Some people really have the nerve!

I heard from a customer of mine last week that another breeder who is in Paducah and is a VET sold her a sick buckling and refused to let her bring him in to check him over even after she had called her 3 times to tell her that he wasn't acting right.  Her response each time was that it was his laid back personality.  She told her that she had bought 2 doelings from me and they were playful and frisky and he just didn't act that way.  This other breeder told her that it was because my goats weren't as TAME as hers because I had too many goats to take care of.  First of all, she has never been to my farm nor have I talked to her so she has no idea how many goats I have nor does she know that I spend a minimum of 2 hours playing and taking care of my animals a day besides working full time.  Sometimes when I am in the middle of kidding season, I spend 4 or 5 hours in the barn with them.  Anyways back to the story, finally my customer called a different vet who told her to bring in a stool sample and the buckling had a massive load of coccidia so she was given medicine but unfortunately he died before she could get home to start the medicine.  She called the BREEDER to tell her what he had and that he had died and she had the nerve to tell her that MY goats must have contaminated hers.  My goats were never sick but I guess that is besides the point.  I just want to let anyone who reads this know that I treat my kids every 2 weeks for coccidia until they leave for their new homes so they will not be sick when the new owner gets them.  Now they can pick it up from the soil if their new home has a coccidia problem but as long as you follow my protocol on treatment, you shouldn't have any problems.  Oh did I mention that this breeder charged $300 for this sick buckling and then never offered to refund the money or replace him?  Pretty shoddy practice if you ask me.

Last of the babies have gone to their new home.

I just delivered the last of this year's babies.  Mocha and her twin boys are going to live at Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville.  Hopefully the park will be reopened next year so if you ever happen to be there, look for them.

The Goat Show

We went to the Lebanon TN MGR show today.  I took Blue Moon who I am proud of because he is moonspotted and blue eyed and he thinks he is a puppy.  I gave him a bath yesterday and he looked beautiful in my opinion.  The rules online said to not shave your goat so he went in his fuzzy little baby coat.  We got there and over 3/4 of the goats were SHAVED of all winter hair.  We had 3 hours before our class so we tried to walk around and look at the other goats but Blue Moon would cry the minute I got out of his sight.  We finally just took him with us and even though he had never had a collar or leash on before he took it all in stride and we let him munch clover and dandelions periodically.  He laid down and slept at our feet while we watched the show.  When it was our turn he was a little gentleman and walked on the lead and didn't scream and cry like the others in our class.  He was the youngest and the smallest of the bucklings but he is also a triplet.  Anyways the judge called him too frail and we didn't win a ribbon.  I watched two of the other competitors who are teenagers and do this all the time jerk and yank their screaming goats around the ring.  I considered it total abuse but the judge placed them 1st and 2nd.  The rule book said that the "respectful treatment of the animals in and out of the show ring" was to be observed but I didn't see that at all.  I feel sorry for those goats who are never loved and petted and were obviously yanked out of the pasture and taken to a show where they were dragged until they looked like they were going to drop from heat exhaustion.  I feel sure that they are being fattened and then will be sold for slaughter when the time comes.   Blue Moon may not have won a ribbon but he has won my heart and he is a loved cherished pet to us and will live out his entire life on our farm as our future breeding buck.

         I made a sign for his pen.  Too bad he didn't stay in it more than 5 minutes!

                                        I think I am a puppy, aren't I??

We are in the middle and look how sweet he is being!

That is a blue ribbon baby if I have ever seen one.

And Yet Another Busy Weekend

Last weekend I had people out looking at goats and during this Calamity Jane decided to go into labor.  I had looked at her that morning and thought that she sure looked close.  Anyways Shannon and her daughter got to watch twins being born and were excited about watching them take their first steps.

