Goats&moregoats: KickinUpDust Farm Journal

[goats&moregoats]

Thank you all for your kindness. My daughter and her 4 children are visiting in NY until the first part of August. I miss the heck out of them.

Yesterday's pictures:
The ducks and chicks are doing really well. There is a piece of plywood dividing the sleep area from the walkway to outside. Half were on each side of the board. The chick to the far right (last two pictures) did go outside very briefly. Actually the dark colored chick in third picture is just outside the opening. They must be getting their share of the bugs, because their food dish is not completely empty morning or evening. I also check in the afternoon, but don't have to do anything with it then. I change their drinking water morning and evening. Plus I change the ducks bathing water 3 times a day. I won't be surprised to find them outside at some point today.

Yesterday I was gone for a could chuck of the day, so I let the babies out for a while in the evening. Today I will give them their morning pellets after I take care of the ducks & chicks. That way while they are eating the pellets I can go out the gate without any hassle. I was hoping that I could cut the older girls grain out completely as they have such a large area of pasture & browse, but Ginger isn't has filled out as I would like to see. However, I also noticed that Nutmeg stays on the skinny side as well. Maybe it's their genetics. First picture you can see that Nutmeg looks much skinnier than the other three. The two boys are solid muscle let me tell you. Rio is going to have scurs...hopefully they don't cause any issues and stay on the small side. Second two pictures only show one side of pasture and not all of it. A tree line divides this from the other side. With all 6 goats in the big pasture I will be adding a second water bucket for them. Thankfully there is a second smaller shelter that the younger ones can get into if the older girls decide not to share the barn right away. I am thinking that I might leave the buck pen gate open for the first couple of nights. That way the younger ones can go to a familiar sleep area. We will see how today goes and I can decide on that at evening feeding time.

 

[CntryBoy777]

They all sure seem Happy to me....and have the variety to choose from....I know they like the elevation changes....ours sure do....tho, ours are just mounds of clay.....we call them hills.........love the biddies and those little quackers!!.....soooo, Sweet!!....

 

[goats&moregoats]

Kids spent the entire day in the main pasture with the older does. So evening feeding time just got done. Went so much better than I had pictured. I got the chicks & ducks done first, then filled the water buckets. All the goats followed me around for that. Then I put the kids in the buck pen. Gave the girls their pellets in the barn. Returned to the buck pen, propped the gate back open, gave the kids their pellets and was able to get back out the main gate without any goats attempting to follow. I of course made sure I took in everything I needed to start with. I did leave the buck pen open all day and again for the night. The does were in the barn and the kids were in the buck pen when I went out to feed. Tomorrow I will close the buck pen and feed the kids near the opening of the second shelter so they get comfortable around it and have the option of using it if the bigger does decide they can't be in the barn yet.

@babsbag , @Goat Whisperer , @Southern by choice and if ya'll can think of anyone else that can answer this question: How long should I keep the kids on pellets. Again they are 13 & 12 weeks. With them being in with the does I will have to stand guard if I take the does off pellets but not the kids. All my Nigi does where use to collars so I could tether them at feeding time once they were all together again and their babies just shared with them. Some I could also just feed in separate dishes a little ways away from the other and again their babies just ate with the moms. I only kept 2 of the kids born here. One was a buckling that stopped getting pellets at 8 weeks when he was separated from his dam. He got pasture/browse/hay along with minerals & baking soda. The other was a doeling who nursed on her dam close to 13 weeks. So because her dam was nursing she continued to share pellets with her dam until she was weaned. Then it was pasture/browse/hay along with minerals & baking soda. I feel I should know this but, still I am unsure.

