LaMancha kids, more kids on the way!

Saturday afternoon Wonder was in the early stages of labor. I kept checking on her and finally around 6:30pm she kidded to two beautiful kids, a buck and a doe. They were alive and healthy - I was SO relieved! Wonder is the LaMancha/Nubian doe who lost all her hair last year and kidded to stillborn kids. So, needless to say, I was a little bit nervous before she had her kids Saturday evening wondering/hoping that they would be alive. I think she was iodine deficient because she started to loose her hair a few months ago, I started supplementing her with Kelp, her hair grew all the way back and she birth live kids. A happy ending and lesson learned, yay!

I uploaded the pictures from the camera and there were not any pictures of Wonder's kids. Oh well, I'll have to take some and upload them later.

I'm thinking our old Nubian doe, "Grandma Maggie", will probably kid today. She is on day 149 and last night her udder filled up. If she has a doeling, I'll most likely keep it. She is bred to our little blue eyed Nigerian Dwarf buckling.

Vanilla, another Nubian doe, is looking very wide. I don't think she'll go today but we'll see.

Yesterday was my birthday... turned 17 ;). Not much out of the ordinary happened but I had a good day.

It's been so cold here the past week - I am SO ready for Summer!!

Have a good day!

Suriyah

Udders

I've been such a slacker on this blog lately, I'm sorry ;). . . but it's been nice and warm outside, and I haven't been on the computer much lately.

Grandma Maggie (Nubian doe), Vanilla (Nubian doe), and Wonder (LaMancha) are all back in the kidding stalls tonight. They are all VERY wide, we'll see how many kids we have born within the next week :)! I have a feeling I might be a bit busy. . . as if I'm not already busy enough ;).

A few weeks back I grabbed the camera and snapped a few photos in the milk room before milking one of the "rounds".

This is Athena (Snubian doe), kidded in February as a second freshener. Milking a gallon + a day.

 the first round of does in. . . a couple of the does on the stand have been in milk for 14+ months, so their udders aren't very full or pretty right now.

these does are sisters. On the left is Helena, been in milk for 14 months as a first freshener. On the right is Athena, kidded this February. See the difference :)!

Here's Abbey, the little pup, waiting for some milked to be dumped to her ;).

And she got her milk!

These are Vibe's 2 bucklings... they are such little princes!

Have a good night!

Suriyah

Photos!

Finally, some pictures! Buttermilk had 2 bucklings and Reata had 2 bucklings. They are both out of the same sire and the moms are full sisters. So, go figure, the 4 bucklings look almost identical. If you really look at them they do look different, but they were too hard to tell apart so I marked Buttermilk's 2 boys with a green livestock marker to tell them apart ;). It's fading off now so I have to redo it.

one of the 4 boys,

This is Buttermilk's little doeling. She is pretty cute I think!

Here's the "red doe" and her two kids. She doesn't care for people, can you tell ;)?

not a great photo, but the doeling is on the left, buckling on the right.

That's all the goat pictures for now. Wednesday morning though, my Mom went and picked up 17 (yes, seventeen!) more sheep. . . it's alright though, they sell quick ;)! There were several rams in the bunch and they all have pretty nice horn racks. I think we are going to keep a few of them for breeding.

Have a good day!

Suriyah

Busy life

Sorry for not blogging more lately. . . life in general has just been busy. Wednesday morning it was looking like a few does were going to kid that day, Reata (Buttermilk's sister, 50% Boer/Nubian) and one of my brother's new red meat does (half Spanish, half something, maybe Kiko).

Around 11:30am Reata kidded to big twin bucklings. The first one came out easily, the second one just came out with a head, so I had to go in way past my wrist to find one of his front legs (they were tucked way back in there), and he came out. Of course, Reata is a wimp and was screaming the whole time, LOL. She's milking well and the bucklings are nursing great (as pretty much all Boer bucklings do :)). Their sire is Wilber, a Boer/Nubian buck that we had this past Fall.

There was enough time for me to clean up from that, get everyone settled, eat lunch and then I ran out to check on the meat doe that was in labor. She had kidded to a buckling and doeling, still soaking wet. Thankfully she had them with no problems and all, because she is very leery of people. I have no pictures of either Reata's kids or this doe's kids, but this meat doe's kids are very cute and different - the buckling is a silver color and the doeling is white with a little grey on her head.

The next doe is due March 26th, and that is "Wonder" (the previously hairless LaMancha). . . I hope all goes well with her. Her hair loss stopped a few weeks ago, so hopefully that is a good sign. She's on day 141 today. Then after that Vanilla and Grandma Maggie (both PB Nubian does) are due March 31st. And lots more after that.

I've got to go feed my baby goats, and then load who knows how many hay bales :).

Have a good day,

Suriyah

the break is over...

Edited to add photos...

Our nice little few week long break from does kidding is finally over! Saturday morning it was beautiful and warm, and one of our Boer does, RLWB Vibe kidded to big twin bucklings. They are being dam-raised, of course.

