Boer Goat Kids in December!

Just in time for Christmas this year we have had our first set of Boer twins!  Actually due on Dec. 27th, but with the big winter storm on our doorstep, it's not a surprise she would have them now.  The twins were found in the kidding stall in the barn having just been born this morning.  The little girl is solid red and the little boy is a bit smaller and traditional colored with a few paint spots.  

We moved her to the kidding stall only a few days ago and so glad we did!  She is doing well with them, cleaning them right away and now at least the solid one is nursing.  The little boy was a little colder, so we set up the heat lamp on him, hoping that would get him goin.  We just came in from checking him and he was still lying in the same spot.  We got him up again and fed him a little colostrum (go-go juice as my husband calls it) which did get him standing at least and wagging his tail!  He hopefully just needed that little "pick-me-up" and will be off and running in no time.  Usually, they don't drink much the first time, but he drank over 1/2 cup.  

We will keep a watchful eye for the next few hours to see if he drinks from her or if he is destined to be bottle fed.  We are hoping to keep him on her as they always do so much better with health and growth that way.  

These little ones are the highlight of the dreaded winter so far and they are just adorable!  Goat kids are truely the meaning of cuteness and just so sweet.  Soon, we will be thinking of names for them so any good ideas would be welcome!!

I cannot resist including a few more photos of them:

Artificial Insemination vs. Bull Breeding

As you may have read, we have a small herd of cows here at our farm.  Most of them are previous 4H projects that we have kept on and bred and kept most of our baby girls.  When we had a couple of them we would send them to another farmer to be bred for a couple months and retrieved them before winter snow hit.  We now, however, had more than a handful to breed.  My son's 4H heifer went to a neighbor for special breeding this year, so that left me with 6 of my own.  

Artificial insemination, as we tried last year, is very time consuming requiring lots of watching and scheduling from me and multiple trips by the vet.  It was very reasonably priced for 3 cows last year, but when we only had 1 calf this year he became one pricey calf!  This year we happened on a bull that was on his way to the salebarn that would cost me a pretty penny, but we could take him to the salebarn and get most of our money back by fall.  That was the whole plan, anyway.  

This black bull was a purebred Angus that had a descent temperament.  I have always been a little nervous to have a bull around!   But, he did well at staying away from us for the most part and we steered clear of him.  

The vet came to preg-check cows after the bull had been here almost 3 months and we no longer saw him breeding any of them for few weeks.  We had 4 confirmed pregnant, 1 probably that jumped the gate before she was checked and 1 possibly that we did not check.  We also had one negative heifer that had been with him for just over 2 months that we took to the sale barn with him.  That was a lot better breeding ratio that the AI last year!  

We sold the bull and only lost $300 on him, which is a small overall cost of breeding possibly 6 cows.  I was hoping for a little more, but one never knows what the salebarn may bring.  

Next year, we are planning to get a bull again as it is overall much easier and much greater breeding ratio.  The only downfall is the huge expense to get one and renting one around here is over twice as much as he actually ended up costing us. 

Artificial Insemination vs. Natural Breeding in Cows

My debate continues between artificial insemination and natural breeding our cows with a bull.  There are many pros and cons to both sides as I will list, but it really is a matter of preference for each farm hobbyist or full time farmer.  I know some farmers who AI all the cows and never have had a bull and some farmers who swear by keeping a bull.

By artificially inseminating cows there is no other mouth to feed, it is relatively low cost and no aggressive bull to worry about while out in the field checking or working with cows.  The downside is that it is very time consuming for the owner scheduling the vet, watching for heat and rescheduling the vet, watching for re -heat and watching for miscarriages down the road and heat again. 

Keeping a bull is a huge investment to begin with.  They are pricey, but if you can find a decent deal, when finished with him you may make your money back at the sale barn.  There is another mouth to feed and another animal to worry about getting hurt or worse.  Which would also mean loss of a huge investment and not having cows bred --HUGE RISK!  The benefits of having a bull are that cows are getting bred -hopefully- without any real work on your part.  Also, if he misses one or one doesn't stick he will get her next time around.  The overall successful breeding rate of bulls vs. AI is much greater.

