Big Fat Yankey

Poor girl, shouldn't tease her for being pregnant!
Expecting early June kids, EXCITED!!

Quick Goat Repair

 Around here we spell "trouble" H.A.R.R.Y.

Not sure what he did to himself, but looks like he might have ripped it trying to crawl under the fence or something.

Iodine & liquid bandage again, I should just start bringing them with me to the barn every day!!

(I keep everything in the house so it stays at an even temperature)

I will probably have to clean up the ripped skin in the future, but I wanted it to stop bleeding before I did anything else. 

Goats are Trouble

 Like trying to keep water in with a sieve... 

All my hard-work for naught!

Even weighed down a good portion of the back fence.

How to test your electric fence
with out an electric fence tester...

To goats the grass is always greener on the other side

Tired after a long day of breaking out

Yankey Banky

Once a month I threaten to get rid of her because she's such a b.i.t.c.h. then she pulls crap like this again! 

Ridiculously cute. 

Goat Stall

A.k.a. FINALLY! Can be a little hard to pin-down the maintenance guy around here. So we start with the stuff that really really needs to get done before we move onto the stuff the neeeeds to get done. This neeeeeded to get done.

Harry isn't nearly as impressed
as I am

And now it is!

Taa-daa the goats finally have their own stall!

But I want to chew your boots
and nibble your pockets!

Now, it's not perfect, but it's very functional for right now; and I actually like that door swings in because I can retrieve the water bucket without loosing all the goats with it!

Billy is less upset

For now Billy is left to roam around the hallway - he can go chat with Hare & Di over the fence if he wants, but he's just happy to get away from Yankey (who still hates him).

Looks like she's back in heat again

Eventually we'll be turning the stall beside the pig's stall into the Billy's own stall, (and then a nursery for Yank's kids - if she has any). 

The future site of the Billy stall

Caught 'Yah!

Muhahahahaha MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Love this picture of billy, I took
it during the snow storm last week.
If you don't see it, look at his horns!

The goats have been contained! We finally found that last of their little holes, and after a week of being stuck in the paddock unable to cause trouble I can official say they are fenced-in!

Poor things, trapped in the paddock
with all their food, water & shelter

Except that the back fence still need to be replaced this summer and they'll be able to squeeze back out under the fence as soon as the ground thaws... but let's not tell them that until they figure it out.

As soon as that back fence is replaced & we get a donkey, I can start letting the goats out at night! Even now I can finally leave and go to the feed store and not worry about them. It's not that they ever went anywhere once they escaped (actually they'd just wander over and eat my garden or lawn), but you never know.

Oh also the ducks have decided
they live in the barn now

I don't know why the ducks decided to move out to the barn, may have something to do with an over-eager rooster not respecting species boundaries; but they've come in to live with the goats & the pigs and that's just fine with me.

The cows broke into this part of the barn the other day, and Gertie stepped directly on top of Louie. Despite his flapping and attempted squawking she didn't take notice and proceeded to put a great deal of weight directly on top of him before slowly coming to the realisation that (1) the crazy lady was yelling at her (2) there was something under her foot.

They're not talking to me.

Louie is none the worse for wear, although I think next time he'll get out of the cow's way a little faster. Muscovy really are indestructible! (I've heard lots of stories of them being run over by cars and just keep on truckin'...)

Survy

Bonnie you are an evil, evil, goat enabler!! :)

Yankey didn't fit in so well at first, she was fine the first few days, and then decided she was top-goat of this pack of wimps (which she really really is!) and like any dictator started taking it too far... In fact I put her in an Ad up for sale.

But things have settled down now, the boys have accepted she's queen of the barn and Harry is just head over tail in love with her! Too bad for Harry he lost his balls quite a few months ago...

So when Yankey starting showing heat signs today, and Bonnie let me know she had a cutie-pie (!!!) little Alpine who was looking for a home... Well!

Here is Survy!

Struttin' his tiny stuff!

He's almost 6 months old, a June baby, so
around the same age as the other boys

Who are terribly jealous!

But Yankey likes him! That's all that matters.

Harry is most jealous of Survy's balls!

Doesn't he have a sweet face??

Actually he's just perfect for Yankey, I
think they'll make a lovely match.

Even if he doesn't catch her on this heat he'll get her on the next & soon enough we'll have a lovely pack of goats just bouncing around off the walls and sneaking out under the fences.

Megs is impressed with the new arrival,
Maddie couldn't care less and with Megs
distracted didn't want to take his head
out of the hay...

So Hares still keeping a good eye on his lady
friend but I've put on a little Barry White
in the barn and hopefully we'll have some
early May kids!

Goats are Trouble, But Adorable!

Jail break!

We've got such a nice little herd running around here now. Before it was more Harry & Diego then Billy following them mournfully along (after all Hare & D are half-brothers and grew up together). Now Hare has really bonded with Yankee and she follows him all over the farm. He has already  shown her where the feed room is, where the holes in the fence are, how to get into the chicken coop... And other important goatly things!

Uh guys, that's not how you do it...

Billy still trails mournfully along, but at least he has D to 'hang out' with a bit now. D is doing amazingly in on his leg, still won't put weight on it when running/jumping but if he's just walking along grazing he's got all four on the ground!

