The following post is an archive of our GoFundMe campaign which began in 2020.
Hello everyone,
My apologies, it’s been a really long time since you heard from us. I actually started to write this update around the May long weekend, and I almost had it finished, but then “life just happened” and I got totally sidetracked by the normal “craziness” on the farm and in particular by the very intensive care for our little special goat Rosemary.
But now it’s finally time to catch up! During this pandemic many days just resemble the next one and time is simply flying by without us realizing, and now looking back there is so much that has happened. I don’t even know where to start.
Most importantly first: Thank you all for your support, kind messages and many inquiries concerning Rosemary and her care. We’ve been through a lot together, the relief and happiness of several good days were frequently followed by some challenging ones with new eating or health issues for our little Rosemary. For a very long time I just found it very difficult to say how she is doing exactly; it depends on every single day. There were and still are a lot of ups and downs, she has good days and not so good ones. We are doing all we can for feeding, providing every kind of care, interaction, safety and lots of love, whatever she needs. She’s already experienced a lot in her short life of almost 8 weeks, and it’s not been easy for her. Some days she didn’t drink well, her body temperature had dropped to dangerous low levels or she doesn’t have much energy.
Over the last weeks we have worked to establish a feeding routine that allowed us to maintain her body weight and we are really happy that with her rumen developing now she is finally starting to gain a little bit of weight and strength. She still doesn’t weigh half of what our farm cat Leo does, but every bit of increased weight is a victory – a step in the right direction. There have been lots of sleepless nights mixed with some frustration – for her and us. She still isn’t out of the woods, because she isn’t as strong as a “naturally” raised and developed baby goat, and there are a few more weeks of special care and crossing our fingers and toes ahead of us. But I believe she is a tough and resilient little fighter, and I really hope that she will grow up to be a fabulous goat – a very special one. We are giving her all the care we can, she is still bottle fed, stays with the staff over night, and she is also spending as much time as possible with the other goats.
I would like to use this opportunity to thank everyone who has enabled me to provide this level of intensive care to Rosemary and who supported me through this journey. I (and I honestly think all of us) didn’t expect it to be this intense, challenging, exhausting, emotional and long lasting, but we don’t regret one moment and don’t doubt at all that it was the right decision. She more deserves this chance of life and she is worth every sleepless night, every new wrinkle and every frustrated tear I’ve shed. I would also like to send a special shout of Thank You to our veterinarians who we have been in regular contact with and who really helped, advised, redirected and reassured whenever we needed it. And I truly admire their patience. I know little Rosemary didn’t think much of their visits and being examined and poked, but it was really important to get the experts’ opinion and always have someone to go to with new questions.
But all these difficulties set aside, Rosemary is just a little angel. She has a very unique personality and knows exactly what she likes and dislikes. Hanging out in the goat area is not her favourite thing yet, as she still feels insecure around the adult goats, but she is slowly getting more comfortable. She started to play more with the other babies – even behaving like a real goat sometimes. She has made two good friends among them: little Brie is very much her size and they both like to spend time inside their quiet stall and nibble on extra hay, and big Camembert – who we call Camie – is much bigger than Rosemary but really gentle to her and we find them often cuddling together. It’s very reassuring that Rosemary has found good goat friends. When she is not in the goat area, she has the tendency to get into trouble because she likes to try and mostly eat all the things she finds on the ground or can reach in any way; no matter how often I told her they are not supposed to be part of her diet. So, we always have to keep a close eye on her.
But all this extra work, interrupted nights and lots of additional worries and grey hairs move far into the background when I look at her and see all her little character quirks, the very expressive looks she gives us, her cute little voice when she tries to find her humans but who are just out of sight (although she can become really loud when she is getting annoyed with us), the way she just likes to snuggle up to us and enjoy our warmth and company. She really is a little angel who has found a very special place in my heart and always puts a smile on my face – no matter how tired my body and mind might be.
Just stay tuned please, tomorrow I will have more (and long awaited) news to share in the second part of this update.
Good night and stay safe,
Claudia
