Jumping the Moon Dairy - the next chapter

[Bruce]

That is a lot of babies!!!!!

Bought some pasteurized goat milk the other day. Interestingly it doesn't seem much different than cow milk. Goat milk is whole, I buy 2% cow. I kinda figured it would have a somewhat different taste.

 

[babsbag]

@Mini Horses I think I have 45 does and I know that I have 7 bucks. I have 2 does that are leaving tomorrow as they have Staph Aureus mastitis and unfortunately I can't risk keeping them on the milk line even if I clear them up. It tends to be chronic and often sub-clinical and very easy to spread through the milk clusters. I did find them a good home though so I am happy for that.

I am finding it very hard on me emotionally to pull kids. I expected it to be hard, but not this hard. I just want kidding season to be over. Most of the goats that I am milking so far are FF and a few of them are not cutting the program at all. So I am waiting for some more does to freshen and then the work begins.

 

[Mini Horses]

I am assuming you mean "pull" them from their doe mom's to bottle raise...right? Yeah, that would be hard on me. Plus, the does can have issues. FFs maybe less as they haven't previously raised kids. Others -- may be an issue, especially if they hear & smell them.

Hard to handle "tough love" when you have never had to.

There was a Utube thing I watched a yr or so ago, where the dairy does were put into a barn with stalls at week of kidding, watched 24/7 and kids removed immediately at birth, taken to a nursery to be cleaned, dried, etc. Does were milked of colostrum to feed them and all does milked for kid feeding for first 2 weeks....etc. then on milk line up. They never, licked or sniffed those kids -- that much attendance! I understand and care was exceptional but......saddened me. The does seemed fine, like no biggie. Believe, not positive, it was India. Huge set-up. Interesting.

 

[babsbag]

I am usually not around when the kids are being born this year. They are being really sneaky and not going by my calendar at all and I don't have enough room to lock them up for a week at time. So I have been taking the kids at about 2 days and the does are really crying for them, it makes me sad. I have a new plan so we will see. I am only milking once a day, in the morning. So what I am trying is to leave the doe with one kid. They don't seem to miss them as much when they have one to care for. I am locking up the kids at night, milking the doe, and then giving the kids a bottle and turning them out with the herd. I am hoping that this will keep the does happy, keep the kids friendly, and not make it so hard on me. I just have to make sure that catching the kids in the evening for lock up doesn't become a goat rodeo. I don't have time for that. This might actually help with the does' production in the long run too.

 

[Bruce]

There was a Utube thing I watched a yr or so ago, where the dairy does were put into a barn with stalls at week of kidding, watched 24/7 and kids removed immediately at birth, taken to a nursery to be cleaned, dried, etc. Does were milked of colostrum to feed them and all does milked for kid feeding for first 2 weeks....etc. then on milk line up. They never, licked or sniffed those kids -- that much attendance! I understand and care was exceptional but......saddened me. The does seemed fine, like no biggie. Believe, not positive, it was India. Huge set-up. Interesting.

Went to a "breakfast on the farm" 2 summers ago. The dairy farm did just that. All the calves are "bottle" raised from the get go. Makes sense really, the purpose of the cows on a dairy farm is to give milk and make replacement cows. They don't put a lot of milk in the tank if the calves are drinking it.

 

[greybeard]

Alternately, you can just bend each wire back on itself over the opposing wire and then twist each end back around itself Think locking index fingers. #3 in the pic below.
View attachment 31031
This will weaken the wire somewhat at the bend point, but since there will be no real "load" on the wire, it won't be a critical issue.

Then place your stick, bolt, rebar, conduit, whatever you have between the two sides and start twisting it to tighten it.

I know this is an old post but the knot picture showed up as one of the "pics from our members" at the top of the page. There's a specific reason not to use #3 for joining wire, especially in the diagonal brace wire that supports the brace post.
1. It (as someone else stated), is a weak knot. Visually similar to but not anywhere close to a western union. The reason the reef/sq knot works so well is if look closely, the loops have 2 wires to bind against. Reef/sq knot, WU, or Tex Brown knot is best. (A Tex Brown is difficult to tie with any wire over 180KSI and is pretty demanding even with 180)
2. That diagonal wire supports the brace post. The brace post takes 1/2 the strain of the entire fence tension..transmitted to it via the horizontal post making the H. If there is a knot anywhere on a fence that requires special attention, it's the knot holding that diagonal wire together.

This, is one of the better terminal knots to tie off at the anchor post. Not the bitter end goes around the post, around the back side of the fence wire, and thru the loop before the twists begin. I posted a link yesterday to a video in Latestarter's journal showing a pro fencer tying off exactly this way at a post with fixed knot net fence, but it works perfectly well with single strand wire as well.

(I do use the double diagonal (X) wire on some of my ends or corners where a gateway is but only because I have extremely soggy ground much of the year. If I lived in a drier climate, I would not make the X at a gate because the tension of the fence wire on the gate post should more than offset the weight of even a 16-18' gate.)

 

[babsbag]

I haven't posted in forever, just too darn busy. Goats to milk, weeds to cut, chicks and ducks to raise, pups to play with, garden to plant, and the list goes on. My post right now is because I am looking for advice.

I have 4 puppies left and one of them is the female that is supposed to go to @soarwitheagles. The problem is that she is ready (12 weeks old) and I haven't been able to reach him. I don't know his name, I have no way to reach him other than BYH and he hasn't answered my messages in the last 10 days. The last time I communicated with him was on 5/5. What to do?

 

[Wehner Homestead]

I’m not familiar with this person (at this moment anyway) but your post made me curious.

This shows that he was logged in on Tues night late/Wed morning early. I’d watch this and if he doesn’t get back to you soon, I’d say place her with someone else if the opportunity arises since you don’t have an alternate method for contact...

 

[Bruce]

I haven't posted in forever

I noticed

Sure hope @soarwitheagles gets back to you soon, surprised you and he didn't exchange phone numbers. Heck, if I were on the list for a pup, you'ld be hearing from me almost daily asking for pictures!

Perhaps the forum owners have extra contact info for members?

 

[Latestarter]

Hope you'll take a moment or two and give a dairy update when you get a chance. Hope all is going well. I'm with Bruce... did Soar send you a deposit for the pup? I'm assuming he didn't as you said the only comms you had with him was through BYH... No idea what your arrangements are/were. He does seem to not post frequently... With no deposit and no contact, I'd say all bets are off and place the pup elsewhere if you need.