Diarrhea in Goat Kids

OK, I am just going to have to admit it, Spring and Summer are just too busy for me to have the time to blog. I know that I blogged last Summer but this year has been crazy. I have too many irons in the fire.

After the worming, all of my goats have picked up weight and are looking good. I will be worming them all again tomorrow at 10 days after the first worming. I will not be tripling the dosage this time, just slightly over the regular horse dosage.

I had quite a time with my two little spotted Nubian bucklings, they were just weaned when I traded for them. Weaning should be a gradual thing. Kids shouldn't just be pulled off of the doe. They should be separated in gradually increasing time periods.

If they are just all of the sudden taken away from their mothers they don't get enough fluids to sustain them well, because they haven't learned to drink an adequate amount of water. So these two bucklings got diarrhea and started loosing weight, they got lethargic and didn't want to eat or drink.

I started drenching them with Nutri-Drench (For Beef Cattle because it is cheaper), Pepto-Bismol and Pedialyte. The drenching wasn't going too well because they fought me like wild cats. So I decided to teach them to take a bottle. This is very hard, if an animal has never seen a bottle before.

One of them finally decided that the Pedialyte was pretty good stuff so he started sucking it down. The other one would only chew on the nipple and wouldn't suck. It took him forever to empty the bottle by chewing. It has been so hot here and sitting out there for 30 minutes in the sun while he chewed, got old for both of us. Then yesterday after about 5 days of this, he started sucking and downed his bottle in no time.

I switched from the Pepto-Bismol to Slippery Elm Bark Powder after the first bottle of Pepto was gone in the first day and a half, they were getting a bottle every 3 - 4 hours. Their diarrhea was completely gone after the second day of the Slippery Elm Bark mixed with goat's milk, Pedialyte and a squirt of Nutri-Drench. I am down to just one bottle per day now that they are over the diarrhea. It is so hot that I think they still need the extra boost.

Bucks

First, I must confess that I have already messed up on my statement that I was going to blog everyday. I will try to do better but I am not promising anything.

Second, I must get this out of the way for those who thought that I would be talking about deer in this post. We did see two monster bucks with huge velvety antlers on our way home last night. They where standing picturesquely in a lush field of clover not far from our place as the crow flies. They were lovely. I longed for a camera.

Now, back to the subject of Bucks, as in Billy Goats. I still have not sold Collette but did trade her triplet doelings for three full blooded Nubian bucklings. I know that it doesn't make sense to trade doelings for bucklings but I just could not sell the doelings. Their color just was not right and they had not been disbudded (dehorned).

The bucklings that I traded for were all spotted and disbudded. Two of them are black and white spotted twins. The other was a roan, spotted and painted buckskin, I say "was" because I have already sold him.

It has been a tough decision and one that has broken my heart but I have decided to sell Cooter. He is just to big and strong for me to handle anymore. He isn't mean but because he is kept in a small area or tied up. He likes to kick up his heels when he gets a chance and when he gets a chance is when I lead him from one place to another.

When he walks on his hind feet he towers over me and that is fine. But when he hits the end of the rope at a dead run, I just can't get him stopped and he ends up dragging me until I yell at him.

So I thought that it might be nice to have a buck with no boer in him, Cooter is a Boer and Nubian cross. He is big and very muscled. One of these little Nubian bucks would fill the bill for me. They are full Nubian which would make them a little lighter framed.

I listed all of the bucks for sale but started leaning towards keeping the Buckskin and had pretty much made up my mind about him, he was the friendliest of the three. Well wouldn't you know, the first person to call and come to look wanted him. So now I have chosen the less wildly colored of the two left. I am not taking a chance this time and have removed the ads for him from the classified sites.

So without further ado, here is my new buck whom I have not named yet.

Where To Begin?

I know that I haven't posted in a long while. But we are fine, I have just had a few health problems, a death in the family, a lot of halter orders to finish and get shipped and too much to do around the farm. I had promised to blog on Sunday night before going to bed but all of my plans were foiled again.

We were getting ready to leave the house for several hours on Sunday evening and I asked my DH if he thought that I should put Paris in the barn stall while we were gone. She was in the goat shed and had not come out when I fed grain to the others. But we had changed feed and she didn't like it anyway so I thought that was the problem. My DH said that I should put her up but that he had looked at her and he was sure that she wouldn't be kidding anytime soon.

