A Little Better

I am somewhat better, I was much better yesterday but went back to somewhat better today. I got outside and did a few things yesterday. I milked all three goats. Cleaned out the buckling's doghouse, gave the bucklings their bottles and then we had to reburn one of Calico's buckling's horns that we didn't do a great job on the first time around.

We also had to reburn both of the horns on the spotted buckling that I am keeping and one of the horns on his twin brother. Those horns were not our fault, they were done by someone else.

I milked Paris for the first time last night. She wasn't fond of the idea but I got through it. Her milk is like Collette's it is naturally homogenized, it had hardly any cream on it at all after sitting untouched in the refrigerator over night. But her milk is also like Collette's in the fact that it isn't as sweet tasting as Calico's.

I have decided to sell Paris and keep Collette, mainly because Paris' teats are just a little too small to hang onto when hand milking. My little milking gadget works great on her but when it comes time to strip her out, it isn't quite as easy.

Scurs

For those who do not torture themselves by owning goats; (scurs are caused by a gene and they have nothing to do with bad disbudding! Don't argue with me about this because you will be wrong every time!). They either carry a Scur gene or they don't. Even naturally polled goats can have a scur gene. If you buy a naturally polled goat and he develops a scur don't accuse the previous owner of lying about his horn status. If the goat develops a firmly attached horn that does not wiggle then feel free to accuse.

My own dear Cooter has a really nice scur going on right now. Scurs come and go, they are normally somewhat like a loose tooth, you can jiggle them around a little bit. Cooter doesn't like it but we try to loosen them on occasion, he normally knocks them off himself without too much help from us but the one that he has now is getting quite large. 

They are painful when they are dislodged. They can bleed profusely, leaving him looking pretty mistreated. I always try to put a little blue medicine on the open sore, he doesn't like that either but then the only things that he really does like are Does, food, and a good scratching on his neck and horn area. 

When you mention dehorning or disbudding to goat-minded people, they usually have very strong opinions one way or the other. There are those who would never disbud because they feel that nature intended goats to have horns. They also would never ever put a baby animal through that much pain for 60 seconds. However, these same people do sometimes circumcise their male children. They also feel that horns are there for goats to protect themselves and so on... 

 The other side of this issue, which includes yours truly, believes that horns are dangerous to humans, grandchildren, and even the goats themselves. Goats are experts on sticking their heads in unusual places and mine get their heads stuck even without horns to entangle them. They can also injure their herd mates, human caregivers, and human children by accidentally catching them with a horn. 

 As far as goats protecting themselves with horns go, I believe that a pack of dogs or coyotes don't make the distinction, the horned goats taste just as good. Horned goats also run from danger just the same as unhorned goats do. I strongly believe in disbudding, dehorning an adult goat is another matter. I would not purchase a goat with horns but if the occasion did arise that I came into possession of a horned goat, I would not try to dehorn it. I would however attempt to blunt the sharp ends. 

Even a blunted, loose scur can cause you problems, as demonstrated by Cooter and his human caregiver. I had gone out to feed the rascal and he, being his impatient self was trying to help me pour the feed into the feed pan. I was bent over and he is pretty tall and we somehow got our heads together. His thick, hooked, three-inch scur weaved itself into a portion of the front of my hair that was pulled back in a bun. I also had a hair clasp in the front of my hair and the scur was between my tender scalp and the clasp. I tried to straighten up and was attached to Cooter who was by this time trying to inhale the food in the feed pan. I am not much of one to say that animals are kind, gentle, intelligent, and have human emotions but Cooter did feel the pressure on the scur and instead of jerking away like he normally does when we touch his scurs, he actually moved with me. I just knew that at any moment he would pull away to continue eating but he raised his head and let me untangle us without jerking me bald. It took me several seconds to free myself and I was even to the point of trying to take my hair down but I finally got loose. For once, I was impressed by Cooter's kindness, intelligence, gentleness, and human emotions. But what I really believe is that he was in as much of a predicament as I was in and he knew that if he jerked away it would cause him great pain. So, I still give him points for intelligence.

Disbudding Disaster

We finally got Copper and Zinc dehorned, but it was a very disturbing event. We have disbudded several kids, so this wasn't our first rodeo. This time it was totally different than what we have experienced in the past.

We got everything prepared on Friday evening, put Copper in the box first, he fought so hard that I was afraid that he would hurt himself. Both of us together couldn't hold him still even before we started the burning process. It was difficult but we finally got him finished, he was whimpering pitifully when we took him back to his mother.

Next it was Zinc's turn, he was ten times worse than Copper had been. He struggled so badly that the iron slipped a couple of times and we had to start all over again. When we were finished with him, he was bleeding from both sides, we had never had that happen before.

Both kids continually scratched the burns with their hind hooves, they whimpered and cried all night long, we had never seen this before either. Normally the kids just start playing and acting as if nothing had happened. Jasper and Onyx started running and chasing each other as soon as we released them back to the mother.

