Straw Hat Kikos

[marlowmanor]

Southern is keeping her. Not me. lol I like to call her C1. They can call her anything they want but I'm calling her C1. I like it.

We could call her Callie. I do like Cassie though.

As far as Bailey. If you decide to get rid of her I would sell or give her to a family just for a pet. She's too sweet.

You must have a microscope if you are serous about raising goats, imo. I will never go without one now.

I'd hate to get rid of Bailey. She is just starting to come around with us. She's not in your pocket friendly but she is definitely getting more friendly with us. She was actually given to us for a pet, but we decided to take a chance on breeding her again. We've given her time to get in good condition and hoping it goes better this time. I think if we got rid of her we would make sure whoever gets her knows her history and understands she is a pet only, not to breed her. She is at least a gorgeous pasture ornament!

Told DH about getting a microscope tonight and got a rolled eyes look!

 

[Southern by choice]

Hey partner- my goats weights are recorded... on my calender along with the dogs. If you want to take over and keep all logs for the goats that would be great!!!!! I really need to focus on my poultry.
BTW- I'm moving "D" out of the back, I want him in the poultry field at night from now on. He also won't get so dusty and I can take my baby in the house all the time, whenever I want, as much as I please, on the couch, so I can cuddle with my lil man! He misses his mommy.

So excited about your Kikos girls! I really wonder how many kids you are going to end up having in Feb! It will be funny if you have to bottle feed cuz u r on ur own!!!

 

[Bridgemoof]

Hi Strawhat, I had to go back a few pages to see what happened to Caleb! Kudos to you for making a touch decision and standing by your own principles for raising a healthy herd.

So, now about this microscope....what type does one need to get to do their own fecals? I pay $30 each time my vet does one, and I'd love to do fecals on all my goats and sheep. So now I want a microscope thanks to you and a scale thanks to Sheepgirl! Where is the profit in this operation?

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Thanks Bridge. I know it's the right decision and it'll all work out fine.

Southern would be better to talk to about the kind and type. I'm pretty sure you will need at least a 10x and 40x with a 10x on top. That way you can get to 100x and 400x. If you are using a microscope for fecals you will need both those. You can see most eggs fine at the 100x but some like the Liverfluke and the Barberpole look nearly the same so you have to see it in 400x to see which it is. And cocci eggs are very small and if you are not very good or have been doing fecals for a good while you will blow right past them. You can see them at 100x but you have to have an eye and then to confirm you may need to go to 400x to tell for sure. So you have to have one where you can get at least 100x and 400x.

 

[marlowmanor]

I think we need some new pictures of C1. And we need to know what she is going to be named.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

She's not my goat so I don't name her, but if I were to name her I would call her............................C1

I may try and get some new pictures of her later today. She really is getting big. I have a fair amount to do to day so I'm not sure if those pictures will get done or not.

 

[marlowmanor]

She's not my goat so I don't name her, but if I were to name her I would call her............................C1

I may try and get some new pictures of her later today. She really is getting big. I have a fair amount to do to day so I'm not sure if those pictures will get done or not.

Tell Southern to figure out what she is naming her then since she is keeping her! No rush for pictures. Just really wanted to see how she has grown. I need a kid fix too! Southern needs to start her own journal so I can bug her on it instead of having to hope she sees my request on your journal!

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Today Callie killed a chicken. She was moved up into a different field because she barks all night long and is disturbing the neighbors. Well I guess there was some rouge chicken that didn't go into the coop and Callie got to it. She was scolded and dealt with. That dog is way to hyper sensitive. You tell her she's bad and she goes right onto her back and doesn't move. She did not move for over an hour. Laid in the same exact spot!! She went back into her field and is there now.

I also did two fecals today. It's time to get my bi-weekly fecals done on all the goats. I did Sis and Coco since they gave me a 'sample' first. Last time I did a fecal on Sis she had only 13 Barberpole eggs. A great number!! This time she had 9 Barberpole eggs. Even lower. So that's showing me that she really does have very good resistance to worms. Coco, last time I did a fecal on her she had 7 Barberpole eggs. This time she had only 3. So both have very good numbers there and I'm very proud of them both.

