Vetericyn

After a lifetime of working with animals and keeping livestock I have tried many, many different products for all the various ailments that crop up. Most work pretty poorly. It is rare that I will find something to rave about--something that lives up to it's claims. My normal course of action when I find an injury and fear infection is to start an aggressive triple antibiotic application and strive to make and keep the injury free of dirt. It is really the only thing that I have had work for me and what my vet normally recommends anyway.

My horse, Scooby, is prone to these kinds of scrapes and scratches. The other day I went out and found him with a long slash on his rear. It was long and deep enough that I thought about calling the vet for stitches but it was in a place that I knew was likely to rip out and clean enough that I thought it would mend without stitches. I treated it with triple antibiotic ointment for several days and it looked great. On day four he rolled and inflamed the area, filling it with dirt. I washed the wound and dressed it but I was very worried by how swollen the entire area was and the nasty red tissue that was showing in the now widening slit. Proud flesh is a huge problem with horses. Granular tissue grows around an inflamed area and won't go away.

I went on line and found a post about a new product called vetericyn. It sounded too good to be true...it treats wounds, burns, eye infections, fungal infections and it's safe to use all over the animal without fear of irritation. I was willing to try anything at this point. It is expensive, $30 for a 20 oz bottle. I was really hoping that I wasn't being an idiot by buying it. The company claims that the spray works by penetrating and oxidizing the wound, helping the animal's own natural defenses activate which, frankly, sounded like a lot of hoopla to me.

The instructions say to saturate the wound 3 or 4 times a day...which isn't possible for me. I could do it twice a day. When you apply vetericyn it goes on like water and runs off. I gave the wound a thorough dousing...about ten shots with the sprayer it comes in. I was very dubious. It looked like it was all just running down the horses flanks like water. I wondered if any penetrated the wound at all and even thought about trying to scrub the wound open (bad idea). The next day the swelling was gone. After two days the wound had shrunk to half it's size and in three days I cut the second spraying. I am no longer using so much--just a few squirts and I am completely and utterly in awe of how quickly and completely this stuff works. I'm in love...where have you been all my life, vetericyn?

The Goat Stork Cometh!

After weeks of false starts, Pims finally came through with twins...a buck and a doe. That's the buck, above. I went out to do chores yesterday before 5 and he was laying in the shavings at his mother's feet. He hadn't stood yet but she had cleaned him off and did just fine without help.

She had the doe kid twenty minutes later. It is so much fun having kids again and nice to be milking too. Pims is producing just about what you would expect for colostrum as a first freshening yearling...about 40 oz in 24 hours. I brought the kids inside right off and they are getting their legs under themselves today.

I used nutri-drench on the kids and their mom as soon as they were born followed by a bucket of water with molasses in it. They loved that! Sally had to join Pims to have a sweet drink but they are so sweet to each other that she never had to be moved into a separate stall. Sally stayed well away from Pims while she was birthing. And how considerate of Pims to kid on a sunny day just before chores...she didn't even miss a meal!

I am always filled with awe (and aaaaaaaaawh) when baby goats are born, healthy and vigorous and ready to jump right up and play hours after they are born. It's one of those common place miracles that make life so wonderful.

Burning Horn Buds

Well my kids are not here yet but I did some breeding in Peacham with the Davies family's beautiful Nubians and their kids were born two weeks ago. They have very high quality Nubian does but they aren't registered. The farm they came from is out of business but luckily their breeding is still in the Nubian herd book and looked like a good out-cross for my goats. I decided to ad two of these kids to my herd and register them as "Native on Appearance" in the ADGA registry.

They are lovely, as I knew they would be, and a nice addition. We went to see them and burn their horn buds the other night. I chose two because with my goats still waiting to kid, I have no idea what I will get. If I get two large single bucks I won't be keeping them and a lone little Davies doe wouldn't be big enough to go in with the big girls for a while after all the little guys would be gone. Goats do not like to be kept alone. This way my Davies does will have each other as they grow big enough to stay with my other goats.

