goats&moregoats
True BYH Addict
I purchased my first two goats on a slight whim. In March of 2012 I got in a serious horse riding accident, I did ride once for 45 minutes after that accident. I haven’t been back in the saddle since. However, in early summer of 2013 I did take in a Mustang stallion for a few months. I worked around him and a few other horses for several months. It was while I owned Cheveyo that I discovered I actually did fear horses to much to have one of my own. He deserved a better life than I was capable of giving him. About a month before I sold Cheveyo, I purchased two bucklings. They were already named, Mickey & Goofy and because I thought my grandchildren would appreciate those names we kept them. After all I was only looking for pets anyways. Mickey & Goofy were 4 months old when I brought them home. Well actually to my bosses house. He had a barn, fencing and a lot of pasture and a field full of weeds. I spent several hours a day with these two little guys. Taking them out of the pasture and letting them romp around, sometimes they went on leads to keep them in the area we wanted weeded down.
It was only a few short weeks later that I saw an ad on Craig’s list. A home was needed for an older Pygmy doe and a Pygmy wether. So sure enough along came Holly and Izzy. Holly was 9 years old and just the sweetest girl. Izzy was 18 months and just as sweet. Izzy was actually purchased by another person for his daughter, but stayed with Holly, Mickey and Goofy. I still spent as much time as possible with these four lovely creatures. I spent hours a day with them and enjoyed laughing at their antics as they became familiar with their surroundings, each other and myself. My evenings were spent reading as much as possible on goats. Everything I ran across I read. I soon realized I didn’t want what would come along with owning to bucks as they matured. So, I decided to sell Mickey. The two bucks were at this time about 7 months old and always trying to mount pour Holly, who was very determined not to have anything to do with this action.
By time October rolled around I knew I didn’t want to travel to my boss’s house every day in the winter, after all winters in Vermont are not always pleasant. I only had a sports car so driving out of the city during winter was kept to a minimum. His house was 30 minutes one way, not what I considered a good idea. After talking with a friend of 20+ years and we situated Goofy, Holly and Izzy at her place, a ten minute drive from my in the city home. Izzy went with the others so he wouldn’t be by himself; I knew they needed to be with other goats. We turned her 10X10 lawn equipment shed into their barn and set up a small pasture area for them. Not a great pen, but plenty big enough for winter. The rest of October and September came and went without a hitch and I just continued to fall in love with my three little four legged babies. Unbeknownst to me Holly was already pregnant. Now I fully encourage people to read everything they can before getting their goats and to keep males and females separate right from the get go unless you want them pregnant.
Mid November brought with it two more ND does. I fell into a luck pot with these two. They were registered. Hazel 5 with both the AGS & the ADGA and her daughter 3, Cassie with the AGS and I got them both for $100.00. I brought them home and put them in with my other three. LOL, not, now I also know you don’t just bring goats home and mingle them together. Knock on wood I didn’t have any problems that could come with doing this. I kept my buck in with the 3 does and the wether. I didn’t know that a 9 year old doe who had never kidded shouldn’t be bred. So they spent a happy first part of winter enjoying each other’s company and mine for several hours a day. Sloshing water buckets from the house was the worst (and will be again this year) part of the winter.
In January, I stumbled upon another ad for a pregnant ND for sale. Well I just thought to myself, wouldn’t be just adorable to have kids running around. She was due the end of February, I knew if I was to get her, she had to be separated from the rest for a little while before and after she had her kid or kids. So I started setting up the back half of the tool shed as a temporary place for her and divided the pen. On February 21st I traveled to Londonderry, Vermont to pick up an unregisterable but very pregnant Emmy. A week later on February 28th at 8:15 am Miss Emmy delivered triplets. However, because I was new to all this and didn’t quite make it to staying up all night with her, I lost the little boy who most likely was the first born. I did what I knew to do, which was not a lot at the time. Towel drying and trying my best to get him warmer and moving around, but he was too far gone and died in my hands. I attribute his death to birth chill because both the girls weren’t far behind in being in bad shape. I towel dried the girls and inspected them. Placed them near Momma and waited a bit for her to do what mothers do. Keeping a watch on her, I wrapped the boy up in a towel and placed him in a small box; put him on a shelf in the barn to attend to later. There were tears for the little boy and for my first death as a hobby farmer.
