[Food] Production - Goats & Sheep

ncgoatgirl · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 24, 2005 Posts: 49 Location: NC

Actually, the last two years we've been going the get rid of them early route. I run an ad in the local trading-post-type paper and give them away at a week old---after they've had plenty of colostrum. folks bottle-feed them and eat them or breed them or keep them as pets or brush goats. And I don't have to deal with them at all. I find that the dairy breeds just take so long to put on enough meat to be worthwhile, and wethers are a huge pain to have around.

Now lambs, on the other hand....

The_Virginian · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 19, 2004 Posts: 1528

oh wow "the trading post" I remember that from VA.

here in mn I'm stuck with craigs list...not the same.

Good for you...I'm sure those goats find a good home or dinner plate. Laughing

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CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1422

Well the lady who was supposed to buy Big Dan and Little Anne had to back out on me at the last minute, so they're still here. Dan is not going to be kept for breeding, since he's a LaMancha/Nubian mix, and I'm concentrating on Nubians, but he is a big boy. I was hoping to sell him as an intact buck, but as I said, the lady backed out on me and I don't have another customer lined up. Dan may be the first buck kid we put in the freezer. Sad

If he weren't a bottle baby, I wouldn't have such a problem with the idea, but he is, and it bugs me. I'd much rather sell him.

If we do put him in the freezer, the deed will have to be done away from me. I don't mind the idea of eating him, but I just don't want to have to see him killed. I'm such a softy.

We'll have to see. Right now, he's just eating and getting bigger. More than 50 pounds right now. We're quickly approaching the time when a decision has to be made....
K

Shannymara

I didn't get around to the castration last weekend because our family visit took up the whole time, but this weekend is goat weekend. I trimmed two of their hooves (8 hooves total Razz

) this morning, our bottle fed doe and our most wild, very pregnant doe (her mother). When I started on the third, the herd sires', he managed to break one of the vertical boards holding his head in the stanchion. I came inside, gave myself a hair cut, and my husband is out there making some modifications to the stanchion so I can finish the hoof trimming and do the castration later today.

I will take some photos and video and if they come out well I'll post some here when done.
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Shannymara

Lessons learned today:

1) Came up with a better design for the stanchion that works on a wider variety of sizes of goats, which I will photograph and post soon

2) 6 month old Nigerian dwarf goats balls are too big to fit through the band with the elastrator I have, even one at a time (we had intended to do this earlier, but life - specifically our unexpected move and me going back to work - got in the way)

3) My husband is able to help me catch wild goats and hold them still for castration even after having a couple of shots of vodka to help him deal with witnessing the procedure

4) Have to bring the camera outside a few minutes before using it to allow the temperature to equalize and condensation to evaporate, otherwise we can't use it (obviously I'm not a professional photographer...)

At this point I am probably going to look into having a vet do the castration so he can have some anesthesia. I have a burdizzo but I don't want to use it on him unless it's the only option. Alternatively, we may just put him in the freezer soon. I don't know if they make bigger elastrators. I was surprised that his balls didn't fit, because I had read of people doing this to goats up to 18 months old, and these are miniature goats! But they would not fit through the band even with pressure, with the elastrator fully open.
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Shannymara

Two new goats born today! Laughing

Both boys. Crying or Very sad

Fresh milk in a few days (once we make sure the boys are getting proper care by their momma)! Laughing

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CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1422

Congratulations Shanny! Very Happy

They're adorable, even if they're both boys Laughing

Kathy

Shannymara

I FINALLY got to use my Maggidan's Milker (pump for mini goats, basically) on Coco today. Boy did it work great! I know you, Kathy, were having trouble with yours, but I was absolutely amazed. I only did one side because it seems the 2 kids are mostly nursing from the other side so far, and I didn't want to over tax her system right away since she had 2 sets of kids in quick succession and hasn't been milked before. She's a pretty wild goat, but once she calmed down (my son gave her some licorice goat treats while I got started) it took less than 5 minutes to get almost a quart out of just one side! That's a lot for a Nigerian, I think. And it was easy to keep the milk clean since the pail wasn't directly under her. Awesome!

I brought it in and strained it through a filter into a quart jar, and put it in the fridge. Cleaning up the pail and the Milker took about 5 minutes. Not a bad chore at all!

