Goodbye Goats!

The goat herd shrunk to a herd of only TWO this weekend!  It was bittersweet to say goodbye to five of the goats on Saturday!  But, the feeling of downsizing is quite free-ing!

I had never sold the kids from 2016, mostly because I was "attached" to them and I couldn't decide who to sell.  I also was thinking about the possibility of keeping one of the bucks to breed back the does.

But recently, the goat chores had become overwhelming on top of managing many other responsibilities of life!  Also, the goats were eating a lot of hay, grain, and grass!  If I were to keep seven goats long-term, I would need to make arrangements to enlarge their pen and build more shelters.  So, I logged onto my Craigslist account last weekend...

I got on a roll once I started posting goats for sale!  If I could find good homes, I wanted to sell as many as I could and keep just my two favorite milking goats (Charlotte and Edna).  Although I knew it would be hard to say goodbye, the benefit of having a small, manageable goat herd would be worth the grief!

"Hilarious"

"Howdy" Ho!

Thankfully, a nearby friend agreed to purchase Hilarious and Howdy (pictured above).  So, hopefully I will get to see them occasionally!

A family about 3 hours away contacted me through Craigslist and wanted to purchase Elly May (who is still milking).  Elly May milks about 2 3/4 cups of milk once a day.  She is also really sleek and shiny!

The family that purchased Elly May also agreed to take Hillbilly and Hurray!  Now, all of my kids from 2016 are sold!  Since the family lived so far away, we met half-way and the goats endured half of the trip in our cattle trailer...

...and the other half in the family's goat carrier in the back of their truck!

Goodbye Goats!

It is sad remembering all of the excitement we had experienced when we purchased Elly May two years ago and all of the fun we had with the goat kids this past summer!  They have been good "friends" to us!  The goat pen is so quiet with only two goats... 

But, I am now able to enjoy the goats I still have!  The chores are manageable and I am being a better steward of my resources by having a smaller herd.  (But I am already looking forward to kidding season again!) Sometimes the hard things are huge blessings in disguise!

Happy & Healthy!

It is a challenging job to keep all of the goats happy and healthy!  This spring I have implemented several preventative health practices!

The kids get Di-Methox at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 9 weeks.  This prevents coccidiosis (an intestinal disease that especially affects baby goats).  I give the Di-Methox over a period of 5 days, giving 3cc the first day and 1.5cc the remaining 4 days.

I use a drench syringe to squirt the Di-Methox into the back of their mouths.  Most of the time they quickly swallow it!  Some of my older goats have fond memories of the drench syringe because it occasionally has honey on the tip!

I finally boosted my poor goats with copper.  They are showing severe signs of copper deficiency: very dull coats, brown splotches in their coloring, and the "udder pimples" I mentioned in a previous post.  Pat Coleby, in her book Natural Goat Care, is a big proponent of maintaining appropriate copper levels in goats.  She explains that copper deficiency leads to a compromised immune system which can lead to great susceptibility to worms, infections, etc.  Another interesting fact that she mentions is that darker goats need more copper than lighter goats. Many people bolus their goats yearly.  I didn't do it last year (maybe because I didn't see a reason to?), but this year I knew I must!

I gave the adult bolus which is 4 grams.  The bolus came in a large clear capsule of slow release granules.  Overdosing on copper can be fatal.  They are supposed to be swallowed whole in order to release properly.  I just opened their mouths and stuck the bolus in the back of their throats.  I then held their mouths closed so they wouldn't spit it out.  I heard a tiny bit of "crunching" (uh-oh!), but they got them down and now I am slowly waiting for the results!  I can't wait for my does to have beautiful sleek coats again!

I will soon be listing some of the kids on Craigslist.  It is sad...but I really can't keep eight goats and in a few weeks the bucklings will be mature enough to do their job (so they can't stay or I would end up with serious inbreeding problems as well as stinky bucks!).  I brought out my camera to get some "baby pictures."

Hillbilly (Elly May's buckling)

His main goal in life is to eat.  He loves grain and will even stand still for a picture if we give him grain!

This is Howdy (Edna's buckling).

Surprisingly, he seems to be the most dominant of the kids (even though his dam, Edna, seems to be the most shy of the does).  

Holster (Charlotte's buckling)

He was originally a bit of a timid goat, but he has quickly become a friendly fellow!

Until Next Time...

Sold!

Ahhh...I feel like peace has been restored to the goat pen.  The bucklings are sold!

About a month ago I put an ad for this little goat on Craigslist.  I was so busy that I didn't take time to see whether it had actually posted.  I don't think it had.  (And I wasn't that serious about selling him either at that time!  I was still enjoying the kids!)  

But last week I realized that the bucklings needed to go.  The does are showing signs of heat and I didn't want them to accidentally breed them as bucklings are "mature" at only 8-12 weeks old!  They were also taking up space, stealing milk from the does, starting to smell, eating more, and causing a ruckus at feeding time with their yelling and whippersnappering.  They needed to GO!

I went into my Craigslist account and reworked the ad.  Then the inquiries started coming!  Within a few days, I had a serious buyer!  I only had Frankincense listed, but I gave the buyer a sales pitch to take Fritz too.  Thankfully, they agreed to purchase both!

Sunday afternoon we loaded up the bucklings in the back of the truck to meet their new owner!

I gave them some water and parked in the shade.  It was hot!  In the future I will remember that it is best not to transport animals at midday in the Texas summer.  We enjoyed the bucklings and reflected on how fun the past 3 months had been with the goat kids:  I was giddy with excitement waiting for them to arrive, I cried when they were born, I had worried about them throughout the torrential rain storms, I had cuddled them on an almost daily basis...It had been fun.  But it was also time for them to go.

The new owner arrived at our meeting place and loaded them up in the back of a nice air conditioned Saab.  Spoiled goats!  I have heard that they are settling nicely into their new home.  The new owner hopes to breed Frankincense to his goats.  I am excited that he will be used as a "herd sire" and I hope he will produce some nice offspring next year!

I am truly grateful to have the 2015 kids sold!  When I returned to the goat pen, it seemed so quiet and peaceful.  It was just me and my 3 goats again.  Ahhh....

Post Script: 

This isn't the last you will be seeing of the 2015 kids.  I still have lots of pictures from the past couple weeks that never got posted, so you will be seeing more in the coming week...

For Sale

Yes, Frankincense is "officially" for sale!

Frankincense will need to be leaving my herd soon!  I have known since he was born that I wouldn't be able to keep him since he is closely related to both Charlotte and Elly May, so I wouldn't be able to breed him back.  He has a great personality, a beautiful rare color, and desirable genetics.  It will be sad for me to see him leave, but I am hopeful he will get a nice new home where he can be a "herd sire" and possibly a show goat!

At 4 weeks, he weighed 30 pounds!  That means he is drinking a lot of milk and growing very mature!  So, ideally he will be weaned and purchased soon.  If you are interested in purchasing this "great goat" (or you would like more information), please leave a comment with your phone number and email address and I will contact you soon!

Thanks for following me on my great goat adventure!