Sick Critters

So living on a farm isn't always wide open spaces and frolicking in the fields!

I came home on Friday to a sick goat. Nephi looked like he was about to give birth to triplets and he was frothing that the mouth. Actually his cud was coming out his mouth. I called the vet. Richard said that it sounded like choke and bloat, to try massaging his neck to relieve the blockage. I tried and failed so Richard came out.

He sedated my 125 pound yearling buck and proceeded to tube him, while R and I held him in place and nephew Byron and Grandma watched. Nephi got some electrolytes and mineral oil to rehydrate and knock down some of the foam from his bloat. We put him away and he immediately lay down and moaned for an hour.

In the mean time, we vaccinated all of the horses. I was concerned about Max since last year he reacted to the west nile vaccine. I was assured that this was a different vaccine and he should be fine. All of the horses need to see the dentist in fall... So that means a full trailer loaded to the vet and a half day with sedated horses...

I went out to check Nephi later in the evening and he was up, but still not real happy about life. He was still moaning and water/oil was dripping out his mouth. He had one of those 'too much Thanksgiving Feast' looks. But he was on his feet, which was an improvement. Lacey was less than thrilled since she shares with Nephi and he wasn't allowed to eat, which also means that she gets to fast. I had to put P in with the babies since I was weaning them and they couldn't figure out how to eat grain. They are starting to figure it out.

Hopefully soon we will be able to finish the buck pen and move Nephi and Helaman in together. Then Lacey, P, Dawn and Pearl can start learning to get along. It will be a hard transition for Nephi and Lacey. Nephi because he loves Lacey and Lacey because she doesn't like little goats... At least Dawn and Pearl are fast runners and can probably out run Lacey for the most part!

We checked on Nephi before leaving for the conference and he was back to normal; trying to bite fingers and crying because he thinks he is starving. I updated the vet at 6:30, and got the OK to feed them when we got home that night.

When we got home from the conference and pulled up to the barn I immediately knew something was wrong with Max. It is hard to explain but his nose was funny. He had a wrinkle in his nose that I have only seen once before... Yes, last year when he had the reaction to the vaccine. Now, if you recall, west nile is a neurological disease, so the reaction is neurological. Not fun to have a 2,000 pound horse with a nerve issue. I haltered him and handed him off to R to hold while I ran back to the house for the hot pad. The cure for this reaction is heat applied to the injection site. I came back out to the barn and plugged in our barn hot pad. R got me a sweater out of the truck and we stood for 45 minutes with a hot pad on Max's neck. The neurological symptoms are easy to spot: twitching, muscle tremors, inability to hold the head up, can't swallow, dehydrated, tripping and trouble standing and walking. With Max we have a super easy way to tell medical issues: he gets friendly. Max is very independent, he loves me and tolerates R. If R pets him and Max snuggles, stands still or doesn't react instead of pinning his ears and walking away, there is a problem! If I pet him and he snuggles back instead of tolerating me, there is a problem! Anyhow, after standing in the barn for 45 minutes during a cold windy rain I can happily report he is back to normal!

Goat babies!

We are not going to have any kids this year. We lost Lilly and her kids, then Lacey lost her kid. When we lost Lilly, we had to put the remaining 3 in the same pen. At that point Lacey was pregnant and P was not.

In theory, Nubian goats are seasonal breeders. The bucks go in rut and the does start cycling in August. They will continue until about January. So at this point I have no idea is P cycled while in with Nephi or not. If she did, then we will have a big surprise in July! Why did I say in theory? Well, occasionally Nubians will cycle later or earlier and the males will go into rut or stay in rut later. My vet swears that they ONLY cycle breed from August to January. I have friends that occasionally have kids in September or November. People cannot start to know or predict the secrets of God and I think it is interesting that we keep trying!

So, with no kids due this year and one doe down, it was prefect time to increase our herd. We had planned to keep one buck as companion for Nephi and we needed one doe to replace Lilly. We drove 6 hours to a breeder that has good bloodlines and sometimes cheap prices. It was a long and uncomfortable drive with my neck still in the healing process.

