Udders Appear

I was away in Germany when the does were bred--but I only had my kids word for it.  We never saw any more breeding activity after that.  So, I've been hopeful that we have kids due in late April or early May.  I check the girls every day for signs and today I got my confirmation...udders have appeared!  You can kind of get a feel for how the full udder is going to look by what is showing right now.  Looks like Pims will have a very pronounced medial ligament and well defined teats and Sally will have a smoother udder and will carry everything higher.  Sally is a long, deep-bodied goat so she doesn't "show" at all so this little udder development is my confirmation.  Now, I'm getting excited!  Kidding is my favorite time of year.  It's just like Christmas in spring.

If you don't know how to tell when your goats are about to kid, here are the signs:

Bagging up -- You've got days and maybe weeks...start watching closely
A Goat that was huge suddenly isn't quite so big...the kids have turned and are getting ready to be born
Ligaments across the pin bones on the goat's hips goes mushy...better start checking every two hours
Sudden loss of appetite...check for other signs like pink swollen vulva and mucous-ey discharge
She will be restless, maybe pawing or pacing or just the opposite--standing still with her feet close together...go get a clean dry towel and get ready to wait and watch for contractions.

I like to give molasses water, separate the goat from the herd and make sure she has choice hay and oatmeal, uncooked, to nibble on.  The molasses has sugars and minerals to help give her energy for the big job ahead and to help prevent ketosis.  I like to have the water hot during cold weather because it entices them to drink more.  If you see any problems you want to have electrolytes ready to go too to support the doe after she kids.

I take the kids away directly and milk right away.  Milking will stimulate contractions to expel the after-birth.  You want to examine the after-birth (many goats will eat it and that doesn't seem to bother them).  Look to see that it is smooth and that there are no chunks missing.  Retaining part of the after birth can make a doe very sick.  If you are suspicious watch the doe closely and check for fever (over 103 degrees).

 Bloody discharge is good, removing anything that has been retained during the birth.  Handling the kids right after they are born makes for very friendly goats later in life, so even if you plan to let mama nurse, handle those babies right off.  Warm them in your coat and let them get used to you from the first moments as someone who will care for them.  I put a warmer light and a crate in the babies pen and I check them often.  I feed two 20 oz bottles per day.  They may only eat 5 oz right off so I go back in an hour later and give them more and again if needed.  I feed them at least three times a day until they are able to clean off that first bottle.

They have hay available right from the start too.  After they can drain a bottle I go to two feedings a day, hay and feed available all the time.  The feed needs to be replaced even if they don't eat it.  Think of leaving a bowl of cereal out for your kids and thinking "I won't give them more until they eat that".  They'll only eat it if it's fresh.  This schedule encourages kids to eat hay and develop their rumen which will help them grow when they get older and no longer get milk.  I have a horse that clearly shows the damage of not developing the stomach for hay.  She nursed for three years and the people who owned her just let her nurse.  She can't keep weight on and her development is stunted and all the research indicates that she didn't get the right nutrients because her calories came from milk.

This regimen has worked well for me so far.  Anyway, happy kidding everyone.  Stay tuned for April/May kids!

Winter on the Farm

Winter is a slow time for me this year.  We've had some antics from the goats getting out and getting into the chicken shed to eat the chicken feed but mostly they just want to stay where it's warm near the hay feeder.

Breeding was done in late November which gives me kidding in late April--probably the last week of April.  There really is no way to tell what we will get this season or whether or not we will need a new buck to breed any retained does with.   I am thrilled to know Pike Family Farm which has great and entirely different bloodlines from me.  Michelle Pike was our goat judge for the fair this year and has her farm in Cabot--also great for me since she's so close.  Her goats come out of the Jesta herd long known for very high quality Nubian goats. Michelle brought her buck out, Jesta Farm Blue Back in Style, who has a very impressive presence, lovely conformation and a great pedigree.

The down time is great for planning and thinking with no milking or kids to care for.  Now, if I can just keep the goats out of the chicken house...

Introducing Spring Mtn Farm

Nothing like procrastination to get me going. I hadn't worked on the logo for our herd name and here was the Caledonia County Fair, our debut. I had already delivered the goats to the fair, took a couple of pictures of them just before loading so I could put little signs above their pens. I realized that I would want to put up a sign that told about who we were too and 30 minutes later I had my logo. I figure it will need tweaking and will go through several renditions but it's a start. I work well under pressure and cornered like a rat!

Rocky

Mustang Sally and Rocky Top Romeo both got shown and placed well. There were a lot of goats in each class so Michelle Pike had her work cut out for her. My daughter, Elissa showed them both and they were very good for her. Sally took first place for the JR Doe class and Rocky took second in the JR Buck class. I can't wait to see what they look like next year!

