Archive for the ‘Goats’ Category

Humphrey is a Full-Blood Boer breeding buck, registerable with the American Boer Goat Association.  He is the son of Hillbilly Boers Willie (pictured directly behind), who has given us many wonderful kids with lots of color!  Humphrey and his twin were born March 3, 2011.  Asking price is $250.  Ready to be your next herdsire!

One of our groups of goats has cleaned up most of the browse around their yard.  Although there’s plenty of grass available, they’d prefer to eat leaves, bushes, and weeds (or Mom’s flowers for that matter).  Occasionally, when we have the time, we have let them out to graze on some new food.  There’s a section of land across the road in front of our house that’s overgrown.  That and the ditches are candy stores for the goats. If only we could get the Missouri Department of Transportation to pay for us to watch our goats trim the roadways.  They eat for a little while then on their own all decide to head back home to lay in the shade and chew their cud.

We got all the chicks out in the chicken tractors so we cleaned out the brooders.  Later, I was mulching the potatoes when I saw the laying hens and some goats picking through the pile we made.

compost turning

As we emptied the brooders I made a mental note to spread the pile out so that it didn’t kill the grass underneath.  However, before I got back to it the chickens and goats were having fun investigating.  Dust was flying as the chickens scratched and pecked at things.  There was plenty of chicken feed that had spilled and was mixed in with the wood shavings.  The chickens as well as the goats were happily cleaning it up.  I thought to myself how nice it was to have other farm residents who not only helped out occasionaly but actually benefited from their contribution.

In raising goats, our general policy is to let the mamas take care of their kids and to interfere as little as possible.  However, in some cases, we do end up bottle feeding a kid or picking a kid up several times to give it supplements that it needs to strengthen its legs, etc.  Many times, when we do that, the kid starts to get used to being “manhandled” and might even look forward to some rubs or head scratching and become a bit of a “pet”.  And it’s nice to have a few kids that like to be petted, for when visitors with small children come to the farm.

Most of the other kids keep their safe distance and general don’t like to be touched by people.  But, Jon and Janelle have found that sitting quietly amongst the goats for awhile usually raises some curiosity.  Here are some good shots we got while allowing the kids to “explore us”.   Enjoy!

A word to the wise: don’t take up goat farming unless you are prepared to spend some late evenings (and perhaps early mornings) up with your animals during kidding season.  Although it’s unusual, we’ve seen our fair share of out of the ordinary births in the last month.

Last night, we were up with a momma goat, Sinatra, who had prolapsed earlier in the day.  We elected to induce labor by giving her Oxytocin just before supper, went out to Club 60 for a rare treat with some visiting family members and came back, anticipating a late evening in the barn.

Patrick, one of our visitors who had never seen a birth, was very excited to stay up and watch the events unfold.  Let’s just say, he and we had a long night ahead of us.  Sinatra started having contractions at about 10 p.m.  By 2 a.m., after Jon tried to pull the kids out, but found the cervix minimally dilated, we called our good friend and amazing goatman Paul Anderson.  After an hour of turning and twisting two kids around inside the birth canal, Paul was successful.

Though tired, Patrick was spellbound the entire time, and named the newborns Star and Stripes, after the white markings on their heads.  We are glad he could have his first birth experience, and that momma and kids are all well. (We’ll post pictures once we’ve got them.)

The moral of the story:  If you come to visit us on the farm, you never know what you might get to experience for the first time.  Also, if you have the option to induce labor, do it earlier in the day.

bottle feeding

A very small first-time doe had trouble kidding one afternoon so we had to make a call to either save the kid or her.  The kid was HUGE, and his head was caught.   Had we been closer to a vet, he probably could’ve saved both the momma and the kid, but since getting to a vet would take too long we opted for a terminal C-section in an attempt to rescue the kid.  Fortunately, we were successful in getting a little (actually very big) buck out alive.  We named him Caesar to remind us that he was born by Cesarian section.  His front legs had been distressed by the whole ordeal so he has taken a little longer than normal getting his balance and legs going, but we’ve had no trouble getting him to eat.  His tongue sticks out to the side when he sucks which makes him a little noisier of an eater, but that doesn’t seem to slow him down.  He’s been living in the basement since we got tired of constantly laundering his towels  and cleaning up after him.  Plus, he stays warmer down there, and we have easy access to him for feeding times.

making new friends

As he has gotten stronger and the days warm up, I have been taking him out some so that he can get more exercise and grow accustomed to the weather outside.  Hopefully, we can eventually get him to live outside with the other goats and will come when we call him to eat

Jon with a kid we brought into the house to help it warm up.

This time last week as we went to the hay barn to do chores, we were surprised to find a doe with four newborn kids scattered around her.  We were unprepared (we weren’t expecting any kids until March) and had arrived too late to save them from the bitter cold.

At first, we thought it was a fluke.  But Monday morning brought us another set of quads.  Two sets of triplets and a single kid on Tuesday confirmed our suspicions — this was no fluke.  We were fully into kidding season.  In February.  Ugh.

No matter what month, no matter what the weather, kidding season is hard.  Some mommas will need assistance.  Some mommas, particularly first-timers, will not bond to their kid. It is hard for us to watch a hungry kid’s cries being ignored.

But kidding season is also a joy and a blessing.  It pushes us to be vigilant and steadfast, more so than at any other time.  We watch in wonder as an experienced nanny quietly and calmly births one, two, three kids, cleans them off and nudges them to stand and suck.  It reminds us of the miracle of life and helps us look toward the season of Spring that is upon us.

All of the precipitation we’ve been getting is wonderful for replenishing the ground and giving the plants a jump-start into spring. However, it is terrible for the animals, particularly the goats. Although we live on relatively rocky soil, goats rely on having rocks or at least hard ground to help keep their hooves trimmed. When the ground is wet and muddy, their hooves begin to rot and can get infected.

We are working hard to keep all those hooves trimmed and to treat any infections with iodine and penicillin. We hate to see our babies limping.