The Goat Thread for General Dusty, Ma'am. (salute!)

Good evening, General Dusty, Ma'am. I must apologize for my severe oversight in not posting this thread sooner. I am deeply ashamed. After the bruise caused by your flight boot on my hiney, I have come to realize the error of my ways. So, without further delay, may I present (cue trumpet reveille please) THE NEW GOATS!!! (cheering in background)

We got 4 new goats this week from Craig's List. One is super friendly. The others are very skittish and frightened of people. The friendly one is an unknown dwarf type. The other three are apparently toggenburg/dwarf crosses. There is a mom, a 2 year old male, and a 1 year old female.

We have named them as follows:
Friendly one: Pebbles (she already had this name)
Mom: Greta
Baby boy: Buford
Baby girl: Ptera

Kelly gave the names. He is fascinated with pterodactyls. Whatever.

Here is Greta, the mom. She is kind of pudgy but she wasn't with a male so she isn't preggers. I think she might need a diet.

Here is another view of Greta. She has the toggenburg wattles and a beard. I guess she is a toggenburg mixed with some type of dwarf but no idea what type of dwarf.

Here is Greta's 2 year old son, Buford.

He also has the wattles. He is very good at bleating pitifully for mom. I can't believe he is 2 years old. He is a lot smaller than her so I think he got more of the dwarf genetics. I have no idea about the dad. He is cute though (and fixed).

You can't get near him (or Greta or Ptera). We have no idea how to work on that or even if there is any point to trying.

Here is the daughter, Ptera. She is bigger than Buford but she is only 1 year old and he is 2. She has longer fur and no wattles.

Here are Ptera and Buford together.

(hopefully the cuteness factor is beginning to play in my favor with General Dusty...)

Here is Kelly putting out hay with Ptera, Buford and Pebbles. We have separated Greta from her kids for now (seeing as how they are 1 and 2 years old) and have put her with Opal. We first tried putting Opal with Greta and Ptera, but Ptera was pterrible and beat up on Opal all the ptime, so we decided to separate them. Maybe this will help us get the kids used to being handled?

We don't know what kind Pebbles is. She is very overweight. She was with a buck for some time and never got preggers. The owners think she can't.

Here is Pebbles with Buford behind her. Pebbles is adorable and friendly and likes head rubs and gives soft kisses.

As you can see though, she is kind of wide in that last pic!

Here is her profile.

And finally, you asked about Opal. She is very well, and has found new love with Flame, the frizzled banty rooster. She was very happy when Ptera went out of her enclosure and now she is with Greta, who doesn't pick on her. Flame always snuggles in with Opal for the night. The seramas and Flame's hen (Glow) roost on a bar I put up for them. Flame never goes up there.

Love Your Goats Claire they are so handsome and you take such good care of them.
You are just Perfect!

Thanks Harmony! I'm doing my best but I'm still a goat newbie, so I've got a lot to learn. Just wait until we start trying to breed a doe or trying milking. It will likely be a disaster!

My sister use to have milk goats and she showed me how to milk one. I pulled on that poor goat till it got sore and not one drop of milk LOL to stupid to milk a goat LOL (HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE HAW)

I betcha that's gonna be just like me too - I have no clue about milking goats. I am hoping Kelly is going to get the hang of it because I will probably get kicked in the ribs by a really tee'd off goat!

She had a big old billy looked like a buffalo and he would pee all over his self it was so obscene and he would get up close to the girl goats and pee on them. He was so gross but i would just be rollin watchin that goat peein on everybody wooo hooo i'm gonna pee on my own self just thinkin about it HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE!!

Oh Harmony! You crack me up!
We had a friend of my husband and his son come up to see the goats. Well, the buck, Silver Streak, was super friendly and they didn't care he was abit whiffy. So they are standing in the buck's field and the son is petting S.S. All of a sudden the boy starts yelling, "HEY!" Silver Streak peed all down the boy's leg and shoes!! Now why can't they behave when company is around! lol! Thankfully it was all taken in good humor and the boy went home with his pants and shoes in the trunk of the car!
That was the only time he did that to anybody!

