NH Homesteader's journal

[NH Homesteader]

Well the friend isn't calling until next week about a butcher date. I had a bad spell today about the whole pig thing. Over emotional pregnant lady has appeared, oops! DH has a coworker who might be interested in her, otherwise this dude has until Tuesday before I get mad lol.

I just feel like every time we have to butcher a pig it ends up being a nightmare to actually get it done. I told DH I would like him to consider..... Which he's not going to like.... But consider raising goats and sheep and poultry and trading meat for pork. All our friends raise pigs! And none of them want to deal with ruminants. Because I am home alone a lot and the pigs are not working out for me. I am physically capable and comfortable handling sheep and goats by myself, but not pigs. I can feed them and whatever, but that's about it.

But at least once this one is gone I get a break. And maybe I'll feel differently by fall.

Anyway. Got Lilly dewormed and her hooves are trimmed. 3 more hoof trimmings we'll get to this weekend. DH just went to work but they only have about 24 hours worth of water so he will likely be home tomorrow night through Christmas. That would be AMAZING!

 

[Devonviolet]

With my first my back used to lock up and I would kind of get stuck until it popped back in place. It was awful! DD was an 8 lb baby... At 36 weeks. So scared I'll have a full term 10 lb baby lol!

I also had quite a lot of amniotic fluid around him, I remember the doctor being a bit surprised by that. I was so sore and uncomfortable by the end, it was a relief to

Ah! The trials & tribulations of bringing our little cherubs into this world!!! It definitely isn't for sissies! That's for sure!!!

Got Lilly dewormed and her hooves are trimmed. 3 more hoof trimmings we'll get to this weekend.

I did copper boluses on our 3 girls about a month ago. I've learned that I need to do hooves every 2 or 3 weeks.

Ruby is always the last goat milked, so she gets done while she is still on the milk stand. She is the hardest, of the three girls. (She just HATES having her back hooves done, so she kicks a lot. ) So it's good to get her done & out of the way first.

Next comes Falina. She always goes back on the milk stand 'cause she know there will be a treat in the bucket. She kicks at first, but then calms down & it goes quickly.

Angelica is our youngster. She is Ruby's 8 month old Doeling. She isn't used to getting on the milk stand. So we have to lift he up. But then she stands nicely for new & it goes quickly. I did hooves the other day & I think it too less than 10 minutes. It always feels good to get that done. Their toes look so neat & trim!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Patty is my kicker. We'll see how she does with milking, could be interesting! We only do hooves every 2-3 months, except for Lilly who has insanely fast growing hooves. Also might be interesting to see how Clifford does, we're late on him so he hasn't been done since he was younger and less... Bucky. He's getting less smelly so DH is considering touching him now lol!!

I've never copper bolused but I'm thinking I might need to. I think that's on my Jeffers order list that I need to make soon.

 

[Devonviolet]

struggled with bladder infections through most of the pregnancy

I have had WAY too many bladder infections in my lifetime. I can't take antibiotics, so have finally found ways to eliminate the infections without drugs. I have tried many natural remedies, over the years, but in the end have found a very simple way.

First I mix up "baking soda water", which I take to alkaline my urine. Bacteria require an acidic environment to survive.

I heat 2 cups of water to near boiling, put that in a quart jar, add 8 tsp of baking soda & stir until dissolved. To cool it down, I add 2 cups cold water & stir. For the next week or so, I take 2 Tbsp of this in a glass of water three times a day (morning, noon & night).

Next I eliminate ALL sugar & minimize most carb intake. Bacteria thrive on sugar. By eliminating most carbs, the bacteria don't have a lot of food to thrive on. Our kidneys filter our blood, and sugar is removed by the kidneys. That means sugar/carbs in our diet end up in our bladder. Bacteria have a party, when we eat carbs & have a bladder infection!

Finally, I drink LOTS of water! At least 12-16 oz every hour. That keeps the bladder flushed out, so the bacteria don't have a chance to reproduce.

 

[Devonviolet]

Patty is my kicker. We'll see how she does with milking, could be interesting!

Both our girls kicked on the stand, when I started milking them last Spring. It was the first time I milked & it was a learning process for me. Out of frustration, we rigged up ropes so I could tie their back legs to the stand. After a while I was able to stop tying them. Now, for the most part, they stand fairly well. I do have to hold the leg closest to me, but only occasionally.

Falina is worse than Ruby, but usually it means her bucket is empty, so I keep a couple soup cans, with feed, to add to the bucket & she calms right down.

Bucky. He's getting less smelly so DH is considering touching him now

Yeah, that eau de cologne, the bucks wear is a bit strong, isn't it?

I try to do my girls before it rains, as I have noticed if they go into a wet spell, and stand in mud or even wet hay, they start to develop a white yeasty build up in the raised center of a slightly over grown hoof. I've noticed that rimmed hooves fare better in the rain. The more I do it, the faster it goes, so it isn't such a chore to do it more often.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Makes sense. I'm not milking at the moment and my husband does the hoof trimming so it's easier for us to do it less frequently and just devote more time to it!

The smell is a bit strong! But mostly my husband doesn't want to touch the pee-soaked front legs lol! He doesn't appear to be doing that so much these days so it's safe to touch him again.

Bucks are gross. But he's so darn friendly and wants to be close to me all the time. Lucky me! Lol

 

[sumi]

I have had WAY too many bladder infections in my lifetime. I can't take antibiotics, so have finally found ways to eliminate the infections without drugs. I have tried many natural remedies, over the years, but in the end have found a very simple way.

First I mix up "baking soda water", which I take to alkaline my urine. Bacteria require an acidic environment to survive.

I heat 2 cups of water to near boiling, put that in a quart jar, add 8 tsp of baking soda & stir until dissolved. To cool it down, I add 2 cups cold water & stir. For the next week or so, I take 2 Tbsp of this in a glass of water three times a day (morning, noon & night).

Next I eliminate ALL sugar & minimize most carb intake. Bacteria thrive on sugar. By eliminating most carbs, the bacteria don't have a lot of food to thrive on. Our kidneys filter our blood, and sugar is removed by the kidneys. That means sugar/carbs in our diet end up in our bladder. Bacteria have a party, when we eat carbs & have a bladder infection!

Finally, I drink LOTS of water! At least 12-16 oz every hour. That keeps the bladder flushed out, so the bacteria don't have a chance to reproduce.

This is great info, thanks for sharing! Wish I knew this years ago… I took so much drugs for the infections (I heard they can cause miscarriage if untreated), I was rattling when I walked. By 32 weeks the doctor said he's going to stop treating them and see if DS is ready to come out instead. He was thankfully and so was I!

 

[sumi]

Goats don't sound much like fun sometimes! lol All this kicking and peeing Mind you, I used to work on a dairy farm and the number of times I nearly got peed on and kicked…

 

[NH Homesteader]

My husband has a friend that hates goats. He was here yesterday when we did hooves and they were all yelling because someone was missing, lol. The sound drove him insane. Which was funny because I don't like him very much so thanks goats, lol!

At least they don't kick at you, they just kick to be uuncooperative. Cows are scary, I would be afraid of milking a cow because they will kick at you! And the bucks... Well I think you get used to it. It used to gross me out but it doesn't really anymore.

I guess it depends on how much you like goats!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

guess it depends on how much you like goats!

Ditto!!