Ragdollcatlady's Just a Little Patch of Weeds Farm journal

[ragdollcatlady]

My neighbor just came by to tell me she thought something was wrong with one of my goats. We ran out back and found Whoa Nellie dead! There were ants on her nose and mouth and rigor mortis had set in already, but no other clues. She had clearly been dead for many hours, so I couldn't fathom trying to freeze her at that point. It was hard to watch her mama crying and nudging her. I think that just broke my heart all over again on top of losing her. She was my fat baby. She still wanted me to carry her all over the yard even though she was so big.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

This morning all the girls were quiet. When I brought the big mamas up to milk, Spelly stopped by the little girls cage and just looked for her baby. When she went back out after milking, she looked around for her Nellie too.

Reese managed to get her head stuck in the milkstand today. She was done milking and was on her clip in her "parking space" when she squished her head into the little triangle spot between the leg and the brace. She panicked and I had to stop and unhook her to help her get loose.

Jane had me freaking out! I was milking Reese (first in line) and I look at Jane and see orange crusty stuff around her mouth! I flip out and just before panic really starts I realize what she has......wait for it......she has peach guts oozing all over her bottom lip!!!! whew! Talk about close call! Yep , she was happily chewing away at her peach flavored cud without a care in the world while I was ready to start hunting down quarantine suits and bleach buckets, zombie apocalypse survival gear.........

 

[ragdollcatlady]

I went to look at a "replacement" buckling for Buck Naked. We are considering trading. It seemed like every goat I asked about...the ones that caught my eye, were related to this little guy so I think I like his bloodlines Granted I didn't see my kids again til several hours later, but I think he is closer in size to my 6 week olds than to my 5 1/2 month old. I think he is 4 1/2 months old.

My BFF went with me to look at the goats even though she is afraid of animals. After, we stopped and had lunch in the "bigger" city, at Mimis Cafe. I have never been there before....Wow! I had a crepe filled with chicken, cheese, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, and mushrooms and topped with madeira sauce. Delicious! Nice atmosphere and staff. I will definitely be back.

RavioliAnna is looking lots better. Still a bit wobbly in the rear chassis, but not nearly as much.

I will have to retake the state board exam to get my Veterinary Technician license back. I passed it the first time easy, but I hope I can find some good material to study so I have a fighting chance this time.

DH took me to breakfast today to celebrate the new job. That was nice. I talked his ears off I am afraid.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Getting caught up. So sorry about your goat.
Sounds like you have lots of stuff going on. Congrats on the job and I am sure you will do well on your test.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Thanks Pearce.

I am really sad about Nellie. She was just awesome. I did redisbud her and StinkerBelle a few days before. I wonder if the stress allowed something to take advantage of the opportunity???? I would have preferred to try a necropsy, but she had clearly been dead for several hours in high nineties/ low hundred degree weather.....

I am so grateful that Ravi seems a little better, but the dewormers still haven't arrived......:/ waiting........ She was being very helpful today. Helping make a mess out of the sticks we were trying to clean up.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

Sooooo sorry about Nellie!!!! Lots of animals seem to try so hard to hide what is the matter with them!

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Thank you for the condolences. I am planning on keeping a girl from her mom next year (praying of course that she has one) to be my next "Nellie". My son was really attached to her, he named her and was pretty devastated too.

Guess what I did!!!???????!!!!!?????? I brought home two boys yesterday. One is mine and one is on loan.

This one I traded Buck Naked for....This is Cowboy Cassanova

This one is on stud loan. I traded BreaByurnadette for stud fees. He was a bit afraid so he was standing funny, but he has really nice angular back legs.

I love these boys family lines. It seems like the goats that I was interested in and was asking about, were all related to these 2..... Out of maybe 40 or 50 goats, I randomly picked out 3 or 4 (just asking about them) and they were all related!

I plan on using Spartagus for my 4 adult girls this next month or 2.....then he has to go home. I will use Jax on StinkerBelle and Cassanova will have to grow up some, but he can be MacinTashas beau next fall.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

Very nice!!! Have fun!!!

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Thank you, I am pretty excited about our breeding plans this year.

Casanova is curious enough to come up to me but Spartagus is a little bit more reserved. Not sure if he likes us yet. Yesterday I found a little loverboy, Casanova, in the back pen with the big girls! When I asked what he was doing back there, he squished through the cattle panel and came up to see what I wanted. He is supposed to be MacinTashas date for next fall!

The girls are not happy with our new routine/schedule. They object almost as much as I do about getting up at 6 in the morning. They were used to milking at 9:30 everyday due to my previous work schedule. How dare I expect them to cooperate at such a ridiculously early hour! They run around randomly like they can't fathom what in the world we are doing so early in the day. Goats are such drama queens! I also let RavioliAnna and Stinkerbelle stay with the big mamas because the new boys are using their pen.......and they are upset that the boys are eating their food and don't think they like hanging in the "parking spaces" with the big girls during milking. They don't have their own parking spaces yet so that is one more thing for EVERYONE to get upset about.

Hopefully Popcorn and AppleJax will go to their new home by next weekend..... the first deal fell through so I accepted a second offer on them ........I guess we will see. A third person is interested in just AppleJax but I don't even want to let her go and I am only offering her with her brother so they can stay together. If this second offer falls through, I may offer him alone, but I would be very happy if AppleJax stayed here. She is the friendliest thing EVER! Almost as snuggly as Nellie.....maybe even more.........

My Mama Mia is coming to visit on Wednesday! Yeah! I am so excited! She is bringing school supplies for the kids and gets to stay until Saturday!!!

I added a pigeon page to my website for DD. It only has pics of 2 birds right now, but we found out that her Rousseaux is actually an Old Dutch Capuchine. Then we saw frillbacks!!!! I gotta get some of those...they look like sebastapol geese!!!! and Satinettes, and fantails....and DD saw a Tiger Swallow pigeon!!!! WOW!!!! Who knew they come in such pretty options!

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Mom came and left already. I had a great time getting to visit with her and my youngest brother. I had to work, but mom met me during my lunch hour one day and I came home for lunch on the other day. We stayed up late talking and catching up. She lives three hours away so we don't get to visit nearly enough.

Just after mom left for home, I got an email from someone wanting Apple Jax and Popcorn....and they lived just an hour from moms hometown. Mom came back and picked up the babies, goat milk, a bottle, and some food and dropped them off on her way home, for me. The home the goats went to have a pet fox. I guess when the babies came out to go exploring, they went through a cattle panel type fence and the fox rounded them up like a shepherd dog. Georgia got a bit sad when I walked away carrying her kids, even though they weren't crying or anything. I think she Knew. But MacinTasha is still here. She gets to be her moms companion.

My kids all started school. They are happy to be back with friends are satisfied with most of their classes.

The vet clinic is tons of fun. I am brushing up on some long unused skills and trying to find good info to study. I didn't study while mom was here, but I will be back at it tomorrow.