Itty Bitty Hooves

Today Better Be The Day

What a disappointment, the pictures didn’t get here yesterday. When the breeder told me on Monday that she’d sent them and that the PO guy had said they’d arrive on Wednesday I thought that was kind of fast (from Iowa to Illinois) but hey, what do I know for travel time via snail mail? Well apparently more than the PO guy. I do think that it is reasonable to expect them today though. I am so anxious to see the pics. Cross your fingers for me that they arrive in the mail today.

Today’s the day

I’m so excited I can’t wait for the mail to get here. On Monday the owner of the buck and kids I’m going to be buying sent pictures in the mail and they should get here today. When I get them I’ll scan them in and show ya’all the new herd sire I got for all of our little girls.

What A Day — Part Deux

I did promise to come back and finish my story from yesterday, but never got the chance. It was one of those morning til night running around days that never seems to end. I was so sore and tired by bedtime I felt like I’d run a marathon.

Okay, where was I? Ah yes–my quick run to Ellen’s to see the new babies. One was very weak. When there are quads that’s not at all too unusual, and when you add the selenium problems she’s been having to it there’s an even bigger chance of a weak baby. It’s how my first two came to live here. So that new little weak one came home with me. (Just when I had my first two moved out of the house and thought I was done with night-time feedings and goats in the house for the year).

I got her home and nestled in her crate while I did a few more chores. I went outside to fill some water troughs and noticed that Sylvia’s run was empty. I couldn’t see anywhere that she could have escaped so I figured she must have gone over. We hadn’t thought she’d do that being that she’s a very large dog and old to boot. I’ve only had one Border Collie in the past that could jump a six foot high run from a standstill. Apparently Sylvia could too though, because she was missing. I walked the entire property screaming her name and couldn’t find hide nor hair of her. Just about when I was sure she’d gotten hit by a car somewhere I decided to jump in my car and see if I could find her–hopefully in a neighbor’s corn field. I decided to head out down the side road going North and sure enough, about A MILE away there was a huge black and white dog in the middle of the street! Walking! (had you going for a moment didn’t I?) I stopped the car and jumped out yelling her name and she trotted towards me, kind of skiddish like she wasn’t sure if she would be punished. I just petted her for coming when I called and got her in the car (BOY was she muddy, my front seat is filthy now) and came back home.

That’s when I came in here to type what I did yesterday until I got the phone call that sent me running again.

Ellen called. The mother of the quads rejected all of the remaining babies. She wasn’t having anything to do with them, and could I come over and maybe take one more home to feed. So I went over and picked up a second little girl whom I”ve named Amelia. The first one’s name is Angel. I’ve named all the goat kids from this year starting with ‘A’. So now we have Annie, Amber, Angel, and Amelia.

So I bring her home and get her settled in, feed them and go out and feed the two outside. It was non-stop after that though with feeding, chores, and work. I’m just relieved that it all ended up happy. No lost dogs. All the kids are doing well.

Angel had a very lax tendon in her left hind leg (common in multiple births where they may have been crammed in the uterus in tight quarters and awkward positions, AND selenium deficiencies) but as of this morning it’s holding well and the leg isn’t buckling backwards at all.

Sylvia has suprised us in her desire to be a good ‘mom’ to the new arrivals. We weren’t sure how she’d take to farm animals since she’s spent her entire life in the city and has never seen a chicken much less a goat or horse. Here’s a picture of Sylvia ‘guarding’ her new little charges this morning.

What a Day

It’s only about 10 am and it’s already been a long, long day.

First off, at 6 am just as I was rolling out of bed, the phone rang. (That always puts a lump of fear in my throat.) It wasn’t bad though, it was my best friend. Ellen called to say ‘you’ll never believe this, but beauty just had quads!’

Beauty is Ellen’s purebred registered Nubian doe (female goat) who was bred to an awesome purebred buck so we were anxious to see what she’d have. She was due to deliver tomorrow but she didn’t look anywhere near as large as Ellen’s other two goats who had twins and triplets (the one who had trips was HUGE just before delivery). We thought maaaaaaayyybe twins when we looked at Beauty. Neither of us would have ever in a million years guessed there were FOUR babies in there.

Anyway, I hung up the phone after promising to run right over after I finished my chores. I got up, made coffee, fixed bottles for my two bottle girls Annie and Amber. Got a shot of Anti-diarehha medicine ready for Amber who had a slight case of the runs and went outside to feed the two girls. I came back in, took Silvia (my sister-in-laws big old dog who is staying with us because my SIL is in the hospital) out for a walk, and put her in the dog run. Silvia’s only been here for a couple days and having a little hard time adjusting, but doing better. This morning she did ‘number 2′ for the very first time. She’s been eating and drinking well though so I hadn’t been too worried, it was just a matter of time. I petted her, told her what a good girl she was, promised that we were going to work on making a bigger run for her this afternoon when Bob got home, and maybe even let her have a little free time in the house this evening since she was being so good.