Caleb and Will decided they wanted to fight this evening too. Caleb's scurs (which btw are growing back) will bleed if hit hard enough because it is breaking the thick 'scab' over them. When that breaks the vessel is exposed therefore it bleeds. It was just bleeding a bit when I saw them at fist, figuring they were just messing, but when I was told to go look at them because they both have blood all over them I figured I should put Caleb out back. His vessel was fully exposed and because they were fighting both he and Will have blood all over their faces, heads, necks, chests, and front legs. So Caleb is out back and I'm going to talk to my neighbor and see if he wants him as part of our deal because if not I already have several buyers that want him for meat. Good thing is they are both ok and it's just blood from his scur. They will both be fine.

That's about it for today, I believe.

 

[bonbean01]

Glad the bloody encounter wasn't too bad or serious...I am glad I don't need to deal with horns and scurs! Like the look of horns...but still glad my sheep have no horns.

Poor chicken...poor Callie...sounds like Callie takes a scolding pretty seriously.

Very cool that you do your own fecals, and good test results!

I've sent you an email from our local Craig's list for your opinion on Pyrs for sale locally...could not copy and paste for some reason to just send you the link. Curious on your opinion.

I really do have to start my own journal when things calm down here a bit and I have more time...but...have company coming for Thanksgiving and I have to clean out the third bedroom to find the bed...sigh...any flat surface seems to attract everything that doesn't have a place...I've got too much crap we think we need...LOLOL...and still taking care of my poochie with the spider bite...no fever today, so that's an improvement...and got more hay in today....I'm whipped, but need to stay up to give night meds to poochie and then set the alarm to do it again at 3 am...one of these days I will start my journal and stop hijacking everyone else's

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

A new update with pictures this time.

Alana checking out the camera.

C1 as requested.

Again.

Again.

The Nigerian barn that is now closed up for winter. The rail and 2x4 is a chicken feeder with a perch. Works great and now no goat can get chicken feed. Not even Milly. hehehe

My newest hay feeder.

Again.


Ok now check this out. I have this rather large shelter for my Kikos and the dogs. Thing is, it must be on flat land and that's why it is where it is, on the other side of the area. Well the KIkos do go over there an forage, they eat their feed over there, and the mineral feeder is over there. The only issue is, they don't like to sleep over there. They have made these 'nest' like things where they sleep now. They were just using dirt and they were still clearly defined 'sleeping area'. I decided to throw the wasted hay down in them and they seem to really like that. So my Kiko goats have not used any shelter in well over a month now. That is kinda neat and I do like that because it shows that they are rather hardy and don't need to be babied. I do NOT want a goat that needs to be babied. I want the best of the best and ones that know how to and have to be able to survive by themselves with as little care as needed. No shelter helps with that.

Dog area of the shelter.

Goat area. The dogs took the hay out by playing with it.

So that's where they sleep now. idk how well you can see it but there are clearly defined area where they have made 'nests' like deer do. That's where they choose to sleep.


Other pictures. Callie, Moses, and D.

Callie, my baby.

She is just under 100 pounds now.

Again.

Callie and D.

Both of them alert now. Look at the right angle she has made with her legs. haha She is so weird.

Southern's D. She loves that dog more than she loves, well, people. haha She is too crazy over her dog.

I do have to say he is a very handsome dog though. And one really big love. He loves his people for sure.

Moses laying down.

Again.

Standing tall.

Moses has been gaining weight pretty good as of lately. 1/4 pound per day, which is very good because he only gets 3 cups of feed and sometimes the does steal some of it. They've now eaten what was left in their area so not much of anything other than the hay for them to eat. He has also gotten much taller lately. He is just under 28 inches at the withers and sometimes he appears to stand taller than Alana who is 28" at the withers. He has been looking rather wide too. It really seems that in just the last 2-3 weeks he has grown so much and gotten so much bigger. It may be that he is out of rut now. Who knows?

obtw C1 is in heat right now. She is just over 10 weeks old. So that's proof that Nigerians can and do go into heat at very young ages. I get sick of people telling me that they do not go into heat at that age and it takes 4 or 5 months for them to go into their first heat. Most of the don't even have Nigerians!!

So there's some pictures and a little update I guess.