Today is Jeremy’s 1st Birthday!

I can’t believe it has already been a year since tiny little Jeremy was born! Today is his birthday and he continues to bring joy to me every day. I took a look back at the photos I’ve taken during the year and want to share his first year with you guys.

*I’m trying something totally new with the formatting of this post. If it looks strange, please let me know and I’ll see if I can figure out how to make it work. Thanks for your patience!

Jeremy’s mother, Violet

In October, 2012, I rescued a beautiful goat named Violet. I was told that she was half Nigerian dwarf and half Alpine. I know that she was at least part Nigerian dwarf, but I have no idea how much or if she was even mixed with any other breed.

After working for a few months to correct her nutritional and mineral deficiencies, I realized that she was pregnant.

She had been in a feed lot when I rescued her, so she could have bred with any male goat that was in with her. Had I not rescued her, she would have been slaughtered soon.

Violet and her boys, just a few minutes old. She’s cleaning off Jeremy’s nose while Webster takes a little break.

On February 25, 2013, Violet went into labor. After a few hours of contractions, then just a few minutes of pushing, she gave birth to a tiny, 2-pound buckling (male baby goat).

Based on her size, her babies should have been about 4 or 5 pounds in weight. This little guy was very small. She stood up to start cleaning him off, as good mother goats do. I was helping to dry him off since it was only about 20 degrees F outside.

After a minute or two, I looked behind her to see if she was going to deliver another kid. Just as I looked behind her, another buckling slipped right out of her. I don’t think she even noticed. He was even smaller than his brother. He weighed only one and a half pounds!

Tiny Jeremy at only 1 day old and weighing less than 2 pounds, sleeping in a 7-gallon water tub filled with blankets

Despite the fact that I had Violet and her babies enclosed in a kidding stall in the garage with some very carefully hung heat lamps above them, Jeremy was just too tiny to be able to stay warm.

So, I brought him into the house to stay warm, leaving Webster with their mother.

I soon discovered that these kids were born prematurely and that Violet may be ill. Violet never produced any milk, so I had to bottle-raise both kids from the time they were born.

Mini Meadow meeting the new kids for the first time when they were only a few days old. She was thrilled to help feed Webster.

Every meal time, I would bring Jeremy out to the garage to eat alongside his brother and have some time to visit with his mother. However, if he stayed out for more than a few minutes, he started to get cold and sluggish, so we’d head back into the house.

Violet became more and more ill and, despite advice from many seasoned goat farmers as well as veterinary care, Violet died 10 days after the bucklings were born.

My veterinarian suspects that, in addition to the significant nutritional and mineral deficiencies, Violet also likely had cancer prior to being bred. She carried her little boys as long as she could and it just took too much out of her to recover.

Violet cuddles with Webster and Jeremy, who is wearing his “outside” coat.

Just after Violet’s death, Webster came into the house to live with Jeremy. Without his mom to snuggle with, he wouldn’t have been able to stay warm. Both of these boys were born tiny and remain tiny.

They were likely stunted in their development due to Violet’s health issues prior to them being born prematurely. They have grown at a rate that is almost proportional to kids who are born healthy and full-term.

Here are some other photos of Jeremy that I absolutely love from the past year…

Jeremy is about 1 or 2 days old here, standing in his tub, wearing his “indoor” sweater.

Jeremy got a lot of cuddles, wearing his “indoor” sweater. Here, he is sitting on my lap.

One-day-old Jeremy sleeping, tucked into his cozy blankets

Jeremy and Webster, about 3 months old, playing with my skirt

Jeremy is about 4 months old, visiting with one of Dory’s quadruplets who is about 2 weeks old and already bigger than Jeremy

I took this photo this morning, on his 1-year birthday. He’s eating from the tiny Chaffhaye feeder that I made for him.

I placed Jeremy’s first sweater on his back to show how much he has grown!

On his 1-year birthday, Jeremy weighs about 24 pounds. He will likely mature somewhere between 25 and 30 pounds.

Jeremy gets along well with everyone in the herd. He is neutered so that he can’t breed with any of the does. My largest doe weighs about 130 pounds. Even with that size difference, none of the larger goats have ever hurt him. They play with him gently and let him snuggle with them at night and when they rest to chew their cud. They seem to think of him as a kid and love him.

I can’t wait to see how Jeremy changes over the next year as he reaches full maturity!