We have had some terrible car trouble which prevented me from going out when the kids were born. Kate told me she thought they were about a week early but it didn't register with me that it meant I could safely delay horn bud burning. Two weeks went by without being able to get out to take care of those horn buds and I was in a bit of a panic. If you burn too late it's a mess and not really all that reliable. You want to burn buds in the first week, usually. At around fourteen days when we finally went out, I was relieved to find healthy babies with tiny, brand new horn buds. Really, if I had gone out before they wouldn't be developed enough to burn. So, all my worry was for nothing.

We picked our two beautiful babies...Julianna (she looks like Julius) and Fiona. It was dark so I didn't get pictures yet but those will be coming soon. I'm very excited to have the opportunity to ad stone pillars farm bloodlines to mine and see what they produce. I am also adding Jesta Farm Arabella from Michelle Pike in Cabot so we will have enough milk. Arabella is probably going to be one of my favourite goats of all times--she is beautiful, productive AND sweet. Michelle does a great job making her animals a pleasure to handle.

I used a non-electric horn bud burner to do the job this time...actually my husband did the burning because I need reading glasses to do it now (I hate getting old). I held the kids swaddled in a towel. I must admit that I was nervous using the non electric burner for the first time but was very pleased with the results! We got a solid copper ring right away without worrying about brain damage because the burner is cooling the entire time you are using it. It gets very hot. It only took 5 or 6 seconds per horn though it did need to be re-heated for each bud. I brought clippers and shaved their heads so we could be sure to burn in the right place. I don't know how anyone does that job without clipping to expose the buds. This is always traumatic for everyone involved but once it's over the little guys get right up and frolic around like nothing ever happened. I really think I prefer this burner to my old rhinehart. The only down side is the need for a torch in the barn...which made me nervous.

And I get fooled...

So Pims is not ready to have her kids yet! She was showing every sign...pawing, loose ligaments between her hip bones and her pin bones, hollowed out sides, mucous discharge, the rounded rump that means the kids are pushing up into the birth canal...not to mention pacing, groaning, laying down and getting up. I felt sure about ten times that "this was it". Then she would get up, stretch, walk over to the hay feeder and go back to life as usual...as if nothing happened. I realised that she is just very uncomfortable. She's ready to go. She would love to have these kids but the message to go into labor is given by the kids brains, not the dams. I can actually relate! I have seven children of my own and I can totally relate to being ready to have my pregnancy be over. She will have them when they are ready. Not a minute sooner. Poor little Pims keeps going into false labor and is just plain uncomfortable. In the mean time, I will keep checking on her through the night because the one thing I did learn from my many births...they will come. Ready or not!

Waiting for kids

I've been watching my two does carefully. I've been surprised by the goat stork before and don't want to be caught unawares this time! I take the babies away at birth. I've tried it both ways and found that this is what works best for me for a number of reasons.

1)Mom get's very attached to her baby and when it comes time to milk she will generally pitch a fit while if you take the babies away they just think my milking is the way it's supposed to be and they get right into the schedule without any fuss or upset. I think this is actually kinder to the goats.
2)You see production right off and know what the babies are getting...this allows you to see if there is a problem quickly (is that baby tired or sick? If they aren't eating they are sick!)
3)You keep the udder nice and even this way. Babies will favor one side over another often times ruining the udder's symmetry hurting the value of the goat later.
4)You know if mom has mastitis and can help prevent mastitis from the beginning with a teat dip. The orifice opens to let the milk out and doesn't close right up after which can lead to bacteria in the udder.
5)Optimum milk production is created by demand. Babies don't demand milk on a optimum milking schedule and just sip whenever they want which doesn't empty the udder (telling the udder to produce more milk).

Anyhoo, I thought the goats were bred later even though I saw early breeding behavior. I thought it didn't take when I saw them doing it again later in November. By the looks of things Pims did take! Her tendons that run from her hips to her pin bones is loose, she had bloody mucous on her tail yesterday and her vulva is pink and puckered...all signs of imminent kidding! Now I will watch for the other signs: restlessness & loss of appetite. Look for kid pics soon!

Goat Milk?

