Back again

Well it has been awhile since I've posted, no excuse other than busy farm life. Just sold some of the feeder goats weighing around 55# last weekend. Usually the price is low in summer, but the price was $1.78/lb, which is better than last month. Not sure of the reason, but suspect there was just a shortage of animals being sold.

This past month it has been hard putting weight on the feeder goats. I have dewormed them, but I think it is just the heat that is preventing them from eating. Just too hot! We have had temps in the 100's and little wind. It takes 6 lbs of feed for every pound gained. Since they can only eat around 3% of their body weight, it takes many days to put on the pounds. I have around 45 goats yet to sell, and I believe my does will start kidding at the end of September/October time frame. Then the fun begins all over.

Getting Feed

We feed our goats primarily alfalfa hay during the winter and pasture them during the summer. Only when the does have babies do I put out grain as creep feed for the kids. I use whole oats to creep with, mainly because it is a good protein source plus we raise some, and can purchase it in bulk at our local coop for $2.01/hundred pounds. Mr. Farmer has the job of getting it into the bin for me to feed from, and he is doing such a great job!

Really Growing

It doesn't take long for the little guys to really put on some weight. These kids were born early February, weighing around 6-8 lbs, and now look at them.

Banding the boys

Well we are about a week late on re-vaccinating, but that is just how it is sometimes. I band the boys at this time, following their 2nd shot of C-D-&T. The T stands for tetnus, which is a disease they can get by getting cut with anything rusty, or can get following banding.

Banding is the process of removing the testicles of the boys, making them unable to breed. It is fairly painless, with the kids maybe laying around a little more often for a day. The bander just places a band (similiar to a rubber band) around the testicles, shutting off the blood supply and causing the bag to fall off in a couple of weeks. I have posted a few photos showing the process.

Treating Scours

We've had wet, cool weather, and unfortunately that sometimes leads to scours (upset tummy's). The signs are loose stools, sometimes a drawing up, or hunching up in the abdominal area, and just off behavior.

I am treating 3 babies for the scours. I work with my vet to get some scour pills, "primor" to give to them. It was orignally designed for dogs, but works well for goat kids. The prescription says 1 per 10# of body weight, and then give for 10 days. It seems to work, and I use a small dog pill gun to make them swallow the pills. After you give it to them you should watch to be sure they swallow the pills, because they can fool you. I usually start treating at the first sign of scours as I do not want them to get dehydrated.

1st Vaccinations

Saturday afternoon my children and I tackled the job of vaccinating all the babies. This usually can be a challenging event as sometimes arguments occur as to who has what job assigned to them. This time, everything worked great. We vaccinated 84 babies. Lori was the supreme goat catcher, Megan was a close 2nd but had the major job of double checking all tag records, and recording them as they received their shots, and Kaylee helped catch the babies, and placed a green mark after they received their shots. This helped us identify who we needed to catch yet. I don't really have working facilities yet, so I rely on the speed of my kids. Nate and Mr. Farmer were at a farm sale so they missed out on all the excitement, but Nate said we missed out on some good pie! I have received a few emails as to what product I vaccinate with so I have included a photo. I order mine from Mid-states wool, but I know Valley Vet, Tractor Supply, and Orschelin's also carry it. 2cc's given under the skin and then repeated in 2-3 weeks. The only thing that could have made it better was if our "Haley" would have been there.

Monday

It is time to begin vaccinating the little guys. I was ready to begin this weekend, but with the yucky weather, I decided to put it off for a few days. We will vaccinate them with CD&T, 2 cc's given via injection just under the skin. The target area is just behind their front leg in the loose skin. Then in 2 weeks I will revaccinate with the same stuff, and then also band the little boys. We will take pictures, and try to walk everyone through the process.