Elira

aka Lira/Lir

Elira

We saw Elira standing alone in a pen at an auction, severely underweight, withdrawn, and terrified. This girl broke my heart, and we knew we had to bring her home. Lira started eating the moment we put food down in front of her, which was a blessing since she had a critically low FAMACHA score, which meant that she was already critically anaemic from a much too high worm load. She also had bronchitis, unkempt hooves, and generally presented as depressed.

The surprising aspect about Elira was how quickly she became accustomed to our touch and how willing she was to let us help her. Together with the intervention implemented to address the worm infestation and bronchitis, we made sure that a comprehensive and balanced diet was introduced. Lira responded so well to treatment, and in two weeks, she was already picking up weight and her FAMACHA scores were improving.

After 3 weeks from meeting her, we saw her udder expanding – this girl was pregnant. We never even considered this to be a possibility because she had been so emaciated when we met her, but this girl was growing rounder by the day and most assuredly was carrying a new life inside of her.

We monitored Elira around the clock. She was young, underweight, and still not as healthy as we wanted her to be, so we knew birth complications would be a possibility. We added boosters and a mineral block to her diet to ensure that she at least had every nutritional need met to give her a better chance at a healthy body and birth. Miraculously, Elira had a natural birth, leading to a healthy young goat boy unexpectedly joining Besida.

Elira proved to be an excellent mother, and her boy Kismet absolutely adores her. Elira has grown from strength to strength since then and is the sweetest young girl. We are blessed to have found this lovely goat. Both Elira and her son, Kismet, will live their days out in Sanctuary bliss!