I wanted to write my thoughts on the Polar Vortex which arrived at Fur Immer Farm the evening of Jan. 6th,2014.
Our herd Queen Babylon decided that Jan. 6 would be a great evening to kid starting at 4:09 pm and ending at 4:14 pm with triplets, one boy and 2 girls. I broke out the blow dryer and bath towels to get the kids dried as quickly as possible. All went well with the first nursing, heat lamps in place off to bed we went at 9 pm.
11:00 pm we were awakened by the cessation of the barn monitor noises. The power went out! Outside temp was already -10 degrees with wind chills of -30. Duane had anticipated this happening and went out and started the gas generation to supply the barn with heat. The generator lasted an hour before freezing. The electric was restored at 2 am. In the meantime we had 3 little goats in the house trying to warm them in our shirts by the woodburner with kid sweater on for added heat retention. The litte boy's temp dropped. Once the power returned he was heated with a blow dryer and spent the remainder of the night in a playpen set up in the guest bedroom, returning to mama in the morning. I had to tube feed him twice because the cold had left him unable to suckle sufficiently.
7 am our daughter called to say that her oil furnace had blown and we rushed to take our space heaters to her, leaving one heater in the stall with the newborn triplets.
Jan. 8th at 1:00pm Moon decided that it was her turn to kid in the sub zero temps with twins, a boy and a girl. Again we were forced to bring out the blow dryer and the girl ended up needing to be bottlefed.
In the end, we were extremely blessed by God! All of the kids survived the sub zero temps. We survived too. Although extremely tired from the ordeal and still bottle feeding 3 kids, we count our blessing and thank the Lord for all that he has given us.
Our herd Queen Babylon decided that Jan. 6 would be a great evening to kid starting at 4:09 pm and ending at 4:14 pm with triplets, one boy and 2 girls. I broke out the blow dryer and bath towels to get the kids dried as quickly as possible. All went well with the first nursing, heat lamps in place off to bed we went at 9 pm.
11:00 pm we were awakened by the cessation of the barn monitor noises. The power went out! Outside temp was already -10 degrees with wind chills of -30. Duane had anticipated this happening and went out and started the gas generation to supply the barn with heat. The generator lasted an hour before freezing. The electric was restored at 2 am. In the meantime we had 3 little goats in the house trying to warm them in our shirts by the woodburner with kid sweater on for added heat retention. The litte boy's temp dropped. Once the power returned he was heated with a blow dryer and spent the remainder of the night in a playpen set up in the guest bedroom, returning to mama in the morning. I had to tube feed him twice because the cold had left him unable to suckle sufficiently.
7 am our daughter called to say that her oil furnace had blown and we rushed to take our space heaters to her, leaving one heater in the stall with the newborn triplets.
Jan. 8th at 1:00pm Moon decided that it was her turn to kid in the sub zero temps with twins, a boy and a girl. Again we were forced to bring out the blow dryer and the girl ended up needing to be bottlefed.
In the end, we were extremely blessed by God! All of the kids survived the sub zero temps. We survived too. Although extremely tired from the ordeal and still bottle feeding 3 kids, we count our blessing and thank the Lord for all that he has given us.