When we got to her place, she first showed me a little doe, that in her opinion, had some issues. She is the youngest of 4, has ear control and a mild under bite. Being the 4th of 4, she is very small. She is a month old when we see her and she is the size of a newborn. Ear control is not considered a 'fault' during showing but many people do not want a Nubian that can move her ears. If that wasn't enough, she also has a mild under bite (think of a bulldog but she isn't that bad and her teeth don't show). Her degree of under bite is also not an official fault but many people would not buy this girl based on those two things. So the chances of this girl getting a good home are almost as small as she is. I asked her price and was surprised that she wouldn't find a home since she was almost free. Here is my catch, she has fantastic bloodlines! Did I say fantastic? I meant amazingly fantastic! Her issues are genetic but as long as she is not directly bred to another Saada buck, she won't pass those traits on to her kids. If her faults were more severe, it would be a gamble, but with this girl, it isn't a gamble. Especially with my ace in the hole; Nephi! She is the idea doe to breed to Nephi whose bloodlines have strong facial structures. We got her; meet Summer's Pearl Moon, or Pearl for short.



How can you not love that face?! As she grows, her ears will lay
flat and her bite will even out quite a bit.





She jumped up on the chair to look out the window
 with ease. This girl is going to be a handful!







Chewing on my rug



After taking Pearl, we moved on to see the other does that we had originally come to see. There were 7 doelings in 3 different barns. We immediately discarded any from barn 1 since they were too closely related to Nephi. We picked one from barn 2 and took her to barn 3 for comparison. It was funny because as we talked I got the distinct impression that this lady did not want to let me buy to girl we picked from barn 2. When I strait out asked her what was going on she said that she quoted me a price before she realized what a good milker the Mom would be and now that she knows, she can get twice the price. This little doe has 1 sister, so the money take from selling these two would be quite high (almost as much as what we paid for R's Bella!). I told her that we wanted that doeling and asked if she wanted me to pay the higher price. She said no, she quoted me a price and would stand by that price (the only honorable thing this woman has ever done and since she increased the quoted price when I bought Nephi, we are now even!). So, we have Prairie's Dawn Light.

Dawn is on the left near the door. She was dam raised for the
first 3 weeks so she is a bit skittish. We are working
hard on her friendliness.

She is very curious and extremely loud! She has great bone structure
and we are very happy to have gotten her for the original price!
I love the markings on her face, R says she has black racing stripes.

Our final adventure was finding a buck friend for Nephi. We wanted one with a different set of bloodlines so we would have more choices and combinations for breeding and we would be able to offer a wider variety of lines to people in our area that want to breed. There were only 2 barns with bucks. We went from barn 1 to barn 2 and had an idea that we wanted a buck in barn 1. As we were talking in barn 2 a little goat ran up and started chewing on my pant leg. I pushed it away and we continued to talk. We started walking back to barn 1 when this little goat showed back up and started chewing on my pants again. I pushed it away and started walking faster. I almost made it to the corner of barn 1 when the little goat shows back up and stands on my boot. I started walking and it balanced on my boot and would not get off! I pushed it off with my foot and we walked the rest of the way into barn 1 so we could look at the little black buck. He would make such a great addition to our herd. Nephi is light brown and a black buck would even us out! Perfect. Then the little goat jumped on my boot again. So I asked, whats the deal with this one? It is beautiful! She said 'Oh, he is for sale also. He is the last of 3 and is quite a bit smaller than the others.' He? He?! He! He was dark chocolate brown with black trimming and a small white spot on his head. Oh, she says he is out of a blue roan doe who is out of a blue roan buck so he will probably throw some blue roans. Blue roan like my sweet Lilly goat! Sold! Meet Helaman, our last addition to our small herd.

Nice wide chest on this boy and he is only 2 weeks old.

He is such a nice color and is very friendly.

Heleman is the first one to greet me and even though
he is the smallest, he eats the most! Isn't he a doll?!

All in all our trip was a success. I am glad that we took Pearl. Her future was uncertain and I am sure the sale barn would have been her final destination. She will blend well into our program. Dawn is a gem and has great lines and a nice broad chest. Helaman has the best look of any buck I have seen. I think he looks better than Nephi did at that age. We are excited to see how they all grow and mature. We have a herd of 6; Lacey, Nephi, P, Pearl, Dawn and Helaman. This year will be interesting!

