced Honeybelle, aka Big Red, would be the first to deliver. Eric did his afternoon barn check yesterday and Red was looking like the Lochness Monster with her head stretched out in front of her lying in a sea of straw. While low and behold, Socks, one of Jordan’s little Boer goats, had two lovely little ladies standing and nursing underneath her.
Surprise! Not who we had thought, just a blip on the radar of the birthing calendar, and without issue or help. Those make for the best surprises. Jordan was so excited when she came home from school and then she was disappointed. She was disappointed that she missed the birth. She was disappointed she didn’t get to use her mid wife/veterinary skills. So as usual, we talked. I feel like I talk…a lot… (Eric will tell you this is very true.) We discussed that it’s great to have skills. It is great to have skills, it really is. It’s also great to know that you’re capable and can comfortably handle a difficult or stressful situation. However, isn’t it better to know those things and not have to use them than have them and put them to use in a potentially dangerous situation? The answer to that question was a definitive yes. It’s best that Socks was able to use her natural abilities and skills to deliver her babies, clean her babies, feed her babies, and bond with her babies without any interference from us. It’s best that we know we know how to help if need be. It’s best to know that we can step up if the girls need us but it’s even better to walk out to the barn and hear little baby cries, mama coos, and know that all is well and we didn’t have to do a thing.
Learn skills. Learn as much as you can possibly learn…always. Ask questions, talk to those who have come before you, talk to those who have had to learn by experience. Be fearless in your pursuit of knowledge. Be fearless in your application of knowledge. Don’t forget to hope, hope that you don’t have to apply that knowledge. Relish, relish in the fact that things went well, everyone is safe, and life is good.
It’s only the beginning of baby season for us. I’m sure we will have plenty of opportunity to learn by experience. We have the Cattau family on speed dial in case we have to talk to someone who has learned by experience. We have a fearless now eleven-year-old ready to step up to the plate and help her beloved ninnies (aka nannies, but Jordan pronounces it ninnies) if need be. In the meantime, we are relishing in the fact that our first birth happened without issue and we had a wonderful surprise waiting for us in the barn. Lastly, we are hoping for many, many more good surprises to come this baby season.
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