 

With all of this in mind and our AI trial last year,and only having 1 calf, we decided to purchase a bull.  We bought a 4 yr old from a local farmer who rotates the 4 yr olds out to the sale barn.  Since we only wanted him for a couple months --I do not want to worry about having a bull who is not as tame as our cows in the pasture any longer than I have to!-- this would work great.  He is a full blood angus and looks amazing.  He has a couple curved front toes that don't affect his breeding capability at all and is the reason he will be going to the sale barn in a couple weeks.  Our hope is to make back most of our investment and come out no worse than we were financially and have pregnant cows to boot!

That is the plan and hopefully all works out well for us.  I pray every day that he doesn't get hurt.  We haven't had any issues with aggression or attitude.  He simply would just as soon be away from us and us from him.  He seems pretty gentle, but as I told the kids a thousand times "you just don't know for sure and cannot trust him".  Soon I am going to schedule the vet to come out and preg check the cows so we know where we stand and how soon we can sell him.  I haven't seen him on anyone this cycle so I am hoping they are all bred with some cute little ones that I can enjoy next spring.  It gives me something to look forward to all long gloomy winter!

Make sure to make today a great day!!!

Feeding Meat Goats



We decided to start raising some boer goats last year and have had a great time doing it.  There has been a ton of learning that has gone into it and thank heavens for internet for research.  There is, however, an abundance of information out there and depending on what type of goats you are raising some may or may not apply.

We had decided to keep pasture fed goats as our cows are because we believe this is the healthier way to go for us.  Since getting our first three goats last year and many more this year all have done well on pasture with supplemental corn based feed.  We also keep a mineral block with them that they eat on as needed. 

We did get a bit of a shock when taking our goats to the county fair this year (our first time).  All the goats there were bigger and more muscular than ours.  In talking with everyone there it seems that no one pasture feeds -they all grain their goats from birth to sale and mostly with show feed.  Since returning from fair we have changed our feeding program a little.  They are still out on pasture, but they also get a daily ration of goat feed.  This supplements them in protein and nutrients.  

After doing my own research on the different feeds on the market and available locally, we decided to go with Kent goat feeds.  We have been using the 18% kid developer since the fair and wow!  What a difference it has made in only 6 weeks.  I highly recommend their feeds.  It is costing a little more than pasture with the corn based feed, but well worth it!  The goats look more muscular, have more energy and just act healthier overall.  Next year a couple months before the fair the goats that will be shown will switch to Kent Show Goat feed.  

We don't raise "show" goats and have every intention of someday having enough goats to sell goat meat.  We firmly believe in having happy, healthy goats no matter what their purpose.  We believe the Kent goat feed is assisting us in our endeavor to produce quality goats whether showing or butchering them. 

    Each day is what you make it out to be. . .Have a great one!!

Easy Homemade Tomato Juice

This summer flew by so quickly! We have been so busy this summer that we have barely had time to take a breath.  We had a child graduate this year, then getting everyone ready for the county fair, birthday parties, the state fair and back to school! Oh yeah, and gymnastics all summer!  With one starting college, one starting junior high and a 5th grader life is BUSY!

The last couple weeks I have been busy canning tomato juice.  I thought I would share my recipe for it the way grandma did it.

I start by washing all the tomatoes (I always plant beefsteak because they are huge and I get lots of juice out of each one), then I cut off the tops.  Next I boil them in a large metal washtub until they are soft.

Next I smash them until all the juice is gone in my grandmother's metal juice collander.  This is fast and works great for getting all the juice out.  And the kids think it's fun!

I dump the bowl of juice in a pan to boil.  I usually add a little pepper and sometimes garlic and oregano.  I wash the jars in hot soapy water and sit them on a towel (the next step can get messy).  I put 1 tsp salt in each jar.  I use a plastic measuring cup to fill each jar with tomato juice until there is 1/4" space left at the top.  Immediately I put the flats and rings on the jars.  The jars get hot fast so I usually have to have an oven mitt on to tighten the rings.

I put all the jars of juice in a hot water packing enormous pan filled with hot water.  It works best to fill it part way, put the jars in and finish filling until jars are just covered.  This goes on the stove on med-high and boils for at least 10 minutes.  Then I take the jars out and set them on a towel to cool.  You can hear each jar lid pop as they seal.  When they are cool I check each one by pushing on the top.  If they don't push down they are sealed.  Any unsealed ones go back in the hot water packer or in the fridge to fix soon.

