3 Weeks!

Frankincense is now 3 weeks old!  He is growing very, very fast.  He is quite the social goat...He nibbles and jumps at anyone who comes in the goat pen.  He may need some training!  Since he is 3 weeks old, it is time for his coccidiosis prevention regime.  He gets a round of "di-methox" which helps keep the nasty parasites away!  I know of several goats in my area who seemed to have issues with cocci, so I feel it is a good idea to give him this treatment.

He wasn't exactly sure what I was doing.  But, he got most of it!  Actually, Elly May "attacked" me as she associates the drencher with something sweet (I occasionally dip the end in agave or honey).  Silly Elly May!

Happy Frankincense!

Summer won't "officially" be here until mid-June.  But here in Central Texas, we are experiencing the changing from Spring to Summer very noticeably.  "Blue Bell" the Great Pyrenees thinks that the lazy days of summer are already here...

We have seen several large snakes on our property recently--one even in our yard!

The cactus are blooming too!  I am always amazed at how such a prickly plant can produce the most beautiful dainty blossoms!  In this picture you can see a dewberry in the background (another lovely creation that grows among thorns).  We have enjoyed lots of yummy berries recently as well!

Stay tuned as Edna is due tomorrow!

Goat Advice

Goats are great!  They have fun personalities, produce a wonderful amount of milk, and take up relatively little space.  However, as I have learned over the past several months of goat-keeping, goats can be "finicky!"  They can suddenly exhibit odd ailments or strange behaviors.  It is in these cases that the advice of fellow goat owners is invaluable!

I have been blessed to have several fellow goat-keepers be willing to let me call them and email them about almost any goat issue under the sun  ("help! my goat has worms!" "help! my goat isn't eating!" "help! how do you trim a goat's hooves!").  I am so thankful to have these helpful people as contacts to aid me in this goat adventure.

Along this goat journey, I have also enjoyed reading the Homesteading Today forums.  This forum is a huge wealth of information.  It is quite simple to join and ask a goat-related question or simply read about other people's goat adventures and how they found solutions to their problems!

Speaking of "problems," I am glad to say that Charlotte's worm problem seems to be resolved.  I gave her the herbal wormer several weeks ago.  Her coat is beautifully sleek now and I have not seen any worms in the goat pen for a while!

In today's society where "independence" is loudly proclaimed, it is interesting to be owning an animal that requires dependence on others.  My goats rely on me for their total care, then I rely on others to help me best care for them.  Thank you, blog readers, for joining me on this adventure as well!

See you later...

Consistent Record-Keeping

Inconsistent.  Consistent.  Life is INconsistent.  It brings surprises.  Goats are consistent (well...most of the time!).  They must be milked and fed twice a day, regardless of the inconsistencies of life!

Effectively raising goats goes hand-in-hand with effectively keeping clear records.  Being consistent with caring for the goats and consistent with recording it is an amazing tool for managing a herd!

 

This is a sample of the record sheet I created on Excel.  It has the date pre-printed, then a place to record the: morning milking time and amount, the evening milking time and amount, and any other daily notes.  I record things such as the kid's weight, when the goats receive any special browse, any funny behavior or milk taste, and odd weather patterns.

By looking at a whole month of records at a time, I can notice patterns in the goats' health and production.

I used to keep records in this little notebook.  However, the new system is working much better as it takes less space and enables me to see more information at once!

One thing I consistently record is when the goats get herbal wormer. They love wormer!!!  The following pictures give a sneak-peak of Charlotte's eagerness to ingest this obviously yummy treat.

Give me more!

Wonderful!

Crying Over Spilled Milk!

Lest you think this "goat adventure" is all fun, be forewarned!  I have shed some tears over these silly goats lately!

First of all, the milk has spilled two days in a row.  Tuesday evening I set the full milk bucket on top of a fence post (as I could not find another sanitary place).  It fell off the post and I watched that hard-earned white liquid soak into the ground.  It was disheartening!  Wednesday evening Charlotte unintentionally kicked the milk bucket after she was finished being milked.  I wasn't in a position to move the bucket or her hoof.  After working so hard, it is no fun to have spilled milk!  It is a precious resource that cannot be renewed (at least until 12 hours later).

Additionally, Charlotte is showing signs that she has worms! (I won't go into details, but I think it is tapeworms!)  Although some tapeworms can be "waited out," I am going to give her a double dose of "Molly's Herbal Wormer Formula #2" for three days.  This should make it uncomfortable for the worms to live in Charlotte's intestine.

Another frustration was the ants that attacked the grain barrel!  Thankfully, I think most of them are gone by now!

Anyway, this week has definitely posed some challenges.  A verse that recently came up in my daily Bible reading seemed appropriate for this week:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21)

The book of Job recounts how he glorified the Lord both when he was blessed and when he was cursed.  I have graciously accepted all of the "fun" the goats have brought, but I must also accept the challenges as well.  I am praising the Lord for this opportunity to bring Him glory and build character in me!

Goat Dress-Up

I was recently cleaning out my closet and realized I had a lot of "dress-up" things stowed away.  With a surge of mischief and imagination, I decided it was time to have a little fun and play dress-up with the goats!

 Tea Time with Elly May

Charlotte--in style!

Edna is ready to rodeo!

Miss Fashion

 

Love that chevron (and the tongue sticking out of Elly May's mouth)!