Pool is looking so much better, but not sparkling clear yet. I think I told you all that no one took care of pool while I was gone so it was almost as green as when I first uncovered it. Got quite a bit of yard work done. Still a small amount remaining. Pay preview on WWE.com tonight so the rest of daylight is at a loss due to someone having to keep an eye on Doreen. I hate wasted daylight. A bit of an adjustment for me since moving here. I get up at 6am, but I have to wait to do anything outside until about 8 am. That is when the other half gets around. Doreen comes downstairs at varies times so I never dare to be outside where I may not see her come out the door. The evening most of the time I can be out until almost dark unless racing or wrestling are on. Then he is to focused on those to even notice if Doreen goes through the room let alone outside. Not complaining, just stating the fact that I have made adjustments and I still hate wasted daylight. Much easier with my DD1 here.

From the looks of the weather for tomorrow I will be spending part of the day cleaning. Rain at some point. Can't get the hourly weather right now, so not sure when it's going to hit.

A little worried about my son that is in prison. Yeah, I know, but he is still my baby regardless. I haven't heard from him since June 2nd. We do e-mail mostly. Phone calls when he has money to put on his phone account. He gets money from DD2 because she owes him money. I send small amounts for his Birthday & Christmas. Hoping he is only in the box or lock down. Whatever they may call it there. Just need to know he isn't dead.

 

[Southern by choice]

Are you feeding the pellets for coccidia prevention or just to get them growing?
We feed all our goats year round so we don't wean off pellets. If you don't want them on feed them really you can do that anytime.

Will be praying you hear from your son and his safety.

 

[Latestarter]

I feed all of mine ( boys too) pellets year round... I just adjust the amount based on how they look and what's going on...

 

[goats&moregoats]

@Southern by choice ,yes it is medicated feed for the propose of coccidia prevention, but was also used to help with growth as they were weaned from the bottle I increased their pellets. I should be able to decrease it a bit. Can I ask if you all have the larger dairy breeds, how much do you usually feed at this age? Currently they get about 2 cups each morning and evening. My older girls are getting about 1 & 1/2 morning & evening. @Latestarter, just didn't want to over feed with all they have to eat from nature. At first I didn't think it was enough, but they all look great and have energy, doing all the goat things goats do.

 

[Latestarter]

Mine are Lamanchas. Like yours, they have lots of forage in the pasture (gonna need to mow it) and I cut down (or pull down) tree limbs for them for fresh leaves almost daily. All the mammas are still nursing their kids (sparingly), and are still looking too skinny to me. Just finished a worming protocol on the adults and gave them cobalt boluses. (It has had a marked positive affect on their appetites, appearances, and general condition) They got copper boluses on May 6th. I don't give them as much as they want or would eat given the chance. I have a large Tupperware round bowl that I scoop feed with. It's I believe a 4 cup bowl and I fill it heaping full, so maybe 5 cups. I scoop 4+ of these into one of their small food bowls (it's full to the rim) then walk around to pour into 4 large food bowls and 2 (plus the one) small food bowls for the kids. I then stand guard between the groups so the adults (7) eat from the large bowls and the kids (8 @ 12weeks) eat from the small ones.
ETA: I'm going through a 50# bag of pellets every 2.5-3 days feeding as above, twice a day.

So I don't measure out individually. The faster eaters get more than the slow. I figure if the slow eaters want to get a bigger share they have to learn to eat faster. In the morning I set the bowls up outside their overnight lock-up pen so there's no fighting and I let them all free after the bowls are filled. At night, I place the feed bowls inside the pen so they all go inside & I can lock them up for the night while they eat. That's a bit trickier and I have to scoop out handfulls into each bowl to get them interested (out from underfoot) and then walk around pouring into the ones they aren't paying attention to. So they're all jumping around between bowls until I get them all filled and then they settle down to a bowl and eat.

The babies get a fraction of the amount the moms get because they're still getting mom's milk. Once they're weaned, I'll up their pellet amounts and decrease the mom's amounts. I just kinda monitor how they're looking, behaving, and adjust from there. The kids are "nicely rounded", have beautiful coats of hair/fur, are growing like weeds, and run/jump around like maniacs, even in the heat. The buck and adult wether are fine. The moms are run down a bit but recovering. Their coats have improved a lot in the past 3-4 days, and they are starting to fill back out/put on weight (slowly).