This is the way my grandma canned tomato juice when I was a kid and I always loved helping her!  Now my children enjoy doing it and hopefully they will pass it on to their children.  Life gets so busy these days that I love it when I can take a little time to pass on a tradition from older generations.

Have a great day and take time to enjoy the little things!

Baby Goat Kids Updates

Mystery, our first goat kid born on our farm is growing like a weed!  She is doing amazing.  She received her first CD &T vaccination last week, which she was not so fond of.  She stays close by her mama but is willing to venture out and explore.  For now they are being kept in the baby goat pen probably until the fair.  She will be shown at our county fair by my daughter who loves her immensely!  After the fair she will be weaned and go out to the pasture while her mama, Dazzle, goes straight out to pasture with the billy.

We also have had a set of twin boys to report.  The are both doing great and for now are in the barn with mom.  The day they were born mom was especially friendly that morning, which made me a little curious as to whether it would be that day or not.  She did not, however, have any of the signs our first time doe had, no hind end swelling or drainage. She was as wide as she was long -almost. We had been gone for a few hours and went to check her when we got back in the afternoon.  The goats were in our old barn in the back pasture.  When my daughter got close she said " uh, mom, there is something white outside the barn".  Well, it was a newborn goat.  He had slid under the door and when we looked inside his brother was with mama. The other big goats were with her while she had them and even Billy was standing near with a kind of watchful fatherly eye.  We hauled mom and babies up to the "good" barn in a large stall (actually one whole side of the barn).  We had been kind of hoping for girls to increase our herd.  They have done well there and love to run, jump and climb on our junk in the barn.  Some days Billy and the others lay just outside the barn gate as though they miss her and want her to come play. 

Last week the boys were vaccinated and banded.  I always feel sorry for the animals that get banded, but it looks so funny the way they walk just after.  They cried for mama when they got their shots!  They will eventually be butchered and sold as meat.  I have to keep myself from thinking about it for now, as they are so adorable and I love to play with them, but that is why we started raising goats!

I do think the other 2 girls with Billy have bellies that are looking a little pudgy and hopefully they are pregnant as well.  The more, the merrier!  All the bottle babies in the baby pen are about ready to go out to pasture and hopefully be bred. I am a little nervous that they will attempt escaping the different fencing, but all our goats will go anywhere following a bucket of grain, which makes it easy to get them coralled.  We will then move the newest mama and boys to the baby pen with mystery and her mama.  Our little billy is also ready to get to work!  

I would like to build one more nursery pen, but haven't decided where it will be yet.  It has been so busy around here that I find it hard to find time to write, but after the county fair I will have more time!  Hopefully anyway!

As always HAVE A GREAT DAY!   

Our First Artificially Inseminated Calf

On May 31, our first AI calf was born!! He is a well built bull calf.  Officially he is 1/2 Hereford, 1/4 Angus and 1/4 Maine anjou.  His momma always has nice calves!  This was our first attempt at AI and our first time breeding with herefords.  I love the way he turned out. 

We had 3 cows to breed last year and thought we would try our hand at artificially inseminating them.  It was a lot of work to line up the vet to come out for each stage of it, watch the cows for heat and then watch them after insemination for signs of heat in case it didn't take.  We had one first-time heifer that was done 2 times and never took, which I hear is pretty normal.  We also had another heifer that took and was preg-checked positive and lost it.  So, out of 3 cows inseminated this will be our only calf :(  I was really hoping for at least 2/3.  The cost was cheaper than buying a bull, but pretty expensive to only get 1 calf! 

I have decided to buy a bull for this year and hope he does his job!  For some reason I feel much better knowing there is a bull out there doing his job over and over if it doesn't take the first time or the second time.  We don't, however, want a bull to keep around all the time so he will probably get sold back and we will have a new one every year. 

This year we have 7 heifers and cows to be bred and I cannot wait for all the little ones next year!! 

I have tons of farm news to report and hopefully soon I can get it all on here!!  Life has just been so busy lately!

New Baby Boer Goat

We finally did it!  We have had our first baby Boer goat born on our farm!  So exciting!