We will breed Lacey and P to Nephi in fall. That will allow the kids a year to mature. I am excited to see what kind of babies they throw but I also want them to get big and strong first. Having 4 does will let us breed two each year and give the others a year off.

I have people lined up this year for kids but we don't have kids to sell! I hope they will wait until next year, but if not... That is the plan Heavenly Father has! 

Goat care

I am still relatively new to owning and breeding goats and I am far from being an expert. I more every time I talk to another goat person. One thing I have learned is that there are as many different opinions on goat care, conformation, feeding, qualities and traits as there are goats on the planet. Everyone has an opinion and everyone thinks their opinion is right. It can be overwhelming to a new goat person, or even an experienced goat person. The best way to find the correct answer, sometimes there is no correct answer, is to research and go with what feels right to you and makes the most sense.

I have learned a few things over the past month or so that may be useful to someone else. First, extreme cold can be very bad. Well duh, you say. I mean to be more profound that that! When the weather turns cold, bitterly cold, it can affect our goats in many ways aside from them just being cold and shivering. As an example, cold weather can affect their rumen in a such that they are unable to properly digest their food. In a matter of days, they can drop a lot of weight and even have mineral deficiency issues. Mineral deficiencies can kill your goat very quickly and you may or may not notice that there is a problem. Our Lilly was one such victim. She was fine, in decent flesh and over a period of one hour went from acting normally to deaths door. Even with emergency vet care, she still died. Bitter cold can also cause your does to miscarry as Lacey did last week.

How does one counter this issue? I asked! One thing about me, I am not afraid to admit that I don’t know the answer and I am not ashamed to ask for help. We have a solution! But… You have to start before you have a problem. Once the cold snap starts you will be hard pressed to make a difference. You need to start preparing in fall or early winter. Obviously this year I didn’t start in early winter. Alas, all hope is not lost. As I said, hard pressed; I didn’t say impossible. We are going to do a few specific things to help our goats make it through to spring healthy and in good flesh. Please know that there is sometimes no help for a doe that miscarries and when Heavenly Father calls a goat back to heaven, she goes. Sometimes, there is nothing that you could have done differently. So before you read on, accept that.

All of these things we will next year, start in October. This year, we are staring now. We will supplement our grass hay with alfalfa. Our vet dislikes alfalfa pellets but most goat people I know feel pretty comfortable with pellets. Realizing that pellets are not made from the ‘highest quality’ hay but they are still better than nothing. They are also denser, there is less waste and pellets are easier to store. We typically mix our alfalfa pellets with our grain, which we have done but I haven’t been feeding enough. Grain is also a good for helping keep the weight on. With more weight, they can stay warm better and have a better chance of making it through the winter healthy. So our first step is to feed grain/pellets to each goat on a daily basis.

Our goats already have minerals/salt blocks. I like the blocks because they last longer and keep the goats occupied. Occasionally goats need a mineral boost over and above what they get on a daily basis. Finding a good loose mineral is important. Copper and selenium are very important for the health of goats, so check the label carefully. Occasionally you may need to supplement selenium even more. You will need to get it from your vet. I alternate between ‘Goat Mineral’ from Jeffers and ‘Golden Blend Minerals’ from Hoegger Supply. Both are spread over grain and put in the bottom of the feeder for free use by the goats.

I spoke to a friend this week that said she feeds whole corn during the winter months. Whole corn is easily digested and is packed full of protein so the goats can use it to stay warm with little digestion. It is expensive in feed stores so if you can’t get it direct from a farmer it is really not cost effective. In that case, I would stick to a good grain.

