Surprise!

What a trooper, this little fellow. I was drawn to go visit the goats yesterday afternoon, an unusual event as RNB does most of their care this time of year, and after hanging out scratching the friendly goats as the thermometer was heading back down below zero degrees, I looked around and noticed the two year old doe sniffing at something... Yikes! A new baby goat lay motionless on the ground!

I ran over and saw it had some breath, picked up it's mostly rigid little body and hurried inside the house to warm it up. Which I did, and he's alive and well. No apparent frost bite even though 80% of each ear was frozen stiff when I found him. Plus his hind legs were frozen stiff, too. Yikes.

Our challenge now is for his momma doe to accept him as her kid, as he doesn't smell like when she last sniffed him. Last night we held her while he nursed, then watched her sniff and butt him away a couple of times before we brought him inside for the night. He took some formula from a bottle, then we took him out again this morning to momma. Again held her while he nursed, then stood and watched what to see she would do. She sniffed but didn't butt him away this time. We are hopeful she will take him back as hers and raise him up. So much easier for her than for us!

Latest update: they are curled up next to each other on a pile of hay in the stall. Looks promising!