Then yesterday right before I was starting to milk, a 50% Boer/Nubian doe, Buttermilk, kidded to triplets - 2 bucklings and 1 doeling. All of them are taking their bottles well and Buttermilk is milking good also. Buttermilk's full sister, Reata, is looking like she may go soon too!! Here's a couple pictures of the 1 buckling and doeling. For some reason there is no picture of the third kid (buckling).

Have a good day!

Suriyah

Good Goats Amarelli Chicci

Good Goats Amarelli Chicci is a third generation Mini Nubian doe that was born on our farm in California. We brought her out to Oklahoma with us as a kid, and later that year she was sold because we had to sell some goats. Well, she's kidded twice now and has grown a lot (duh!). Anyway, we got her back on Sunday with her 2 bucklings that were nursing on her. She looks great, has grown a lot and I can see both her sire and dam in her (the way she's built). Her ear's are not the greatest, especially since she is an F3 but our third generation buck, Wonderful Farm Shinning Topaz, should correct that in the kids.

So, here's Chicci!

Yesterday morning I pulled the bucklings off and Chicci is doing great on the milk stand. Speaking of, I need to go offer those bucklings a bottle again and see if they'll take it.

Have a good day,

Suriyah

Finn lamb pics

I forgot that I was suppose to put pictures up of the new bottle lambs. So here's just a couple. The first picture is actually of an East Fresian ram lamb that was born early Saturday morning. The ewe had 2 ramlings. We (not me, LOL) pulled them when they were about 9 hours old because for 1) the ewe is a milk sheep and for 2) one of the ramlings was crying a lot, so we weren't sure if he was getting enough milk.

So anyway, my sister was checking the crying one out a noticed that the lamb had NO anal opening - wow, that was a surprise! He was obviously in pain and would not drink, so he was humanely put down a few hours later. But, his brother is doing great and his momma is being milked 2x a day and is giving a good amount of milk for a sheep. BUT let me make this clear - I do not milk sheep, hahaha!

this is the colored Finn ramling,

some of the other Finn lambs,

The other day we had a few extra gallons of milk, so I made a few batches of cheese. SO good and nice to have again! I'm very much looking forward to when I can get back into making lots of cheeses and butter again, Lord willing.

Have a good day, gotta go milk!

Suriyah

a quick update

Just a quick update. It rained today. All the goats are doing good and in a few days we'll probably be back in full swing of kidding again. . . this break has been really nice! Right now there are 12 does in milk, 3 of those are still milking from last year (and are a bit "stale" as I like to call them), but everyone is milking great - I've been really happy with the girls and so thankful for the production.

The other day half the family came home with 3 donkeys and a hinny (a male horse crossed with a female donkey). Interesting.

the Hinny,

All the lambs are doing good and growing up fast. This little ram isn't that old, but his horns are growing pretty quick!

This is the one and only Tunis lamb - a ramling. He's kinda funny looking, LOL.

Speaking of sheep, today we brought home 4 bottle baby lambs. They are just a few days old and are Finn sheep. Look up Finn sheep - they're pretty cool, at least from what I hear. I'll  have to put up some pictures of these lambs though - they are hilarious looking, and have gotten quite a bit of comments around here :). In a few days they should be cuter (I hope).

Below is a picture of Roxy doing her morning and evening routine - "playing" with the cat. She's pretty rough with him, but the cat doesn't run away and actually starts the "play/fight" some of the time ;).

Have a good weekend ya'll.

Suriyah

Enterotoxemia

Years ago we'd had a some new bales of alfalfa hay, it was really green and leafy (in California), and the goats loved it (of course). Before going to bed that night, I heard a kid crying. We had some kids being dam-raised, and had a beautiful F3 doeling named Midget (she was so sweet). Anyway, Mom went out and checked - everyone looked fine. We went to bed, and a few hours later Mom awoke to a kid screaming/crying in pain. She went out there, it was Midget. She tried to save her (gave her many things) but within minutes she passed away. We read and she had the exact symptoms of Enterotoxemia, and the single thing that will save a goat's life in the case of Entero., we did not have - C&D ANTITOXIN (not the toxoid). A hard lesson learned.

Well, it's been 4 years since that happened. We've read a TON about Entero. and never lost a goat to it again, thankfully. A few times we've had the goats get into grain, or a goat bloat, etc., and I always give them a shot of C&D Antitoxin. The worst thing C&D Antitoxin can do is, if you vaccinate (we do not, more later), is it will negate the CD&T vaccine. The best C&D Antitoxin can do, is save a goats life.
A few months after we lost Midget to Enterotoxemia, we had a lady call us and her kid was sick - sounded like she had Entero., and she was so far into it she was laying on the ground with her eyes rolling back in her head (bad). The owner did not have the antitoxin, so she rushed to our house, got a few syringes full of it, went home and gave it to her doe kid - she was back to normal within hours.

Ever since we lost Midget to Entero, we've never been without the C&D antitoxin in the fridge. I always stress to new goat owners that this is the one thing your medicine cabinet should never be without.

