A use for empty milk jugs.

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) Preparation Forum : One Thread

Our little nubian buck baby had been sick for a few days, and yesterday he started the process of dying. Many thanks to Lilly on this forum for all the effort she put into online diagnosis and for talking me through the treatment.

He was in great pain and lying in a colder part of the barn on a dirt floor. We put a clean sheet on the floor, moved him onto half the sheet, and covered him with the other half.

We filled empty (y2k leftovers) milk jugs with hot water and packed them around his body under the top part of the sheet. The jugs held heat very well for several hours at a time. Refilling them was done one at a time to avoid leaving him in the cold for any period of time.

As soon as he was under the sheet with warmth, he relaxed and went to sleep until he died.

Milk jugs could be filled with hot water and placed in a box of baby chicks if the power goes out. They lasted so long that in an emergency we think they could be put under the house on or under the water pipes to keep the pipes from freezing. We could put them in the cellar to keep the food from freezing in unusually cold spells. Water shouldn't be stored in them for long periods of time, but for short warming emergencies they're pretty good. There's no fire danger while using them.

An observation of animal behavior: While I worked on the baby goat I became aware that the barn and pen were silent. All of the animals had gathered in the barn and were watching in total silence. The aggressive doe was passive. The ducks were still and quiet. When I checked on him in the night, Grace Goat had left her precious insulated doghouse and was standing with the baby in the cold part of the barn. He wasn't her baby. When I checked again, she was in her doghouse and the baby was dead. I don't know what was going on with the animals. This experience has led me to question whether I have the right to own an animal. That they feel was never a question in my mind, but now I wonder if they think.

-- helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), February 01, 2000

Answers

How sad for the little goat. Thank you (and Lilly) for sharing such a simple yet effective method.

I'm not at all surprised by the behavior of the other animals, and I have never questioned that higher level animals can both feel and think. The less that a species relies entirely on instinctive behavior, the more it must make use of other talents to survive.

I have always believed that it is a "privilege" rather than a "right" to have that level of control over another sentient being. It's one of the reasons why, although I was raised in a Christian environment, I have never been able to accept its most basic tenets regarding attitudes towards other creatures and therefore some of the most basic principles of Christianity itself. Never seemed moral enough.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), February 01, 2000.


I am sorry, but did it not occur to you to take the baby into the house? Goats are VERY suseptible to hypothermia. Many the new born on a cold night has spent its first night under the covers with me in the house. Don't know what was wrong, but wonder about constipation. YOu would be surprised at the number of kids lost to that. Give them an enama when in doubt. Especially when in pain, its a good indicator. Taz....who once had a $500,000 USDA research grant re goats.

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), February 01, 2000.

Taz, yes I thought of taking him into the house, but he was scouring. He was too heavy for me to move alone, and his locked position made it really hard to manuver him. There is also a concern about rabies. About five weeks prior to his death we had a dog go nuts ala "Old Yeller". I know rabies with hysteria is very rare, the dog's vaccinations were out of date but not by much, the baby was injured at the time but we didn't know if the dog or the fence caused the wound, and we shot the dog without thinking to have her examined for rabies. Not knowing what was wrong with the baby and having a house full of young children pretty much made it too risky to have the baby in the house. We have taken babies into the house before and done the 3 AM feedings. I wish you were our neighbor!

-- helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), February 01, 2000.

Helen-I have experienced the same sense of "watching" from my sheep when one of them needs our help. I have seen them go to the opposite end of the pasture and watch from afar when a ewe was having a difficult delivery. Unfortunately, we too have had young animals die from hypothermia. And like Taz, we have brought them into the house, next to the woodstove, and tried our best to save them.

On a lighter note, they are equally paniced when it comes shearing time. The only one who didn't seem to mind the sheep's distress at shearing was their pasture mate, our Nubian goat, Gregory.

Take care

Bill

-- Bill (Bill@SHF.com), February 01, 2000.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