Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[greybeard]

Van Zandt County.
Edgewood and Wills Point saw some very strong windstorms, if not tornadic activity over the early morning hours.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Po...-on-Camera-Near-Edgewood-Texas-422046004.html

 

[misfitmorgan]

I don't believe the direct parents are polled, but not sure about up the line. I mean you can see that Dot isn't polled and was burned as a kid.

Whether she looks burned or not you can't use that as a for sure because people often burn polled goats. Polled goats will develop flat topped "lumps" or round topped "lumps" which many people mistake for horn buds. Take a picture of the top of CCs head and we can tell you if she is polled or not likely.

Polled kids have no horn swirls.

Here is a good pic.(Not mine)

That's a buck and he is polled....notice the large lumps still. Not all polled goats have large lumps generally females have smaller lumps.

I hope Bay is ok too!!

 

[CntryBoy777]

Your herd looks really Good, and love the markings on CC. Have ya heard anything from @Baymule ? I sure hope they are okay....be sure to keep us posted.

 

[Devonviolet]

I spoke with @Baymule this morning, before we went out to feed the animals & milk the goats.

They were out feeding animals, yesterday afternoon, when the storm went over them. They had rain, wind & lots of thunder, but they were all fine.

After all the storms recently, she thinks local cell towers were affected. She didn't even get LS's & my texts last night, or my calls, to check on her. In fact our texts didn't go through until we were talking on the phone this morning.

Then, while we were talking, her phone dropped the call. I tried calling her back, and the call wouldn't go through.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Thank goodness they are okay....and thanks for the response @Devonviolet . Glad all of ya are doing fine, just busy...

 

[chickadoodles]

Ls you have a bunch of good looking goats.

 

[Latestarter]

Yup, Bay is fine. I heard from them around noon. Didn't hear/find out if there was actually a tornado here or not. Thanks Chicka I think I can just barely feel the beginnings of horn buds developing now. They are very, very small. So even if she will need burning, it won't be soon.

 

[Latestarter]

OK, so CC is somewhat of a vagabond. She has learned that she can pass through the cattle panels and likes to explore under the tarp that's covering the hay and grain/feed barrels. Freaks me out when I go out and she's nowhere to be seen and then I hear the tarp rattle and out she runs... She's doing great, as are the other 2 kids. She's running and jumping and becoming quite active. I'm still feeding her 3 times a day and giving her whatever she'll take. She generally drinks right at 16-18oz each feeding. When it gets to the point that she's emptying the bottle (20 oz) I guess I'll have to go buy a bigger coke. Nice being retired and being able to adjust what I'm doing to meet her feeding schedule.

So I said I was going to wait but I couldn't... I tried some Dot milk again.... Oh... My my my... simply delish! So rich and creamy! I'm about a quart ahead of what CC is eating right now so can claim one for my own use I've filtered it warm and cold and it seems to filter much better warm. Once it cools down there are lots of cream "clots" that seem to plug up the filter pores. Now the only problem is going to be as CC's appetite increases she'll be getting most of it till I wean her... She has started nibbling hay and weeds. But she's only just a bit over a week old, so she'll be drinking milk for quite a while yet.

So CM is now about 6-7 weeks old and getting close to the time of cutting. @Goat Whisperer & @Southern by choice I believe that you cut your wethers at about 8 weeks, right? I wanted to give his urethra time to mature as I plan to keep him as a herd sire companion. I may go the banding route simply because it's just me and it will be hard to hold him and cut him by myself. I should be able to get the band on easy enough by myself. I think I'm going to contact @Devonviolet and see if I can borrow their disbudding iron when it's time to do CC. I can barely feel little horn nubs starting... They're less than 1/2 a pencil eraser in size at this point.

 

[Southern by choice]

We cut between 8-12 weeks depending on animals and "Size"

We usually wait two weeks to try the milk. Best to strain right after you milk and then refrigerate, as you have figured out.

Bottle babies are so much fun!

 

[Devonviolet]

I think I'm going to contact @Devonviolet and see if I can borrow their disbudding iron when it's time to do CC.

Absolutely. We will be happy to let you borrow the disbudding iron. We also have a disbudding box, that DH built, based on plans @goatgurl's DS#1 gave us, when they were here, after Woody was born. It makes it so much easier, to keep the kid contained, while doing a difficult job.