Sunday was her due date but after I evaluated her, I didn't think that she was ready either. Her udder was not full or tight and she was not dilated at all.

I went into the house to clean up and change my clothes and was ready to leave when I heard the water pump running, I asked the DH if he had left the water running outside and he said, yes, so I put my shoes on and went out to turn the hydrant off.

I opened the door and immediately heard the sound of a doe in labor. I could see her from the door and she was pushing hard. I turned around and said, "She is kidding!". He said,"You're kidding?" and I said, "NO, she is kidding!". He ran outside and I ran for towels.

Nothing happened, she was in terrible hard labor but nothing was happening. My DH asked me for gloves and I came in to get them, then came back in and changed into my dirty clothes again. When I got back outside, still no bubble. He tried to open her up to see inside and we could see the bubble but she just was not dilated enough.

We gave her as much time as possible without waiting too long and then he went back in to assist the bubble without breaking it. His hand made her contractions harder and that helped more than anything.

After the bubble was out, still no feet, so we waited awhile then he went back in and found the feet and started pulling. The nose came out with the feet, so we knew we were in the right position. He pulled and she screamed with each contraction.

I tried to push back on the skin to work the babies head out but I could feel the head and it was enormous, I was afraid that it was a single and it was just too big. After a lot of pulling and working her big head popped out and when it did her whole body came out too.

He handed the white with brown headed doeling to me and I slung her around a little bit and really didn't expect her to be alive but she was. We wiped her mouth and nose area. Mama didn't get up and so we put a towel down at her head and since it was a hot day and Paris is a first freshener, we let her clean the rest of her up.

We waited and waited and nothing else happened, we were sure that there was at least one more in there. Finally my DH put his hand in again to start more contractions and she popped out a very tiny, black with brown points buckling.

Paris cleaned him all up and still just laid there. The kidlings were wanting to nurse but she would not get up. My Husband finally helped her get to her feet and from there on everything has been perfect. She passed both of her afterbirths and I let her eat them. She is a very good mommy.

We learned a valuable lesson, goats usually give birth on their due date whether they look ready or not.

More later...

Too Much Milk

I was not expecting to have to be milking right now. But here I am having to milk two to three times a day. I am putting Collette's doelings in a separate pen at night then milking her in the morning before turning them back in with her during the day. Calico is producing way too much milk for her twin bucklings and I am having to relieve some of the pressure, they are also only nursing on one side.

Collette did really well with her first milking. I put the hobbles on her with no problem. When I put the syringe barrel on the first teat and she tried to kick, it lifted her whole back side up off of the milking stand and dropped her off of the table.

This was something that has always scared me because I was afraid that it might break a goat's neck if they were latched into the neck stantion or stanchion (however you spell it).

She fell off the milk stand on the opposite side of the table from where I was sitting. I jumped up and ran around the milking stand to find that she had already recovered herself and was eating her grain. She had her hobbled hind feet on the ground, her front feet up on the stand, her neck fastened in the stantion with her nose buried in the grain, typical goat.

I had to unhobble her, release her from the stantion, tug and pull until I got her nose out of the grain and then reload her onto the stand. From there the milking went very smoothly, she decided that kicking with a set of hobbles on was not a good idea. She learns very quickly.

Right now while I am typing this I am tasting Collette's milk for the first time. Her milk does not have nearly as much cream in it, as Calico's does. It is more homogenized and it tastes totally different. It is very good just tastes different. All goat's milk tastes different from goat to goat. You should always taste the milk of a freshened milk goat that you are thinking about buying.

I have been letting Calico run loose in the yard with her babies. She comes to the door and cries until I come out. She then runs and loads herself onto the milking stand and makes me milk her when her udder gets tight and heavy. She is producing enough milk for us, the dogs, the cat and her babies. I have been having to milk her twice a day but as the bucklings are getting bigger they are taking more and I am only having to milk her once per day, whether she likes it on not.

Kids For Sale

Collette is the doe that I sold, at my DH's urging, last fall. She was bred to my buck, Cooter. On or around March 15th she had triplet doelings. The lady who purchased her from me has decided to sell Collette and all three kids because she doesn't have the time to take care of them.

I told her that I would take her and the kids to try to sell them and teach Collette how to be a milk goat.

She had originally bought Collette for milking purposes but with the three hungry mouths to feed poor Collette didn't have much milk to offer for anyone else. She has done a great job and continues to put everything that she has into producing milk for these three growing doelings.

