What now??

I'm just having one heck of a time keeping up with this blog.  In some ways I'm kind of regretting starting it up again, but I enjoy doing this when I have the time.

Anyway, let's see what happened since my last post.  First of all, Chilly and I lost the battle with her horribly anemic condition and she passed away.  It was very sad and disappointing for me as we had worked so hard and it seemed she was beginning to show improvement.   Then she came down with this unbelievable case of diarrhea that just wouldn't quit and in her run down condition it was just too much for her to fight off.  The worst part is that her little boy, Bubble, was in the stall with her when she died and basically spent the night with his dead mother.  But in the morning when I went down to the barn to find Chilly dead, Bubble was fine.  Eating and looking to go outside and play with his friends..  He never cried for his mother once after that so I can only believe that seeing your own mother dead does not have the impact on a goat it does on us.  As with Moms that lose babies, it seems it's better for them to see the body lifeless and cold and they seem to understand that it's time to move on.

I've had sick babies die in the past and mom never saw them after they had died.  That mom will cry for days, sometimes longer.  But a mom that sees and feels her dead baby will go about her business like nothing happened, most of the time.  Some will still cry and call but most do not.

So now I am treating Jewel for the same condition though she is not as bad as Chilly was.  She is terribly thin though so we need to gt some meat on her bones.  But she is a tough one to feed.  She doesn't like anything but Calf Manna and though that is excellent food, it's not complete and she needs more calories.  I tried Cheerios this morning.  She had a few the lost interest.   She hasn't lost interest in food, just the extra things I try to get her to eat to put on some weight.  She eats her hay just fine.  Drinks enough too.  She likes Milk Bones but I can hardly give her a bowl of dog biscuits even if they are high in calories.  So I have ordered a high calorie supplement for her and some roasted soybeans.  Both should come tomorrow.  That should put some weight on her.  She gets knocked about by the other goats quite a bit so she is in the barn for the night and I let her out to graze during the day.  Except today, it's raining and she will be bullied in the barn so I put her inside for today.

What else....Oh yeah, I have changed my breeding plans for fall.  I'm going to breed Aura and Rhea instead of Pebbles and, obviously, Jewel.  Pebbles looked like she could use a season off this year.  I'll breed her again next year.  Thinking about bringing Spooky out of retirement for one last breed.  She looks so good it would be a shame not to breed her one last time....still thinking about that...

So other than that, nothing much going on here.  Considering showing a couple of my goats, maybe.  Not sure who yet.  I'm not sure I even want to when I think about disease transference and upsetting the goats just to show them off or win a pretty ribbon...I was asked if I wanted to but I'm having second thoughts...

Well, til next time....let's hope it doesn't take me so long...

Hang me out to dry...

I just want to crawl in a hole and die today.  I have the worst cold I've had in years.  My head feels like it's going to explode.  At least if it does, it will stop hurting.

Despite that fact that I am deathly ill, I still have to dose Chilly up and  make sure the buckets are all full.  Chelsea said she would come out and give me a hand  so that will help a lot.  After that, I'm heading for my warm toasty bed to hide for the day.

Thank you, Mother Nature!!

Mother Nature has finally seen fit to bless us with a day of steady drizzle.  The ground is very wet and the grass seems to have grown 2 inches in some places!!  It's funny what rain can do that a sprinkler cannot.  I've been watering the pastures in small areas for about 4 weeks now and even those places are looking greener and healthier.  All in one day.  I finally left the sprinklers off for the first night in a long while.  The goats aren't thrilled about the rain but they sure love the new grass!  I hope the growth can keep up with the appetites!

I've got 4 boys in the weaning pen and 5 girls in the other weaning pen.  All are doing very well.  Some of the does can take a rest from being a milk bar.  There are a few who put everything they have into feeding their babies and others who seem to take it in stride.  Well, they have a few months off now.  time to build themselves back up to be ready for breeding in the late fall.

I haven't decided on my breeding schedule for the coming fall yet.  I suppose I should get thinking about it.  I know I'm going to breed more Pygmies and Pocket goats and probably less Myotonic goats.  I know I'm not going to do the 2 shifts again.  I am going to breed in November and I'm only going to breed a total of 14 does.  I just have to decide which does I'm going to breed to which bucks!

I guess that will come after some careful consideration.  I know what i'm looking for in the babies so I just have to figure out who can best do that for me. 

Well, off to bed!

Night!

WE NEED RAIN!!

Nuff said...

Still praying for rain

Well, we got a sprinkle last night.  Just a tease.  Not enough to do any good.  The ground is rock hard and most of the pasture is bare and brown.  Calling for rain on Thursday but why do I think it will pass us by again?  And just think; winter is coming...

RIP Riding Mountain Treasures Lily

We lost Lily on Thursday.  My own feeling is the heat got to her.  It's been so hot and so dry for so long.....I know this is a normal state of affairs in some parts of the world and even North America but this is not normal in Southern Ontario.  In the late spring it rained for three weeks straight, heavily.  Our pastures were flooded, everything was soaked, the goats barely left the shelter.  Babies died because they either got crushed in the shelter or not fed because the dams didn't bother to stand up  to feed them.

It's been over a month since it rained here.  We are watering the pastures to keep a little bit of grass growing but I've been forced to feed hay.  The hay is for winter not July!  Now, of course, I will need to buy more hay for winter and because of this drought, hay is going to be in short supply.  There has already been many farmers who have given up on a second cut.  More people are going to be after the first cut which has already been spoken for.  Are the animals going to go hungry?  No, I don't think so, but hay will go up in price as things always do.  There will be enough hay to go around but it will be expensive.  And to cover costs farmers have to raise their prices and so on and so on.

The Myotonic babies reaching 12 weeks are in the weaning pen.  Boys with boys and girls with girls.  Don't want any unwed teenage mothers here!  All are doing well and learning to like the new Calf Manna pellets they are getting to help them forget about Mom and milk.  Lily's two little girls are still getting some milk to tide them over but weaning will begin for them soon as well.  I don't want to upset them more after the death of their Mom.  I know how they feel...


It's been almost a year since my own Mom passed away.  Aug 03.  It's been hard not to miss her every day.  I guess that part never changes....

So shoot me...

One of these days I might actually have time to keep up with this blog.  Of course, when I have time to keep up with this blog there will be nothing going on so...  Anyway,

The weather has been brutally hot this past two weeks, no rain, and no rain in the forcast.  Looks like the second cut hay will be non-existant.  That's not good news for anyone.  First of all, a lot of people buy second cut hay for their horses and cows and if there isn't going to be any or not very much, then those people are going to be buying up the first cut hay whenever they get a chance.  That means there may not be enough first cut hay for the people who usually buy it, like me!! 
We can only store about 1000 bales of hay, here at the Stables and we may need as much as 1400 bales for the winter so we have to find another 400 bales somewhere and hope that farmer will agree to store it for us.  That usually works.  On occasion we have had an agreement with a farmer to store hay, only to find out, when we get there, that the farmer went and sold our hay to some one else.  Boy, does that make you mad!!  We were counting in getting that hay and now we have to start searching for some and hope we find some before the animals go hungry.
So we've got most of our hay in now, still need another couple hundred bales to fill up our storage and then some to last the winter.  That is, unless I can sell a few more goats!!