Well, momma wasn’t doing anything. No licking the babies clean, no sniffing the babies, nothing at all but munching on hay. It was downright cold in that barn. So I wrapped those girls in dry towels, stuffed one inside my coat and one in a friends coat and took them to the house. There I found an eyedropper (these girls were tiny) and gave them some warm milk from the store. As soon as the babies were dry enough to be placed on a sheet on the floor, (supervised by friends), I took and empty baby bottle out to the back shed and milked out so colostrum for those two little darlings. I came back in, added just a touch of milk, heated it up and fed two little darlings after which they were content to doze. At this point I set up the extra-large dog kennel by the sliding glass patio doors, put hay in it and went out to get Miss Emmy. I placed her in the kennel, weighed each little doe and then placed them in the kennel. There they got to know their mother and got their first taste of straight up momma’s milk. They stayed in the kennel for about four hours. Then I took them all three back to the shed after cleaning out the soiled hay and put in clean. Being unknowledgeable in all goat matter, I set up what I thought was a secure place for the babies and mom, yet allowing mom a way to get out if she wanted. I was wrong. Next day want out to do chores and check on Emmy and babies and found them out in the snow with Emmy in the barn. Rearranged things, put babies back in barn and went to work. Stopped in after work and one was outside and the other in the barn with mom. Rearranged again, went home for the night. Amy, a friend checked at 10pm and again one outside. She put it back in barn and closed the door.
Next day I decided, since I didn’t have the proper way to set up what I know now is a kidding stall, I would bring them home and bottle feed. For the next six weeks these two lived in a pack-n-play in my bedroom. I brought hay home for bedding. Knowing that this would help them know what hay was for when they went back to the barn. Bottle feeding these two little kids was the best adventure I ever undertook. I will never regret doing this. The whole six weeks went pretty smooth. I did bring some sweet feed home when they were mature enough to try that as well. I also tied small bundles of hay to the side corner of the pack-n-play so they had clean hay to nibble on. At four weeks they finally got named because I was more than sure that I was keeping them. Poppit because she just popped up and down like those balls in a toddler’s push toy and Mystic because this whole experience was magical for me. They had opportunity to play on my kitchen floor, in my mother-in-laws living room (much to her delight) and a couple of good days in the dog pen for 15 minutes or so.
At six weeks it was time for babies to go back to the barn. The pack-n-play was getting to small to contain them. Goofy the buck, Izzy the wether, and Ernie the wether sheep I inherited went in the section Emmy was in for the birth and Emmy went back in with the other girls. Tulip an Oberhasli that came with the sheep was in a pen by herself as she was too aggressive with my other females. The girls accepted the babies pretty darn good. Mystic and Poppit were bottle fed twice a day until they were 9 weeks then it went down to once a day. By the time they were 11 weeks they were eating and drinking on their own, but I spoiled them with a half a bottle every other day for another week. In the meantime Goofy was giving me a hell of a time for being separated from his girls. He was under the fence, fixed that. Then he was over the fence, thought I fixed that. Then he was over the fence again and again and again. I finally got it all fixed. Things settled down and I knew I had three more expecting does, but dummy me, I didn’t know exactly when. Here is another reason not to keep your buck with your girls.