Some goats have to have at least one kid pulled off and bottle fed when they have triplets. But Collette has been a great producer. However, she has not been hand milked at this point but I plan to start milking her as soon as they all get settled in here.

The three kids are currently for sale and should be good milk producers like their Mommy. They will have to stay with their Mommy for a little longer but if you are interested, you need to purchase them now. I will be selling Collette sometime in the near future after the kids are weaned and she is used to being milked.

You have already met the littlest of the three doelings if you have read my previous post "When Goats Fly". Her name is Francine and she is mostly white with a Champagne colored head and neck. She is very feisty.
Renee is the biggest of the three girls. She is mostly white with a medium brown head and neck.
Nicole is mostly white with a multi-colored head and neck that is black, tan and white. She is colored like her mother.The girls are priced at $75 each or all three for $200. They should make good milk goats.

When Goats Fly

Goats tend to be built with the rare ability to fly. They are aerodynamically designed for flight. Nubian and Boer Goats are more likely to use their sleek characteristics and generous wingspan to practice take offs and landings than are most other breeds. Though staying aloft for long periods of time is generally not achieved by most goats.

Having witnessed Goat flight on several occasions, I have never before been able to obtain actual footage of this phenomenon before now. To prove my theory, I offer these actual, unaltered pictures.

This is Francine, she has come to live with us here until we can find her a suitable home. As you can see she is built for flight. Her wings are perfectly placed, broad and held away from her body. She has not two but four landing gears. She also has a movable rudder at her stern.

Francine is proud of her flying abilities and practices as often as possible. Here you see her practicing an emergency landing with only one landing gear.

The photo above shows her unique ability to take off with a backward thrust, that is, achieving lift off while traveling backwards.

Francine has aspirations of joining the United States Military when she is old enough and weaned. Here you see her practice lifting off from an Aircraft Carrier.

If you are interested in purchasing this exceptional doeling from us, please let us know and she can be yours for only $75.

Bottle Babies

Two mostly Nubian bottle babies for sale, 12% Boer. Both from very good milking stock. $25 for the black buck and $45 for the brown spotted buck. Located in Southern Indiana.

I haven't named these kids yet. I need names in keeping with my precious stones, minerals or metals theme. Their Mother is still rejecting them at this point, so it would be good to sell them as bottle babies now.

My Yearlings

Cooter, my buck, his nickname is "Rancid" during the rut.


Cooter and Angel are best friends but when they play, they play rough.




Calico and Collette
Calico is the oldest of the yearlings, these are not current pictures, they are bigger now.


Collette is pretty dirty here but this is the only more recent picture that I have of her. She is a little timid with people, she does not like strangers.


Don't tell anyone, but Paris is my favorite, she is friendly and loves people. The other goats push her around, she never fights back.


Precious Paris is always curious. Angel catches them by their ears sometimes, she has never brought blood but she has caused frostbite on both Cooter and Paris, by getting their ears wet when it has been cold.

My Goats

Since my eldest Son is now calling me "Chicken Lady" because he says all I blog about is chickens, I will change the subject today.

My goats are running full time with the buck now, so come the end of March, I should have my first kids and a fresh doe to milk. My eldest Son should be happy to hear this because he gets free milk and he is a big milk drinker. Something is clucking at the door, I will be right back.

Cinder is my oldest goat, she is a Nubian, Giselle is around 75% Nubian and 25% LaMancha, all the rest of my goats are around 75% Nubian and 25% Boer.

Cooter, my buck was turned in with the oldest two goats, Cinder and Giselle, on the 25th of October and then I put the young does, Colette, Calico and Paris, in with them on the 13th of December, so they shouldn't start kidding until the middle of May.

Giselle is a three year old first freshener. We had her in with a buck for a short time as a yearling and she came up empty, then we took her back to another buck as a two year old and she came up empty again. This was her last chance, my husband didn't want to continue to support a barren goat. But she is obviously pregnant this time, she is going to have multiples by the look of her.

Cinder is my herd queen, she rules supreme. She has always given me twins, always a boy and a girl. She is the mother of both Giselle, three years ago and Calico, last year. We sold Giselle and Calico's twin brothers. I think that Cinder herself was either a triplet or quad.

Cooter, Paris and Colette were all triplets from different does. So I have a good chance of getting multiples from all of my girls.