Last Friday, I went out to do morning chores and found that Dazzle (momma) was acting a little strange.  She was eating like she was starving and didn't mind having me pet her and feel for baby movement.  She has gotten a lot more tame since being in the barn, but not this tame.  Still, though, no signs of impending birth.  In the afternoon I decided to take a look at her and sure enough there was mucous hanging out.  It was so thick that I thought it was membrane.

 Throughout the afternoon we kept close watch and there was more and more mucous. Not being sure how fast things would progress or if we would be waiting until the wee hours of the night- we had to leave to go get some new cows for my son to show at the county fair and left my mother and son in charge of keeping an eye on her.  My hopes were that she would wait for me to get back.  No luck there! 

About an hour after I left I received a phone call that a hoof was hanging out.  Twenty minutes later another call that it was the same.  My son made a good decision knowing I wasn't there to see first hand and made a trip up to the neighbor to come take a look.  After being there a few minutes he decided momma looked like she had had enough.  He pulled the kid and we are lucky he did!  I didn't want our first kid to be a dead kid.  Out came one large kid for the size of the momma!

Our little girl, Mystery, named by my daughter for the question-mark shaped white marking on her head, is our most prized possession on the farm right now!  Our first baby Boer and healthy as can be and it didn't take her long to start drinking.  Momma takes great care of her and she is an energetic bouncing baby girl.  She has brown knees/elbows, head and feet.  She is truely the meaning of adorable!

We have another doe that will be kidding sometime soon that is all sorts of enormous looking and another that had looked pregnant and now she doesn't so I think she lost it.  So much fun here on the farm with the babies and spring/summer weather.  

More to come soon on momma cow and the AI process and garden planting!

As always, the day is as good as you make it so HAVE A GREAT ONE!



Pork Tragedy

A few days ago I was made aware of a practice that has bothered me ever since.  A while ago I wrote on here that many times hog farmers have available pigs that have a belly rupture.  While this sounds worse than it is, truthfully it is only a hernia.  Most times the farmers will sell these at a lower cost because they usually cannot send them out with the rest of the herd to the processor.  We have had one of these hogs and there was nothing at all wrong with it in the end.  It tasted amazing!  The processor does have to be careful, though, when butchering so they don't cut into the intestines that have come through the abdominal wall.  If this happens it contaminates the meat.

A few days ago, I learned there are some confinements just killing these hogs before they are full grown since they can't send them out with the rest.  I'm not talking about 1 or 2, but tens to hundreds of them.  Basically, they aren't worth the trouble to them.  I'm not sure if everyone else knew this was happening or not.  I had no idea this was happening and to me with all of the people in America who are struggling to make ends meat that this practice is such a waste!

If there was a place that would take these hogs and finish raising them it could make a difference helping to feed those that are struggling.  Most of the time, though, they would rather kill them than give them away!!! 

I do understand that these companies are in the business to make money, but it doesn't cut into profits to give something away or even to charge a small fee for it if you were going to dispose it of anyway.  

I would love to hear thoughts on this and any ideas for encouraging these places to do something different with these pigs. 

New Additions To Our Family

We have 2 new additions to our family!!  No, it's not goats as we are still waiting as patiently as possible for them.  We do, however, have 2 new bottle calves.  We weren't really looking too hard yet for the kids' bottle calves for the 4H county fair, but we got a call that a local farmer had one and a week later another call.  We went to look at them and we can't ever say no unless there is something clearly wrong with them!

The first calf is a twin of a heifer that the mother didn't want at first.  When momma finally decided to take her, she wouldn't drink -only from a bottle.  Big farmers don't have much time to bottle feed a bunch of calves!  Lucky for us!  She is all black and a cross between angus and simmental.  She is huge for a twin and doing very well!  She was born on 3/4 and already eating a little Kent calf starter feed.  She will be my daughter's to show at the fair and she has named her Stella.  This is my daughter's first year at the fair, so she got first dibs.

A week later, we got the second call.  Twin angus calves born to a momma that had only enough milk for one.  She is also black and smaller than Stella.  Her sibling is a bull so she will most likely be sold eventually.  She is about normal size for a twin.  She is also doing very well in the barn.  Hopefully these girls will be buddies!  This calf is my son's to show.  He had kind of a time showing his 2nd year bottle calf last year at the fair and wanted to go back to bottle calves at least for this year!  Last year it was very hot and dry and his cow had been cooped up at the fair for a couple of days before the show.  When she got to go out of the barn for the show all she wanted to do was eat grass!  She kept heading for the lawn but he did very well keeping her in line.  It was just a little more work than he intended, I think. 

