Damummis'- Auf wiedersehen

[aggieterpkatie]

How are ya honey? I was thinking about you and your goats the other day.

 

[Damummis]

How are ya honey? I was thinking about you and your goats the other day.

I gotta tell you, this is harder than I ever thought it would be. Everyone told me sheep would be easy. Not these sheep are the meanest, bulliest (if that is a word) stubbornest sheep I ever met. The white sheep, Bossie, has taken the brown goat, Princess, off her feet 3 times. Finally got separate pens. The brown sheep, Yvonne got loose the second day and found her way to the evil neighbors and got into their bird feeder. The white goat, Daisy, is the sweetest thing but hates the dog. Almost kicked him in the head. I am battling bloat with Princess right now. The lumps have not gotten any bigger. DH swears they have shrunk some.

The milking is a whole other ball of wax. Milking 2x a day and I am only getting a quart between the both of them. Any suggestions?

other than that I am fine. :/

 

[FarmerDenise]

I just caught up on your journal. We have been dealing with a cyst on our Billy. The goat we got in order to impregnate our dairy goats.

With no income and savings rapidly running out, we cannot afford a vet either.

I put surgical tape on Billy's cyst to keep it covered. He also kept rubbing it and it was looking like it would burst. I had intended to lance it, but it burst before I had the chance. The surgical tape kept the goo from spreading all over and we were able to have a good look at it. It turned out to be a creamy white fatty looking substance. Since I had already prepared a kit for lancing it (I really had intended to lance it that day ) I was able to quickly and thoroughly rinse it with a diluted betadine solution, while SO distracted him by combing his back, which he loves. I covered it with a bit of gauze and tape, not airtight.
Billy has been seperated from my girls and we have been trying to sell him for meat. We cannot bring ourselves to butcher him

Shortly after we got Billy I noticed that he was covered in lice and I also found that his hooves probably got his first trim the day we bought him The woman we bought him from also stated that she had no health problems in her herd and that she had a closed herd. We were desperate for a male goat, so we got him in spite of some rerservations I had.

As for the other skin issues you have with animals, you might look into a product called Nu-Stock. I paid around $15 for it. Beekissed had mentioned it on a post. I got some to use on our dog, who has been having nasty scaly infected skin for a year now. (the vet was no help) The product has sulfur, pine oil and mineral oil. It really helped our dog and one of my chickens. The chicken had some nasty damage to a leg from scaly mites. Even though I had been treating the chickens for the mites, this particular chicken was having more issues. Now her skin looks nice and pink again, I am hoping she will recover completely.

Good luck and

 

[Damummis]

FD- I read your whole deal with Billy. What a trial. I am working on boosting their immune system. I'll keep you posted.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I have started to give my goats calf manna. Usually I try to avoid commercially prepared foods, but at this time I want to make sure they get all the nutrients they need.

Both Blossom and Flower have been coughing and they look thin to me. I also have been going around our property and picking especially nutritious foods for them.

We also got attached to Billy. He is an amazingly sweet little billy goat. And pretty to boot. If we had the money and space, we would be seriously tempted to keep him. I wish I already had the experience to feel like I know what I am doing. It sucks beeing a newbie at this.

 

[Damummis]

I have started to give my goats calf manna. Usually I try to avoid commercially prepared foods, but at this time I want to make sure they get all the nutrients they need.

Both Blossom and Flower have been coughing and they look thin to me. I also have been going around our property and picking especially nutritious foods for them.

We also got attached to Billy. He is an amazingly sweet little billy goat. And pretty to boot. If we had the money and space, we would be seriously tempted to keep him. I wish I already had the experience to feel like I know what I am doing. It sucks beeing a newbie at this.

Ain't that the truth!!!

 

[rebecca100]

If it will help make you guys feel any better, we have sorry luck buying animals too. Especially goats. I got a nubian doe a couple of years ago that had several cysts. We ran her with the others when they were not full and pulled her out when they were. I still to this day have the buck she ran with and he has never gotten a cyst. So it is possible to keep a cl infected goat from contaminating the entire bunch. As for the scaley stuff it really sounds like mites or lice to me. We had a goat that was scaley and thin haired and it was caused by lice. A lot of times a couple doses of ivermectrin will kill the lice or mites.

 

[Damummis]

I dusted the sheep and goats with DE. I brush the goats daily and the sheep get their hair and nails done on April 4th.

I am hoping that if I boost up thier immune system I can keep the cysts in check.

Princess, loves chewable vitamin C.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I'm sorry you're having such a rough go of it, Damummis! Do you have a nearby goat or sheep owning friend who may be able to help you out with questions and such?

 

[lorihadams]

I got no advice for you but to hang in there....I'm a newbie too.