Good-bye Gidget

Late summer seems to be the worst for the goats and copper.  It is progressive and I have a lot of girls who have to be depleted, but I just don’t know how much.  After I weaned Gidget’s kids this year, she did well, but starting in August, she has just seemed to lose ground.  I shut her in for intensive feeding, and she seemed a bit better, so I let her rejoin the herd.  Within just a few days, I started to see a loss in weight.  By the time I shut her back in the Love Shack, she had bottle jaw again.  It was time to say good-bye because no goat wants to just be shut in alone.

Gidget van de Yell (24 Mar 2014 – 16 Nov 2021)

I will dearly miss this girl.  She was beautiful from the start.

Gidget

She was one of my beautiful spotted girls who came from Kizzy’s line.

Gidget, Blaze and Kizzy

She got her looks and her udder from her maa, Blaze.  They both had crazy udders with way too many teats.

Top Blaze with Duke and Duchess; Bottom Gidget with Andre

I wish I could go back in time, knowing about the lack of copper in my soil and treat them before it got so bad.

Hera and Gidget

She will live on through her girl Hera, and a lot of grandkids from Zeus.

Updates

Well, I came home from work on Wednesday and saw my first girl that I had in with a buck in heat–Cupid.

Cupid

I did some quick math in my head and decided she would be due on the Friday of spring break if she were to get bred, so I quickly put her in with Benji.  He wasted no time in doing his job.

Benji watching the girls

Frodo wanted to help, but he mostly bounced off Benji who was already busy.  Then Frodo decided it was better to just go eat his sweet feed.  That was a good plan.

Frodo

I only left her there for about ten minutes; we’ll see if she settles or not.  Of course, I realized after that that my math was off. She will be due on Saturday.  Hopefully, she doesn’t go overdue.  Anyhow, Thursday I came home from work and found that Purl had not come into heat.  She’ll hopefully get bred for early June.

Purl

I also had mentioned that Reva and Gidget were thin.  After getting the four grams of copper, Reva is looking good.  She’s really picking up weight.

Reva

Gidget, on the other hand, is still very skinny. I have her shut in the Love Shack so she isn’t using energy running around out in pasture.  She’s getting grain without anyone pushing her out, and she’s also getting sweet feed and calf starter along with all the hay she can eat.  Hopefully, she’ll start to perk up.

Gidget

Rosie is eating well and gaining her weight back.

Rosie

I am still letting her in to eat sweet feed too.

I don’t know why she was straddling the stool.

Tansy is also coming in for extra food.  She seems to be gaining weight also; it’s just not as quickly as Reva and Rosie.

Tansy still under weight

And I am not updating you on how Haley doesn’t even limp anymore.

Haley with Cinnamon behind her

And she’s almost looking fluffy!

Under the Weather

When I got home from work Friday, Rosie seemed to be a little off.  I checked her out, and she seemed a bit thin and had a loose stool, but her eyes were good.  I wormed her and promised I’d give her some copper in the morning.  I went out to pasture to check on her Saturday morning, and about got run over by a couple of speeding llamas.

Maybeline and Odie walking at a more lladyllike pace

When I got to the crest of the hill, I saw Rosie was lying by herself–not a good sign.

Rosie

When I got down to her, I could tell she had a hefty fever, so I decided to take my camera back up and then I was going to come carry her up to the barnyard.  However, the goats decided to follow me.

coming up from pasture

While I waited for Rosie to get to the barnyard, I prepped some meds for her.  The poor girl got copper, antibiotics, banamine, and a probiotic.

You can see she’s lost some weight.

Then I shut her in the Love Shack.  She can rest and eat and not run around all over pasture.

Together on opposite sides of the fence.

Poor Rosie isn’t happy, and poor Hilda isn’t happy with both of her kids penned away from her.

Hilda

Hopefully, Rosie responds to the meds, and she’ll perk up and be back with the herd in a couple of days.