Late March brought another night of sitting at the barn. Holly went into labor. I first noticed she was very wet on her hind end and all over her utter. I called home to be sure my other half would tend to the babies. He was more than happy to play proud poppa to the goat kids. I spent the night watching Holly, it wasn’t looking good. Morning came and no babies. She had done what I thought was some pushing but not very strong on and off through the night. Morning brought phone calls to a few goat friends, no goat vet in the area. At three that afternoon one of my goat friends picked Holly up and took her to her place. She had meds on hand at her place and Holly had started to discharge blood. Even I knew this wasn’t good. I lost Holly and her baby. I cried, not ashamed to say I cried a lot. From this point on I researched specific things about goats all the while still reading whatever else about goats I could get my hands on. I also sold Ernie the sheep and Tulip.
April flew by without a hitch other than I bought some chickens so that we can have fresh eggs. I, family members and friends enjoyed watching Poppit and Mystic grow and play. My chores were made easier with the spring weather as I could turn the water on that went to what use to be the pool house. It was now the storage for grain and anything else I needed for the goats. May brought the birth of Cassie’s twin dolings and Hazel’s single doling. It also brought a small bout of illness for Poppit and Mystic which again with the help of goat friends only lasted a couple of days. A few weeks into May came the sale of Emmy, Shaboo, Velvet and Mystic with the new owners bottle feeding Velet and Shaboo(Cassie’s twins). Pleasingly Mystic and Shaboo went together and Velvet and Emmy went together. Hazel’s baby was for sale until she broke her leg. Six weeks in a cast earned her the privilege of staying and giving me babies to sell in the future.
The rest of May, June & July went by without any surprises or difficulties. I spent this time enlarging the pen, researching and deciding which direction I wanted to go with my herd and acquiring materials for another shelter for the animals as well as a shelter to store hay. Mid-August brought two new ND does from the same person I got Emmy from, a Soay ram & ewe and the breeding of my four mature does. Unfortunately it also brought an accidental breeding of Poppit. I added some Easter Eggers to my Hobby farm. All goats are content and happy. Changed fencing set up around just before I brought these four home. I have been researching LGD’s. I favor the Anatolian Shepherd but there doesn’t seem to be any in this area. Another favorite is the Great Pyrenees. We will have to see and keep looking. September comes bringing my first eggs from the first batch of chickens.
As October eases in I make a trip to Londenderry once again to pick up a June doling. She is tiny like Poppit was so I know she has a long way to go. I know that Diva and Poppit will be ready for breeding in the fall of 2015 I am hoping she will be as well. I set up another area inside the mature goat pen for Pippy (new one), Poppit and Diva. I am also making arrangements to pick up a blue eyed doe (ND) and two pygerians around the middle of the month. One is doe with a wry tail(says screw tail on paper work) and the other is a wether. So I pick up Pippy and put her brother Rustic on reserve for next October. Pippy settles in with the other youngsters and becomes a member of the bottom of the totem pole. I sold Goofy as I know I don’t want mixed kids after this year other than Diva’s line. I bring the two pygerians and the blue eyed doe home and get them settled. Turns out I do not keep the pygerians very long, they were very brutal with my pregnant does and I did not have the materials to separate them. So I sold them for a little bit of cash that went right back into food supplies for the goats I still have. Venus the blue eyed doe fits right in with the others. Also spent this month e-mailing back and forth with a woman from Rescue Me about two GP’s, praying it all comes together.
November shows signs of projects getting finished up. Second shelter for goats and sheep up and almost entirely enclosed. This all done with the roofed sandbox I got from work, pallets and scrap plywood. So t my not look the best, but is weather proof and solid. Need to finish putting roofing paper on the only outside wall to the chicken coop, move a small shelter to the fence line and attach it so as the animals can use it if they desire. I got news that I can pick up the two GP’s on the 14th of this month. So I need to run the hot wire along the top of fence line and build them a temporary shelter attached to the dog pen inside the goat pen. Pippy, Diva and Poppit are all in with the mature goats and doing awesome. Once this is done then I can work inside the two barns to set up kidding stalls. I think I will put two in each barn. By the time the babies get here the dogs should be well on their way to working inside the goat pen without being separated from them. I have four definite expecting mature does and Poppit is a maybe. My oldest daughter asked me today: “when you die can you leave me the goats”, lol Hope it’s not soon. November also brought me my 14th grandchild. A beautiful little girl!!