Don't feel bad about not being able to milk the goat. Some goats are just hard to milk. Place your thumb and index finger around the top of the teat(don't include the udder), make a ring and gently squeeze. Then in succession(middle finger, ring, pinkie) squeeze the milk down the teat and out. You'll be able to feel the milk inside of the teat. Don't let go of the ring you made with your thumb and index finger until you are done with this motion or else the milk will be pushed back up into the udder(which can bring bacteria into the udder possibly causing mastatis). Once the teat is empty, release the pressure of your thumb and let more milk into the teat. No pulling please! :-) It takes abit to get the hang of it. If you're goat doesn't want to let her milk down, massage her udder to help her relax and get ready to be milked. Some can be stubborn and say, Hey I don't know you! And I'm not going to cooperate!

This message was edited Oct 3, 2008 8:25 AM

I LOVE your goats! Expecially the coloring on Pebbles(she's a chunky monkey, eh!) My heart melted when you said she likes head rubs and gives soft kisses. She reminds me of my Sandy(also a chunky monkey and absolutely loveable!) I think she's going to become your new best friend!

Sue :-)

Thanks Sandy my sister passed on 20 years ago and i (the goats are safe) Haven't been close to a milkin a goat that long.
But thats one of the happy memories i have of my sister:)(still miss her)

But that Billy he would and i'm laughing again would hold up his leg and aim it just right until he peed a fountain falling on his head. It was a indeed a golden shower and funny omg i would laugh my ass off at that goat. HEE HEE HEE HEE


She did sell him cause he peed on the nannys and it's hard to milk a pissy goat LOL HEE HEE HEE HEE!!!!

Clare is the male a wether? If not his mom could be pregnant by him! Goats don't draw the line at close relatives!!
They do look a bit too fat for their height and bone structure. I'd change their hay to a weedier one, give way less grain than they seem to have been getting and no corn or beet pulp till they've slimmed down some. No treats either.

What did your vet say about them?
As for skittishness I don't know anyway of training them. You'll just have to go about your routine, pet those that allow it, speak softly around them all. Eventually some of them may come to see you differently from other humans they've known.

MollyD

Molly i have a question??
Don't know nothin about goats:) If she is pregnant by her son will the baby be okay and develope normally.

The male is a wether. That is what the owners told us. That said, they did it themselves. I hope they did it right....

Harmony as in many other species you stand a chance of birth defects and still borns when you make crosses that closely related. Even in plants you take a chance on bringing out all the bad genes. You might get a super goat but your chances of getting a weak sickly or even deformed goat are far greater.

Clare is his sac still there? My wether lost his sac about 3 weeks after he was done but they don't all loose it because it varies according to the process chosen. If the sac is still there it should be rather small. Intact males normally have huge sacs. It's perfectly normal for owners to do this procedure. Very few people get a vet to do it. Too expensive for one thing!

MollyD

My son works on a farm and they do the bulls as he put it we just put a band around them and they fall off.

No sac. Whew!

That's how we castrate as well.

Harmony, I glad you have so many wonderful and funny memories of your sister.
I can just picture that shower of pee raining down!! lol!

Pygmy goats need a strict diet otherwise they get fat. Make sure you change their diet gradually so you're not contending with runny poo!

Harmony - thanks for sharing your memories of your sister and that crazy goat. I am very hopeful indeed that none of my goats will decide that they, or anyone else, needs a directed golden shower! LOL! I get grubby enough hanging out with them that I don't need further grubbiness!

I have the pygmy goats in a smaller enclosure than the nubians. They are on grass right now and they get a ration of hay each morning. They are not getting any grain. They used to be in a situation where they would eat horse feed. They are not getting that now and they are not going to be getting that now, because I'm not buying horse feed for them! We give the nubians a small grain ration because some of them are underweight. The new ones can't access it. I am hoping they will gradually lose weight and be healthy.