This weekend I was busy delivering some babies to Beaver Dam and having people to the house to look at or to pick up their goats.  My friend Patty was there to get her 2 that she is going to bottle raise when Ringo decided to kid so she got to watch that and was thrilled about it.  Luckily my goats are not bothered by an audience or by me helping to pull the babies out and clean them off for them.  I guess when I retire I can apply to be a midwife! ha

Busy weekend

Saturday morning we were having more monsoon floods.  I postponed feeding the animals until it had slacked off a little since none of my goats will come out of the barn during inclement weather.  While I was feeding, I heard the distinct sound of a goat in labor.  I found Nike in the process of kidding so I grabbed a towel and helped dry off the baby.  She had another one and after drying her, I took them to a stall in the barn.  They were in a pen under the shed but I like babies to start out in the barn for a few weeks under a heat lamp.  The rest of the afternoon was spent watching it rain.  I did my usual bedtime check at the barn and discovered that I had a set of triplets born in the next stall!  They are the cutest babies I think I have ever seen and they look like calico cats.

Sunday morning was cold and gloomy.  While I was feeding I noticed another goat in labor so I stayed with her until lunchtime when she finally had 2 blue eyed girls!  Boy are they cute.  One looks just like her father Sky did when he was little.  The other one is an unusual silver/chocolate/black.  Their mother happens to be named Sunday because that was when she was born.  How ironic that she kidded on Sunday.

Babies, babies and more babies!

Why is it that my goats will wait all weekend and then decide to go into labor Monday morning when I am getting ready to leave for work?  I fed this morning and everyone looked the same as they have and then I had to go back into the barn to get something and 2 of them were lying down straining.  So I stayed with them and Cinnamon my silky doe had triplet girls.  She did fine with the first two but the last one was breach so I helped pull her and clean her face so she wouldn't aspirate.  Meanwhile Peaches is across the barn in another stall in labor.  I was running back and forth between the two.  After Cinnamon had her 2nd kid, I went and pulled Peaches baby.  A bouncing little boy!  She has only ever had singles so I figured she was done.  I am over helping Cinnamon with her 3rd baby and hear a bellow from Peaches so I run over and she is having another one, this one is a girl!  I couldn't be happier with their coloring.  My registered bucks have been throwing the prettiest babies I have ever had here.  How in the world will I decide who to sell?

YIKES!!!

Well thank goodness none of my goats kidded during that horrible storm we had last night.  I made a trip to the barn right before it hit us to make sure no one was in labor.  I have 10 does put up inside in case they decided to kid during the monsoon rains.  We got 6 inches of rain and hail and very high winds with a funnel cloud being sited very close to us but all is well.  Today Tuesday had triplets and Violet had twins.  I will post pictures as soon as I can.  I know this will make my new friend Patty happy since she bought Blue Bell's buck last weekend and needs a buddy to go with him.

And yet another baby

Sunday I thought I would have a nice quiet day and be able to catch up on housework and clean out my stalls and rotate goats in that are getting close to kidding.  Well I got the stalls cleaned and went out to gather up 2 that I knew were close but had no idea of the actual date since I didn't witness the mating.  Blue Bell was in the process of having a baby and all the other goats are running around her thinking I am going to feed them so I picked her up to carry her to the safety of the barn (good thing my goats are little and only weigh about 40 lbs.) and just barely got out the gate when she popped him out onto the ground at my feet.  Whew, I got him dried off and into a stall and all is well.  Meanwhile I was expecting some people to come look at goats and when they showed up I think there were 10 of them.  I showed them around and let the kids play with the babies and then had more people come to pick up their little goat.  Needless to say I did not have a quiet day nor did I get my house cleaned.  Oh well, I do enjoy meeting people who love goats and we all had fun.

More babies

Last week was really stressful with 2 snowfalls that equaled 8 inches and having to come home early Monday and Wednesday because of the hazardous driving conditions.  I couldn't get to work on Thursday and then Friday I came home to find that Periwinkle was finally in labor.  I sat in the barn in the frigid temps for 4 hours with her.  I finally figured out that something must be wrong for her not to have had them by then but she is shy and didn't really want a pelvic exam from me.  I had left my phone in the house on the charger so couldn't call Jerry to come out and help me so I was crawling around on my knees trying to hang on to Peri who is trying to run from me with my other hand inside her feeling for the baby.  What fun that was!  I could tell it was breach and I couldn't find any legs.  Finally after what seemed like hours but was probably only 20 minutes, I managed to get a leg and pull it out and then I could find the other leg and got it out.  He shot right out after that.  We were just recovering from that stress when the twin came.  He was coming the right way BUT his front legs were back instead of forward.  Oh well I got them out and they are beautiful little boys.