I haven't driven a tractor but one time and that was over 20 years ago, I want a garden this next year, don't process my own meat, don't weld. I can throw together a functional small building but it might not look pretty! LOL. I have five adult children, 1 Teenager, 3 cats and two Bassett Hounds. My life stays busy. I work part time driving. I would rather just be farming.
Life is good!
It was only a few short weeks later that I saw an ad on Craig’s list. A home was needed for an older Pygmy doe and a Pygmy wether. So sure enough along came Holly and Izzy. Holly was 9 years old and just the sweetest girl. Izzy was 18 months and just as sweet. Izzy was actually purchased by another person for his daughter, but stayed with Holly, Mickey and Goofy. I still spent as much time as possible with these four lovely creatures. I spent hours a day with them and enjoyed laughing at their antics as they became familiar with their surroundings, each other and myself. My evenings were spent reading as much as possible on goats. Everything I ran across I read. I soon realized I didn’t want what would come along with owning to bucks as they matured. So, I decided to sell Mickey. The two bucks were at this time about 7 months old and always trying to mount pour Holly, who was very determined not to have anything to do with this action.
By time October rolled around I knew I didn’t want to travel to my boss’s house every day in the winter, after all winters in Vermont are not always pleasant. I only had a sports car so driving out of the city during winter was kept to a minimum. His house was 30 minutes one way, not what I considered a good idea. After talking with a friend of 20+ years and we situated Goofy, Holly and Izzy at her place, a ten minute drive from my in the city home. Izzy went with the others so he wouldn’t be by himself; I knew they needed to be with other goats. We turned her 10X10 lawn equipment shed into their barn and set up a small pasture area for them. Not a great pen, but plenty big enough for winter. The rest of October and September came and went without a hitch and I just continued to fall in love with my three little four legged babies. Unbeknownst to me Holly was already pregnant. Now I fully encourage people to read everything they can before getting their goats and to keep males and females separate right from the get go unless you want them pregnant.
Mid November brought with it two more ND does. I fell into a luck pot with these two. They were registered. Hazel 5 with both the AGS & the ADGA and her daughter 3, Cassie with the AGS and I got them both for $100.00. I brought them home and put them in with my other three. LOL, not, now I also know you don’t just bring goats home and mingle them together. Knock on wood I didn’t have any problems that could come with doing this. I kept my buck in with the 3 does and the wether. I didn’t know that a 9 year old doe who had never kidded shouldn’t be bred. So they spent a happy first part of winter enjoying each other’s company and mine for several hours a day. Sloshing water buckets from the house was the worst (and will be again this year) part of the winter.
In January, I stumbled upon another ad for a pregnant ND for sale. Well I just thought to myself, wouldn’t be just adorable to have kids running around. She was due the end of February, I knew if I was to get her, she had to be separated from the rest for a little while before and after she had her kid or kids. So I started setting up the back half of the tool shed as a temporary place for her and divided the pen. On February 21st I traveled to Londonderry, Vermont to pick up an unregisterable but very pregnant Emmy. A week later on February 28th at 8:15 am Miss Emmy delivered triplets. However, because I was new to all this and didn’t quite make it to staying up all night with her, I lost the little boy who most likely was the first born. I did what I knew to do, which was not a lot at the time. Towel drying and trying my best to get him warmer and moving around, but he was too far gone and died in my hands. I attribute his death to birth chill because both the girls weren’t far behind in being in bad shape. I towel dried the girls and inspected them. Placed them near Momma and waited a bit for her to do what mothers do. Keeping a watch on her, I wrapped the boy up in a towel and placed him in a small box; put him on a shelf in the barn to attend to later. There were tears for the little boy and for my first death as a hobby farmer.