IMHO, it's a lot easier to cut back on their food and slim them down than it is to "bulk them up". They can only digest just so much, so if you're underfeeding it's more difficult to get them back up in weight. So I'd err on the side of giving them a bit more as I can always cut it back if they start getting fat. I haven't had to deal with a fat goat in the short period of time I've owned goats.

 

[Southern by choice]

Can you refresh my memory... how many are there and are these guys wethers? does? intact?

 

[goats&moregoats]

@Southern by choice , I have two adult does just over 2 yrs. They kidded at a year old(not mine then). I have one wether @ 12 weeks, 1 buckling @ 13 weeks and 2 doelings @ 12 weeks. The two boys & 1 doeling look awesome. Nutmeg (doeling) looks a little thin to me, but not terrible either. One adult doe looks great but Ginger looks thin to me as well. They have had copper treatment and have had worm treatment.
First picture is of two boys and 1 doeling. Second picture is Nutmeg. I will try to get pics from above tonight at feeding.
Ginger: So from first angle she looks good, second angle she looks to thin to me.

 

[goats&moregoats]

So this morning I am beyond frustrated but not with my animals. Just concern for my animals and doing what is best for them. Getting over whelmed with the everyday/weekly workload and the fact that even with 3 other people in the house (not counting Doreen) I do 95% of what needs to be done. I am struggling to maintain a decent balance. I have Doreen with Alzheimer's. A 21 year old young man I raised with Asperger's Syndrome ( high functioning form of Autism) who needs constant reminders of everyday daily thing such as : brushing teeth, shower, putting on clean clothes and even eating ( he does prep & cook his particular foods). He is not an outdoor person and he has low muscle tone so he does not do to much for physical labor. He does maintain his own room. Then there is Charlie, Doreen's 47 year old son you has a mental disability but has never been diagnosed with anything specific. He cleans the two bathrooms once a week, but since his mother's own mental decline does not do them properly. He can, he just doesn't anymore. He also maintains his own room, washes his own clothes and makes sure the towels are washed weekly. He helps with the lawn but only if it is his day off. Since Doreen has declined Charlie refuses to do any work around the house unless it's his day off. Quite often he gets called in on his days off as well. He has never lived on his own. He does contribute to the household bills and has since he graduated from school. Then there is my other half. Who up until he had back surgery back in 2008 was awesome. He cooked, grocery shopped, help with cleaning, took out trash and help with yard maintenance as well has working 40 hrs a week. Since his surgery he has stopped everything except cooking dinner and grocery shopping which we do by the month for the major stuff and weekly for the basics. He has developed an I don't give a crap about other's attitude which he did not have before.
Recently I went from a 3 bedroom apartment with a kitchen, bath, dinning room/washroom and a living room. None of the rooms were overly large, no yard work and I actually spent most of my time here with my goats & chickens. Then I had three people in the apartment.
Now I am in a four bedroom house with 1 1/2 baths, large dinning room, large kitchen, large living room, maintaining a very large yard, a pool and caring for Doreen, who has declined greatly. When I moved in a year ago I had to make sure she ate and drank some water,set up her meds, make sure she took them morning & night and make sure she did not wander anywhere. Someone outside the house pays her bills. Now I do that, plus she has to have help with showers, dressing, getting ready for bed, and I have to be aware 24/7. She doesn't like for me to be gone for anymore than 1/2 hour or she gets angry and starts screaming at whoever is with her. I understand that she feels secure when I am around, but I still need a break from it all once in a while. She has to be reminded that she is eating as she gets up an wanders away from her meal and forgets she is eating. She can not be outside unsupervised and she is pretty much bored with doing nothing but watching TV. We can not put her into any day programs because she makes to much money to qualify for reduced cost of free participation, but not enough to afford to pay for it.
Any way: back to this morning...My other half did not climb out of bed until almost 10:00, he then informs me he has to go get blood work done at the hospital. So my poor animals did not get their pellets, fresh water and poultry feed until almost 11:30...totally not acceptable care for the animals. I am thinking about re-homing them. That has were all the above rant has led to.