In talking to our vet, she stressed the importance of putting our hands on each goat minimum once a week. While they may look ok, they may feel thin. She told the following story: A few years ago we had a 3 time National Champion bred to a National Champion buck. She was having a hard winter so we blanketed her. She looked good so we didn’t worry about her. She kidded in early February. She had a hard labor and we had to pull both kids. She died shortly after kidding. She was a bag of bones, she was so thin and I had no idea. I assumed that since she was blanketed, she was fine. Her death was my fault because I didn’t put my hands on her. I am a vet, I know better. Not only did I lose her, but she had two bucks so I didn’t have a doeling with her traits. I failed myself and I failed her.” After that story, two things stayed with me: Put your hands on your goat every week; everyone makes mistakes.

Since our little herd took such a hit when we lost Lilly, we are purchasing 3 more goats this weekend. One buck, Nephi needs a buddy and it will enhance our ability to provide breeding services. We are also buying two doelings. We will unveil all of their pedigrees in time, but we are very excited! Nephi has some of the best sires on his papers and P will be a great producer with excellent mammary and milk production potential. The new kids will complement our current herd and will allow us to offer bloodlines that are not often seen in this part of Colorado!

Breeding success!

The goat mating dance is so funny to watch; bucks are gross and obnoxious! If you have never seen a buck acting like a buck and are not easily offended, I encourage you to visit a farm and ask to see their bucks. They make funny faces, goofy sounds and run around like fools (much like teen boys that I remember from my childhood and some grow men I know presently)  - I love it! And our Nephi is so persistent...

We purchased Nephi and Miss P from a ranch in Eastern Nebraska. A huge goat ranch, she had 86 does, 23 bucks and had already rebred most of them. We got a gigantic discount on both our goats by buying 'off season' and doing a package deal. It never hurts to negotiate - the worst they can say is no, right?!

Anyhow, both Nephi and Miss P were dam raised and when we brought them home, almost completely wild. All of our goats are dehorned and Nephi was descented as a kid, so he isn't super smelly. Both are getting better at being handled, Miss P is hard to catch and Nephi is hard to get to stand still.  Both did very well for vaccinations and hoof trimming but I can tell that we will need to start thinking about building another structure to restrain Nephi for shots and trimming as he is already almost too big for our stand. If you have any big bucks or have seen any buck restraints, please let me know - I am having a bugger of a time finding something that will hold a 200 pound buck!

Both Lacey and Lilly are bred to Nephi for 2011 kids. Lacey is due in March and Lilly in April. Miss P gets to wait until next year for her turn, I want to make sure she is big enough to handle kidding and she is still on the small side right now.

We brought in a doe (Twila) for Nephi to 'date' over Thanksgiving weekend and she was bred this week. Twila will be headed home next week and should kid in early May. We brought in another visitor (Daisy) today. She is actually currently cycling so Nephi is being diligent about being amorous. Since she was brought mid-cycle, she may not settle this cycle, so she will be staying through January 2nd to ensure that her breeding takes. That makes 2 outsider does for our first season of being official Nubian breeders offering buck services. With the savings from not having to send our does out and these two visitors, Nephi has now paid for himself and MissP!

I have several reservations for doelings our of our 2011 crop and we will retain one buck as a companion for Nephi. I have yet to decide if the retained male will remain a buck that we might rent out or will be a wether. I probably won't be able to decide until we see what he looks like and if he would make a good breeder. I hope to get a good selection of kids this year and am excited to see what they look like.

We have the buck house "love shack" finished and the horse barn almost done. As soon as we finish the new horse barn, we can move the horse out of the buck pen and start buying fencing for Nephi. Then... We can move Nephi into his love shack and will have the kidding pen ready to go! We have always had late April kids, so having kids in early March and early April will be a challenge since March is our coldest month. Yikes! However, having bred a bit early, it will help our kids to be bigger towards the end of summer and sell better since they will be breedable in Fall.

Three years ago I never imagined that we would be hip deep in the Nubian breeding business. Never thought that we would have top bloodlines in our barn and be making enough money to have a self sufficient herd! What a blessing.

I added a bunch of goat info to our website on the Homesteading page - eventually, once our web designer has time and we have money we will move it over to the goat section. It contains basic information on our practices for goat care. Everything we do is done at the direction of our vet, who specializes in goats and only goats.

If you have questions or thoughts, please leave a comment or shoot us an email! We love the questions we are getting and enjoy getting to know so many of you from all around the world.