I think scarves look good on Edna...

Last picture: Little Goat on the Prairie

Along with the fun pictures, here are the "goat highlights" from the past week:

1) I made goat ice cream for the first time!  The flavor was delicious!  It had a really high melting point, so I need to perfect the recipe to get the ice cream to stay thick (it doesn't help that the temperatures are in the 90's)!

2) I made ricotta again.  This time it was the best time ever, despite the fact that I messed up the recipe!  I was using a different thermometer, so I added the vinegar before it was heated enough.  I realized it wasn't curdling after about 10 minutes, so I just heated it up to the right temperature and the vinegar did it's job then.  I added just a pinch of salt, which made it yummy.  For a gallon of milk, the yield was a little over a pound of cheese.

3) The goat kids are getting their third round of dimethox (coccidiosis prevention).  They get it for five consecutive days, and enjoy the dimethox/agave nectar concoction!

Dimethox

 Dimethox (ordered from Hoegger Supply)

I think I have mentioned before that coccidiosis can be a major problem for goat kids.  Cocci (a special type of worms) can stunt their growth and make them sickly.  I had been using the Molly's Herbal Wormer for Edna which is supposed to help/prevent  cocci.  I still plan to use this herbal formula for various reasons.  However, the farm where I purchased Charlotte and Elly May noted that Dimethox worked really well for preventing cocci and raising healthy kids.  Elly May had already had one dose of this before I purchased her.  And she is considerably bigger and healthier looking than Edna.  Now, much of this is due to genetics and other factors, however I thought that the Dimethox might have something to do with it too.  So, I ordered the Dimehtox and retrieved my drench syringe.

The drench syringe

"A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down!"

Just fill the syringe with medicine and a little agave nectar (or at least dip the end of the syringe in the agave nectar), and the goats quickly learn to LOVE the syringe. 

The treatment lasted for 5 consecutive days.  The first day the kids received 3cc of Dimethox plus a little agave nectar.  For the next four days, they received 1.5cc Dimethox plus agave nectar.  Here we go...

 

 Mmmmm.  Elly May loved her turn!

 It doesn't really look like Edna is enjoying her treat in this picture, but she really was!

After I gave the Dimethox, I set the syringe in a bucket outside the goat pen.  I was taking Charlotte to tether her outside the goat pen and she greedily grabbed the syringe and held it in her mouth!  She must have had a "sweet" experience with a syringe too!

Since a lot of the grass in the goat pen is eaten down, I have been letting her eat around the pen.  I tie a dog leash to a post, then clip it to her collar.  She loves all those yummy "weeds" in the field.

 Another remedy I tried: Charlotte's teats got really dry recently.  They were bits of peely skin dropping into the milk bowl when I milked!  I rubbed some coconut oil on it one evening.  I am not sure if the coconut oil did the trick, but her udder is clear now!

This Way and That Way

Edna seems to keep herself pretty clean.  I found myself in the goat pen this evening with the camera, and I was surprised by the wide variety of positions Edna used to "primp."  She twisted first this way, then that way, fluffing her hair and cleaning herself off!

Clean the hind leg this way...

Clean this that way...

Stretch out to clean the front legs...

And twist around to fluff up the back...Edna is one agile goat!

 Here are some parts of Edna you might not see very often:

Little Chompers...

 Hooves:  These will need to be trimmed soon!

I gave Edna another dose of herbal wormer today.  Here's how it works:  

First measure out 1/2 teaspoon (she'll get a full teaspoon in a few months.)

Mix the wormer with a little bit of water in a small cup.

Suck the mixture into the drench syringe and you're good to go!

Well, maybe.  The wormer should be slowly squeezed into the side of the goat's mouth.  The goat should happily swallow it.  But Edna and I are both learning about wormer!  It was quite the experience!

 I am not sure Edna got the whole dose, but she got some!  Hopefully we will do better next time!

Thoughts for the Day

Springtime is here, hopefully to stay!  The day was glorious: a deep blue sky with lazy, wispy clouds floating overhead, a wonderful temperature of 75 degrees, and bursting wildflowers scattered on the lush grass carpet.

As I sat outside, rubbing the puppies tummies and petting Edna, I thought of how much I enjoy being with the animals.  I thought of my amazing Creator who made them.  I also remembered how God strictly warns us about worshiping the creation:

"They changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen."  Romans 1:25

When I enjoy the animals, they remind me of the amazing Artist and Designer who made them.  Instead of worshiping the animals, I worship the One who made them!

Today I gave Edna her first dose of wormer.  I mixed up the herbs with a little bit of water in a plastic Dixie cup.  Then I sucked up the herbs into the syringe and squeezed the mixture into Edna's mouth.  I am not sure she got the full dose, Edna had a green mustache afterwards and I had herbal mixture running down my sleeve!  Oh well, I am planning to repeat the process again soon.  (The herbal wormer I am using has two parts.  One is a strong formula to be given every several weeks.  The other is a "maintenence" formula to be given every week.  I gave the weaker, "maintenence" formula today and plan to give the strong formula later this week.)

 

The Wormer

 The Drench Syringe

Ahhh...the empty milk bottle.  It seems that I keep leaving these things around and finding them hours later!  On a fence post, on top of the dog food barrel, next to the sink... Goat care is an endless adventure!