The kids are enjoying feeding them and "playing" with them and as soon as weather permits they will start the halters on them in the yard.  For now, I may have jumped the gun on spring a little as today is very cold and oh so windy :(  It is the first day of spring, though, and hopefully mother nature realizes that soon!!!!

I had planned to post some pics of the new girls today but chicken out of staying outside long enough to photo them.  I did chores as fast as I could!  I will post them soon, though.  They are cuties!

As always, hope everyone has a great day!!

Signs of Spring

Today, as the temperature was a seemingly balmy 45 degrees, I decided to venture out.  I cannot remember the last time I ventured out just to enjoy the day.  If I did, it was with uncomfortable full winter garb on.  I am feeling so tired of being cooped up in the house with the windows shut and freezing my buns when I have to go out to do chores!  While outside I decided it was nice enough to let the chickens and ducks venture outside also.  They loved it.  The ducks played in a puddle and the chickens were looking at the outside like "we haven't been out here for a while".  The goats and cows were just laying around soaking up the sunshine. 

While out there I noticed some sure signs of impending Spring!!  Yay!  There are buds on the trees!  It is muddy as ever around here, which I don't enjoy.  The kids usually bring in plenty.  The best thing I saw, though, was some little white flowers up and in bloom and my daffodils are starting to poke out of the ground!

With next week being the first day of spring and my self diagnosed seasonal affective disorder (spring fever) at its peak, I am DEFINATELY ready!  I already have a list a mile long of things that need done outside like fences and better goat pen to house the mommas and babies away from Billy. We will also be starting round 2 of pasture reseeding. Tomorrow is looking to be a wonderful day, too, then it looks like back to cold temps.  Double ugh!  I love Iowa and everything that entails EXCEPT winter!!

I am still waiting on baby goat kids and keeping a good eye on her every day.  When that finally happens I will be sure to post some new kid pics!  I am hoping that I may even get to see the birth.  If so, I am going to try and video.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Preparing for Goat Kids

Last Friday I noticed that our very pregnant doe, one of the first purchased last year, had a swollen hind end.  Hubby and I looked at her when he got home from work and he didn't think it was enough to warrant separating her.  I don't think he is as "in tune" with noticing these things like me!!

  By Sunday she was swollen enough for him to notice so he moved her into the stall we had prepared in the barn that now houses the 8 bottle goats and a new 4H calf, Stella, that we purchased last week.  Dazzle is friendly, but not super excited about being touched since she was very young.  Yesterday Dazzle was very receptive to me being in the stall with her and for a little grain she let me feel the babies and pet her.

Today, on the other hand, she seemed more nervous and did not want me touching her at all.  She is starting to have a small amount of clear discharge from the hind end as well as more swelling.  There is no bagging up yet, so I am hoping that won't be a problem. From what I have read, the birth could still be days away.  I get very excited about babies!  Enough to even warrant extra trips outside in the cold!

Hers will be our first kids born here.  Her counterpart, Razzle, is looking pregnant but not near as big as her.  I was hoping they would be kidding around the same time, but as of now I am doubting that.  These girls are full boer and bred to our all red full boer billy.  I will be posting some pics of the new little ones as soon as they arrive!!

As always, HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Escape Artist Cows

Thought I would share this funny little story about what happened to us the other night.  It would be funnier, but since we have a definate hay shortage it is less humorous!

We were moving a round bale in with the cows off the trailer in the middle of our most recent snow storm when my husband and I were talking about how fat our 2 hopefully pregnant cows looked.  I was thinking "boy they are huge for this early in pregnancy".  Our biggest one was as big as a barrel.  I had just looked closely at them a couple days before and they hadn't looked that big.  I offered a handful of hay to her and she just sniffed it, which is totally unlike her.

My daughter and I went into the barn to get a look at the other one when I looked up and the big girl was heading up the aisle to the inside of the barn where the hay is stored!  She looked over at me as if she was saying "oh s--- she saw me".  I told my daughter to go get dad, quick!  I jumped the fence and got in front of her not paying any attention to the hay bales we do have left.  My husband came in and opened the door so they could back out.  We got them out and looked at the stack of hay . . . partially demolished! 