I noticed this morning, even though they were in the shed, that they were sort of shivering. I had been told that goats do fine in the winter, and this morning wasn't even that cold (38 degrees I think). Is it normal for them to shiver? Do I have to install some kind of heat source for the goats now? Argh....

Can't tell you about pygmy goats Clare cause mine are all Boers but mine were fine this morning, no shivering. It was about 45 this morning and wet since it rained all night long.

I don't think you'll be seeing any 'golden showers' Clare LOL. It's the intact males that do that. It's part of their 'allure' for the ladies! They spray themselves to attract the fairer sex. Your boy won't be doing anything like that or getting a bucky smell to him either. It's one of the perks of having a wether.

We trimmed hooves on two buck and the wether today. One more buck to be done next week when Paul has time off then we're all set for a month or two. This constant rain has made the ground muddy so nothing to wear their hooves down :-(

MollyD

Well thank goodness for that! I'm glad my own personal intact male doesn't feel a need to do that to attract me! LOLOL!

One thing I noticed is that our wether nubians have been both mounting one of the nubian does. Must be that she is in heat or something. It's like they mount her and then forget what they are supposed to be doing up there, so they just get down again. Makes me laugh.

That's why many keep a whether on with their does -so they know when it's time for a REAL man around...

LOL also it can be a dominance thing. They try to act more dominant to each other. Does will also mount each other to do this.

Picked up two more does today. These are 5 and 6 months old. They make #'s 9 and 10. #9 is Daisy (for Chip) and #10 is Dixie (for Huck or Tommy). That's it till around Feb or March at which time I will be looking for yearling does for my twins.

MollyD

I'd love to see pics...

HELP!! IS MY GOAT PREGNANT?!

We got home tonight after being in Missouri for 2 nights for chickenstock.

Greta looks really wide. I thought I could see movement in her side when she was standing still. Then we noticed her teats. I am SURE they are bigger than they were when we got her. And so we caught her and felt them. The udder feels really swollen on both sides and is very warm. I could not feel a baby kicking when I held her. Here are some pictures. I'm serious - does she look pregnant to you? I wouldn't know - I am too new to goats. Last time she kidded she had 4. Oh my goodness..

Pic 1 is right teat - looks bigger than last week and seems swollen and taut. Reddish. Warm. Maybe warmer than left side.

Edited to say note the bulge on her right side of her belly.


This message was edited Oct 5, 2008 9:54 PM

Pic 2, left teat. Swollen. Udder firm.

Pic 3

Her bottom end and side. Her "parts" seem sort of swollen out up top by her tail.

Also note bulge.

Pic 4

Note side bulge - is this just fat or is this maybe a kid?

Also, she was sticking her tongue out at the other goats.

Here is a back view of the udder. Seems like the right side is larger but they are both larger than they were, I am sure.

Uh oh. If she were a dog I'd say she was pregnant.

BTW this is the same goat that is the very first one on this thread. I wasn't taking udder pics then but you can kind of see her left side in that first pic.

So far I have not heard her barking. I do believe she is still a goat. ;-)

We are furiously trying to learn what we need to do. I wish there was some way I could know for sure when she might be due and what we need to have absolutely ready. Because I can tell you right now we are SO not ready. We were hoping for a first kid in late November from a different goat. We had time to get ready for that!!!

You said one side felt warm and is firm? I'm wondering if she may have mastitis on that side. Whenever mine have bagged up, both sides fill with milk not just one. Can you express any milk from that side?

We did try but we couldn't express any milk from either side, although that said, neither of us have ever milked a goat in our lives, so we might not be doing it right anyway! Would she get mastitis even when not lactating?

I need to go read about mastitis now. That would be preferable to babies at this stage, I think. I think mastitis is treatable...