SO - how would you know if your goat has enterotoxemia?
Well, it definitely takes a lot of watching your goats, knowing their normal habbits and sounds, etc. The symptoms of Enterotoxemia can be very widely ranged. It can be as simple as a goat crying - and this isn't just any cry, but if you've never heard it before you wouldn't know - it's a cry that the goat either has it's head stuck in the fence, is getting eating by a coyote or has enterotoxemia. Once you've heard it, you'll remember it. It's the cry of a goat in pain.
Enterotoxemia can also come on after a goat has bloat, has diarrhea/an upset stomach, is stressed, a slight (or large) change of feed, a bottle kid drinking a large/abnormal amount of milk, etc - these are all prime conditions for entero to kick in.

What about if you vaccinate with the CD&T Vaccine? It's suppose to prevent it, right?
We choose not to vaccinate our goats. There is a bunch of info why not to vaccinate here. My goats are healthy, we do not believe they need vaccines - after awhile they just suppress the immune system anyway. I know everyone won't agree on this subject, but that's alright :).
Anyway, if you DO vaccinate, your goat can still get Enterotoxemia. The vaccine will lessen the chance of an adult goat getting it, but it's still possible. And the vaccine does not protect young kids from getting entero.

Like I said before, if you even think your goat may be getting Entero, don't hesitate giving them some C&D Antitoxin. The worst it can do is negate the vaccine, the best it can do is save a life.

A goat with Enterotoxemia really needs to be treated like this - C&D Antitoxin (reduces the gut flora that has overgrown), Pepto bismal (to protect the gut), Banamine (calms the gut), baking soda won't hurt and if the goat is really bad, starting them on Penicillin is also good. The goat should be re-treated every 3 hours with the C&D Antitoxin and Pepto until the syptomes subside. I won't give dosages on here, but if you need more help don't hesitate to email me.

What prompted me to write this was last night one of the LaMancha bucklings had that "death cry". He looked uncomfortable and acted like his tummy was hurting. And he was crying a lot. We decided to treat him, gave him C&D Antitoxin, Pepto bismal and Banamine. Within 5 minutes, he had stopped crying and was laying down relaxing. This stuff works fast!
When a kid gets entero, you do not want to give them their milk bottle as usual. Instead, give them a bottle of electrolytes (clear are best in this case), because the gut is not working and will not digest the milk. So, that little Mancha buck drank his electrolyte bottle like normal, and 3 hours after the first treatment we treated him again (not with Banamine though - that can only be given every 12 hours in sever cases, and every 36 hours in normal cases). Today he is acting pretty much normal, just slightly off but MUCH better.

Well, I hope I didn't forget something. There is a great article here about Enterotoxemia written by Sue Reith.

Have a good day!

Suriyah

pictures!

Just a few pictures from today.

things are turning GREEN!

down to 5 bottle baby goats, 3 bucks/2 does,

the little black LaMancha buckling... I have to admit, I think he's pretty cute :).

this one on the other hand... not as cute as the black one, LOL!

a peaking kid! Mo's doeling,

snoozing babies!

This lamb was born this morning. I was awoke to Mom running up the stairs, waking a few folks up cause there was a crazy sheep with a huge, stuck lamb running around. So we went out there, all in our Muck boots and shorts (LOL!), grabbed the ewe (took a little bit) and pulled this monster out. Thankfully he was still alive (his tongue had been purple)! All are doing well now and he looks about half the size of his momma when he stands up!

Bye for now!

Suriyah

Bucklings. . . only 2 left!

Well, Saturday we had 6 bucklings for sale. . . now we have only 2 left available! That's the 2 LaManchas that are left. So, we only have 5 baby goats now. . . the Manchas, "Mr. Pug", Doris' doeling who we still haven't decided on a name for yet, and then MoReen's doeling who should be going to a home Sunday.

And if the does due went early, they could have their kids in as soon as 4 days - so don't worry, we should be busy with lots more baby goats soon enough!!

It's a nice sunny, beautiful day here in northeast Oklahoma! We've been busy selling goats and bunnies, and getting hay delivered.

Have a good evening!

Suriyah

a little bit of info for you

This picture is gross, I know. . . but I figured I'd post this and hopefully it can help someone else. We had a FF Boer doe kid a few weeks back. The birth was slow and the doe was pushing for probably a half hour before the kid came out. After the kid came out, in the amniotic fluid, there was a bunch of these gross looking little "wormy"/"gooey" type things.
It reminded us, years earlier we had an older Nubian doe give birth to twin bucklings, a little slow birth also, they were big boys and she had a hard time getting them out. Anyway, in their anmiotic sacks there were a bunch of these gross little things too. Everyone was fine so I never took a picture/asked anyone what it was.

SO, we took a picture of the ones at the FF Boer doe's birth, and I emailed them to an old time goat breeder (super knowledgeable). She told me it is meconium. It sometimes happens when the birth is slow, the kid poops a little while in there, and that's what it is. She said it doesn't hurt the doe or kid (which seems true, both kiddings that have had it everyone was fine).

So, I thought it was interesting! Incase anyone else had ever had it and didn't know what it was... there you go!

Have a great day!

Suriyah