Goats&moregoats: KickinUpDust Farm Journal

[goats&moregoats]

Two days down and another few hours tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow afternoon I trade the goats and get to know my new farm animals.
Alas! We have a riding mower. You have know idea...I literally wanted to dance this morning when i found out....No more push mowing this very large yard.

My ducklings are now getting their wing and tail feathers.

To top the evening off, I got to talk to my youngest granddaughter in Ohio . She had a birthday on June 8th and is now 8 years old. We chatted for about 30 mins which I think is great for any 8 yr old.

I scored a bassinet for 10.00 & 3 crib sheets @ 2.00 each for a family friend, 8 towels, 3 twin sheet sets and about 6 wash clothes for 25.00 for another family friend, a toilet paper tower for 5.00(wooden cabinet with ships on it) and 3 different size funnels for 1.00.
The Cub Cadet mower Charlie got for 600.00. I'll get a picture of that tomorrow.

Now I am going to get ready for bed. Work not so early tomorrow. Should be able to get morning chores done before going in. The other two days I had to put extra feed out to hold them until the following evening.

 

[Mike CHS]

That mower is going to make your life a whole lot easier. Congratulations!

 

[goats&moregoats]

Wow, what a busy labor filled three days. We finished up yesterday at 5 pm. At 6:30 pm the guy showed up to trade goats. At 7:30 pm all goats settled fed, fresh water and left to adjust to their new accommodations. Then a visit to Doreen's son's to drop off some items picked up at the sale for them. Home and a phone call by 9 pm. Dinner at 10:30 and bed by midnight.
This morning was pleasant. Fiance' got up at 7:30 so I was outside by 7:45 which is early here(lol). Fed the ducklings and chicks, drinking water was good. Gave the goats some loose minerals, baking soda and treated for worms. Then I sat in there for like an hour and a half just letting them get use to me being there and taking pictures. After, I changed the ducklings bathing water and got a pretty clear shot of them.
So here is the low down so far: They needed to be treated for worms, they need their hooves trimmed and they all need copper bolus. I have some copper bolus on hand just haven't checked to see if I have enough, more on order. I think a dose of Selenium wouldn't hurt either.. @Southern by choice @babsbag @Goat Whisperer and anyone else with advice...can I give the copper bolus & selenium on the same day and can I give it to does who may be pregnant? Oh yeah! They have been penned with a buck. I am pretty sure that two are definitely expecting. Not so sure on the third. 2nd fresheners if they are. Somebody didn't plan well if they are because supposedly they all three dropped their first kids in Jan. They are only a year and 1/2 and a smaller Dwarf Nigerians. If they aren't then they will be damned good milk producers from the looks of their udders now. Dot looks a bit under weight to me but I see she is also the lowest on the totem pole. Sam is very small for his age(14 months), but is already showing interest in the girls on the other side of the fence. He also needs copper bolus. He is pretty barreled looking in the stomach so I don't know if he is bloated or recovering from a bout of Coccidia. When Bambino(a previous goat I owned) was recovering he had that appearance. No other signs of Coccidia. Will proceed with a coccidia prevention. I have fallen in love already and look forward to spending as much time as possible with these goats.
Sally & Sonny are scheduled to be moved here this evening.
Today I plan on running that new mower and getting the yard work done. Pay day I will be buying a whole lot of shock and reworking the pool as if I just opened it. I refuse to give up on the idea of using that pool this summer. I will repair the leaks today if I get the yard done in time(which I should with the rider).
Tomorrow, I plan on getting the goats on the milk stand to get feet and treatments done and see if I can feel any signs of babies on the three does. If they are pregnant I will have no clue on due date. So it will be close monitoring everyday. Pictures below of goats & udders.
Sam
Flash I couldn't get one of her looking at me by herself.
Dash
Dot (Sorry about getting Sam's backside in the shot)
Dash(L) and Flash
Ducklings and a few chicks.

 

[goats&moregoats]

Lawn mowed mostly by Charlie. I have trimming yet to do. I will know tomorrow if the leaks are fixed or not. I had to work 4 hours today so some things came to a stand still. Plus my step-daughter from Arkansas stopped in for about an hour. Then my daughter's friend stopped in to pick up her things I got at the sale. She stayed for about 30 minutes.

Sally and Sonny are here. Sally is DN and very people friendly. She has horns. Her feet are horrid. They are a very healthy weight though. Sonny is DN and Pygmy mix also very people friendly. No horns.His feet don't look near as bad as Sally's. They are both use to collars but not leads. So I will work on that.Sonny has to weigh between 60-70 lbs and Sally between 55-65 lbs. I have them locked in the barn for the night as they have never been fenced by electric as far as the previous owner knows. She has only had them a few months. I will see how they do with the electric tomorrow.

Boss would like me to work some tomorrow, but I told him I had to see what I could get done in the am around here first. So maybe a few hours in the afternoon. I really want to get the trimming done on the lawn, get the pool running again, plus I desperately want to get each goat on the stand.

Dash approached me this morning and afternoon so I could barely touch her muzzle. It's a start.

Now I am exhausted.

 

[babsbag]

I have given copper and bo-se on the same day many a time. I have also given Bo-Se to pregnant goats, I do it every year a month before they freshen. I have been told that the label says not to give it to pregnant sheep, so not sure what to make of that.

 

[goats&moregoats]

Got part of the yard trimming done today, then it started to rain.

