Savingdogs-Saving the chickens

[glenolam]

Glad the boys are gone!

What do you mean they said you shouldn't breed her? I missed that....

 

[Wifezilla]

Me too!

 

[savingdogs]

I originally started being a "regular" over here when that SAME goat was looking for love in all the wrong places. Seems a four-teated dairy doe was not good enough to breed.

Meanwhile Ginger gave me gorgeous offspring. For the cost of feeding extra food, 20 dollars disbudding, 6 dollars for vaccines, and 50 dollars misc supplies including a castration tool I now own:

And the sale of the other wether from the other doe covers those costs, so I came out about 75 dollars and a doeling ahead (the one pictured above, at age two weeks).

I think I could have sold her in this market for 125.00. So next year I'm going to repeat the breeding of this same doe to the same buck and see how her teats fill out. She is very milkable. She was harder to learn to milk, but this goat was not an expensive investment for me and she has a marvelous personality which she passed on to her children after being a great mom. There was plenty of reason for a backyard goat person to breed this goat.

And I'm gonna breed her daughter too, who only has two teats.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

you said it!

and really - for the average person its hard to justify hundreds and hundreds of $$. once you get rolling tho - you can see how it would make sense to breed to a great buck (we'll be taking Nibbles and Deb back to the same ones) and go on from there. i laugh a lot also at the haters.

even with our motley group of goats we've more than gotten our money back - and gotten a lot of laughs and milk along the way.

great work SD!

 

[savingdogs]

Holy cow, or perhaps the proper term is Holy goat! I got a TON of milk today. Both of my does looked like something from one of those fancy schmancy pedigreed goat udder pictures. Ginger had so much milk she was waddling when she walked and Molly was SCREAMING for me to milk her. I thought she was screaming for her baby and finally DUH it hit me, she is FULL.

I see I will have to milk twice a day, they will be too full if not. Oh darn. More milk for us. I'm gonna have to get more containers to hold all this lovely milk! I think I'll go make pudding after this.

I realize that I've always up until now milked Ginger with an empty udder. What a difference! She isn't hard to milk at all. She is just hard to milk when she is empty. Man do I feel silly. I was milking a goat that didn't need it. Now that I see her udder full, I see that Ginger has a very nice udder and her teats are not so small as I thought. I do have those extra teats in the way but I've developed a style for getting around them. I do have to milk her from behind. I guess we got our "practice" down. Next year I won't milk her until she has just one babe nursing.

I'm going to have to work up my speed! They finished their whole day's ration of grain and I realize now that they need to be milked again later today. My hands are still aching.

Since they are thin, is it okay to double their grain ration? I want them to get fatter, they are under condition. Ginger especially. Now I realize why, she has been making a ton of milk What a pig Buckley was!

But if the grain feedings are spread out into two sessions it won't be too much for them, would it? I want to get all the milk I can and also have them ready to breed again in the fall.

I'm dreaming up all the ways to use up this milk now. I got about a gallon this morning! I know you guys with big goats are probably giggling at me again, but I've been only getting about two cups a day. I have hubby searching for more cheese making supplies and getting me an egg turner for my incubator, I have enough eggs now so I'm just waiting for him to get home with that to start the eggs in the incubator, too.

And Nana the bunny is due Sunday.

I also want to place those tires today or tomorrow and get started on the potato and pumpkin growing area. And I have some starts to transplant outside, I think it might finally be getting warm enough to move them outside this weekend.

All I can say is, I have lots to do, I better not get sick. Cuz if I do, Trouble is going to have lots of chores!

 

[Javamama]

I realize that I've always up until now milked Ginger with an empty udder. What a difference! She isn't hard to milk at all. She is just hard to milk when she is empty. lau Man do I feel silly. I was milking a goat that didn't need it

That's exactly what I discovered about my goats

Doubling the grain just depends on how they do with it. I had trouble with them blowing through the grain too, but they were having trouble with clumpy poo on the little bit they were getting so I couldn't give them more - I am now filling the feed pan with lightly soaked alfalfa cubes, sprinkle in the grain, and add enough water to make them slow down. I tried rocks - they are supposed to have to pick around them, but my girls just fling the feed pan off the stand. I suppose it would work better if I could attach the pan to the stand Anyway, my girls really like chewing on the alfalfa cubes and a 50 pound sack lasts us 5 weeks or so.

 

[savingdogs]

Alfalfa cubes? I give alfalfa pellets. Are those similar? I do add alfalfa pellets. But Ginger, if she doesn't like something, she just shoves her nose in the pan real deep and shoves everything OUT onto the floor. I had to rig a whole elaborate deal I set down to catch it all so I don't waste so much. I scold her when she does it and she is learning it makes me mad. But I have put orange peels in there and they mostly picked around them and it slowed them down. I just don't have any oranges right now.

 

[Denim Deb]

If you want to slow them down from eating the grain, try putting some large rocks in the food. That's what I do w/horses that bolt their grain. They have to work harder to get it.

 

[savingdogs]

Rocks, huh? this should be interesting.....

I just made a giant batch of pudding! yay milk!

 

[abifae]

Pudding! I have milk and eggs and cocoa powder....