Boot Hill

This morning walking out to the barn at 6 AM something caught my eye by the firewood stacked up.  I thought it was a dead chicken.  How could that have happened?  All our hens are locked up in the henhouse at night.  The sun hadn't risen yet, and it was still sort of dark, so I walked over to check out the situation.

There was a dead animal, alright, but it wasn't a chicken.  It was Spotty.  One of our little bucklings.  Spotty has been in poor health for a while.  The goats struggle mightily with parasites, and Spotty seemed the most susceptible.  For the last month, we've been doctoring on him.  We alternated treating him with Valbazen, Safeguard, and Ivermectin.  We gave him Vitamin C and copper boluses and other treatments.  Initially they seemed to work and then a day later, we'd find him regressing again.

Popcorn is our buck that handles all the ladies of the herd.  We had picked Spotty to be Popcorn's heir apparent, primarily because of his genetics.  This little dude was spotted from head to toe - a really remarkable looking little creature.  Well, our plans for Spotty aren't going to materialize.  Popcorn will have to keep on going.  There is another baby buckling, but he's almost solid black with a few random spots here and there.

Before the sun got overhead in the sky, I told Tricia that I was going to lay Spotty to rest.  I took Spotty's collar off of his neck and carried him into the garden.  It hasn't rained here in a month of Mondays, so the ground was hard as granite.  My shovel went down about six inches until it hit a clay hardpan.  I went back to the garage and got the mattock and used that to dig a deeper hole.

When I got it deep enough, I positioned poor Spotty in the bottom of the hole.  Since rigor mortis hadn't fully set in yet, it was easier to get him to fit in the hole.  Then I began back-filling the hole with all the dirt and then woodchips and mulch.

Boot Hill for Goats

When I was done, you could hardly tell where Spotty lies in his unmarked grave in the garden between the green onions and the sweet potatoes.  Can you spot the small rise in the center of the photo above?  Sad?  Yes, but if you raise animals, you've got to be prepared for this type thing and get used to loss.  We gave it our best shot.  It just wasn't meant to be.  And who's to say that Popcorn doesn't have a recessive "spotty" gene that will come out next kidding season.

New Life on the Farm

We had just finished discussing the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in our Sunday School lesson.  It's a familiar teaching of Jesus in Matthew that explains the final judgment in which the sheep will be separated from the goats.  For those not familiar, the sheep are the righteous who will be blessed and the goats are the wicked who will be damned.  If you have kept goats, you might understand why the goats are the "bad guys" in the parable.  They are always getting into trouble.  In fact, we have one goat that we nicknamed 'Devil Goat' because she is so mischievous - wicked, you might say.

But goats have a loveable side, too.  We've been really watching Callie closely these past days.  We don't have to look hard to find her.  You see, Callie has a loud voice.  She's always bleating, letting us know that she has a grievance of some sort.  She's been pregnant and her bags have gotten so huge.  We were expecting her to kid every day now for about two weeks.  We'd leave her in the barn and then  hurriedly go check on her each morning at 6AM... but no baby!  We even began to wonder if there could be such thing as a false pregnancy?

But then one morning, we saw a large mucous discharge, followed by little feet poking out!  Callie's finally in labor.

Suddenly, plop!  And a baby is on the ground.  Tricia cleared away mucous from the kid's face so as not to inhibit breathing.  Callie went to work licking her baby to get it all cleaned up.  I got in the middle of things, lifted a leg to determine the sex of the baby.  It's a little buckling.

Callie has these strange markings on her face.  She's mostly black, but her face is a wild, unscripted, hodge podge of black, brown and white markings - almost like a puzzle.

Like they say, "The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree."  Callie passed her "busy" face on to her little boy.  Take a look at this:

It's so confusing, you can't even tell where his eyes are!  One thing that's not confusing is the fact that we need to ensure that the little dude gets some colostrum in his belly.  Tricia positioned the little fellow beneath Callie's huge teat, squeezed some colostrum into his mouth, and the sucking reflex by the little guy instinctually began.

