Survival Skills by Susan L.

Soot is still fighting. He's slowly getting the hang of the bottle but I have a concern. Milk replacer can constipate babies. I have had to give a baby goat an enema on more than one occasion. If Soot doesn't poop soon, I'll run the idea past a vet. Mind you, there might be some delay because who knows how long he went without eating before I found him. Just like human babies. We fret about what goes in and we fret even more about what comes out! I was a girl of the suburbs. Having this kitten reminds me of all the things I did on the farm where I spent the latter ten years of my marriage. It was a steep learning curve. It began with raising a pair of goslings. I helped perform a c-section on a dwarf goat. Witnessed countless lambs, kids, foals and calves being born: singles, twins, triplets and quads. Bottle raised numerous babies, a pair of raccoons and a llama were the most unusual. I've been there for tough, vet calling calf pulls that ended badly. I've found legs and heads that were bent back and learned to reposition them inside the mother. Thankfully that was successful more often than not. The losses tore at my heart. Let's see...castrations, de-horning, tail docking, euthanasia. That also tore at my heart. I learned how to give injections: vitamins, antibiotics, vaccines. Walked colicy horses for hours on end. Changed the dressing on a bull's abscessed foot. He had been a child's 4H project and was a gentleman. I discovered the horse whisperer's language works with cows. It made dealing with my small herd that much safer. Most of the time I was alone. Then there was the mechanical side but that's a whole other entry. Let's just say I learned to work miracles with baling twine, fence wire and a hair dryer. I am so glad those days are done! "I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it." Eccl 3:14