We don't think they ate as much as it looked like at first but it's hard to tell.  No wonder they were fat and didn't want the round bale!  Someone had either left the small door leading in there not latched all the way or we have cows that can unlatch a door.  We now have a pile of hay to use out of for the miniature horses and goats instead of small bales.

I made my husband go out later just to make sure they hadn't gotten in there again! 

Winter Animal Update

As winter seems to go on and on I have a few updates of things that are happening or will be happening around the farm. 

First of all, the goat kids are now weaned!!!  All went very well with this and they are all eating their hay and grain.  Also, it seems that their water consumption is lots more now.  I am also ready for spring to get here so we can put them in the outside goat pen! They will love to run and jump around.  We do, however, need to buy some cattle panels to redo the goat pen first.   

Secondly, for the first time ever we are running low on hay!  Bad to need hay in the winter as everyone thinks their hay is worth a fortune this time of year!  A little to my disgust is looking for hay for sale only to see prices double what they are in the summer.  Seems a little like taking advantage of the ones in need!  I would feel guilty for doing this to people and hungry animals.  We did try and estimate the number of bales we would need for the winter, but it is not an exact science due to no one knowing exactly what winter will hold for us until it's here.  This year happened to be cold and snowy and with the drought last summer not much to keep eating in the pasture.  We have resorted to buying some big round bales, which we have no way to move around except for good old muscle strength.  They are a little overpriced in my opinion, but the cheapest we could find.  That definately ups our feeding cost this year!

On the bright side, I definately think we have pregnant goats.  One obviously more than the other.  By my calculations the earliest we could kid would be March 4th.  With March right around the corner I am getting very excited!  I love all the spring babies and these will be our first baby goats born here!!The only problem is the enormous white goose that chases me and only me is with the goats.  Today the goose went on craigslist!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Beginning the Goat Kid Weaning Process

The youngest of our 8 goat kids are now just over 6 weeks old.  They are ready to begin the weaning process.  They have been eating good amounts of hay for a couple weeks, eating a little grain and drinking fresh water.  They are still under shelter in the barn due to our continued wintery weather here. 

Since they are eating well, today they were cut down to 1 bottle of formula per day.  This is about 2.75 cups per day.  This feeding schedule will continue for 2 weeks then they will be taken off formula altogether.  Hopefully by then the weather is nicer and we can turn them out with the other goats in the pasture!  They will truely enjoy being able to run around more than they can inside the pen.

Since we had never had little goat kids before, I have been amazed at how fast they grow and the different body types we have.  Since our first 2 purchased are 100% Boer, they sure have a shorter, more dense body shape than the Boer/Dairy crosses.  They seem very heavy for their size!  "Big Boy" as I call him is a cross and is much larger than the others.  Then there is Cleo.  She has a black head with brown stripes and a white body.  She is very petite and will be a beautiful goat for my daughter to show in the dairy class at the county fair. 

Yes, we do have to plan now for the county fair!  It seems very early, but if we don't plan now we will be scurrying when it comes time to ID animals!

As always . . .HAVE A GREAT DAY!

only 34 days til SPRING!!!

Goat Kids Moved

How fun it was at first to have the little goat kids in my basement.  The fun quickly subsided!  After tons of bedding changes and feedings, and a little warmer weather for a few days, we decided it was time for them to go out to the barn -with a heat lamp of course. Sunday was the big day!  After I had my 4 hours of sleep after getting off work that morning my husband decided it was a good day to do it before I went back to work that evening.  After we gave all 8 of them their CD&T injections, which they didn't like at all, two of the boys got their bandings done.  They hated that tremendously!  I don't blame them at all! This was the second round of CD&T for the first two kids and the first round for the other 6.  They will need another round in 21 days, then yearly like the rest of them.  We still need to give the 3 we first purchased their yearly injection but that will wait until it's a little nicer outside. The little boy that is 100% boer will remain intact as a billy for us later.  He really is amazing looking!