The next morning, he had colostrum poop all over his backside, giving us evidence that he got the good stuff inside him, giving him the best shot at a healthy beginning of life on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.

The Kidding Season Comes to a Close

We had five momma goats pregnant.  Popcorn, the billy, has proven to be quite the fertile fellow.  One by one, they kidded.  Bunny had a stillborn buckling.  But with three healthy baby goats running around the pasture, we were ready for the last one to be born.  It was time for Callie.  Her bags ballooned, letting us know that any minute, there would be a baby.  So far this year we have 1 doeling and 2 bucklings.

Tricia came around the corner of the barn and said, "We have a new baby.  It's a little buck."  Callie already had him all cleaned up.  They say the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree.  That means the offspring are often like the parents.  So is the case with Callie and her little boy.  This is Callie's face:

And this is her little buckling's face...  White, black and brown.  She marked him well.

The little fellow got right down to business, drinking his colostrum to ensure he gets a good start.  Since Bunny lost her baby, we're milking her twice a day and keeping the milk to make kefir and cheese.

We still have a little leftover goat milk that we feed to the laying hens.  They really enjoy it.

But they must drink fast.  Belle, our Great Pyrenees, has developed an affinity for goat milk.  She comes around the corner, chases off the hens, and makes quick work with her tongue of lapping up the goat milk!

Popcorn For Sale

Matthew 25:31-46 King James Version

31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

There comes a time of separation, of dividing, of judgment.  As Matthew 25 tells us, this will occur.  Nations, peoples will be separated in which the godly and the ungodly are distinguished and parted from one another.  Where previously, they had dwelt together, at that time a judgment will take place.  The sheep (an innocent, mild, docile animal) will go to the right (favored) and the goats (wild, unruly creature) will go to the left (disfavor).

On Our Maker's Acres Family Farm there is a less apocalytical time, in which we must separate some animals from others.  We only have 5 acres of land.  This means that in springtime when the goats kid and the cows calve, we discover we don't have the land capacity to handle all these creatures.  Not enough grass, not enough time to manage them.  So decisions must be made to cull the herd.

In this case, we've decided to sell Popcorn.  We don't mean that we will be going door to door selling Orville Reddenbacher's Best.  Popcorn is our baby buckling.  We are currently bottle feeding him since his momma (Annie) has mastitis-damaged bags that no longer produce milk.  Annie produces beautiful babies, but no milk.  Tricia will put Popcorn up for sale this week.

It will be sad to see him go.  We hope a good family purchases him.  He is spunky, full of energy, healthy and is always jumping around.  That's why we call him Popcorn.  Any time he sees us, he comes up to us and puts his front feet up on us to beg for another bottle.  

We'll miss him, but we still have the little doeling, "Cupcake."  I'll post about her a little later.  Popcorn, anyone?

Cupcake & Popcorn

Just a brief update tonight on the kids.  Annie had a buckling last week that we named Popcorn.  Agnes had a doeling last week that we named Cupcake.  Cupcake was born with trouble in the tendons in her front legs, making her unable to stand.  It has improved slightly, but she has a ways to go.  She'll get better according to everything we read.  For now we hare helping her so that she is able to nurse on Agnes.  That is going well.  We think that she's even finding it on her own now.  Tricia goes out several times a day to make sure Cupcake is getting what she needs to grow and get stronger.

Popcorn is another story.  That little dude is the picture of health.  We named him popcorn because he jumps around like a popcorn kernel in hot oil.  The trouble is with his Momma, Annie.  Annie is a big, beautiful goat (as goats go), but over the years her bag has degraded with mastitis to the point at which this year, no milk comes out.  Her bag is enormous, but there must be lots of scar tissue or things messed up inside that makes it impossible for Popcorn to nurse.

