Although he wasn’t with us long, Diamond was a special little Nigerian Dwarf boy.
Diamond was born on our farm on May 10, 2023. He was part of a set of quadruplets. His dam was Junebug, and his sire was Biscotti. Diamond was born with some kind of neurological issue that prevented him from holding up his head, or laying sternal the way that goats should. He could only lay on his side, which is very hard for his stomach, so we would try to prop him up as best as we could. He also didn’t have much of a suckle reflex at first, but we were able to syringe feed him. Eventually he did start to take a bottle, and he did pretty good with that. He put on weight, and was developing quite well, but he still could not hold himself up, or stand in any way. Diamond would kick himself around in circles in his playpen though, and was actually quite strong. As he grew, we started to introduce hay, but he didn’t want any part of that. We had to make a bit of a slurry using hay pellets, and would spoon feed him that. He did NOT like it, but we wanted to make sure he was keeping up with eating the way other goats his age were. Shortly before he was 4 months old, Diamond started to have seizures. Although we tried to get him to the vet in time, he didn’t make it. It was heartbreaking, as he had really tried so hard to survive, and wanted to be a baby goat. Diamond was very special to us, and he made a huge impact on everyone who was lucky enough to meet this sweet little guy.