In the barn we set up a pen, lined it with hay, put up a heat lamp and put in a grain feeder form them.  They are all now eating hay and grain pretty well.  We still feed 3 times per day but that will soon go down to 2 and then 1 and so on til weaned hopefully by 8 weeks.  We are going through a 25# bag of milk every week or so right now.  Our total investment on 8 bottle goats until weaning will be about $60-$70 each.  Not bad, really.  Last year the 3 boer goats we purchased for $90 each and they were all weaned. 

They had a good 3 days of mild temps to get used to outside until the next big freeze hit.  Yesterday was cold and last night got down below zero, but this morning they were doing well.  In the barn and out of the wind it is pretty mild.  We may add another heat lamp for tonight just to be safe.  I had visions last night of finding frozen stiff kids this morning!! Tonight will be very cold again, but if we can get them through today and tomorrow then Saturday through next week will be in the mid to upper 30's during the day, so the forecast says so far.  

We are still on the lookout for more goats!  If we are able to find some for the right investment whether they are kids or nannies it will be worth it.  I do think, though that we have all the crosses I want right now and will be looking for higher percentage boer goats for now until the crosses have their first kids and I can see how they turn out.

"Jumpy" as we call her was jumping the pen in the basement at feeding time to come upstairs and investigate the bottle making! Our dog thinks she is the goat wrangler!!

 

As always, have a great day!

Deep Well Pump Problems

We have learned so many lessons these past few years and gained a wealth of knowledge, but as we were reminded of this week --we have sooooo much to learn!

On Monday morning I went out to do morning chores and when I turned on the well pump NOTHING happened!!  Called my hubby who said the handle must be frozen due to our amazing Iowa winter that has seemed to go on forever.  He would take care of it when he got home --NOT!

After 4 days of carrying 5 gallon buckets of water (my poor husband's back was at the brink of breaking!) from the house to the cows, goats, etc I finally called a repairman.  Keep in mind that we have never had our well pipe freeze and it has been lots colder here than it is now.  I was sure it was the pump gone bad or something horribly expensive to fix.  The repair man was here Thursday for 5 minutes in the pit and knew it was frozen.  Apparently the southeastern winds freeze them faster than anything.  We informed him that we haven't ever had this problem.  He replied "I've heard that a thousand times this last week". 

He also informed us that we should have a pressure tank in the pit so that when the pump does it's job and pumps tons of water that the spicket cannot possibly pour out fast enough it doesn't burn up the pump eventually!  Had no idea that this could happen to a pump that he says should go forever!  That would have been a cool $1500 fix!  Yikes!  While we had him here we decided the $350 investment for such a pressure tank was a good investment and had him install it as well as put in an outlet for a heat lamp.  Took about an hour and voila running water again!  Yay!!

This morning the darn thing was frozen again due to the heat lamp he put on it was shattered, so again we thawed the pipes which was a 30 minute fix and replaced the heat lamp bulb.  Hopefully the new tarp, hay and wood we put over it all will fix the heat lamp problem and we are good to go for the remainder of winter --which I hope is not much longer!!

This summer will be a revamp of the whole coverage we have on it to hopefully prevent all this in future years!

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND STAY WARM!!

Weak Goat Kid

So, we had a goat kid that couldn't stand when we got her and the farmer who sold the batch of 7( in my last post) to us didn't know why.  She came free with the others if we were willing to take her.  So, of course we did with hopes of nursing her back to health.

For days she drank just like the rest and toileted the same.  You couldn't even tell anything was wrong until she tried to stand.  Her legs seemed weak was all.  After a phone call to the vet, I was doing physical therapy on her legs with each feeding.  This was done in a rigged-up sling I made from pieces of fabric I had laying around slipped over a big tub.  For a couple of days she seemed to be improving, she definately wanted to stand but just could not get her legs to hold her.  A few days after getting her here I got a Bo-Se injection for her in case it was just weakness.  This injection that I was convinced would be a fortune after reading an internet article cost me only 10 cents for a dose!!!  Proof that you can't believe everything you read online!! :)

From what I had read on internet it could be anything from weakness to spinal injury during birth.  I gave her the shot and it did seem to help.  I did a prick test just above her hooves and she definately had feeling in all four of them. The next couple of days she was improving a little again.  This whole time she was eating well and acted just as energetic as the others. 

