Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

Well good news...and just news. The good news is that Lil Bit's lab results came back and she is NEGATIVE for both CAE and Johnes! Woo hoo BUT - what the heck is wrong with this goat? Not trying to be overly optimistic, but I think she looks better today... appetite seemed to be a bit better too. Or maybe I'm just worrying more about the other goat than her.

And in "just news" the other goat, Sparkle, isn't doing so great. Once she got out of the bind she was in she kinda got worse. I think because her neck was so bound up in the fence that as soon as the pressure was off, she started swelling. Her throat and neck are both swollen and she doesn't want to swallow anything. I gave her more probiotics and mixed up some oatmeal slurry that I tried to get down her. I mixed oatmeal, oat bran, molasses, brown sugar and yogurt with a shot of goat milk too. She mostly slung it out of her mouth, but when I added more water so it was looser she swallowed some. I've also given her a dose of prednisone, an antibiotic (yesterday) and a shot of B-complex. Hoping the prednisone brings down the swelling so she'll feel more like eating/drinking.

I sure hope this is allll the drama I'm gonna have before we leave. Only 9 days now and I'm falling behind on preps. And, its s'posed to rain most of the weekend. OH well, I can work in the rain if it's not too hard...and bonus...it won't be hot.

 

[Denim Deb]

Sorry you're having to deal w/all this. Hope things calm down for you soon.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks Deb. I'm hoping the same.

Went out and gave her some of the oatmeal slurry. I've still got to go dissolve her prednisone tablet in some water and add some molasses and get that down her too. I've been trying to balance getting some fluids/nutrition into her with trying not to stress her too often, but today I'm going to have to risk stressing her more and getting more into her. She still gets up and moves around the barn a little...maybe once a day. But - she moves away from her water bucket - argh. However, I don't think she's drinking on her own anyway. Today's plan is to make sure to get her hydrated and fed. She'll just have to deal with the stress. Bless her heart...

 

[Wannabefree]

I hope she gets better....hard to just pick up and follow what's going on, but it involves a goat, so that tells me automatically it must be dramatic!!! Mine ate hubs pepper plants to nubs today. He's not happy. Oh well I miss you lady!!!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hey lady, miss you too! Heck, it's hard for ME to follow what's going on around here these days, lol. Dang critters are keeping me hopping, always trying to find a way to commit suicide or summpin'....

Still workin on vacay preps. This trip better be worth all this work! I hung a new self-feeder and huge hay rack for Dusty, the young Nubian buck. And butchered 5 quail today too. Five down and fifteen to go....geeze! I'm trying to get things manageable for the folks who are gonna be critter-sitting. I'll hang a couple more feeders for the other bucks and that's gonna be close to finishing the major preps. Even started getting clothes together too. Ironed a few shirts just so I can stuff 'em in a suitcase and pull 'em out all wrinkly. Wouldn't bother - but not sure there's gonna be an iron on a dude ranch. Ehhhhh, not sure I really care either.

Put some chicken eggs in the incubator the other day. Gonna load up the other incubator with quail eggs before we go too. Hopefully no power outages while we're gone! If so - there's always more eggs where those came from.

 

[Denim Deb]

Let's see, your vacation involves beautiful scenery and horses. Yep, it will be worth it.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

You're right, Deb - it's gonna be awesome!

We got a couple more things crossed off the 'to do' list today. We butchered 15 quail. Only have a dozen or so left to re-populate. Since I don't really like to butcher in the summer I had too many. I'll be setting eggs again soon, but I need to be sure I get them processed in a timely manner. I really like the little critters and they are so easy to process!

Finally hung a new hay feeder for the two kinder bucks. I hung a tarp over it to keep it dry since their 'barn' is an oversized 'dog' house. It's only 4 x 8 and 4 ft. tall - no room for a big ol' hay rack in there. And, I opened up the other half of the overgrown garden area for them to clean up for me. I'm sure they'll be happy to do it, lol.

We're counting down the days now... Less than a week!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Whew.... Sparkle is gonna be fine. After doing nothing but reclining for the first few days after her imprisonment in the fence, needing to be force fed and watered, and prayed over a LOT - she's darn near 100% again. Yesterday seemed to be her day. Every time I checked on her she was up and at the hay feeder...and she's finally started eating grain again. She's not only eating the grain - but defending it from the other moochers, lol! Only downside is that she's dried up. Her baby is plenty old enough to be weaned, but I'd hoped to start milking her after we returned from vacay.

I'll still have one kinder in milk and one old grouchy pygmy. The pygmy is HE** to catch, but as soon as I get a lead on her she heads for the milk stand and hops right up. And, for a pygmy she is an eeeeaaaasssyyy milker with tons of sweet pygmy milk. But, I'm pretty sure she'll dry up while we're gone too.

I kicked another mama goat and her two buck babies out into the pasture yesterday where they will reside until we return. (Heck, maybe I'll bring her back up and milk her.) At that point I'll band one of her little boys and the other will go into a buck pen.

All I need is another buck....but he's so darn cute, lol. And, he can be registered as a Kinder buck. Still need to get one or two of the other bucks sold...but I've got such good reasons to keep them. Short Stuff - the pygmy buck when bred to a Nubian doe put THE prettiest udder on his daughter (who is Sparkle). My Nubians give lotsa milk but there's not a really great udder in the bunch. So, that's my justification for keeping him. Dusty is my pure bred Nubian with lotsa moon spots so he's not going anywhere! Hope I have a couple does bred to him already. Oreo is my second generation Kinder.. so he stays. Curly, the other pygmy buckling brings badly needed new blood to my pygmy herd. I guess the two first generation Kinders needa move on. Bottom line is I love the stinkers...but who needs SEVEN bucks? Time to make a decision, ugh!

 

[Wannabefree]

Yay! Glad she's better! I could use seven bucks...if ya mean the green paper kind, otherwise...I'll pass

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hey, I can wrap 'em up in green paper and ship 'em your way! You'll know they got there when the green paper starts to stink!