Well, momma wasn’t doing anything. No licking the babies clean, no sniffing the babies, nothing at all but munching on hay. It was downright cold in that barn. So I wrapped those girls in dry towels, stuffed one inside my coat and one in a friends coat and took them to the house. There I found an eyedropper (these girls were tiny) and gave them some warm milk from the store. As soon as the babies were dry enough to be placed on a sheet on the floor, (supervised by friends), I took and empty baby bottle out to the back shed and milked out so colostrum for those two little darlings. I came back in, added just a touch of milk, heated it up and fed two little darlings after which they were content to doze. At this point I set up the extra-large dog kennel by the sliding glass patio doors, put hay in it and went out to get Miss Emmy. I placed her in the kennel, weighed each little doe and then placed them in the kennel. There they got to know their mother and got their first taste of straight up momma’s milk. They stayed in the kennel for about four hours. Then I took them all three back to the shed after cleaning out the soiled hay and put in clean. Being unknowledgeable in all goat matter, I set up what I thought was a secure place for the babies and mom, yet allowing mom a way to get out if she wanted. I was wrong. Next day want out to do chores and check on Emmy and babies and found them out in the snow with Emmy in the barn. Rearranged things, put babies back in barn and went to work. Stopped in after work and one was outside and the other in the barn with mom. Rearranged again, went home for the night. Amy, a friend checked at 10pm and again one outside. She put it back in barn and closed the door.
Next day I decided, since I didn’t have the proper way to set up what I know now is a kidding stall, I would bring them home and bottle feed. For the next six weeks these two lived in a pack-n-play in my bedroom. I brought hay home for bedding. Knowing that this would help them know what hay was for when they went back to the barn. Bottle feeding these two little kids was the best adventure I ever undertook. I will never regret doing this. The whole six weeks went pretty smooth. I did bring some sweet feed home when they were mature enough to try that as well. I also tied small bundles of hay to the side corner of the pack-n-play so they had clean hay to nibble on. At four weeks they finally got named because I was more than sure that I was keeping them. Poppit because she just popped up and down like those balls in a toddler’s push toy and Mystic because this whole experience was magical for me. They had opportunity to play on my kitchen floor, in my mother-in-laws living room (much to her delight) and a couple of good days in the dog pen for 15 minutes or so.
At six weeks it was time for babies to go back to the barn. The pack-n-play was getting to small to contain them. Goofy the buck, Izzy the wether, and Ernie the wether sheep I inherited went in the section Emmy was in for the birth and Emmy went back in with the other girls. Tulip an Oberhasli that came with the sheep was in a pen by herself as she was too aggressive with my other females. The girls accepted the babies pretty darn good. Mystic and Poppit were bottle fed twice a day until they were 9 weeks then it went down to once a day. By the time they were 11 weeks they were eating and drinking on their own, but I spoiled them with a half a bottle every other day for another week. In the meantime Goofy was giving me a hell of a time for being separated from his girls. He was under the fence, fixed that. Then he was over the fence, thought I fixed that. Then he was over the fence again and again and again. I finally got it all fixed. Things settled down and I knew I had three more expecting does, but dummy me, I didn’t know exactly when. Here is another reason not to keep your buck with your girls.
Late March brought another night of sitting at the barn. Holly went into labor. I first noticed she was very wet on her hind end and all over her utter. I called home to be sure my other half would tend to the babies. He was more than happy to play proud poppa to the goat kids. I spent the night watching Holly, it wasn’t looking good. Morning came and no babies. She had done what I thought was some pushing but not very strong on and off through the night. Morning brought phone calls to a few goat friends, no goat vet in the area. At three that afternoon one of my goat friends picked Holly up and took her to her place. She had meds on hand at her place and Holly had started to discharge blood. Even I knew this wasn’t good. I lost Holly and her baby. I cried, not ashamed to say I cried a lot. From this point on I researched specific things about goats all the while still reading whatever else about goats I could get my hands on. I also sold Ernie the sheep and Tulip.
