Yuki

I would like you to meet Yuki. She is just one day old in this picture. Most people at the farm know her as Twizzler (her mothers name is licorice) but a select few call her by her real name. Yuki has a very special story. She was born at the end of June this past summer. When she was born, no person found her until about 30 minutes after her mother gave birth. The problem with that is that the sack did not break around her, so she was stuck in the sack with fluids for about 30 minutes. That is a very unusual thing to happen. She actually had a twin who did not last the 30 minutes, and she was dead by the time someone got to her. Yuki did make it, though she was never very healthy. 

She would have 'fainting spells' where she would just fall over and look dead. We had to do many a CPR on her. We later found out that her lungs had been damaged, and so her entire respiratory system was out of whack. We where not sure how long she was going to make it, but she kept surviving. After about a month, when we figured out what was going on with her body we moved her out from all the other goats and put her mother and her into a separate room. This way no one would bully them, and we could keep guests and people from holding her too often. 

One great thing about this was being able to share her story with the guests that would come past. We had a sign that said to please not pet her, mostly because we didn't want her to be handled too much and put too much stress on her lungs. But because of this, many people asked about Yuki and what was wrong. I watched many people be touched by her story of her survival, and many volunteers fell in love with the little goat. 

The best part of the day soon became the hour we would take mom and baby outside to run around and get fresh air. People loved watching that little goat. She sure had a lot of energy and ran like any other little goat. Over time she kept getting better and better, and we were sure she was going to make it.

Sadly we were wrong, Yuki passed away the beginning of September. She went into one of her fainting spells and never came out of it. It was quick, so she was never in too much pain for long. I wasn't there at the time, but I heard about it a few hours later when I came and helped bury the body. I loved this goat, and she was probably one of my favorite (maybe even my favorite) that we ever had at the farm. Now that is saying something, because we have had a Lot of goats on the farm. 

Even though her real name was Twizzler, I always loved the name Yuki more. I was the one who named her that, and there was a reason behind the name. Yuki means snow in Japanese. She was the only white pygmy goat that we have on the farm, and so she was special. I found the name fitting. 

We buried her under the marigolds, it was a fitting spot.

 Rest in Peace Yuki.