I sent a good portion of this morning hanging out with the goats. Dash and Flash came up to me today to sniff my hand. I got Dot's feet trimmed and she got a dose of Selenium. I need at least one helper to get all of them done in one day. The helper is for the gates. It's to darn hard to hold one goat, keep the others from escaping, plus shutting & locking gates all by myself. Especially since none of these goats are a custom to a lead. Dot did excellent once on the milk stand and feed in front of her. I could not feel any movement near her udder. So if she is pregnant it's before 3 months. That would put her due in Dec, Jan or Feb. Not looking forward to any of those months. Will attempt to get Flash or Dash on the stand this afternoon if I can get her past the second gate without Sonny & Sally being a pain. Otherwise it's going to be a call for help which I will have to go pick up and take back home.
Sally got the feel of the electric fence today. I am thinking it's only going to take once and she will keep her senses on alert. I feel bad as they have not been exposed to electric fencing and have to learn the hard way. Sally & Sonny need copper as well, so I hope it doesn't take long for my order to get here. You can tell in one of the pictures how bad Sally's hooves are.
1) Sonny looking over the pallet fence at the other does. 2) Sonny & Sally checking things out 3) We must try the balance beam as well.
and
here is the new(used) mower

 

[CntryBoy777]

They sure have some nice colors to them....and I know that mower will be a great benefit to ya also.....

 

[Bruce]

MAYBE pregnant goats
Do you even know what breed the father is?

I bought shock today for the pool. Already flocced it twice and vacuumed to waste but it was still somewhat cloudy though I could see the bottom when I was done yesterday. Got home, pulled to cover open enough to dump the shock in, dang pool is clear Oh well, I have 2 bags of shock for the NEXT time I need it. Good luck with your pool, sure would be nice for you if it were usable Sunday and Monday when our heat index is near or over 100°F.

 

[goats&moregoats]

So yesterday, I learned a little bit about my goats. Did feet yesterday midday. Well some feet. They also got there necessary vaccines & treatments. Checked them all over while on the stand. Will still have to do copper when it gets here.
That will proof fun with Sally. I was able to get her treatments done, but not those horrid hooves. OMG! She tried to hang herself on the damned stand. Every time I picked up a foot she went nuts! Attempted to do them while she ate some browse near by, nope, danced all over the place. So ANY suggestions on how to get them done would be appreciated. At this point I am giving her a few days to calm down and then I was going to attempt to use sweet feed on the stand again. I don't think her's have been done in well over a year. Which is kind of funny because Sonny's weren't bad at all.
All the other goats did good on the stand once they were there and located the feed dish. Sammie was the easiest as he walk on the lead with very little difficulty once out of the gate. Dash did pretty good as well for a goat that has never been on a lead. I had a little battle with Dot and we just carried Flash. They all did awesome on the lead going back. They knew just where they wanted to go. Sally & Sonny do very well on the lead as long as they go together. Once they figure out they are going together they walk without issue and very little encouragement is needed.
I believe Dash & Flash are pregnant as their gut just in front of the udder is more firm then Dot's, but I did not feel any movement. I don't believe don't is, but it's all still a wait and see "game". I know for sure Sally is not as she has only been with Sonny who is a wether. None of the does minded me touching their udders or near the udder. Flash actually did the squat.
After I got the hoof trimming done or not in Sally's case. I tried to turn the girls out in the larger pasture. Well Sally got herself zapped big time. She ran into the fence instead of away. Got tangled for a minute and got herself untangled and ran back to find Sonny who was of course locked in the buck pen. She broke a plastic fence post and tangled wires in the process. So I used the grain bucket to get them all back in the buck pen so I could fix the fence. I am hoping he learned her lesson, but I honestly don't want to put them back out without me being out there right now to at least supervise for about an hour or so. The heat index is way to high for the next three days for me to do that. So I have done an absolute no no and put them altogether in the buck pen. I am not worried about Sammie getting any of them as he is not showing interest right now. I know there is always a risk that he will. I know it will take a few days for Sally & Sonny to get use to being separated and I don't want to get another buck or wether right now so we will have to just wait out the adjustment period.
Today, I took the time to set up a bit of a bigger swim pool for the ducklings. I put one in it, just not sure if they will figure out it's there by themselves. This is the first time I have had ducks. I am hoping they will. This too is just a second step in a temporary pool.
I have to go to the urgent care clinic for a large round red itchy spot on my back. It's about 4-5 inches in diameter. About a week and a half ago there was a spot that itched so I asked my fiance(Dan) to look at it. He said it looked like to small bug bites. A few days later it was still quite itchy so I asked a friend to look. She said the same thing. Well last night it itched like crazy and would not stop. I was able to look in the mirror and said Holy $$it!
Anyhow, after I get back, hot or not I nee to clean the coop today. I also have to work on the pool some more..fixed another leak, so it hopefully is ready to start back up.
Another thing? I have one duckling that is much bigger than the rest, is this an indication that he is a drake? I am calling him/her(?) Quakers. The other's still aren't named.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Ya sure do have a bunch of stuff happening up that way, but have never known ya to just sit on your haunches.........as far as the ducks go, they will figure it out, it will just take them time to get comfortable with the new items being in their area....ours would take anywhere from 3days to a week to trust that nothing was going to get them, but once they do they will be lining up to get in it. The larger one could be a drake....if they are all the same breed.....the tell-tale is the vocals made....a female has a distinctive quack and can be loud and clear.....the drake will have a raspy low volume quack almost like he has a sore throat.....also, the hens as they age will circle a drake and quack as they lower their head and touch the ground with their bill....it is kind of like a dance....this is part of their mating ritual....they will do this in water while swimming too.....water is a really big enticer for interaction with them. I've been meaning to ask ya what breed are they? They appear to be Swedish Blues to me, but was just wondering.....