Last weekend she was very weak it seemed so we still did therapy but not quite as much.  She was still drinking fine and trying to get up.  It was all to no avail, though, as she passed away on Saturday.  The kids were so disappointed.  I had made them hold off on naming her until we knew if she made it or not. 

After talking to our vet, there was probably nothing else we could have done.  Most likely she had gotten stepped on or had an extemely hard birth.  Still, I would like to know what happened and what eventually killed her.

RIP little goat!

New Baby Goat Kids


On Sunday, my husband found 2 nannies and twin bottle goats for sale about 2 hrs away from us.  Within an hour he was on the road with the kids to go pick them up (I had to be at work shortly so I missed out on this roadtrip).  He came home with all 4 looking very healthy and purchased for a decent price even with gas to get there and back.  Each of my 2 youngest children will show one at the county fair this year!  They are so excited!!  They also gave us a recipe for

 homemade "kid" milk. 
1 gallon whole milk
1 cup cultured buttermilk

1 can (12oz) evaporated milk

Dump out enough of the gallon to fit the other ingredients.  Shake up and serve warm.  Using a funnel works really well.

This recipe was working very well.  They seemed to love it!  Not sure of the breakdown whether it ends up being more or less expensive than powdered goat formula which around here sells for $56/25 lb bag. 

We have never had bottle goats before.  What a learning experience and how cute they are!  I have never seen such young goats.  They are so tiny and adorable!  We are keeping them in the basement for now.  I was told that is about the only place warm enough.  We have in the past had bottle lambs in the basement.  It seems as though everyone I talk to that has raised either has at one point had the critters in the basement! 

Yesterday as I was talking with the local feed store to find out if they had the kind of bottle nipple I wanted and she asked if I wanted any more goats.  Well of course I did!  There was a farmer in their store at that very moment who had 7 bottle goats he wanted to get rid of!  YES -7!!  The funny part is that he only lives 2 miles from us.  Needless to say, now I have 9 baby goats in my basement!!  Seems kinda crazy to me.  So I have spent the last 24 hrs feeding goats and then doing it again a few hours later :) 

It takes about 3/4 gallon of milk each time we feed, so I have passed on the idea of buying all those gallons of milk and have a bag of goat formula on order at the feed store.  I will pick it up this afternoon as well as some bedding for all of them.  It will be a lot easier to figure how much to make and not have to make sure I have the ingredients on hand and lots of them!

I have learned a lot the past couple of days about goat kids and their behavior -including but not limited to "bathroom behavior".  Boy, do they go a lot!!  I did run across an excellent website:  www.goatwisdom.com .  They have tons of info about everything "goats" you could want to know.

As always, have a great day!

Long Winter Already

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday with family and friends.  As always at this house the kids got too many presents and I ate too much!  I even bought myself something for after Christmas that I won't talk about now due to still feeling guilty about it! 

It has been a long winter already!!  The snow has been here for 2 weeks but it seems like ages.  I am so ready for spring to come.  All the seed catalogs have started to arrive, but I have decided not to look yet.  It only makes my spring fever that much worse.  The kids went back to school today and the hubby back to work yesterday which means that now I have to do all the morning chores by myself again.  This sounds unpleasant to say, but even more unpleasant to do.  This morning it was a whoppin' 24 degrees when I was out there. At that temp at least I didn't have to get the whole winter garb on to be out there less than an hour.

We did learn a valuable lessons with the snowstorm that came a few days before Christmas:  snow/ice covered electric fences do not work! I hadn't even given a thought to the fact they would get covered.  So, our wonderful electric fence I raved on is, until the ice melts, turned off.  The cows are stuck in the barn lot, which I think they don't like much.  I cannot imagine they would love being cooped up like that, but my husband says everyone's are in the lots right now.  Another tidbit of info: we are still last on the road plowing list!  I am thinking that list should change up each year for fairness?

It is about time to separate the calves from the cows and bump up their grain.  They never love this time of year.  Still not sure if all the cows are bred as I am hoping but won't know for some time.  (Wish I had my own trans-abdominal ultrasound.)  

With all the holidays past now I can get back to this blog like I should be and my new endeavor I am working on getting started.  I love to start new endeavors and get so excited!  My husband thinks it is part of my "illness" to be busy all the time!!!

HOPE EVERYONE HAS AN AMAZING 2013!!!