So Popcorn must be bottle fed.  Fortunately, we have a pretty good bit of cow colostrum and milk frozen expressly for this purpose.  Tricia makes up bottles every day, several times a day to feed Popcorn.  Here's her baby:

As a result of not getting a lot of nurturing from Annie, Popcorn has gotten very attached to us.  When he sees us, he knows he'll get milk.  He was sucking on Russ' finger in this one.

I even join in on the action at night sometimes.  Popcorn makes that bottle disappear!

If we can get Cupcake healed up, it would certainly make things a lot easier in the barn.

I'm Not Kidding - But Agnes and Annie Are

Early spring.  It's kidding time.  Buckwheat did his job and bred Agnes and Annie.  On February 25th, Tricia let me know that Agnes would be the first to kid.  Here bag was growing larger by the minute.  Sure enough, in the evening Agnes starting acting funny, making strange noises.  We got her into the barn where she could be isolated from the others.  Soon she was laying in the corner crying.  It's her first kidding and it I can gather from all the racket that it is not a pleasant experience for her.

Soon things started moving, we could see something coming out.  Trouble was, we couldn't see anything.  Agnes was really crying with each push.  It didn't seem like there was any movement in the delivery.  We didn't know if the baby was positioned correctly or if we'd need to pull the baby out.

We've learned to be patient and let things take its course.  In most instances, they can (and will) handle most things on their own just fine, thank you very much.  We saw the head first and could see the tongue moving.  Once the head was out, the delivery progressed quickly.  

The baby seemed to be healthy and Agnes seemed calm and relaxed again.  It was a happy, peaceful time in the barn.  Most times we've had triplets or twins, this time only a single.  And it's a doeling.  We decided to name her Cupcake.

We'll have better photos a little later.  There is a problem with Cupcake, though.  She has a deficiency in Selenium and Vitamin E.  This results in really tight tendons on the front legs.  They are curled and she stands on her knees.  If you try to straighten her bent legs, they are very tight.  Tricia purchased some selenium paste and vitamin E and has been treating her.  This deficiency also contributes to an issue with nursing.  So Tricia is being the country vet to Cupcake and is also bottle feeding her with colostrum we have stored in the freezer.  Cupcake's getting better.  She was nursing on her own today, so Tricia will soon stop bottle feeding her.  We'll have updates and reports later.

Two days later, on February 27th, Annie gave birth to a single buckling.  He is a healthy little fellow, tall and playful, energetic and strong.  We haven't named him yet.  While he's healthy, unfortunately, Annie is not.  Annie is a big goat, a pretty goat - but she has had mastitis issues in her bag over the years.  She is 8 years old and her bag, although enormous, will yield no milk. 

So Tricia is bottle feeding the little guy several times a day.  He is strong.  Sadly, because Annie is unable to provide milk, he cannot nurse and considers Tricia to be his momma.  He's not really bonded with Annie.

Two little goats on the pasture.  You've "goat" to be kidding me!

A Sad Note for a Baby Goat

Annie has been being real motherly with her triplets.  She watches over them and takes care of them.  The barnyard is full of activity with all the animals on our small acreage.  We have 100 laying hens.  three milk cows, three bulls, one billy goat, two mama goats with 5 total kids.  At feeding time, it is quite a circus to keep everyone separated from the others' food and to keep the cows from stepping on the goats or the chickens.  We always have a hen or two that is walking with a limp due to being stepped on.

Tragedy strikes!

Several evenings ago Tricia fed Annie in the pasture.  Her triplets, that were less than a week old, were gathered around her as she ate from her trough.  When Luna (one of our Jersey cows) finished her feed, I walked her out of the barn, through the corral and into the pasture.  Big mistake!  Luna is quite gluttonous and ran straight for Annie's feed.  Fortunately, I was right there and caught her before she could gobble down the goat's food.  I walked Luna farther out in the pasture and held her.

