Changing goals and speed

[AClark]

There's no tank at all to pressurize it, I guess I *could* put one in, but really that's more money than I'm willing to fork out for more pressure to shower with - as long as everything else is off you don't get froze/scalded and there's plenty of pressure to shower with. It's like city water, and our tower is several miles away. I'm at the end of the line really (it ends 2 houses down from mine) and me and both neighbors have crappy water pressure.
It's an old system, it isn't uncommon for us to go with just a trickle over the weekend if a pipe up the line has broken - they don't work on weekends and won't go out and fix it as long as you still get *some* water, even if it takes 3 hours to fill a stock tank. It's useless trying to argue with them as well, been there, done that. I thought at first it was just mine and a plumbing issue, except I have all new PEX plumbing under this house and it's completely dry under there. After talking to the folks across the street and next door, it's the water companies issue.

I'm not sure where the used water goes to that car wash, or what they do for sewer in the small town closest to me, but I imagine if you can wash trucks covered in cow manure and mud, hosing out a stock trailer with a little manure in it shouldn't be much different. I think it's more of a concern of having big particles that will clog their drains up - which I don't, I knock all the big stuff out first.

We did end up burning that cardboard, I'm not sure if it was that that smelled so bad or the pampas grass I threw in there, but it reeked like cat pee. It was so wet and nasty I wouldn't use it in my garden, I won't compost pig manure either due to what they eat and the risk of pathogens. I have composted chicken manure but it's pretty well near the bottom and nothing but black dirt at this point.

The doctor thinks Lena has allergies, but she did have a case of conjunctivitis and got antibiotic drops. Poor kid has been nothing but slimy since it warmed up.

I just took the turner out of the incubator, chicks should hatch on Sunday. I have 23 viable eggs left after removing quitters, yolkers, and blood ringed ones. So about half of what I started with, but still a good number of chicks. Then geese and ducklings on the 11th through...??? I've been adding the goose eggs in as I get them so multiple dates on those.

 

[AClark]

I have baby chicks, 7 so far, another pipped and late to the party. So far, so good.

Yesterday was just full of total suck. My favorite little hen fell in the horse trough and drowned, all within 20 minutes or so between when I let them out and finished milking.

Then Ruby "bloated". Except it wasn't bloat. I wrote another post on it because it's so wild and looked like bloat all the way around but it was a much bigger issue. I didn't have any luck googling the symptoms and coming up with what it was, hydrops uteri, so figured for everyones educational sake I'd write about it. Ruby will lose her pregnancy, she has been given meds to abort them, but there wasn't a choice in it. Either abort them or lose her and them. I feel pretty crappy about that but that's the option and know my vet was on point with treating her. He went all out, and is totally worth the almost hour drive out.

 

[Bruce]

Well I "liked" that based on the chicks, then got to Ruby and "unliked". Sure hope she comes through OK.

 

[Mike CHS]

That was a hard choice but no choice after all. I hope she comes through all of this.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I liked it...not for the problem, but for your willingness to share with us the problem....that does take courage and I support that.....

 

[Hens and Roos]

that she comes through for you!

 

[AClark]

Thanks. I figured I'd share because it's such an oddball thing to have happen, and honestly if you hadn't heard about it, you'd think they're bloated bad and go through all the tricks (we did) with zero result. If you didn't have a vet handy, it wouldn't take long to lose one. She went from lethargic to nearly dead in less than 6 hours. I really thought she was a goner last night, just limp and groaning, and I fully expected her to be dead when I got up at 4:30 this morning - the vet did too.
I'm a bit bummed about her baby(ies) but I'd rather abort them than lose her, she's my buddy and my enforcer with the other goats (even if all the horn bruises on my legs are from her), and if she has to spend the rest of her life enjoying everyone elses babies, then that's fine. It's a good bet her fetus(es) aren't normal anyway and probably what caused it.

 

[AClark]

With all the crazy this week, I've neglected some new arrivals, other than the chicks.

This is Crusader, He's a 9 month old fullblood Boer buck. He's a doll, very friendly and sweet.

Here's his new girlfriend, Spoiled. She's a 3 year old show doe I picked up for a song.

We have been doing some evaluation and are letting a couple go, ones I don't care as much for looks-wise. Dolly will be sold unless I find some cheap orphaned lambs for her to feed, and Josette is being picked up this weekend.
I may also sell Bonnie and Betty after they kid depending on how well they milk and what their kids turn out like, and if I get does. One or both, I haven't decided, but what I have decided is that the less friendly ones are more work than I'm willing to deal with on a regular basis, and I don't care for having to chase them down.

 

[BoboFarm]

Congrats on the new additions! Crusader is a handsome fellow and Spoiled looks very happy. The difficult ones are seldomly worth the time and effort. Sometimes culling decisions can be difficult but are worth it down the road.

 

[AClark]

That's where I'm debating on Bonnie and Betty the twin Nubians. They are both nice looking, but neither is keen on letting me catch them, and they are bullies. Josette isn't the nicest built doe and I have no problem with letting her go. Dolly is a b----- and I get tired of her crap. She throws tantrums when I'm milking and will throw herself down. She's currently in time out right now for exactly that. Time out being that she's still on the stand and can get out when she stops acting up, every time I go near her she throws herself down dramatically. She actually kicked me the other day, which she's never done. Rotten little monster isn't worth the 1/2 a gallon a day she produces.

Basically, as awful as it sounds, but Bonnie and Betty will get to kid out, and we'll see if I'd rather keep daughters if I get any.