April flew by without a hitch other than I bought some chickens so that we can have fresh eggs. I, family members and friends enjoyed watching Poppit and Mystic grow and play. My chores were made easier with the spring weather as I could turn the water on that went to what use to be the pool house. It was now the storage for grain and anything else I needed for the goats. May brought the birth of Cassie’s twin dolings and Hazel’s single doling. It also brought a small bout of illness for Poppit and Mystic which again with the help of goat friends only lasted a couple of days. A few weeks into May came the sale of Emmy, Shaboo, Velvet and Mystic with the new owners bottle feeding Velet and Shaboo(Cassie’s twins). Pleasingly Mystic and Shaboo went together and Velvet and Emmy went together. Hazel’s baby was for sale until she broke her leg. Six weeks in a cast earned her the privilege of staying and giving me babies to sell in the future.
The rest of May, June & July went by without any surprises or difficulties. I spent this time enlarging the pen, researching and deciding which direction I wanted to go with my herd and acquiring materials for another shelter for the animals as well as a shelter to store hay. Mid-August brought two new ND does from the same person I got Emmy from, a Soay ram & ewe and the breeding of my four mature does. Unfortunately it also brought an accidental breeding of Poppit. I added some Easter Eggers to my Hobby farm. All goats are content and happy. Changed fencing set up around just before I brought these four home. I have been researching LGD’s. I favor the Anatolian Shepherd but there doesn’t seem to be any in this area. Another favorite is the Great Pyrenees. We will have to see and keep looking. September comes bringing my first eggs from the first batch of chickens.
As October eases in I make a trip to Londenderry once again to pick up a June doling. She is tiny like Poppit was so I know she has a long way to go. I know that Diva and Poppit will be ready for breeding in the fall of 2015 I am hoping she will be as well. I set up another area inside the mature goat pen for Pippy (new one), Poppit and Diva. I am also making arrangements to pick up a blue eyed doe (ND) and two pygerians around the middle of the month. One is doe with a wry tail(says screw tail on paper work) and the other is a wether. So I pick up Pippy and put her brother Rustic on reserve for next October. Pippy settles in with the other youngsters and becomes a member of the bottom of the totem pole. I sold Goofy as I know I don’t want mixed kids after this year other than Diva’s line. I bring the two pygerians and the blue eyed doe home and get them settled. Turns out I do not keep the pygerians very long, they were very brutal with my pregnant does and I did not have the materials to separate them. So I sold them for a little bit of cash that went right back into food supplies for the goats I still have. Venus the blue eyed doe fits right in with the others. Also spent this month e-mailing back and forth with a woman from Rescue Me about two GP’s, praying it all comes together.
November shows signs of projects getting finished up. Second shelter for goats and sheep up and almost entirely enclosed. This all done with the roofed sandbox I got from work, pallets and scrap plywood. So t my not look the best, but is weather proof and solid. Need to finish putting roofing paper on the only outside wall to the chicken coop, move a small shelter to the fence line and attach it so as the animals can use it if they desire. I got news that I can pick up the two GP’s on the 14th of this month. So I need to run the hot wire along the top of fence line and build them a temporary shelter attached to the dog pen inside the goat pen. Pippy, Diva and Poppit are all in with the mature goats and doing awesome. Once this is done then I can work inside the two barns to set up kidding stalls. I think I will put two in each barn. By the time the babies get here the dogs should be well on their way to working inside the goat pen without being separated from them. I have four definite expecting mature does and Poppit is a maybe. My oldest daughter asked me today: “when you die can you leave me the goats”, lol Hope it’s not soon. November also brought me my 14th grandchild. A beautiful little girl!!
I haven't driven a tractor but one time and that was over 20 years ago, I want a garden this next year, don't process my own meat, don't weld. I can throw together a functional small building but it might not look pretty! LOL. I have five adult children, 1 Teenager, 3 cats and two Bassett Hounds. My life stays busy. I work part time driving. I would rather just be farming.
Life is good!
![:\](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/side.png "side :\")
