‘As ‘Real-World’ As It Gets,’ Students At Massachusetts High School Help Deliver Baby Goats In Class

By Web staff

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    TURNERS FALLS, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A group of high school students in Massachusetts recently helped deliver several baby goats when the mother went into labor during class.

The Nigerian dwarf goat named Addie belongs to Kimberly Barry, the veterinary and animal science teacher at Franklin County Technical School in Turners Falls.

While Barry was preparing to leave her farm in the morning for school, Addie began to show signs of labor so she brought the goat to school to monitor it.

Barry’s 10th grade students were in class later in the day when Addie began to deliver.

Students gathered around the goat to watch the process, and some helped to receive the babies. Three baby goats, known as kids, were delivered.

“This was a great lesson in normal caprine birth and the steps that need to be taken immediately after kids are born,” Barry said. “One of the things we always stress at Franklin County Tech is giving our students real-world experiences in their fields of interest, and this experience was as ‘real-world’ as it gets. It was great for the students to see this birth up close and be able to ask questions about what they saw.”

The school said the mother rejected one of the kids, which is common in livestock. As a result, students are also helping bottle feed the newborn goats.

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