Posted in Goats
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Well, now for the goats. We have, I think, 17 or 18 goats. It's hard to keep them straight. I have 3 babies sold that are still here. One mama sold that is still here. Either my baby buck or my "teenage" buck sold. Not sure which yet. Sold a dry doe yesterday to my neighbor, but he still has one of my does over at his place. She isn't weaned yet. Plus he has 2 boers that belong to my husband. So our goats are kinda scattered and I can't remember which ones are which anymore! LOL! I have a really mean horrible goat that is an awesome milker! She gives good creamy milk and a lot of it. Unfortunatly, it takes 2 men and 20 minutes to catch her and get her on the stand! But then in the end it is worth it. She is a scrub goat. I have 3 scrub goats. They are always healthy. My full bloods are always NOT healthy! Especially my Togg. Anybody need a full blood Toggenburg that throws beautiful babies and is extremely high maintenance? I just had an Ober doe kid with one buckling. He is a beauty! And sweet. I wish I could keep him. I only have one more left to kid. She is due at the end of June, first of July. Can't wait. Hope it's girls! So that is the update on the goats. By next month I will have sorted out who stays and who goes. I need to cut down to one buck and only milking does. If I can't milk them by breeding them this fall, I can't keep them. I have to give myself limits or I'll keep them all!!
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Posted in Goats
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One of my poor babies got infected from the disbudding. She jerked and moved and when she did the disbudding iron scraped her horn bud off!!! Yuck! I put her back out with the others thinking that the heat from the iron would have cauterized it. The next morning she was lying in the sun and wasn't moving. She didn't even try to get up when I picked her up. She didn't make a sound as I took her to the house. Her head was oozing pus and was yucky. I called the vet, but he was swamped and would have to call me back. I know the receptionist and she told me the only thing she knew about goats was how to BBQ them! LOL She said I knew more than she did. So I took the baby and put her in my oldest son's lap in our van and drove to the feed store. I bought my buck from the owner and since he has goats I thought he might know what to do. Luckily there were several others in there that have goats. They all looked at her little head. I asked if I could use regular neosporin on her and they yes, that's what they would use. One lady said use the neosporin and give her an aspirin and see if that doen't do it. So I took her home and used neosporin and gave her half an aspirin. She was still pretty lethargic at this point, but not long after she was up and going!!! I put her back out with the other goats and she went straight to momma for some milk! Now she is doing great. Not a thing wrong with her. Oh and the vet called me back that evening. He laughed when I told him. He told me I used common sense. There wasn't anything he needed to do for her. He said if she got bad to bring her in, but the ppl at the feed store said to just give her a shot of pennicilian. So I'll do that. Doc Fields is great and cheap, but he is a much farther drive than the feed store. Feed store, 1.2 miles.....Doc, 16 miles. Gas is too expensive! The feed store is my first choice from now on! Thank God they were there when I needed them! |
Posted in Goats
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Today was dh's only day off in weeks so I took the opportunity to get some things done. With 6 baby goats I had to catch up on baby care. First I took them one by one and we shaved their little heads. Once a baby got its head shaved on the front porch, it was on to the kitchen for a shot of CD/T, then switching hands it was disbudding time! This was my first time disbudding and it was not as bad as I thought. I had helped others do it before, but I had never handled the disbudding iron myself. I was so proud when it was done and done right!! My dh handled all the shots. He was a good goat farmer today too! Anyway, one by one, they went from the head shaving to the shot to the disbudding. We were going to band the two boys, but the brand new banding tool I just bought snapped!! I was astonished! I am taking it back tomorrow with the broken parts. So now they will have to wait until the second CD/T to get banded. That's okay, I've been told it's better for them to wait anyway. But wow, what a day. I am happy and content right now and my goats are taken care of. Dh and I got to spend the day together and even the kids are happy. What a great Easter. Praise God for His wonderful son Jesus! Without his sacrifice nothing would matter anyway. This day was so great because God was in it and He orchestrated it. Thank you God!! |
Posted in Goats
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Well, no one wants my poor little buck kids. I sold 3 little does, but not one buck. Oh well, I am going to wether them and we will be eating them. Someone said try grinding up goat meat in place of hamburger. So I guess I will try that. I have never eaten goat except for BBQ. If anyone out there has any recipes you'd like to share please post them as a comment. I will get my money's worth out of them....one way or another! lol |
Posted in Goats
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We have more goat babies! My togg gave birth to twin girls day before yesterday! Beautiful babies. I am keeping one and the other is spoken for. I managed to trade for 12 cauliflower plants, 12 broccoli, and 12 cabbage. Plus several ducks and plenty of duck eggs. And of course cash. Cash is always good! They were born at 4:00 pm Wednesday the 11th. They are chocolate brown with traditional Togg markings. This makes 6 babies with one more momma left to kid. She is either due next week on the 21st or 3 weeks later. We don't care, we just can't wait for more babies!! |