Last week an old friend of mine from Tampa contacted me about a baby goat he was going to buy. He’s never had farm animals and wanted guidance. Since I love to give my opinion I was fully prepared to help him. 
I did my best to arm him with information and questions for the current owner. His next call to me was asking if he I could keep her for the long holiday weekend. He didn’t trust his house full of visitors to let the baby rest and was accused of being a helicopter dad by his house guests.
Of course, I couldn’t imagine a better weekend than caring for a bottle baby. He drove her up from Tallahassee and delivered this adorable tiny baby girl:
The two week old doeling was so tiny she was the size of my smallest new born kids. My friend informed me her mother was attacked by a BEAR right before she gave birth!!! I can’t imagine the hormones this little one must have experienced in her mother’s womb during the event, and of course the horror her mother went thru.
With a large chunk of the does body damaged the mother was unable to care for her new doeling. If the doe lives it will be a miracle. The fact she was able to survive a bear attack in the first place and then subsequently manage to give birth are incredible feats.
It was clear as the weekend went on this tiny baby girl had no idea she’s a goat. She explored my home (wearing a diaper) as if she owned it. She felt free to jump on my white couch and perched herself along the top ledge like a cat would do.
Despite being two weeks old and getting around well she didn’t have the leg strength of even my typical week old kids. She displayed the activity level of one of my three day olds. I have no idea if this is due to her circumstances of birth or her genetics.
As usual, Luca claimed her as his baby immediately. I had to keep my goats a safe distance from the tiny girl or risk Maybelle injuring her. The baby girl enjoyed bounding after the chickens and cats under the safe watch of her giant canine protector. If I held her Luca paced around me checking on her every few minutes.
Unfortunately, my phone has been taking terrible quality pictures lately so I was only able to capture a couple clear shots from visitors cameras. As farm guests poured in over the weekend to give love to the new baby, it seemed to add to her delusion of being a human kid.
Bottle feedings every couple hours was exhausting but also fun, especially since I knew she was going back to her dad in a few days. Seeing this baby warm the hearts of kids and interact with them with trust and enthusiasm I know she’s destined to be a great therapy goat on my friend’s new farm in Florida.
xo