I have been doing some research always having been fascinated by dairy statistics. Did you know, for instance, that a cow is bred at 18 months old for an 11 month gestation? Dairy goats are bred at around seven months old and have a five month gestation which is almost a year sooner to start producing milk. From there, the math continues to be surprisingly easy. A cow weighs 10 times more than a goat (135 for a goat, 1300 for a cow) and produces 10x as much milk (2000 lbs for a goat and 20,000 for a cow). Cow's are listed as costing the farmer less (per gallon of milk) than goats at $7 per day for a cow to $1 per goat. So milk, just the caring for the animals basic needs...not paying for electricity or equipment or any of the things farmers must have to do the work of a dairy...costs .96 cents to produce per gallon (and that's not paying the farmer a cent yet) and goats milk costs $1.46 per gallon to produce. Since I'm not running a milking machine or bulk tank that keeps my costs way down. It's a very efficient way to get the highest quality milk, cheese and yogurt money can buy!

Why Goats?

It's funny, but from the very beginning of my journey into dairy goat keeping that is the one question that comes up again and again.

It all started that fateful day when I pulled into my neighbor's yard in Iowa. I was from Houston, a city girl all my life, well known animal-lover from childhood. There in the yard, were the cutest creatures I had ever laid eyes on. I didn't even know what they were. With their floppy ears I thought "sheep"? but they totally lacked anything like wool. These were day old Nubian goats.

I asked my neighbor what they were and she smiled and said "goats". I was instantly in love with their clumsy antics and their little faces with those long ears which they tossed around like sassy pig-tailed girls. So I started to make a case with my husband for why we must have goats at our own house. We had five kids so we went through a lot of milk, I was sure we would save money there. I could make cheese. I could make soap...more savings. It was an idea I didn't really believe at the time but it was my story and I stuck with it.

We tried the milk and found it to be excellent. So, I bought my first doe, a pregnant first freshener named Twinkle. When I milked her for the first time I was brutally disappointed. She produced barely more than what her kid needed to survive. I was assured that this was normal for yearling first fresheners so I persevered. We didn't get much milk the first season so I bought Twinkles mother, Doree. Doree produced a gallon of milk per day, twinkle also produced a gallon per day her second season and soon we were not having to buy milk and even had enough to make yogurt and cheese.

I kept meticulous records to prove or disprove that the goats were economical for us to keep. What I found was pretty surprising. I couldn't sell any milk from the goats in Iowa (strictly against the law) so I calculated what I didn't have to buy according to what I was used to paying. I didn't have to buy any milk at $3.00 per gallon. That was the price for cow's milk at the grocery store. That was not the price for organic cow's milk even though I know my standards for handling and the freshness of my milk was much higher than the milk we had been buying. Even calculating at the lowest price, the milk my two little does produced paid for their feed and paid me back for their purchase prices (both $150) in one year. In fact the $1,095.00 savings in milk paid for every cost the goats incurred with a surplus of $200. Hay, minerals, shots, collars...the goats paid for all that with just their milk. Then, the next year I was selling babies for $100 for does and $50 for bucks. Five babies gave me an extra $300. So I bought a doe with papers.

Then my husband got a new job and we moved and all the goats had to be sold or given away suddenly. It was hard and sad to let them all go and I was determined to find a place in the country and get more goats as soon as we could. And the bottom line is the bottom line in this story. What other animals give you so much joy and fun and affection while also more than paying their way. Here in Vermont I can sell a certain amount of milk and goat cheese without a grade A certificate. I expect it will be even more profitable than it was in Iowa. Still my husband goes on about the price we paid for a ADGA registered Nubians and I just can't understand this attitude towards an animal that is so profitable and so productive and so unassuming and easy to keep.

Why goats? Let me count the why's :

*Fun
*Sweet
*Cute
*Profitable--meat, milk, cheese and kids
*Milk of a quality we could never afford to buy
*ditto the cheese
*don't forget yogurt
*soap that washes odors away
*Pride to have such beautiful animals
*It's good for kids to see how food is produced
*Meat from the bucks
*Lessons from the barn
*Being up at 3 am waiting for kids and seeing Hale-Bop in the sky
*The many priceless moments we've experienced goat-keeping