The next day Copper had recovered and was fine but Zinc still cried most of the day, he got under the goat/chicken shed and wouldn't come out. I don't understand what caused this and why this time was so different, we did everything the same as aways. We have done them younger than these two and older.

On Saturday a friend stopped in and helped me get Zinc out from under the shed and one of the burn sites was infected. We sprayed it with blue lotion and by Sunday he was starting to act some better. On Monday he was completely himself again.

I started this blog this morning but severe storms hit our area and I had to close the computer down. I was glad that I did because our electricity went out for quite awhile after that and then came back on long enough for me to wash some dishes then went out again. All is quiet at the moment but I think that we are still suppose to get more storms tonight.

Peepers

I am going to try to squeak one in here before midnight, so that I will have a blog for today before it is tomorrow. I hear thunder, so I will have to make it quick before the storm hits.

Jasper and Onyx went to their new home this morning. Since Jasper had partial horn growths on both sides, I got to burn his horns again. It went very smoothly and hopefully he won't have scurs. It was the first time that I had ever actually used the iron, I usually just hold the kids while my DH does the burning.

I checked my Mille Fleur D'Uccle's nest yesterday and she had no baby chicks but when I went out to the goat/chicken shed this morning there was a little peeper looking out at me from under the hen. This evening we picked the hen up and she has three little peeps under her. Hopefully some of the other eggs will hatch out in the next couple of days but three is good if the others don't, because I was afraid that none of them would hatch for her.

I also set seven large eggs under my broody Rhode Island Red. Since she is bound and determined to set, at least now she has some eggs to set on that should be fertile.

Let Down

I am sorry to report that I did not get to ride my horse, not even for 5 minutes. We didn't get the tomatoes planted or the disbudding done today either.

It rained for one thing, but it didn't rain all day. We did catch Ranger and since he is white we had to give him a bath to get all of the caked on mud off of him. Then I brushed him and combed out his mane and foretop. Then we washed his tail in a five gallon bucket and put Rio Vista Detangler on it to comb it out, I gave my DH that privilege.

Then we saddled him and my DH longed him for awhile, then got on and rode him off. I had the camera ready in case he did any bucking but he didn't. He was a little impatient about the whole thing and the DH wouldn't let me ride him. But we did put him in a pen close to the barn/house so that I can start handling him some.

My DH also trimmed his hooves and he was a really bad boy for that and broke my husband's best and favorite lead rope, that is something that no horse should ever do, break his best rope.

Then we went to a friend's house for hot dogs, potato salad and watermelon. Copper and Zinc enjoyed another day of not having that hot iron applied to their heads.

Tomorrow is weaning day for Jasper and Onyx, we wean in the sign. This means that we will have to start milking twice per day now, that will really tie us down.

Disbudding

Disbudding is the goat keeper's least favorite thing to do. But in fairness to the goats that we raise and to increase their value to both us and the people that may end up with them someday, they need to have their horns removed. It is a nasty job but someone has to do it.

Horns are dangerous for several reasons, but my main reason is that I want my goats to be safe around my grandchildren. Horns can also get easily caught in fences and goats do love to stick their heads into some strange places and at times I don't know how they will get their heads free even without horns.

So, my little Onyx and Jasper were dehorned on Tuesday morning. This process is called disbudding because it is the burning of the horn buds. They should be done as soon as the buds are clearly visible, this is at about two days old for bucklings and a week old for doelings.

The time got away from us because of all the things we had going on. We were way late in getting this done this year. They were two and a half weeks old which is nearly too late to do this successfully for a buckling.

The process consists of taking a very hot tube shaped iron and placing the horn nub right inside the tube and burning a circle around the horn base to destroy the horn root. We use the Rhinehart X-30 Dehorner that we bought online at Jeffers Livestock Supply.

We first place the kid in a box especially designed for this propose to shave all of the hair away from the horn area. Then when the iron is glowing red, I hold the kid's head still, while my husband applies the hot iron to the bud. He applies pressure in a circular pattern, clockwise, around the horn base while I count off 10 seconds.

When the iron is removed, I blow on the area to quickly cool it off. We then inspect the area to see if we have a perfect copper colored ring around the entire bud and to give the iron a chance to reheat before going to the next horn. If it isn't an even ring, we will come back later to even the ring out. When both sides are done we then burn or nudge the top of each horn bud with the hot iron.

This is a very stressful thing for the kids to go through, but they always return to play as soon as the are released from the box. So I am not sure that it is extremely painful for them. Goats have pretty hard and thick skulls. Usually they cry just as much about the shaving experience as they do for the burning but this year the babies didn't seem to mind being shaved. I think that the whole thing is harder on us than it is on them.

Jasper in the Box


Horn area being Shaved


Shaving Onyx


Copper Rings


All Done!


Back to Playtime.