I fed the horses, Jet (our Border Collie) the chickens, the geese, the rabbits, and then went in the house, guzzled down a cup of coffee, grabbed my coat and the empty milk bottle for a refill from Ellen of the kid’s goats milk and jumped in the car.

Got to Ellen’s and they kids are so cute! Well, the one (last one born) was weak and having some trouble so we gave her a quick shot of Bo-se and took her in the house…

Be right back… another little emergency. I’ll finish when I get back.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Well it wasn’t quite that extreme but it was a day of ups and downs. First off Annie and Amber spent the day outside for the first time (all day). The weather was beautiful and they did just fine. It was good to see them playing in the leaves and jumping up on the picnic table benches that I put in their pen for them to climb on.

Then the fish I ordered several weeks ago finally got here. After weeks of weather delays, the breeder had contacted me last week that the fish I’d selected had a disease in their tank and I could either wait until it cleared up, or pick a different variety. I picked a different variety and was happy enough until they got here finally today–dead. They were beautiful fish though–just dead. The breeder was good enough to say she would send a full refund which I was happy I didn’t have to ‘demand’ (but I would have if she hadn’t offered first), but it was just disappointing after all that waiting.

Then an old friend, Kay Baxter, who used to live a little over an hour from me but moved to Ohio last year came in for a workshop being held at a local farm. She called when she and Fran a wonderful lady who lives nearby her at her new place, and another new friend all got into town. We all went out for dinner, where Kay’s daughter Katie who still lives here in Illinois met up with us. The food was good but the service was slow–not that it matter too much to us, we were having a great time joking around.

If it doesn’t start too late tomorrow I might meet up with them again at the workshop, but I would have to leave by about eleven so if it doesn’t start until ten or so it wouldn’t make too much sense to go there just to have to leave right away.

Anyway, long day with lots of highs and lows. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow. It’s drizzling now. We were going to have a hay shipment coming in but they won’t come if it’s still raining, so I hope it lets up. We’re not short on hay at the moment however, so it won’t hurt too bad if the delivery is delayed.

Dead Horse

No not really, but they can really give you a freight. I was outside doing some chores this afternoon and I looked over into the west pasture to see Genny our 3 year old filly dead out on the ground and not moving a muscle. Now I know they like to sun themselves especially after a long absence of nice weather and today being so nice it was to be expected, but Genny always pops up and looks around to see what’s going on when someone’s out there working. Not this time and I was sure she was dead.

I high-tailed it over to the fence line just in time to see her take a deep breath, sigh, and raise her head as if to ask ‘what’s the problem, can’t you see I’m sun bathing here?’

Yeah, she’s fine–heavy sigh. They can sure make your heart pound once in awhile. I think they do it on purpose.

First Day Out

Okay it wasn’t exactly the first time ever that Annie and Amber made the trip outside, but it’s been cold and the outtings have been few and short. The short factor had something to do with how spoiled my little darlings are, but it’s getting time for them to be out where they belong. Much as I love having them in the house, they’re getting big and rambunctious, and soon they’ll weigh over a hundred pounds so they have to learn to be goats.

Today it was in the high 40’s and it’s supposed to be that and better for the rest of the week/weekend and more so I’ve started putting them in their goat pen. They were outside for about 2 hours today. I can’t honestly say they loved it, but they’ll learn to adjust. I even made sure they had some jumping platforms in there so they get to bound around and jump on them.

Well, We’re a Boer herd Now

Or we will be come April 18th when we make the trek to Wapello Iowa to pick up Master Mickey our new 3 year old proven FULL BLOOD–REGISTERED Boer buck. I was so impressed with Mickey, and can’t believe I was able to get such a handsome fellow who was registered and full blood (pure bred can also be registered but they will never be full blood because it means that somewhere in the background at least ten generations back there was a non-boer in the mix) for such a reasonable price. Thanks Sherry for letting us have Mickey, and one of his daughters as well for our little herd.

 I’ll post a pic of him as soon as I get it online.

Tami

Still Looking For The Perfect Addition

I’ve been looking and looking for just what I would like as a final addition to my new little doe herd. I’m really thinking I’d like one purebred Nubian. I have no plans to get heavy into breeding dairy goats but I love the milk and making cheese and Nubians have the highest butterfat content in their very sweet milk. My two girls — being half Nubian–should produce well, but a full Nubian would be the icing on the cake. Can’t find just what I want close enough though.

I’m also looking around for a nice Boer buck. We want our kids to have a nice commercial quality rather than leaning toward the dairy side so that would be the way to go.

New Friends

Well, on Tuesday, February 27 my friend’s second goat kidded out TRIPLET girls! What a bang up year for her. Two for two all girls FIVE in all. One of the trips was having a hard time competing for food with her two littermates and with only two teats to share between them, well you can see where the problems would be… so–

Annie has a brand new friend.

Meet Amber (sleeping underneath Annie, both in diapers in the livingroom).