Weaning and Leaving

Dolly is not the only girl who is struggling with anemia. A lot of my older girls that had babies in June are struggling.

Dolly (Yes, she busted out again, and I don’t even know how this time.)

I had to wean some more kids.  They are doing well.

Jimmy P (He’s fine. I don’t know why he’s lying like that.)

Freya (on top of the Quonset hut)

Cookie got shut in because her eyes were pure white.  I really wanted to put her in the Love Shack with Dolly so they could share and have an outdoor space, but Dolly wasn’t playing nice.  They drive me crazy with their crankiness.

Cookie who got let back out because the greenhouse is too dark for long-term shut in.

Haley and Victoria were pale, but not white, so they got to stay with the herd.

Haley

That means Osiris and Pandora are the only two June kids left with their moms in the herd.

Pandora

I do have a couple of Harley’s kids that are looking a little pale, so I think I’m just going to sell all the June babies as soon as I can.  Then I’ll see if I can add Zinnia and Sidney (maybe) to my girls getting milked.

Zinnia

Of course, I’m keeping Pluto (and maybe Anubis) around to help  make the perfect kid.

Pluto

I’m also leaving Antigone up there for now.

Antigone

Then I think I’ll add Athena up north to keep Antigone company because she and I are having battles over who gets Cinnamon’s milk.

Athena

She usually wins that battle.  It will be a relief not to have the kids to worry about.  Then I can just focus on the moms.

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Still Busy

I never seem to find enough time to get things done around here.  I just learned the date for the August market that they are doing in State Center.  I’m going to try to get some of the totes made to take and sell.  I’ve gotten a start.

I also decided to put pockets inside some of them.

I have a big stack ready to be turned into totes on my dining room table.

My sister also brought me a couple of new ones–pig and all flock!

I’m still making soaps.  I did another five batches:  Moonlight Pomegranate, Full Moon, Kentish Rain, Fresh Linen, and Fierce.

I still have another nine batches I want to make.  Of course, these will have to cure, so they won’t be ready until the one market in September.

I still have other crafty projects that I wanted to try, but I’m pretty sure they won’t happen this summer.  I have gourds to craft with and llama fleece to do something with.  But there just isn’t time between scooping buildings, regular chores and those extras that seem to be filling my days right now.  I’m still giving Aurora extra feed.

Aurora

Dolly is also getting extra care yet.  Her eyes are still pure white, so I did give her another gram of copper.  I was afraid to wait.  Hopefully, that will start helping her.

Dolly

Just to make it more fun, Dolly busted out (okay, she snuck through the panel where I had to cut Annie out last year) and went to pasture all yesterday.  Poor girl was exhausted when she got back, and the tight, tight skin on her overly full udder had popped–not what she needed.

I have her shut back in now, and I did half milk her out to keep it from rubbing anynmore.  I guess this might start to explain how time goes so quickly.

White = 5

The one thing left from the copper deficiency that I see in the herd that is still concerning is the anemia.  If you’ve ever heard of the famacha chart, it is a way of looking at the membranes of a goat’s eyes and assigning a number based on color.  Bright red, normal eye membranes are given a one.  As they lose color, they go all the way to the number five, which is white.

 

Source and more information

I’ve never given a lot of stock to the famacha chart as a way of determining parasite load.

normal and anemic

Part of that is experience.  Millie was sick one time, and the vet came and checked her eyes, but they looked fine.  There was no recommendation to do a fecal or worm her.  The next day, she exploded in diarrhea and I took a fecal sample over, which showed she had lots of worms.

Millie Ann Saanen

Another time, Millie was horribly anemic.  They did a fecal that came back clean–not just a few, but completely clean.  They checked her blood, and no illness was found other than anemia.  I did manage to get her to recover, but I never knew why she had the condition.  Now I know.

Copper deficiency causes anemia.  On April 30th, the vet saw Vixen because her eye membranes were white.  I she was weak.  I had no idea what to do with her because she’d been wormed and I had nothing else I could do.  The vet recommended we wait for a bit.  It wasn’t long after that we discovered the copper issues and gave the bolus to her (and everyone else).  A couple of weeks later, I could see the faintest hint of pink in her eyes.  Now she’s still pale, but it’s better.

Vixen

Several of my older goats are still pale but improving.  Then there’s Dolly.

Dolly Ann Street

She is also pure white despite having had the copper bolus because she is my oldest girl who had kids and raised twins.  That causes a lot of stress on the body.  That’s also why I weaned her boys.

Pluto and Anubis

They are doing fine.  They have green stuff and lots of friends to play with.

Harley, Antigone (behind), Enkidu, Gilgamesh, Horus, Eve, Pluto, and Anubis (back)

Now I’m hoping Dolly will just quit making milk.  Can you see all that milk in there?  She was using the copper to take care of her babies.  I did milk her once and got a quart, so she was making a half a gallon a day.  Then I remembered I was already giving her extra feed, so milking her didn’t help her gain anything.  It kills me not to be milking her, but it’s what she needs.

Now she needs to focus on herself.

She’s very much in critical condition, but I’m hoping weaning the boys and shutting her in with a diet that his much higher in copper will help her.

If she’s still here but not getting even a hint of pink in a couple of weeks, I’ll add part of another bolus to see if that helps.