Blizzard Conditions and Baby Goats

We've been through blizzard-like conditions before.  We've had ice storms and been somewhat comfortable.  We've have 22 inches dumped on us overnight.  We've lost our power in all situations like this.  However, after receiving three feet of snow in the matter of a week, we realized that the difference in all of this was that we have never had the amount of animals that we do now in the snowy conditions in which we were blessed.  (And we truly do mean blessed!  How amazing it is to have the amount of moisture that we've been given!  It's an answer to prayers!)

When the power went out at 5:08am on Monday morning, our first thoughts went to the baby goats and their mamas.  They need their heat lamps.  And what about the zebras and camel?  They don't thrive in cold weather, let alone a blizzard.  So, what are we to do?  After calling the power company to make them aware of the situation, we bundled up to hook up generators to power the heat lamps.  The shelters of all of the animals had been winterized, but without those lamps, they won't survive.  After walking through snow up to our knees and doing a pretty good job of keeping ourselves upright, running extension cords and checking the bulbs, all of the animals were as toasty as possible.  Throughout the day, Jerad checked the gas in the generators, broke ice, and did what he could to help the animals stay warm.  Of course, some animals enjoy the snowy weather more than others, but even the Highlanders were up under their shelter during this storm.

The pinnacle of it all was when Jerad went to check the gas in the generator on Monday night at about 11.  On his way back in, he hadn't planned to make a trip to the goats to check them, but something inside of him told him to go anyway.  As he stepped up to the pen, he noticed that Runty had just birthed two babies, cold and shivering in the snow.  He quickly gathered them up and ran to the house to have JoDe get them warmed.  If there's anything that will warm you up, it's an adrenaline rush.  Forget about the hat and scarf worn inside the chilly house all day, it was time to figure out a way to get the body temperature of the babies up with the use of only one outlet powered by a generator.  Luckily, hot water still ran and a bath was drawn in the sink to help these two shivering kids.  After a couple of baths, drying them off by towel, then rubbing and blow drying them, they finally made noises to let us know they were doing okay.  While Braylon and JoDe kept the babies warm in dry towels, Jerad readied a stall in the big chicken coop to take Runty.  He had quite a workout carrying her to the coop in two feet of snow!  She cried for her babies the entire time, and as soon as the heat lamp was set, they were brought to her.  As of this morning, mama and babies are doing great!  This makes eleven kids for us in the last week!

Here they are this morning with Jerad.  Coolio is the one of the left, because she was so cool, calm, and collected during everything last night, and Ali (as in Muhammed) is on the right because she was a little fighter, fighting for her life.  Aren't baby goats the cutest thing ever?