Chương 80: 79: Goats

Dydd Mercher, Ionwr 10th When we got back to the homestead that afternoon, we unpacked our food goods in the cold storage room, then wandered up the stairs to the farmhouse. I was looking forward to a warm bath, and an evening spent reading my almanac in front of the fire. Instead, Colin, Glenn, and Hari were upstairs, sitting around the dinner table, sipping some of the herbal tea I'd bought right after the siege. I couldn't drink coffee, but I sure as heck wasn't going without something warm for the winter.

Our blackberry cordial was delicious, but it felt a little scandalous to drink it with breakfast…

"Gentlemen!" I said, smiling at the three men. They all looked at me and gave weak smiles.

"No, don't get up on account of me." I joked.

"Why do you all look so rough?" Colin looked at his mother, then looked away.

"Uh oh," I said.

"What's up?" Hari, who was the sergeant after all, said, "Nothing big, really. But we 'ad an encounter with a group of five goblins on wargs. No Shamans with them, thank the System. But we think they were trying to escape back over the mountains. It's a good thin' really." The pursed lips that had been blessedly absent on Emily's face as of late, made a sudden return. I quickly jumped in.

"Yeah, sounds like at least some are trying to leave now. You guys must not have had too much trouble since no one looks injured." Hari shook his head.

"No, we caught them as they were tryin' to cross the river. Three of them were dead before they even knew what 'appened. The others never even tried to turn back at us. Just kept swimming. We killed all the goblins and a few of the wargs. The others made it to the trees."

"That going to be an issue?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so." Hari said.

"We tracked them all the way to the true Barrier Mountains. We actually only made it a day and a half north before we ran into them. Spent the rest of the time trackin' the beasts. We only beat you here by an hour." Colin finally spoke after that.

"We slept rough. Never started a fire the entire time. I did hit level 6 in militiaman though." I nodded and said, "Well that's good. I think the Lieutenant has orders for you three. Once you've recouped, one of you should go speak with him." Hari nodded. I looked at Colin and grinned widely.

"Oh, and Colin, I finally got your adoption present." Emily let out a little huff.

"You also bought him that rifle. He is going to be spoiled if you do not start making him earn his own things." I grinned at her as I bent down and unzipped the deerskin gun bag I'd had commissioned to keep the gun dry. I picked the gun up and handed it to Colin, and smiled at Emily.

"True, but if I didn't buy him this shotgun too then who would go duck hunting with me?" The gun certainly caused all three men to perk up. Seeing Colin interacting with Hari and Glenn as a respected member of their scouting group, despite not having a formal Scout class yet, made me happy. He too was finding his place in this world. That reminded me, I needed to speak with his mother about getting him betrothed at some point. His situation was a lot better now than it had been a year ago.

He was now a very eligible bachelor. As the three men admired the silver filigree that was etched into the stock and the brass screws that offset the blued steel of the barrel, Glenn looked at me and asked, "Will you adopt me too? Then we can all go duck hunting." That got even Emily to laugh. I could understand her feelings of worry over Colin. The two of them had been on the edge for several years. Right after they got security, Colin decided to go out on his own instead of staying and being a farmer.

Eventually, I told Colin that we'd go duck hunting the next day and told the three men I wanted a bath and some time in front of the fireplace. The men remarked they would probably be hitting up the bathhouse we'd had installed behind the bunkhouses after they met with Woolsy. A week with no warm water or proper way to keep clean in freezing temperatures meant they needed it. And that was exactly the moment that Tess came in and yelled up the stairs that two of the goats were in labor and one was struggling.

I abandoned my dreams of a warm bath and reading by the fire, and I went downstairs and grabbed my coat off the row of coat hooks by the front door. Emily and Colin followed behind. When we got outside, Sean Malley was waiting for us.

"Sir, I've delivered a breech goat before, you want me to assist?" I looked at him and smiled.

"I'm not going to turn down a seasoned hand. Has Woolsy talked to you yet? About joining us full time?" Sean paled, then nodded. I laughed and squeezed his shoulder.

"Sorry, and welcome aboard." He looked a little ill at having been inducted into the Order, but his parents were already in, so it was now a family affair. We could discuss it in private later. We all made our way to the barn where I could see that Lilly and Trilly, two of the does, were clearly in labor. Trilly had already given birth to one kid, and it was already standing, looking disheveled and wet. Trilly looked to be getting ready to push out a second kid soon.

Lilly, however, was lying on her side, panting heavily in between bleats. The other two does watched from the other side of their enclosure while Gerald bleated and pawed at the floor. Sean took control right away as we stepped inside their pen.

"Colin, will you grab a rag and wipe down the kid?" This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Colin nodded and went to do as he was told. Sean looked at me and said, "Will you deal with Gerald? He makes me nervous." I smiled and said, "Absolutely." He chuckled at the malice in my voice, then said, "Mrs Jacobsen, can you grab me some lard? I'll lather my arm up with it so I don't hurt the goat when I reach in and try to get the kid out."

Emily nodded and rushed back to the house. I climbed into the enclosure and got close to Gerald, who lowered his head at me. I grabbed him by the two horns that faced straight ahead, and bodily wrestled him towards the chute area that sat at the side of their pen. He wasn't prepared for my level 26 strength. Even though he weighed close to three hundred pounds, he was no match for me. In fact, once he realized just how outclassed he was, he quit fighting and went to the chute willingly.

That task accomplished, I asked Sean what the plan was.

"Well, sir," he said.

"From what I can tell, as far as breech goes this is a best case scenario. See the hoof sticking out?" I looked down at the goat and sure enough, there was a hoof sticking out. Sean continued speaking.

