HandledWithCare :: An Interesting Few Days

[Wannabefree]

Acquired a pregnant pot belly sow this morning, and somehow without even trying sold 8 more watermelons today. 3 at the stand out front, and 5 to the neighbors. That is ALL of them suckers GONE Tomorrow I can focus on tomatoes again and call the lady about picking peas

 

[HandledWithCare]

That sounds awesome!

 

[HandledWithCare]

Well I guess I'm getting goats. A man had some good prices--I'm sure it's the hay shortages--on a Nigerian Dwarf doe and her just-weaned buckling. She hasn't been milked but is supposedly tame and has allowed the owner to check her bag and teats and all that fairly often so maybe I can talk her into milking. Anywho my goat plans were three months in the future so now I'm frantically getting ready. They'll be staying in a horse stall, a fairly big one, that I'm adding welded wire to so it's up about 6 feet high. I'm HOPING they won't jump that. I'm really excited and VERY nervous. They both have horns so that's something I'll be dealing with. I was going to band until I saw the pictures and figured if they'll have gory horn rot hanging off that I might as well have the vet cut them off. It'll be faster and heal rather than a slowly worsening wound.

Anyway, they'll have to hang out in the barn until I build their fencing and fix up their shelter. That'll probably be a month or so. I do plan to take her out on a lead and tie her out to do some foraging but I'm not sure about tying a baby Nigerian outside. They seem very small to be on a lead in the bushes; maybe I'm just overthinking it. I got grain feed, hay and some dewormer pellets. I've heard parasites are a frequent issue in goats.

Any suggestions are MORE than welcome. The books aren't as helpful as I want them to be!

 

[Wannabefree]

6 feet for Nigi's should be fine. I'd leave the horns on.

 

[pinkfox]

i deinfatly wouldnt band the doe, the buck it would depend on how big the buds are right now...
ive heard nothign but horror stores about banding and scurs and such

 

[HandledWithCare]

i deinfatly wouldnt band the doe, the buck it would depend on how big the buds are right now...
ive heard nothign but horror stores about banding and scurs and such

Yeah I've seen pictures, ugh. I can't see his horn buds in the picture but if they're VERY tiny I may band. I'll get the vet's advice too.

 

[Denim Deb]

I have 4 ft fence for my Nigerian and she's never once tried to jump it. Just make sure the holes in the fence are not big enough for her to get her head thru. Otherwise, she'll get her head out, then not be able to pull it back thru. And, it can be a PITB to get them free!

I'd leave the horns on her as well. As for the buckling, if he hasn't gotten any yet, when you see them developing, I'd have them burned off.

 

[pinkfox]

agree with deb, if the horn buds are small enough (less then 1") they can still b removed ith a standard disbudder (a calf tip is larger and will work better on slightly longer horn buds)

Lilly and poppy were both already almost 5 weeks old when i had someone disbud them for me, the buds were about 3/4 of an inch but he used shered and a calf bud and no problems (the calf tip is deeper)
i was told generally a good dehorner will work up untill about 6 weeks on most breeds, after that the risk of scurs is alot higher.

 

[the funny farm6]

i leave the horns on. we have too many preditors here not to. if they need them they will have them. plus i hate when they get one of those scragly grow-backs.

 

[HandledWithCare]

Well we got the goats. The doe is as tame as promised and she is awesome on a lead. She will let herself be milked and you can mess with her front feet without ANY protest. Her back feet will be more of a 2 person clipping job, but that's it! We put her in the horse stall and the first--two seconds later--thing she does is get her head stuck in the stall door! We covered the gaps in welded wire but the horns gotta go. We have a lot of chicken predators--hawks, possums, raccoons--but fencing will keep big dogs--and the rare coyote--out. Plus I plan to get a great Pyrenese to patrol and protect the poultry, rabbits, goats and the meat cow in our plans. I need a Pyr because of our EXTREMELY close neighbors that could easily get bitten by just walking out their own door by a stranger-aggressive dog; they're supposed to be more people friendly than Anatolions and Komondors. I hope I'm spelling these right!

The buckling is about five months and she doesn't let him nurse anymore so that's good. She's still very attached and if gets out of sight she calls him back--it's cute! She is also very likely bred back--breeding date sometime between July 1st and today. Don't you just love people who keep great breeding records? Ugh. Anyway I'll be watching to see if she starts showing or if she isn't bred. The buds on the boy are too big to disbud by a lot. I have a vet to cut off the horns. It'll be tough but I'm doing it soon so they'll be all healed up before any new herdmates show up. I wish they'd been disbursed but that was a fairly small setback in some awesome goats!

Now I just have to build a milking stand and oh yeah fencing! And I have to get their shelter all cleaned out; it's probably full of wasps and snakes! The brush out there is such that I won't be able to see the goats for a week or two until they munch it down! Haha!

Thinking about Greek names. I like Toula or Hestia for mom, Nikki or Orion for buckling. Any input??

In other news the rabbits we butchered are DELICIOUS! I can't believe how much of a difference 2 weeks made in flavor. Wow. I sold my last silkie chicks and have hatched 6 keets so far under a broody. Our bators should hatch soon. About 30+ silkies due in three days and 30+ guineas in 10 days, 10 turkeys and a handful of Australorps. Then we refill with Australorp eggs and start again! Also the quail eggs need to be incubated. I want some quail chicks to sell before fall comes.

I'd like to make up for my failed garden with chicky sales!

Also keep selling TONS of fertile eggs. Our hatching rates and pretty, healthy chicks/poults/keets keep people coming back for more. Repeat customers always boost the confidence.