That Time of Year

It is once again that time of year that I dread.  It’s the end of summer.  Every year, it gets harder to go back to work and leave the farm.  We are still in full production mode with the garden.  I can’t keep up with everything, and the tomatoes have barely started.

I’m still milking.  I’ve almost got a year’s supple of Mozzarella in the freezer.

It would be nice to have lots of milk to play with and try some cheddar cheese, but the four girls I’m milking seem to be drying up.  By the way, that adds a whole level of fun to getting up and ready for work in the morning.  I’m going to miss my lounging with a cup of coffee after I get done milking.

Ava

I really want to wean Joy, so I can milk Zinnia since the other girls are slowing down.  Zinnia wants to come in, and I’d let her just come in if she brought her girl with her because Joy is still a little sassy pants.  But she won’t come in the door.

Joy (by her mom)

Then I get retired goats, like her grandmaa Haley, trying to bust in for some sweet feed.

Haley

It’s also hard going back to work with the older goats. Stormy is looking pretty rough trying to stand up, so I decided it was time to start her on the anti-inflammatory meds also.

Stormy

Luckily she like peanut butter crackers, too.

This was literally a test cracker to see if she’d eat it.  Definitely a yes!

It’s also that time when I have to decided if the random days of diarrhea are from worms or copper deficiency.  It’s a symptom of both.

Hilda

I have several whom I think could just drop dead of a heart attack at any time because of anemia from the copper deficiency. I really wish I could have known what was going on when I first tried to find out.

Vinnie

Even after the copper, Cupid doesn’t seem to be getting her dark orange spots back.  Although, I do think there’s a couple that look like they have a little more color. I’m just afraid of killing them by giving them too much.

Cupid

I still have a few of my March kids on the farm, and I won’t have a chance to sell them until next month sometime.  Some of the are looking good.

Poki

Some you can see have a fishtail from the lack of copper.

Wendy

Then there’s a couple that just look horrible.  I hate to even try to sell them looking like this.

Tootles

Then there’s Tink.  I can’t keep her head out of the fences, so she had to have a horn apparatus put on before I go back to work.

Tink

I also need to look at my fragile June babies.  They seem to get hit harder by the lack of copper than the March kids. Sadly, Bambi lost her baby due to the combination of copper deficiency and worms.  I have wormed all of the June babies, and still they are not growing well.

Button (Aphrodite’s baby)

I am also afraid they are too small to give copper yet.  I need to balance their needs with the needs of their moms.

Cookie and Marge

I’m leaning towards weaning them.  It will be eaiser on the moms, and hopefully, they will eat the sweet feed if I shut them up north.  That’s not a given though.

Marge

Pluto ended up with the blood transfusion last year because he refused to eat the minerals or sweet feed.

Pluto

It’s just the time of year that has me crazy with worry.

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Stop Doing Stupid Stuff

Hera.  This girl is going to kill me.  All through our horrible heat, I was walking out to pasture and making sure she wasn’t stuck in a fence.  She’s done well with it.  Really.  She’s even back to where I could pet her.  She’s been really…sweet.

Of course, I’m sweet.

That should have been my first clue.  I went out one morning to milk and was greeted by Hera yelling.  I’m not sure how, but she had her head stuck in the fence between the yard and barnyard. It’s just a panel, but there’s also more fencing to prevent the kids from coming through.  Apparantly, my fence had a hole, and she got her head through but couldn’t get it back out.  I got some wire cutters and freed her.  Then I told her to stop doing stupid stuff.

Haley in front of the offending fence (look at the tiny holes)

After milking, I was going to go see if I could pet Socks, and I walked into the barn and was greeted with a goat yelling at me.  I got to the second section, and there was Hera.  How?  She somehow got her head and a leg behind the post in the center of the manger, and she couldn’t move forewards or backwards.  I went into the middle part of the barn and opened the door.  She just stood there for a minute, not realizing I had freed her, so I moved her head and she bounded away with me calling behind her, “Stop doing stupid stuff.”

That’s twice I had rescued her before 7:30 am.  Things went back to normal, and the next day she was up with the rest of the herd in the evening.  I left them and when I went out about a half an hour later to give Harley and Betty their meds, I heard someone yelling at me. Yep.  She had gone back down the lane and stuck her head through.  She was stuck again.

Not even a thank you as she walked away.  Once again, I told her to stop doing stupid stuff.

You can’t make this stuff up. The next day when I was out in pasture counting all the little June kids, I looked up and saw…Poki.

Poki with Cutie and Zinnia wondering how to get over there

She is not supposed to be on the other side of the fence eating rich alfalfa.  Of course, I don’t blame Poki.  Look who she followed over there.  That would explain the diarrhea she had the other day…

Doesn’t she look smug standing in front of the little place where they push the fence up and slip under?

Not five minutes later, she was lying where she belonged looking sweet and letting me pet her again.

She really needs to stop doing stupid stuff.

Moving Goats

You know, three fourths of raising goats is just moving them from one place to another.  Friday evening, I decided it was time to move Cinnamon and Haley back to the herd.

They are gaining weight and eating well, so I figured it was time.  When the herd headed out to pasture after their grain, I figured that was the best time to do my switches.

Haley and Cinnamon were happy to come out.

Haley and Cinnamon

They saw everyone else.

They wasted no time in catching up to the herd.

That means–fight!  Why?  Why do they have to fight?

Oh yeah, they’re goats.

That’s what goats do.

Finally, I got tired of playing referee and told them good luck.  You’ll notice most of the fights were not very serious.  Just a bit pushy.

I went back to the barnyard and moved my kids that I weaned to where Cinnamon and Haley were.  They immediately enjoyed their supper of sweet feed.

Then they started exploring.

They have plenty of grass to eat up here.

Pepe

Smee was the first to discover the giant play area.

Smee

The others quickly followed.

John, Smee, Penelope, Hook, Bubbles

They even managed to find the opening to go into the old garden area.

They will be much happier up here!