Exciting Milestones

Each new week of goat-adventuring brings new challenges and new joys.  There are many fun experiences and many frustrations along the way.  Through it all, it is amazing to observe the way God designed goats to function and how to be a good goat keeper.

 

One new milestone this week was Edna's increased grain intake.  She should have been eating grain several weeks ago, but she didn't seem too interested in it.  I had it out in a little feeder for her, but I had not forced her to eat it.  This past week I realized: my goat is 6 weeks old and not eating solids!  I kicked in a grain-eating scheme.  I crushed up the pellets into little pieces and held Edna in a "head-lock."  I pressed the handful of goat feed to her mouth and forced her to take a nibble.  Crunch, crunch, crunch.  Hey, it wasn't too bad!  My goal is to get her to eat about a handful per day.  Edna now is starting to nibble on grain when I leave it out "free choice."  The challenge is to keep the puppies form gobbling it up and the rain or dew from soaking it!

The other milestones reached this week were the building of the shelter and milking stand!  These had been looming projects and it is nice to have them finished

Building the shelter:

First, an 8' by 8' square was framed out of 2x4's.  Then two 16' cattle panels were bent over the top.

The cattle panels were secured with fence staples.

After that, 8' fiberglass sheets were screwed into some wood strips on the other side of the cattle panels.

 Ta-Da!  The finished product!  

I realized didn't get any pictures of building the milking stand.  The two middle pieces of wood on the milking stand will be able to "clamp" a goat's head to constrain the animal during milking, hoof trimming, etc.  The floor is braced underneath the platform so it should be strong and wide enough to hold a heavy goat and let me sit next to it to milk.

Edna already likes the set up!

Other notable facts this week include closely monitoring Edna's weight.  She is a few pounds underweight still.  She is 6 weeks, and has just hit 20 pounds.  I have started looking into the possibility of coccidiosis (worms).  This disease is a leading cause of stunted growth, and it could be mineral deficiency.  I plan to continue to check into these different causes to figure out what might be the problem!

I have also continued the goat shopping this week.  I have called many different goat farms in search of another doeling.  Edna is still so lonely!  Thankfully, I have a couple of leads.  I hope to bring home more goats this week!

Looking back over this week, all of the frustrations and joys combine into a long string of milestones…What an adventure!