Rescue mission

This is not about my goats but I also rescue dogs and rehome them when my husband won't let me keep them! ha  Last week I heard about a YorkiePoo that needed a new home.  I asked my parents if they wanted him and they did so I spent all week taking him to the groomer's and then to the vet to be neutered and to have all his health records updated.  In between all this we got 5 inches of snow and the roads were too hazardous for me to get to work one day.  Saturday we took Ziggy to his new home in Tennessee where he is going to have a wonderful life and has a sweet little brother to play with.

ZIGGY

ZIGGY AND XERXES

Bottle feeding

What a chore it has turned out to milk Fudge twice a day.  It takes 15 minutes to get 4 ounces from her.  After that, she lays down and refuses to give anymore milk.  Pixie is enjoying the 8 ounces of supplement though and I can tell she is starting to grow finally.  I am going to have to go to Plan B which is to have Tater's boys go to their new homes in Clarksville TN this weekend and then I will start milking Tater and see if she will produce more milk.

The temps dropped into the 20's last night so all the babies have gone back under heat lamps until it warms up later this week.  No wonder our electric bill was $300 this past month!

Foster mother

I had really hoped that Fudge would miss her doe so much that she would happily take little Pixie as a foster kid but that is not what happened.  Fudge evidently doesn't want another kid and it took both me and Jerry to hold her still for Pixie to nurse and even then she laid down and refused to get up.  So I decided to put her on the milk stand and get the milk that way and then just put it in a bottle for Pixie.  I worked for 20 minutes and got 3 ounces!  She would not let her milk down and then she would lay down while in the stand.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to milk a goat that is lying down?  Not easy believe me.  I took the 3 ounces and put it in a bottle and offered it to Pixie.  She went after it like a champ and so that was good that she is willing to take a bottle.  Now if I can just get Fudge to accept being milked better.

Kids leaving

Two of my favorite babies went to their new home in Illinois today.  I hated to see them go but I know that Jami will give them a good home since she has bought others from me last year.  It is a nice fairly warm day so I have turned Crystal and her twins out in the pasture to play and cleaned out her stall to get it ready for Fudge to stay in while I try to transition Pixie over to her to foster.

New babies

Curly Joe

I took some quick pictures last night of the new babies.  They are all in the barn under heat lamps at the moment but I hope that the weather will be nice enough this weekend that I can open the doors and let them all get some fresh air.

Triplet girl

My moonspotted doe Dot had triplets last Friday night.  She has only had singles until this year.  The two boys are growing like weeds and thriving but I have noticed the tiny little girl is always crying and seems to be hungry.  I have been having to hold Dot to let her nurse since her brute brothers are beating her to the food.  Another one of my goats kidded Tuesday and she is a gentle sweet natured girl so since she only had 1, I got the idea to let the little girl nurse off of her.  Well mothers don't accept other babies easily so I am having to hold her still but I successfully got the little girl who I think I will be calling Pixie to eat last night and again this morning.  I have another doe whose baby will be leaving to go to her new home in Illinois this weekend so I am hoping to transfer Pixie over to Fudge and hopefully she will be having "empty nest" syndrome and will accept a totally new baby to foster for the next 7 weeks.  I just hate to have to start bottle feeding Pixie so I am crossing my fingers that the baby switcheroo project will go smoothly.

Kidding season

Well this has been a busy week with new babies coming.  I have been sitting in the barn in the freezing weather until all hours for a week watching Hershey because she has evidently been having braxton hicks contractions.  Who knew that goats did that?  Anyways I have gone to the barn every 2 hours to check on her since January 17th.  Finally last night she went into real labor and produced twins.  A blue eyed boy and a brown eyed girl.  They are adorable.  Meanwhile I have 3 other does that weren't due until the end of this week and 2 of them kidded yesterday also and the other had triplets last Friday!