"He's backwards, but I'll get both hooves out and I can pull him the rest of the way. He might even make his own way out but it's clearly been a while. If there's another one in there we need to move this along or you could lose three goats tonight." Right then, the barn doors opened and Emily and Aiden Newton both came in. Aiden looked at me and said, "I hear you're having a might bit o' trouble. Need a hand?"

I smiled warmly at him and said, "It looks like Sean here has things under control, but if you want to stick around I sure wouldn't be opposed to even more expertise being available in case it's needed." He nodded at me and chuckled. He climbed into the pen and stood next to me, his arms crossed but in an otherwise loose stance. Sean didn't seem too impressed to have the Rancher present, but he didn't actually say anything. The two of them would be seeing each other daily, so I hoped they'd get along.

I really liked Aiden. He had Colin's drive, but didn't suffer from a case of wanderlust like Colin did. His parents were still pretty young, and he'd have to go out on his own sooner rather than later because of that, but he was hoping to get a spot in the upcoming lottery. Until then he wouldn't strike out on his own since he didn't count against the settler numbers, and his parents clearly needed and enjoyed his help. I knew he was also waiting to see if he got a spot before he tried to find a wife.

It seemed that homesteaders married a bit later than they did back home. The uncertainty and danger of breaking new ground meant that a lot of people didn't want to marry off their daughters to homesteaders.

The fact that young adults didn't count against homesteader numbers and a shortage of formal farm laborers meant keeping young adults at home was more beneficial than marrying them off and sending them off to start their lives, unlike back home where it was imperative to get them on their own as quickly as possible due to limited resources.

I'd only talked with Emily so far, but if Aiden didn't get a spot, I'd petition for him to be allowed to buy one of the spots available for children of homesteaders who were old enough to be on their own. I knew that Brendan would give him some cows and sheep, and if I financed his plot, he could pay me back as he could. I'd look to do that for my farmhands at some point too, if they turned out to be good workers. I wanted to build a community out here that I could trust and rely on.

I loved farming way out on my own, but I had to admit, I'd enjoyed having more people around this winter. It was easier to take things one day at a time when you had company than when you had too much time to think. Sean broke me out of that reverie I had such a bad habit of falling into this winter when he said, "Alright here we go." I looked back at him. He waited until after Lilly tried to push again and gently inserted his hand into her and felt for the second back hoof.

He quickly found it and slowly pulled it out. Once both hooves were out, he wiped off his hands and the hooves of the kid so he could get a better grip. Once that was done, he steadily pulled the kid down and out. As soon as it plopped onto the ground, he used his rag and wiped its mouth and nose clear of the amniotic sac that was still on its face. The umbilical cord had already broken. He patted the kid a few times, and it cried out and began struggling. He let it get up, then looked back at Lilly.

She seemed exhausted, and she didn't get up right away. Aiden started to speak, but Sean quickly broke in.

"I'm gonna put some more lard on and feel in there to see if there's another kid in there." Aiden quickly asked him, "You're not gonna give er time ta see if she'll have it on 'er own?" Sean shook his head.

"She looks pretty tired to me." Aiden reluctantly nodded.

"Alright, do your thing," I said to Sean. I sure as heck wasn't an expert in delivering goats and it seemed like even Aiden agreed with Sean's call here. I would have had to use the almanac to tell me how to do it if these two hadn't been here. He greased back up and put his hand back inside. Lilly bleated at him once, but otherwise didn't struggle. After a few seconds, I heard him say, "hmm." Then his face twisted in concentration.

After a few moments, he seemed happy with whatever was going on, and he slowly started pulling his arm back out. Soon enough, two legs popped out. Then he did some more repositioning, and a head came too. From there it was a quick job to carefully pull the kid fully out. He cleaned its face off too, then patted Lilly on her side. She was still panting, but she wasn't bleeding or anything. I was nervous though, so I threw out a question for Aiden and Sean.

"She gonna be okay? Do we need to do anything?" They shook their heads. Aiden said, "She should be fine, see. She's exhausted. Both kids are alive an' standing, so she was probably just pushin' for a while before somebody found her. Wouldn't hurt t'have someone keep an eye on the other two now, just t'make sure everything's alright. They're first-time mothers, they are. Next births'll be easier for 'em " Sean nodded as Aiden was speaking.

When he was done, he said, "I'll watch em the next few days if you don't have other duties for me." I nodded.

"That sounds fine to me. We still have all the soldiers for another month." I looked at everyone in the room, then said, "I don't know about you all, but that was exhausting. I'm gonna go take a bath." Sean and Aiden burst out with a laugh and so did Colin, who had remained quiet during the entire birth. Emily let out a quick snort of laughter, then tried to look dignified. I looked at her and said, "Care to join me?" Her cheeks reddened, and she looked scandalized.

"Mr. Jacobson," she said.

"No, but I will go and have a cup of tea." Colin shook his head in disgust and said, "Ma, you don't drink tea." —————————————————- Wild pigs and goats suffer from far fewer birthing maladies than their domesticated cousins. There are many reasons for that, chief among them being the birth weight of the mother animals. Wild animals tend to weigh far less before they give birth, which helps facilitate a much easier birth.

The extra fat on domesticated animals helps with milk production, but it can cause restrictions on the birthing canal. We have also selectively bred animals to produce larger offspring, as well as a much larger size at full sexual maturity. A wild version of the Highland Isles goat is fully a third smaller than their domesticated cousins at this point.

Any good Veterinarian will tell you that it is best to limit the amount of feed in the weeks leading up to the birth of any animal you may be raising, followed by an increase in the amount and quality of feed available after the animal has given birth. This is also a wise rule of thumb when dealing with first time human mothers as well, although it would be extremely unwise to mention it to said women. Excerpt from, Animal Husbandry by Sir Frederick Douglass. This book is available in the Albion Trade Guild Store.

When purchased, it will be available as a tab on any agricultural related Almanac.