Goats&moregoats: KickinUpDust Farm Journal

[goats&moregoats]

I have not been on in a while. It's been absolutely crazy lately. A whole lot of work, a working vacation, appointments to get my youngest son ready for a college course in medical coding, and phone conversations with lawyer in Ohio. Fence is still not coming along to fast. I am completely frustrated about that.
Hay barn is completely done. Goats, dogs & chickens are doing very well.

Other than that nothing exciting on the farm front.
Jethro on right & Grub Bambino 9 weeks
Bambino & Gus Hay barn, now I need to paint it.

 

[goats&moregoats]

Been a heck of a summer! I did finally get that second pasture done. Hay barn is painted(not red). Some goats were sold. Jethro is was sold. Grub has settled down a whole lot without his brother there. Still does some crazy puppy things, but no longer chases goats and less likely to jump on me when I enter the pasture. Hay in the barn...five rolls...would have fit seven but I have the milk stand in there as well. I have six does left and all should be bred. Mid Jan is the first due date, some Feb and one March. Gus did his job well before he was sold. New buckling in a few weeks and I am sure Bambino will love the company. He was severely sick, but is coming back pretty good. He has developed a little buck stink at 5 months today. He just might take after his sire after all.

So my bad today. We decided with the pool covered we could let the chickens free range a bit before winter sets in. So I let them out this morning and they are happy to run about. Grub is also quite interested from the other side of the fence. So I figure electric fence will keep Grub where he belongs and it did. However, on the way to work I got to thinking, so I said to Rhonda Clark...if a chicken goes into the goat pasture Grub will kill it. Well play with it until it can't play anymore...yeah, kill it. Yup, one went in and sure enough it dies. A friend was nice enough to let me know that the dog had a chicken. 45 minutes away, nothing I can do. We get home, I collect eggs and start to round up chickens..all the while asking Grub, "where's my chicken?" Yeah he showed me...I didn't really want it back. So as I am rounding up the rest of the chickens another one decides it has to visit the goats. Rhonda did her best to try to get the hen and I was keeping the goats from escaping through the gate, but nope...Grub got her too. However, we were able to rescue hen #2. Now, I can not be mad at this pup(not quite 14 months) because he has never been trained with direct contact of chickens. So we have decided no free range chickens. Hope hen #2 makes it. No puncture wounds, a lot of slobber and scared beyond imagination. I did try to retrieve carcass of hen #1, but Grub was moving way faster than I was after a partial day of work. So sorry Hen#1 and Hen#2.

Still working on trying to get the three grandchildren. I was able to hire a lawyer. Now waiting for some responses to motions filed.

Those estate sales I have been working, got when that really paid off. It use to house Alpacas, so they had a lot of medical supplies I can use for the goats, leashes, collars, metal trash cans for food storage, hang on the fence feeders, heated buckets and hay racks for indoors. Also picked up another pair of trimmers for hooves. Some Halloween & Christmas decorations as well. This is our last house for the season. Starting Nov. 1st I have a full time seasonal job at my church, mostly administrative assistant work. It may lead into a part time year round position. We will see.

My son Eric is doing pretty good in his college course and doing well at his part time job. He loves having a paycheck. He actually does pretty good with his money.

I look forward to catching up on everyone's activities.

 

[samssimonsays]

Wow! What a ride! I am glad you got hen #2 away from Grub. Sigh. Sadly, it happens. I hope you can get your grand kids soon. I was just wondering how things were going for you!

 

[goats&moregoats]

Day before yesterday I had another chicken incident with Grub. This time the chicken bolted out of the coop door before my daughter could close it. For reasons beyond what my mind can fathom she decided the goat pasture was a safe haven....Not! Yes, Grub moved faster than a speeding bullet and snatched her up. My daughter and I spent quite sometime doing our best to "convince" Grub to return my chicken to me. My daughter suddenly came up with a safe plan. She put food in his metal dish, shook it and he went to the gate. Within minutes he turned the chicken loose and waited for the dish to be set down...in the end he didn't get the food or the chicken. Hen survived and as of yesterday is active and doing well.

