glenolam's madness - April passed away

[glenolam]

I'm chickening out. I made an appointment for 8:30 am to have the vet disbud the buckling. $70!!!

But, it's my local vet so I'm gonna support the locals. I've actually only used 1 vet for my goats and that was only to have some kids disbudded last year. $96 for that....sheesh. And I had to drive 45 min away. So whatever, I'll cough up the cash for the buckling and support my locals...support....my....locals....for.....$70....
I can't swallow right now

As I mentioned I have two people interested in them. One person is actually on BYC and posted a thread about wanting pygmys so I responded. The other responded to a craigslist ad I put out.

I told them I'd eat the cost of disbudding the buckling if they wanted me to do the doeling. But if they wanted the vet to do the doeling I'd like them to cough up a little more cash. After all, it's gonna cost me an arm and a leg to have them both disbudded by the vet.

Does that sound fair?

(Edited to change BYH to BYC....it was in the 'other animals' section)

 

[freemotion]

Sheesh! They are the ones wanting the $70 disbudding, they can pay for it! That is certainly fair!

 

[glenolam]

Technically, they aren't requesting to have the vet do it. I'm chickening out and paying for the buckling to be done by the vet.

I explained that I'm new to disbudding so if they want the vet to do both (which would cost me a pretty $140 pennies) I wanted them to pay for at least half. But if they wanted me to do the doeling myself I'd just eat the cost of the buckling. I'd just feel better about the vet doing the buckling because he's only a week old and already has horn buds.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

yikes! my vet wanted about $90 each!

(hey Free!)

i was gonna ask how you all are handing posting the babies for sale - asking for down payment until they are weaned? waiting until they are ready to go? i'm not sure what to do. i want to sell all of Nibbles' babies. hummmm


ps its ok if you chicken out - everyone has their limits.

 

[glenolam]

Honestly, I take it as a per person basis and it depends on what they want. This isn't your show breed operation here and I don't have to rehome everyone (against what Big G says...) If you get a skeevy person that you don't think will be good for it, demand a deposit. But if you get people that just seem right when you meet/talk with them I'd let it go as is. There's usually always someone else in line waiting.

 

[savingdogs]

That was a good question OFG I was wondering that myself. I have an interested party but I didn't make up a hard and fast rule about needing a deposit. Now I wish I had. After all I don't know this person and perhaps they have gone off and found other goats by now? I wish I had been firmer about a deposit.

Glenolam I think you should take that 70 dollars into account when you price the entire group of kids from that doe and make the price reflect it. Having the vet do the more difficult one was your judgement call and the cost of doing business. You put a lot of effort in so don't sell yourself short.

The vet I worked for used to charged 45 for the disbudding plus the anesthesia cost and did not do the procedure awake. So probably more like 80 apiece. One of their clients told me they drove from an hour away because that was the cheapest she could find in our area.

 

[glenolam]

Well - got the deed done this morning.

First, I'd like to say I really like the local vet. It's the first time I've gone to them - we're fortunate that we've only had to have a vet out once for one of our farm animals. We called a rather far vet because that's who a neighbor uses and recommends, but from now on I'll be calling the locals.

They were funny, pleasant and interested in hearing about our farm and never once said anything that made me feel bad for never really using a vet for our animals health stuff. Of course, if we ever had an emergency we'd call a vet, but for the minor stuff we just do it ourselves.

The buckling was way past the due date to be disbudded, but she did her best and said just to watch it closely. She took a look at the doeling and said that she was OK to do now, but if it turns out it was too early just bring her back for touch ups. I won't tell you how much it cost me....it'll make me cry. I'm pretending like the payment process never really happened.

I talked with her a bit about disbudding, worming, wethering, general health etc. and she basically confirmed that what I was doing was alright.

Turns out my goats have lice, though! How I missed that I dunno. None of my goats show the "signs" of lice (itchyness, bald spots, rubbing etc) so I never suspected it at all. But when she shaved the kid's necks to do the anesthesia we saw them in the fur. Felt like a kick in the teeth to me but the vet seemed like she couldn't have cared less. She just said to do what I was suggesting - inject ivomec (I said at 1cc/100# and she said no - 1cc/50# is what they do) and repeat 10-14 days later. She said treat everyone even if you don't see the lice.

When I brought the kids home I took a look at the does I did last month. Now I'm really scared I didn't do it right. Especially Hash, the white eared doeling. One of her buds looks like it's growing into a real horn. I'm debating on bringing them to the vet for a disbudding checkup and reburn if she thinks it's necessary.

She did say that sometimes everything looks great then a year later the goat grows some scurs so no one can ever be 100% positive they've done it right.....no matter the method. She also said she, personally, wouldn't ever do the "other" method because she'd be too worried about frying their brain. She said she knows of some people who do, but she will keep only burning to the copper ring since that way works just as well.

 

[savingdogs]

It sounds like you got a lot more information than what would have been shared for just a disbudding and forged a good relationship. Some vets have a better attitude about do-it-yourselfers. The first vet I worked for hated people like that and talked bad about them behind their back. The second vet really worked with people of all types and catered herself and her style to what the client wanted. I consider that second one a much better vet although she was technically less experienced. But the willingness to help the humans was greater in her.

In the third clinic where I worked, people doing things for themselves was not encouraged, but mostly because they believed in offering the finest. However, it was still the motto to enhance the human-animal bond no matter where the clients perspective was coming from.

Once you are an established client, they are also better about seeing you during an emergency....already have a file for you and consent forms signed, etc., so creating a future relationship with a good local vet is really worth more than just the cost of a disbudding. I always like to do things on-the-cheap but sometimes the cheapest thing is education from a reliable source.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Glad you got a good vet you like! Ours is great...they do large and small animals, and they don't look down on you for doing stuff yourself, in fact they expect it!

Hopefully your disbuddings will turn out fine. It stinks having to wait so long to find out though, doesnt' it?

 

[glenolam]

What stinks even more is deciding if I want to bring them to the vet to have them checked for errors which'll cost me (not to mention I have to take time off work) or just wait and see....