After all these years in farming, we still never cease to be amazed at God’s surprises and we never cease to be in awe of the miracles of God’s creation. And this January 28th, in the middle of a freezing and wet night, we had quite a surprise!
We knew that our beautiful doe Kate was much larger than she had ever been during her pregnancies, and by the end of this pregnancy she had such a hard time walking and breathing because she had such a huge girth, we knew things were a little different. Our thoughts were that she probably had quadruplets. It got to the point that we found ourselves trying to take our own deep breaths when listening to her breathing when she was lying down, in our obviously futile attempt to transfer our ease of breathing onto her.
When her time finally came to deliver things progressed normally, there was a little delay after the first two and then we had two more. We were grateful that each delivered in normal position, and all were of normal birth weight. As always, after we believe, our moms are finished delivering, I do a bounce check just to officially confirm they are done. Imagine our surprise when not only did I feel another kid, but it gave me a firm kick! Kate was going to deliver quintuplets!! Finally, after about 40 minutes, buck number five made his entrance into this world: another normal position and normal birthweight kid. Poor Kate was carrying around over 16 pounds of babies, not including the weight of the placenta and amniotic fluids. It was no wonder that she was so uncomfortable. Over the years, we have heard of a few other farms where they had does that delivered quintuplets, but in each of the situations, one of the five had not survived. We were amazed!
At one week old, not only are they surviving, but thriving! Kate did have a bit of a setback, as she did get a respiratory infection. We think that because she was unable to take deep breaths during the late stage of her pregnancy, in addition to the added stress of carrying, delivering, and feeding quints, that she became susceptible to an infection. But Kate has remained a champ and is doing well. While being treated for her infection, she continues to be an excellent and attentive mama and her kids are gaining weight as expected. As can be seen in the video, all her kids are doing wonderfully.
We now have five beautiful bucklings with great bloodlines from both parents, that should become exceptional herd sires. More importantly, we have had the opportunity to experience the surprise, the blessings, and another example of the incredible handiwork of our Heavenly Father. It is a reminder that we should never cease to expect awe and wonder in everyday life.