Now, I am not couple of pinning this dog, Tahoe(older GP) did attempt to get chicken from Grub twice, but did nothing by force to get him to release the chicken. I did repeatedly tell him that it was my chicken and I wasn't leaving until I had my chicken back. A few times he would allow me to get to within inches of him, but then would move off rapidly without going far.

My plan of action is: Once my two month job is done, I plan on hooking Grub, by collar & chain to a tree, allowing a few hens to roam freely while working with goats & Tahoe in the pasture. This way I am right there when a chicken gets close enough for him to attempt any thing. Once he shows interest, but before he even moves, I will sternly let him know they are mine. I do not plan on chaining up all day, only part of the day. I also know that it will be a period of time in training, like several months. I also understand he is not fully mature so even after he starts showing good faith it will be after he is fully mature( 2yrs to 2.5 yrs) that I will be able to trust him with my chickens.

@Southern by choice , does this sound right?

My chickens do not free range right now..I would like them to again in the future. However, right now(meaning after training) I just want the safe if they do happen to get out.

Goats are doing well. Grissom has finally arrived.Picked him up on Sunday. Between work and rainy weather no good pics. Hope to have some in the next few days. This is the one I have right now.
I do not usually put goats directly in with any of mine. However, I picked up four for a friend who is going through some rough times right now. So her four needed to be divided from all of mine. She had a doeling, a doe & two older bucklings. I felt it would be better to put Grissom in with Bambino. That way if by chance her doe did get bred it would be by one of her bucks, not mine. Her goats are at my place for a week.

 

[goats&moregoats]

Pictures that it. The goat in the one picture looks like she is outside the fence. She is not. She just happens to be standing next to the white fence post.

 

[goats&moregoats]

Few things have changed since my last post. I lost Grissom. We have no idea what happened. He was fine one afternoon at feeding and next afternoon feeding he had passed. He must have passed sometime during the night. All other animals are fine including the chickens. He showed no sign of illness at all.
Bambino was joined by a pregnant Mavis to keep him company. He is still to tiny to protect himself from my pushy does. He did not recover well from his illness and I suspect he may not be good for breeding purposes. I have to double check that. My work has interfered with me being over to the farm daily. I have had to exceptional helpers caring for them when I can't get there. They however do not know what to look for when it comes to the breeding issue. I believe Bambino has only one descended testicle.
He is 9 months old now and looks so tiny Not growing well at all. If it is genetic it would be from his dams side as all of the other kids produced by Gus are doing very well. Black & white is Bambino. Gold/white is Grissom and he was 9 weeks in the pic.

Heard from my lawyer in Ohio: I just heard from the Court. The Judge granted your motion and made you a Party to the case. The Trial is set for Feb 6th at 9am (full day trial).

This is not any garuntee that I will get my grandchildren, but it is a step in the right direction finally.

 

[Bruce]

 

[goats&moregoats]

This is my finally post for this blog. Because of the growing cost in my court battle I have had to sell all my goats. Most of my supplies are already sold as well. Now I am trying to re-home my two LGD's.

I did go to court in Feb. We got visitations with all three kids, phone contact and facetime. Then the trail was reset for March 29th. Hopefully this will be the final court date. I will not get all three children, so we are hoping at this point that i can get custody of the two girls. My grandson has been placed in a residential home for boys.

If anyone here know of someone looking for an LGD in or near Vermont please have them e-mail me at clarkca65@gmail.com so we can discuss potential re-homing. Tahoe is 9 years old and Grub is 18 months.

This is breaking my heart, but I will put all on the line for my children or grandchildren.

 

[samssimonsays]

I am so sorry to hear of this. Big hugs. I know @purplequeenvt is in that general area.... ? I have been praying that things have been moving forward for you to bring them home.

 

[NH homesteader]

I'll keep an ear out, I'm in NH. I do not have adequate fencing for LGDs myself or I would be chatting with you!