The "Joys" of Farm Life

It was a fine afternoon in the beginning of the week (Monday to be exact) and the baby goat needed its 3:00 feeding. I go to the kitchen and retrieve the bottle from the bottom shelf in the refrigerator and proceed to the warm it in the microwave. I take it out when the microwave sounded, gave it a good shake, went to the barn, and fed the baby. After putting the baby back in her rubbermaid tub I checked in with the rest of the barn residents, first glancing in at the other babies and then Kat, Raizle, and Surfer Girl.

Raizle was standing on her hind legs with her front hooves up in the missing part of the wall. She was chewing on the water hook. I couldn't understand why she thought this was so great. I tried to hit her head a little to make her stop but she wouldn't. Then I saw the blood in her beard and decided I should probably go in and see if I could figure out why she was bleeding. I thought the end of the hook might have scratched part of her mouth or something. So I go in and pet the other two on my way to her. Upon arriving at Raizle's side I see that she has managed to pierce her cheek with the hook and the hook is threw her cheek. I tried to slide it out but she kept chewing on it and moving it around I couldn't get it out. So I ran back to the house.

Ran inside and grabbed my phone knowing Karolline would be my best bet of getting help since Kim had left her phone at home and Andrew was in a meeting. I phoned her right away and told her she needed to get Andrew. She said she wasn't up there and asked what happened. After explaining the situation as quickly as possible she told me to phone Andrew until he picked up. I did so and he picked up the second time I phoned. I explained the situation and by this time it was about 3:30 or so. He told me to keep an eye on her and he'd take a look at her when he got home which should be around 5:30. I couldn't believe he wanted me to leave her there with the hook still in it for two hours so I tried once more to get it out with no success. I went back out about a half hour later and she was over in the corner laying down and it didn't look like she was bleeding much and she wasn't blatting at all so I figured she had moved the hook around and got it out.

Andrew got home around 5:45 and went right out to check on her. When he came in he asked me a few questions and then concluded that she had ripped the hook out of her cheek because she had a gash from where the hole was to her mouth (basically she has a extra "mouth" on her left side). They decided to take her to the vet after Kim got home but the vet thought it would heal ok on it's own and didn't stitch her. So they are giving her penicillin shots and are putting some antibacterial stuff (that's purple) on it. She seems to be doing good and Andrew said last night it looks good for it only being a day and a half.

And thus concludes another adventure on the farm.