NH Homesteader's first kidding season!

[frustratedearthmother]

I hate goats right now

I could NOT tell you how many times I have screamed that out at my goats, lol! Doesn't do any good with the goats, but it makes me feel a tiny bit better! Can you hand milk? It's more of a challenge but maybe it would work until your girls settle down and you can get your machine working better. At least then you'd be getting some milk for all your trouble!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Well the, machine did work eventually but it took DH messing with it while I hand milked. Patty near killed herself flailing around. She's insane. They both have tiny teats so my hands cramp badly hand milking and the teat cups don't fit them well. Mimosa and Bellini are looking better lol

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That silly goat! You mean she'd rather fight than stand up there and enjoy a little grain while she's getting milked? Have you tried hobbling her? I have been known to tie those back legs to the milk stand until they learn to LOVE being milked, lol. Didn't you milk her last year or am I confused...which is quite possible.

I've got Lucy pulled up for kidding and last night she was trying to get in the milk room. I can't remember now if I milked her last year or not, lol. I swear this "old-timers" can be quite inconvenient at times.

 

[NH Homesteader]

No Patty is a FF. Lilly I milked last year, no the year before actually. Lilly won't even eat on the stand!

Side note, considering bottle feeding next year. The kids are brutal on their teats.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I figured I had it backwards, lol. Maybe she's sore? Bottle feeding babies - yikes! But, it would probably make your does easier to milk if you were their 'baby' and giving udder relief.

If I were going to bottle feed a whole batch of babies I'd think about getting one of those Lambar feeders.

 

[NH Homesteader]

That's exactly what I would do. I think I'll talk to our NC friends for advice on bottle feeding! DH won't be around to help tomorrow morning unless I milk at like 5 am... So I better figure out this machine or get my hands ready!

 

[NH Homesteader]

I was pretty sure we killed Lilly tonight. I've been battling lice or mites like every stinking winter (because the brats hate the cold), and decided to break out the big guns, injectable ivermectin. She flopped on her back and failed around the barn like she was dying. Scared the life out of us. I thought I messed up the dosage, nope. She recovered quickly but it was awful. Now I'm scared to use it, Patty needs it too. The big girls are fine, thank goodness.

4 days until the first babies go. Yay!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Injectable Ivomec burns like the dickens - as you well know!! I've found that if you make sure there's no drop of ivomec on the end of the needle before you inject and make a nice big pocket of skin so you have a lot of room to inject that it seems to help. For whatever reason it seems to hurt most if you get it IN the skin or IN the muscle - but if you can keep it all in that void space between the skin and anything else they usually don't even notice. Of course, some of them are just big ol' titty tits and will throw a fit over anything, lol!!

Yay on babies moving away! How is DD1 about letting babies go?

 

[NH Homesteader]

She says she's sad but doesn't actually act sad. I don't think she cares as long as there are goats out there! She's very excited about our GG's! We actually both are really attached to Clifford. We love the bucks! Especially this time of year when they smell OK, lol

I figured she was being a drama queen, we've done that shot before and she was fine. But man, did she flip out. I told DH it burned but she was a bit extreme!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I bought a Nubian doe one time and the owner's little girl screamed and threw a fit and held on to my arm and held on to the goat....don't take her...don't take Kili... pleeeeeeaaaase don't take her....mom - she's taking Kili... sobbing nd histrionics like you've never seen. Kili marched herself out to my truck and hopped up in the back all by herself and tried to latch the gate, and we couldn't get outta there fast enough, lol!!