Yanky Banky

Eventually we'd like to get Billy a buddy of his own species, but lamb prices for meat are high so we'll have to be patient and wait for a good deal. We also really want another fibre wether if we can find it. Billy's coat is so soft and plush!! That boy is going to be sweating in February while everyone else is shivering. I do think he's getting a little tired of me rubbing his back while I drift off imagining all the wonderful things I can make...

The last thing you ever see...

 Found that ****** goose a home, with someone who keeps lots of waterfowl. They're going to trade us for a few banty chickens or something, so I'm happy!

Yankey Banky Joins the Crew

 Or a lesson in why not to offer your 3 year old to let him name the animals...

Yankey is a 2 year old SaanenXPygmyXBoer (so: milk x small x meat goats) and she's been out with another pygymy for the summer so is hopefully pregnant (or just quite round!) and we could have kids as early as January.
 

Oops, someone needs a trim!

Like most hard-hooved animals goats & sheep need to be trimmed, usually at least twice a year, especially if they are kept indoors/on soft ground. Our guys are always running across the concrete in the barn, or jumping on and off rocks so they wear their feed down. I am expecting we'll need to do a quick trim on everyone in the spring (because of the snow covering the ground over winter) and we'll do that when Billy get his hair-cut. You can just use regular garden trimmers, they work quite well.

Quick trim all around, and welcome
to the farm Yankey!

Isn't she a cutie-pie!! Her former nickname was "Gazelle" because that is what she looks like.

Harry is very impressed!

Yankey immediately took leadership of the whole band, and has been bossing the boys all over the place (Billy too). Which I'm very happy about! That's just what they needed was a momma-goat to show them the ropes of being a goat.

I have to share this picture of a piggy from Yankey's farm. THAT is a pot belly pig!! That is the healthiest pot belly I have ever seen, I even had to ask & double check it was actually a pot belly! It actually looks like a piggy!! They are not supposed to look so wrinkly and fat they can't move or see well. I hope our guys look as nice when they are all grown up. 

Diego's Leg

So Diego is all better, he was a total ham at the vet's office! I'm starting to think he'd make a great therapy/education goat.

His leg has healed very well, the vet says there is no movement at all where the bone has nit. He's got very little muscle tone in that leg, but I'm sure he'll bulk up pretty quickly keeping up with Harry & Billy. Diego's still a little hesitant to use the leg as he goes, but there doesn't seem to be any pain.

Now, what you really want to know. For the same price as a reasonably nice grade Saanen milking doe, preg. for next year, we fixed our adorable pet wether. The total vet bill was about $200, which the gals at Rooney's put in great context. If he was a dog or cat it could have easily cost us 5 times as much.

The vets at Rideau St. Lawrence did an amazing job with Dee. The cast worked great and the bone healed nice and straight. We could have DIYed the whole thing, and if it happens again may be we will, for now I'm just happy to have one happy bouncy goat back to health.

Goats are Friendly

Not all goats are this friendly, ours were bottle raised and they are BIG time sucks!!!

This is me trying sneak around to get a photo of them as they graze the lawn (having slipped through that hole in the paddock fence that I can't seem to find, again!).

Munch, Munch,
Hey MAAAA!!!

MAAAAA!!!

Got food Maaaaa!?!?

Sometimes even goats take bad photos

Food? Food?
Got food?
How about some pets then?

Diego's Bad Day.

That is one broken leg!

(sorry for the sideways, graphic if you're squeamish) 

I think one of the cows stepped on him, so now I've got to figure out a way to keep the goats out of the cow-side of the barn... no idea how I would do that.

Took awhile to get a hold of someone at the vet's office (and by awhile, I mean about an hour, but I was panicked), they got me to splint it before I brought him in. So I'm madly running all over the farm looking for anything to splint this leg with. I managed to find a dowel in the shop, and after 20 minutes the duct tape. Then I cut a piece of electrical conduit for the other side. (We're going to find something better and put it in the first-air box just-in-case.)

Now isn't that pretty!

According to the vet, I actually did a good job (I'm not convinced), got it longer then his toes, and kept the whole thing together until we got there. I had to splint it so that Diego didn't step on it or something, and end up with the bone out of the skin.

Diego was a trooper!! Took awhile to get the cast on so he was coming out of the sedative towards the end and he stayed quiet and well behaved for the whole thing. We got lucky because the break was clean and uncomplicated, and stayed under the skin, and there was no damage to the blood vessels; it's likely he'll make a full recovery. Diego's foot was still warm, even by the time I got him to the vet; if it had been cold we wouldn't have been able to save the foot.

The vet laid down tape, then gauze, then used wire on each side which you use to remove the cast later (I also got a great story about how at vet school they heard about what happens when you cross the wires then tried to remove a cast, the leg comes too), so they are taped down. Then the cast is over top of all that, with a bit of really stinky gluey stuff on the end as a 'shoe' to keep the whole thing together.

That is one darn lucky goat too!! You can splint it yourself and leave it, and if he was a market goat or something, that is what we would have done. But he's not, he's a pet, and my favourite (okay they are all my favourite...). All I can say about the whole thing is Diego you'd better be the best darn goat you can be, especially when the bill arrives!!

Had to run to the feed store since it was across the road anyway, and I was telling the ladies about what happened, the response was "Isn't it fun to be a farmer?". Of course they get a very sarcastic "Oh yes! SO much fun!!" but really, even days like this, I don't mind at all. Got to learn a lot of new things about the goats and do something I've never even attempted before (splinting). Wouldn't trade it for the world!