Sally

I am so pleased with the blood lines I have from Sweet Spring Farms. Mustang Sally is nice and deep for a five month old doe and Rocky is growing up to be quite a handsome fellow.

Goat Fencing

A problem I've had in the past is how to keep my goats where they are supposed to be. They are great at finding holes in the fencing and fencing is expensive. With my woven wire, they would stick their heads through until the wires broke over time or stand on the fence and pull it down until it broke. You need five strands of electric to keep goats in. With cattle panels I would get broken legs because they would do a combination jump/climb and get a leg caught and then their body would flip over the panel. That happened twice to me.

I've been luck enough to get some net fencing recently and it is everything I hoped it would be. It's been recommended by several friends who have goats but it's cost and wondering whether or not it would work kept me from buying it. It is electrified with a tiny pet fencer that I bought at Ace Hardware for $27 and the combination is a great one.

When I first got the fence, I hooked it up to my regular charger and put the goats out so they could learn not to touch the fence. They kept forgetting and would touch the fence, get shocked so badly they would jump forward and end up tangled in the net. It happened over and over again. After a bit, I took the fencer off and hoped they would just stay away from the fence but the minute the fencer was removed they were right through the fence. I needed a new fencer fast so I would be able to have the goats where I wanted them without running long wires from the existing fence. I bought this fencer because it was cheap but I love it because it works without making the goats jump into the netting. It's enough of a charge that they don't like touching it but not enough to frighten them.

Nutri Vet for Goats

My baby goats at weaning were looking a little frail. My feed is a "Lamb and Kid" starter pellet, browse every day and hay in their keyhole feeder. I put a mineral block in the pen to provide added copper but after two weeks there was no sign they had actually taken even a lick of it (how un-goat like). So I found this supplement at Agway and thought I'd give it a try. It cost around $20 but the dosage is one tiny scoop per 1000 lbs of goats!!! Which means my four 45 - 55 lb goats get 1/10th of a scoop morning and night....so it goes a long way.

After days on the supplement I saw increased appetite, energy and just a lot more life in these goats. After two weeks I'm seeing glossy coats and goats looking a lot more like I'd like them to look...perky and ready for fun. So I highly recommend this product and hope you have the same great results!

Keyhole Feeder

It's always frustrating to try to feed hay to goats. If they can (and they are so agile) they will step on, drag out, lay in and otherwise ruin perfectly good hay. I know I was feeding a bale every other day to these small goats when they were still on milk but most of it I would have to drag out of the stall ruined at the next feeding time because they kept dragging it out and getting into the feeder and soiling the hay.

We found a wonderful cheap solution on You-tube (hay feeder here). A key-hole feeder made from an industrial food barrel. There are a lot of barrels here from the maple industry so it was no problem to find a source. The keyhole is supposed to be 7 inches round with a four inch slot but since my goats are young we used a six inch keyhole with a three inch slot knowing we could make it bigger later. I used a desert plate as a guide when drawing the hole. Then we used a jigsaw to cut the holes. You have to drill a hole big enough to allow the jigsaw blade to get started. But it's a very simple design to make.

We thought we could just set it into the stall but they promptly knocked it over and we also thought we wouldn't need a lid but Julius jumped inside it so it needs to be fastened to the wall (we used screws through a piece of wood so the barrel plastic wouldn't tear). The lid is just the barrel piece we cut off turned upside down. It fits perfectly.

The results? No more hay waste! I add about a slice a day to the top and mix it all around every day and they go through only what they can eat. There is virtually no hay on the ground! When they go to pull out they have to think about it a little and raise and turn their heads to not hit their ears so they don't just drag it out and let half of it fall to the ground. Truly an ingenious idea.

Scouring Kid

I've had a bit of a bumpy time with Julius. He has always been the biggest eater...gobbling up everything he's given, which right now includes milk replacer, lamb starter, hay and grain. He kept getting scours. Worrying green, foul smelling scours. He would seem to get better and be fine but a day or two later would have another bout. This last bout was the worst. He's on deconquinate for coccidia so I thought I'd better look for other reasons. One thing I found over and over was worms being behind some scours so the first thing I did was worm him and the others with Ivermectin. It was time to worm anyway at eight weeks old.

Next I went to seek advice from a feed store owner who has boer goats. She recommended Sulmet (Sulfamethazine sodiam 12.5% and I read that yogurt is good for helping keep a good balance of healthy bacteria so I added yogurt and the Sulmet to the milk in the afternoon (a small feeding). True to form, Julius hogged all the milk and got a good dose of Sulmet. By evening feeding he had cow patty droppings instead of scours and by the next day he was normal. I gave everyone Sulmet in their milk the next day in the morning and yogurt at night. Now I've been adding yogurt for two days without any more Sulmet and things are going great.

The kids are eating plenty of lamb finisher which I'm feeding free choice, greens and hay. They seem much more playful and happy.