PATRICK'S PEOPLE: Jane Crumpacker is getting her goat

Jane Crumpacker is surrounded by kids with varying numbers of legs. The two-legged variety are greatly outnumbered by the four-legged kind.

In fact, during a recent 12-day period, a total of 64 kids were born at the Crumpacker homeplace in rural Cherokee.

“I’ve got 15 more does (female goats) due to kid by the end of the month,” she added.

It started out small.

“The kids (human) wanted 4-H animals,” Crumpacker said, “and my husband has always wanted them. One kid got them, then the others wanted them. Goats make a good 4-H or FFA project.”

What started as a way to ensure a supply of good kids for the kids turned into a side business for Crumpacker, who works at Pitsco in Pittsburg. When the goat kids are old enough, she sells them through word-of-mouth advertising, as well as Craigslist and Trading Post.

“We have Boer goats, and one Nubian that I felt sorry for,” Crumpacker said.

Boers are one of the most popular meat goats in the world, but don’t ask her how they taste.

“I haven’t tasted goat,” she said. “I’m told it tastes like deer.”

She has two billy goats, Mr. Dan and Mr. Connect N Dots, a handsome brown-and-white spotted male. He’s young and hasn’t yet assumed his duties, but Crumpacker is hoping that when he does, some of his kids will inherit his spotted coat.

That means Mr. Dan is the father of all the current crop of kids.

“Dan bred 45 does in five days,” Crumpacker said. “He didn’t even eat for five or six days.”

That’s why she had so many kids born in the same time period, which was challenging because she tries to be with the mothers when they give birth.

“With most of them there aren’t any complications, but sometimes a first-time momma has a single kid that is just a bit too large,” Crumpacker said.

Twins are common, and she said that there were even a few sets of triplets this year. Crumpacker explained that the food source depends on how many eggs are released by the mother’s ovaries.

She did recently have a problem with the birth of twins. The mother, an experienced doe, had been in labor, but the babies weren’t coming, so Crumpacker examined her.

“I felt two heads and two sets of front legs side by side,” she said. “They were trying to come out at the same time. If I hadn’t been there, I would have lost everyone.”

Crumpacker knows the signs when a doe is about to go into labor, and has a special kidding shed/delivery room for them, but a few this season have dropped their babies out in a field. One was a set of triplets who came early. When Crumpacker found them, one was dead and another died shortly after. She is bottle-feeding the third in her house, and is pretty sure now that she will survive.

“I’d make a house pet out of her, except that she’ll probably grow up to 150 pounds,” Crumpacker said as the affectionate kid nuzzled her.

She allows the mothers to wean the babies at their own pace.

“The kids get their immunity from their mother’s milk, and besides that, they get stressed out if you try to force it,” Crumpacker said. “Let them do it at their own pace, and when you do separate them, nobody cares.”

She has help with the goats, including from her husband, Carl, and the human kids.

“I built the barn,” her husband said.

Daughter Kayla graduated last year and so has “aged out” of 4-H. Cody and Samantha are high school juniors, and Shi Ann is a seventh grader. She and Samantha both have goats of their own in the herd. Crumpacker’s son Joey builds new fencing and is in the process of building another barn.

Living with the goats are two Great Pyrenees, large dogs who are a combination of guardians and nursemaids.

“They were born and raised in a goat pen,” Crumpacker said. “They work as a team. One will stay with the herd while the other patrols. In the day, if the goats are in the field, one will herd them back to the barn while the other goes out to check  who’s there.”

Most likely it’s coyotes, who are plentiful in the surrounding countryside.

“We had one doe kid out in the field, and I’m positive the dogs cleaned the baby up for her,” Crumpacker said. “She hadn’t passed her afterbirth yet, but that baby was all cleaned up.”

The non-human family members also include three yard dogs, some cats and, inside, five finches, a cockatiel, fish and two lizards.

When Crumpacker isn’t taking care of the goats she enjoys hunting, especially with the bow that her husband gave her for Christmas a few years ago. She is also interested in photography and has shown her work at the Crawford County Fair.

It’s all a lot of work and she feels bad on those occasions when something goes wrong and, despite her best efforts, she loses a kid.

“I admit sometimes it’s very sad because things happen that are out of my control,” Crumpacker said. “But I do try to do whatever I can to help my family and my animals when I can. Giving them up isn’t an option. I will always have some kind of animals and I’m sure two-legged kids too in my life.”