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“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” Thomas Jefferson

Monday, October 1, 2012

Goat barn has been revised

I love it! Yesterday morning my husband and I did some work in the goat barn to make it less of a horse barn and more of a goat barn. We had built two kidding stalls in the back of the two horse stalls, but the middle wall in between the horse stalls was a pain in the neck. So we took that out and made one big stall. It is so much better now. The barn feels much less crowded and the goats have plenty of room to spread out. Also no getting slammed into the middle wall anymore by goats anxious for food. I will have to try and take pictures of it today. We should be able to keep this large area deep bedded this winter and keep the aisle way clean. Hopefully it will make spring cleaning the barn much easier. Lilly still likes her pallet in the aisle way for laying on at night though. I think she feels superior to the others. So far, Dolly Sugar and Coffee have been bred. Lilly is in heat now it looks like so maybe we will get her bred. It will be nice if everyone catches. I still don't know what I am going to do with Tea. She is such a nice girl, but has never caught. I think I am going to try treating her for cystic ovaries and lute her to try and force ovulation and see if we can get her caught. If everyone gets bred within the next couple of weeks then I can get bloodwork done and find out who is and who isn't pregnant. We are going to be butchering Strawberry this week. Another sad day for me as she has turned out to be such a sweet girl and so good on the milk stand. The problem is the mastitis she caught from her mother that has damaged her milk supply. She always freshens with a ton of congestion, can't nurse her own babies (bottle babies), and produces less and less milk each freshening. I really had high hopes for her. Last year when she freshened we just thought it was a congested udder. We did get it loose but it took two weeks of massaging and working that udder 4 times a day. We had no idea it could be mastitis as she was a first freshener. We have since learned that some forms of mastitis can be passed from mother to daughter in the milk. Once we got it cleared she produced 1/2 a gallon a day. This year when she freshened again a congested hard udder that nothing would come out of. So we had to steal milk from someone else to feed her babies. Thank goodness I keep colostrum in the freezer for just such emergencies. Again 2 weeks of massaging that udder, and talking to the vet and treating for mastitis. We got her cleared, but there is obvious damage to the udder and lots of scar tissue. This year she has only produced a pint a day. If she was feeding babies that wouldn't be enough to feed them. We bottle raised her babies using milk from another doe. Since it is important for us to keep our goals in mind, which is a healthy herd that provides milk and meat for us without being high maintenance she has to go. There is no sense in passing her on to someone else. She isn't a producer, she has issues that can be passed on. So while it has already been a hard week emotionally, it will get even harder. It has rained pretty hard all night long and of course since I am still upset about the boys I found myself waking up all night wondering if they were ok and if they had shelter. I definitely know now that I could never be in the conventional livestock business. I don't have the stomach for it. While I do view livestock as livestock, they are more than just dollar signs in the pasture for me. I have had people tell me that will change, but I don't think it ever will for me. Anyway, since it is going to be raining all day today I will be in the kitchen and of course getting the house cleaned up from the weekend. Loads of things to do so I had better get doing. Blessings, Kat

1 comment:

living from glory to glory said...

Good Morning Kat, I was so touched by your care and concern of your livestock. It is hard when you go to the sale barn for buying or selling. Kinda cruel:(
Have a good week!
Blessings, Roxy