Hindel Kidz 20: Jane The Pain
Hindel Kidz 20
Jane The Pain
The early summer days on the farm were the happiest and fairest of the year. Lilacs were in bloom and made the air sweet. Apple blossoms came with the lilacs and bees visited around among the apple trees. The days grew warm and soft.
In the early summer there are plenty of things for the goats to eat, drink, suck and chew. Dandelions stems were full of milk. Clover heads were full of nectar and leaves were always everywhere.
One day in early June, Jack got a phone call. It was from Shelly down at Rolling Hills. She had a caramel colored, two and a half year old girl goat for sale and wanted to know if Jack was interested. As soon as he got off the phone, Sven asked, “Well, when are you going to get this one?”
“Tomorrow.”
Sven joked when Shelly wanted to sell a goat all she had to do was call Jack. Hindel Kidz was quickly becoming the Wakatomika Creek branch of Rolling Hills.
Sven and Grace both looked under the Rolling Hills website to see if they could figure out which girl goat Jack would get since they didn’t know the name. There were three goats for sale and caramel colored. One was named Sunny, another was named Jane and the third was named Asia. Grace had a gut feeling it would be Jane, but then decided to go with Asia. And that was only because Asia hadn’t had a baby and both Sunny and Jane had at least one. They found out the Bottle Baby they saw when they went to pick up Becca and Libby had been Jane’s. She didn’t claim her baby and just wanted it away from her. She would only let her baby eat if Shelly was out there and holding her.
As it turned out Grace should have gone with her gut because Jane was the goat Jack came home with. Her best friend in Illinois’s name was also Jane. At feeding time, Grace went in the building and let Belle and Libby out to run around. The rest of the goats were locked in since the new goat was in with them. She went in and said, “Hi there, girl,” and walked slowly over.
Jane seemed to be pretty friendly. At least she didn’t run away and let Grace pet her. She had some black on her face and a black stripe half way down her back. There rest of her was caramel except for the white spot on the top of her head.
Jane was born on January 15th, 2007 so that makes her two days younger than Ruby. Sven said Jane was a very plain name.
Jane was a pretty goat, but when you ran your hand down her side you could feel her hipbone and you weren’t supposed to be able to feel that. It was the same way with Becca. That’s why Shelly wasn’t going to show Jane anymore. She had shown her in a goat show and won second place.
Shelly also said Jane had had one shot, but needed another special one since she had so much trouble with her babies that year. She wondered if it could have been a virus.
“It’s possible Jane could already be expecting a baby. She had been with one of the boys down at Rolling Hills twice already. Once in April and once in early June,” Jack said.
So that would make her due date either the beginning of September or sometime in November.
Only a couple weeks after getting her, Jane started to put on weight. They all thought Jane was going to have a baby for sure even though she didn’t look like she had any milk. Charlotte said there was no way Jane wasn’t going to have a baby.
Whenever Shelly talked to Jack, she asked if Jane was getting big. The other girl goat who was going to have babies with the same boy goat, had twins the end of August. Jane wasn’t showing any signs so she probably wouldn’t have her baby until November. They weren’t sure when she had been with the boy goat.
As it turned out the boy goat was only two months old and he and Jane had the same mother. So he was at least her half-brother if not her biological one. Their mother had 10 or more babies so a plus sign was added to her name. Shelly had said Jane hadn’t been a good mother to her first baby. But sometimes when a goat isn’t a good mother the first time around, she could be the perfect mother next time. Grace couldn’t believe Jane couldn’t be a good mother when she had a mother like Wendy.
“Does Shelly know about your survival rate when it comes to registered babies?” Sven asked.
Shelly lets her goat have babies a lot more often than Jack. He lets them have babies only once a year usually in the early spring.
When they let the goats out the next day, Jack said to keep an eye on Jane since she liked to wander.
Jane’s mother and father were Lainie’s grandmother and grandfather. Grace tried to figure out what relation that would make them. Jack had determined Jane, Lainie and Ben were first cousins. Rolling Hills Firecracker was the grandfather or great-grandfather of all of their Rolling Hills goats. Jack said he would have to sit down and figure out which goats could “legally” have babies together.
They also learned Lainie was part caramel. Jack knew one of the goats was just wasn’t sure which one. Lainie’s brother who had been sold to someone in Cincinnati was a caramel. Grace said maybe when Lainie had a baby she might have a caramel. Jack said it wouldn’t happen since Lainie, Elmer and Ben were all black or gray. The baby will be the same color as the daddy in most cases.
Charlotte was the one who actually wanted Jane. She had commented before she liked Joy because she was brown. Charlotte also liked caramels. Jack said if he had to get another boy for breeding purposes, he would have to get one from a different farm. He wanted either a white or a caramel. No more black ones.
Jane came around to all three of them and let them pet her. She was playing musical chairs. She gave Molly a couple of wary looks, but wasn’t exactly afraid of her. All Nibby wanted to do was ram Jane. The rest of the goats didn’t seem to mind her being in there with them. At feeding time, Jane was standing in the back half of the pen, but then dove right in and started eating the pellets just like any other goat. They asked Becca if she remembered Jane and if they had caught up on all the gossip down at Rolling Hills.
The third day, Jane was the first one to come out of the building. She walked right over to Grace and wanted to be petted. Sven picked her up and tried to hold her on his lap, even though she was full-grown. She actually seemed to like that. When Grace and Sven got ready to leave, Jane started to follow them and shouted.