My plan is to milk her once daily in the evening about 5-6PM, and let the kids have the rest. I'll do the same with Reina when she has her kids (in about a week). We should be able to stop buying dairy except for cheese really soon. Considering how much we spend on organic dairy, that'll be a great blessing.

One thing: The Milker did clog shortly after I started. I think one of the times she kicked a tiny piece of dirt must have gotten into the tip or something. I had to run in the house and stick the tip into some water and squirt it in and out a few times, then it worked again perfectly. So I am guessing the tip is easy to clog, and will plan to bring some pure warm water out with me in case it happens again next time.

Kathy, you might check to make sure you're getting good suction from your Milker - if not, it's probably clogged. Coco's teat didn't fit fully into the syringe, but it got sucked in easily the second I started pumping. It was also easy to break the seal to disengage her without injury when I was done.
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wisconsin_cur

Congratulations!!!

I wouldn't mind having all boys this year... more for the freezer!
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CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1422

Shanny,
I did get the milker to finally work, but I haven't used it recently. I was a little uncomfortable with it, simply because I didn't want to *over* milk the girls. When I'm milking by hand, I can feel when I've taken enough out. With the milker I had no way to gauge that, and I was kinda worried about putting too much stress on them. Besides that, Cinnamon's nursing triplets, so I don't take much from her anyway, and Spice only has one side of her udder, so the baby gets most of it. I'm drying Sugar off right now, so I havent milked her consistently for the last two weeks, and not at all for the last four or five days. I'll be putting her back in with Ringo about the middle to the end of the month, though, for some late February babies. With the other two milking, we're still getting about a half gallon or so a day for use in the house, even milking once a day, so it's all good.

A quart IS a lot for a Nigi. I'm glad the milker is working so well for you. I didn't have any trouble with it clogging. Did you buy the inline filter? I did, simply because I wanted to avoid that problem. It worked, I guess, because it never clogged.
K

Shannymara

Kathy, I didn't buy the filter. However, I have had no more problems with the milker clogging. I don't want to freak out all the guys here so I won't go into detail, but I think my extensive experience breastfeeding (including frequent use of a manual pump) has helped me with the goat milking as well.

I finally got some pictures of the stanchion details. I keep a leash looped around it so it's easy to grab when I'm ready to catch and milk:

The right hand center bar pivots, in typical stanchion fashion:

A long bolt sits in a drilled hole, where it's readily available for use as a pin to secure the stanchion once the goat's head is in:

There are two rows of holes so we can adjust the width to accommodate any size goat. The bottom bar can be dropped if needed:

The bolt/pin is long enough to stick through the other side, so it's easy to pop out when we're ready to release the goat:

The bottom bar is secured with a hex wrench for a pin, dropped in a hole drilled at an angle so it doesn't fall out:

My cheese cultures and other cheese making supplies arrived yesterday, so as soon as I accumulate some milk I'll start experimenting with that. So far my son has been drinking it all! After that first day I'm getting about a pint at each milking, and as I mentioned I am only milking once a day, letting the babies have the rest.
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CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1422

Shanny,
Great setup you have there.

Shannymara

Today Reina, my tiny fawn doe who is my favorite, had a single doeling kid. She is absolutely gorgeous, pale fawn and white. She is tiny, but seemed even more vivacious than the other babies so far, and was nursing within about 10 minutes while still all wet. I will post a photo tomorrow.

When I went to check on them a little later, I walked in on Reina eating the afterbirth. Munch, munch, munch. EWWW!!!!! icon_puke_r

I didn't interfere, though. I figure she knows what she's doing.
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"Every junkie's like a setting sun..." - Neil Young

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1422

Shanny,
Congrats on the new baby! I'll look forward to the pictures. I walked in on Cinnamon while she was eating the afterbirth from her triplets this year (that's a LOT of afterbirth!). Yep it was pretty gross. Don't be surprised if Reina doesn't want to eat much for the next couple days. That afterbirth takes up a LOT of room in the rumen. Cinnamon didn't eat more than a bite or two of grain for about three days after she ate hers. It worried me to death - I kept thinking she might be getting milk fever or something - but then I realized how much she'd eaten Smile

Kathy

Shannymara

Thanks for the heads up about the eating, CD. She seems to have a normal appetite, but maybe that's because she only had the one kid. And here she is:

I posted another one in SPG's "good news" thread. She's so pretty, I just adore her. I'm glad Reina only had one kid, because I can get more milk from her without depriving the baby.
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"Every junkie's like a setting sun..." - Neil Young