grain when pregnant

[chandasue]

CM you're crackin' me up!

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

I had two younger does that needed extra grain, as they were getting pushed out of the feed pans every evening, pretty consistently.. They were getting a few ounces, once a day, at the absolute most, and they were fighting tooth and nail just to get that.

Tooth and hoof?

I'm glad to hear it since my inclination is to be overly cautious, I've only had these guys since January. I'm sure as time passes without any major emergencies I'll get a little more adventurous.

 

[Chickenfever]

It's just hard when you're new to goats, I'm so afraid of messing something up. I'm used to chickens, you can feed them anything!

 

[cmjust0]

It's just hard when you're new to goats, I'm so afraid of messing something up.

It's hard when you're new to it, and when you genuinely care about and are attached to the animals. The attachment part is what makes it hardest, I think.

A friend of mine had been in goats for 20+ years...far longer than me. He said people often ask him "How'd you ever learn so much about a goat?"

His stock answer is "I've killed a whole bunch of'em."

Words like that are what cause people with a lot of caring and precious little experience to be so cautious around their new goats.. It's an understandable reaction, for sure.

Thing is, though...he's not exaggerating or purely making a funny. Goats die, and a lot of times -- a LOT of times -- the reason they've died can be traced back to husbandry in some way or another.. So many times it's either something you did that you shouldn't have, or something you should have done that you didn't..

I think you just have to work hard enough at it to genuinely feel like you're doing everything you can to keep them safe and healthy, while at the same time be accepting of the cold, hard fact that there's certain knowledge and certain practices that are only learned through experience. Unfortunately, those experiences sometimes take goats away from us.

It's heartbreaking, but ultimately...that's just the way it is.