After a time, I looked and noticed that Annie had finished her food, and I let Luna go.  Luna ran to the trough to see if there was any food left.  Annie's triplets were sitting in a group in the shade next to the barn.  Everything seemed to go in slow motion.  Tragically, instead of running to the food trough, Luna detoured and ran up to the barn, directly to the triplets and right through them.  They are too young to know to get out of the way of the large (not-so-smart) cows.

I watched in horror as Luna stepped right on top of one of the babies' backs.  Luna is not a big cow, but she still probably weighs 750 pounds.  The baby goat weighs less than 7 pounds.  The baby goat cried and cried and cried.

Tricia now looks back and tells us that what happened next shows the difference between boys and girls.  Tricia immediately ran to the baby goat, picked it up, and began nurturing it, and showing it compassion.  In contrast, I ran immediately to Luna and punched her.  (I know, not kind, right?) Russ picked up a dirt clod and threw it at Luna. We were angry and impatient with Luna's decision to do that to a defenseless animal.  Ironically, we weren't so kind to Luna, who is also a defenseless animal.

The baby goat that was injured was the doeling, the other two are bucklings.  Things did not look good.  She could not use or move her back legs.  Her hooves turned backwards and she could not stand on them.  We were just heartbroken.  I figured we would put her down, but Tricia wanted to wait through the weekend so "she could work with her."

Status Update and Prognosis:

The doeling (we need to name her, I guess) is nursing on her mom while laying down, unable to use her back legs.

Having her nurse requires putting her two brothers in a cage as she is lame and can't compete with her rambunctious siblings for her mama's milk.  They knock her over.

It is just real sad as she sits on essentially useless back legs.

A silver lining

Tricia has been performing physical therapy on the baby.  In Tricia's rehab center, the patient has shown some improvement!  Each day she is making strides.  She can now get up and stand on her own.  Although one leg looks lame and she just drags it, it appears that she is just beginning to try to take some first steps.

She has a LONG way to go and we still don't know the full extent of her injuries or prognosis, but it looks like we won't need to put her down.  Here is Tricia with the patient.  Tricia has patience and nurturing abilities that I just don't have.

Tonight we walked into the barn and the little crippled goat had gotten up on her own.  That's progress!  Tricia put her siblings in the cage and let the little goat nurse on Annie.  She drank milk while standing on wobbly injured legs.

We're seeing small improvement every day and we'll just have to wait a bit and see how things turn out.  We've learned a lesson through this, though.  We always talk about how it is good to have a variety of animals on the pasture.  Chickens eat what cows don't eat.  Goats eat what cows don't eat.  All eat grass and poop to fertilize the grass, which, in turn, grows more grass.  It is a beautiful cycle that God created.  It does, however, require some management as cows don't have much regard for their smaller brethren.  As the goats get older, they learn to stay out of the cows' way.  We learned from now on to keep the babies away from the cows until they get their 'street smarts.'  We'll keep you posted on our patient.

Triple The Trouble

Annie, our Nubian goat, has had triplets twice before.   She has been growing and growing.  She was so huge that we were sure that she was carrying triplets again.  We have been waiting on her to kid for the last several weeks, every day thinking, "Is this the day?"  Well, Saturday afternoon as I was working in the garden I looked over and heard some grunting.  Annie had given birth to twins!  She was licking them clean - a buckling and a doeling.

Well, I thought, I guess you are not going to have triplets this time, old girl.  Well, I thought wrong.  After a little while, she sat down and promptly gave birth to a third.  My primary job was to stand with a stick and chase off the chickens.  They love to peck at the placenta and at the baby goats' hooves.

It wasn't very long until Annie had them all cleaned up AND had devoured the placenta.  We worked with the babies to ensure that they got to drink the colostrum.  One of Annie's teats was so engorged it almost drug the ground.  After the babies drank, we went ahead and milked it out.  Annie was being very motherly to her offspring.  It is neat how their instinct for caring for their young kicks in.

