Back for BYH. :)

[campingshaws]

Hey y’all. I joined byh back during the major byc site renovations.

I still have chickens and other birds, but I also have calves and goats as part of our summer camp farm program. We keep a few different types of animals for education.

We have bottle calves Lady and Bocephus, and a runty, stunted yearling bull named Ranger. Then for goats we have a bratty bottle baby wether names Beaux, and a sale-barn special named Gertrude. She is currently large and in charge, bred at an unknown date by unknown buck and carrying unknown number of babies. Gertrude is the reason that I’m back at byh: I was looking for treats to give her (because she doesn’t really love me and I don’t want my presence to stress her since she’s close to kidding) and found a byh article.

All of my babies are from the sale barn (a big one is just 5mins down the road). I know a lot of people have strong feelings about the sale barn, but I don’t mind bringing home sick or weak babies. I can treat basically any type of chicken illness, but I’m new to cows and goats so I’m here to learn. Yes, ideally it’s more responsible to get stock from reputable sources, but it’s impossible for us to afford reputable stock at this time. Having these little underdogs also helps us reinforce themes of compassion and responsibility with our campers.

I can’t remember how to work pics so I didn’t post any, but believe me I have lots.

Haha, jk, there was one waiting for me at the bottom like magic. There’s Gertrude.

 

[Baymule]

Goodness! She looks like she swallowed a basketball! I have sheep, my ram loves animal crackers. The ewes love corn. BOSS makes a good treat too.

 

[campingshaws]

Goodness! She looks like she swallowed a basketball! I have sheep, my ram loves animal crackers. The ewes love corn. BOSS makes a good treat too.

Thanks! Yes, believe it or not she has not gotten a bit wider since her sale on May 13, but she’s HEAVIER. This is a May 13-June 13 comparison. You can see she’s more bagged now. I’ve only had one other doe/kidding experience, and it was a couple years ago. So I’m not super confident.

 

[AmberLops]

WOW! When is she due??

 

[campingshaws]

WOW! When is she due??

5 minutes or 5 days? Impossible to know.

 

[Devonviolet]

Welcome back to backyard herds! And congratulations on your new animals.

Wow! your Gertrude has quite the belly! I have never seen one look exactly like that. Has she been seen by a vet?

I have a LaMancha doe (April) whom I got from a friend who died last February. According to his kidding calendar, she was due on March 16th. She still has not kidded. I had my dogs at the vet yesterday, and asked him about that. He said, he thinks she is not pregnant but, rather has gas in her rumen, which is making her big on both sides. She sticks out in a similar manner to your Gertrude. However, she is nowhere near as big as Gertrude. The difference between the two goats, is that April has not started to bag out, like your Gertrude. So, your girl may well be pregnant. Just throwing another possibility out there.

As far as treats go, I prefer not to give Sweet treats to my goats they don't eat sugar in a natural environment, so I prefer not to give them sweet treats. I have found that my goats think apple leaves are like candy. I pull apple leaves from the middle of the tree, and dole them out, one at a time. My goats love them. they also love when we cut weeds, and give them over the fence.

Something that April and several of my other goats like, is to have their back scratched. April will come up to me and turn so I can scratch right by her tail. I think she likes that better than apple leaves.

 

[campingshaws]

Welcome back to backyard herds! And congratulations on your new animals.

Wow! your Gertrude has quite the belly! I have never seen one look exactly like that. Has she been seen by a vet?

I have a LaMancha doe (April) whom I got from a friend who died last February. According to his kidding calendar, she was due on March 16th. She still has not kidded. I had my dogs at the vet yesterday, and asked him about that. He said, he thinks she is not pregnant but, rather has gas in her rumen, which is making her big on both sides. She sticks out in a similar manner to your Gertrude. However, she is nowhere near as big as Gertrude. The difference between the two goats, is that April has not started to bag out, like your Gertrude. So, your girl may well be pregnant. Just throwing another possibility out there.

As far as treats go, I prefer not to give Sweet treats to my goats they don't eat sugar in a natural environment, so I prefer not to give them sweet treats. I have found that my goats think apple leaves are like candy. I pull apple leaves from the middle of the tree, and dole them out, one at a time. My goats love them. they also love when we cut weeds, and give them over the fence.

Something that April and several of my other goats like, is to have their back scratched. April will come up to me and turn so I can scratch right by her tail. I think she likes that better than apple leaves.

Thanks! We don’t have any apple trees, but I’ve beeb cutting other vines and branches for her. I’m on a Facebook group for women in agriculture and I posted about her over there at first. They also didn’t think her to be bred. But I’ve seen and felt kids kicking, and bagging up is always a good sign.

She doesn’t really enjoy being touched, so I can’t bribe her that way. She was staying just out of reach until this past week, when she has really started slowing down. So I’m trying to make friends without her feeling like she needs to take off because I’m too close. She’s in the goat coop (kidding pen) so there’s not far she can go.

 

[campingshaws]

Gertrude has a sweet little face that I fell in love with. I’m sad that she’s so miserable.

 

[campingshaws]

I need to update pics of my calves, but this is a cute one. Bocephus.

 

[Devonviolet]

What a cutie Gertrude is!

Yes, seeing kids kicking and her bagging up, is definitely a sign, that she is pregnant. It’s possible she is pregnant AND has gas in her rumen. If she is getting a rich diet of fresh grass/pasture/browse, and other carbs, like grains and sweet feed, it’s very possible that she has gas.

Any thoughts: @Southern by choice, @frustratedearthmother, @animalmom, @goatgurl, @Goat Whisperer, @Mini Horses, @B&B Happy goats, @OneFineAcre,