She has had 9 kids so far!  This time three - two boys and a girl.  Tricia got the kitchen scale to weigh them.  One weighed 5 pounds and the other two weighed 5 and a half.  It was a little difficult to get them to stay still on the scale!

One of the little bucklings has some nice-looking spots.  The other two are mostly black with tan and white markings.

And here is the deadbeat dad - Buckwheat.  He didn't even come check out his kids.  Off in the distance, he just laid in the dust disinterested.  He wasn't interested in helping out with discipline or care of his kids.  I told him that he owes child support, but he just rolled over and looked at me indignantly with his goatee.

While we had the scale out, Tricia walked over and got Salt and Pepper.  They are Oreo's kids and are a month and a few days old.  We weighed them.  Pepper was 9 and a half pounds and Salt was 10 and a quarter.  They are growing!

So we have five babies on the pasture now.  It is quite a zoo we have.  Our plans are to let the kids grow for a bit and then sell them.  We don't have the pasture (or the patience) to keep them all.  They are cute, though!

His Work is Never Done

A singer/songwriter named Robert Earl Keen and his buddy, Lyle Lovett, wrote a song called “The Front Porch Song” and in part of the lyrics, he sings about a bull:

                                                        

This old porch is just a big ol' red and white Hereford bull
Standing under a mesquite tree in Agua Dolce
He just keeps on playing hide and seek with that hot August sun
He's sweating' and a-pantin'
Cause' his work is never done
Aw, no
I've known a whole lot of old bulls in my life
And their work is never done

It is summertime and although our bull, Chuck, is a registered Jersey bull and not a Hereford, those lyrics paint an accurate picture of the old boy.  He plays hide and seek with the hot August sun, lounging in the shade of the Chinaberry trees against the south pasture before venturing out when it is a little cooler to eat grass.  He likes to lay in the mud around the water trough.  It helps cool him off.

Chuck, like most bulls, likes to scratch his head on posts.  Unfortunately he really likes to rub his head on the water trough in his pasture.  It is made of a 30 gallon bucket that was originally a molasses tub.  If we allow it to get half empty, Old Chuck knocks the water trough over, spilling 15 gallons of water into his mud hole, and then pushes the tub into the fence destroying it.  Of course that means he’s out of water until we get there and get another tub filled with water.  Not very smart on his part!

Yesterday I asked the boys to come help me.  Chuck with all his head scratching, somehow was able to remove his halter.  I walked through the whole pasture until I found it lying in the grass.  I tried to put it on him, but he wasn’t cooperative.  Russ and Benjamin helped me run him into the corral and we were able to put a rope around his neck and put his halter back on.  Old boy is growing.  He’s muscular and solid.  He is going to be a force to be reckoned with.  I won't turn my back on him.

Chuck (El Toro)

Then we put him back in the pasture that he shares with little Buckwheat, our Nubian buckling goat.  We keep the males sequestered in their pasture, “male jail,” because at any given time, at least one of our cows and goats are in heat and it becomes a circus out there with hormones flowing and everyone jumping on one another.  Crazy, I tell you.  Keeping the males separated helps us manage breeding. 

We want to plan calving and kidding so that everyone delivers at the same time.  That way calving, nursing, and weaning all happens at once versus staggered out.  We didn’t do that this year and it sure made things difficult, making it hard for us to get away for a few days.  We won’t make that same mistake again, if we can help it.  Chuck will be a year old in December.  We'll try to put him with the girls when he turns one year old and shoot for September calving.

Robert Earl Keen’s song about a bull’s work being never done is accurate on a larger herd where the bull is in charge of an entire herd of cows to service.  Chuck only has four cows in his “harem,” so his work will be done relatively quickly.  Same thing for Buckwheat and his three goats to take care of.  But one thing’s for certain – ‘ol Chuck is playing hide and seek with that hot August sun, sweating and panting and longing for fall.