Last of the Firsts

Last Friday I found our Buffy down and unable to get up. Buffy was the last of our original four goats. Until recently she was the matriarch of the herd and nearly every goat on the property was from her line. She was Lisa’s favorite. She named her and her brother Buffy and Jody from the old TV show Family Affair. She will be missed. Especially every morning. Who’s going to try to take the feed bucket away from me. RIP old girl.

She loved her corn.

Its Been A While

I didn’t realize just how long it had been since I last wrote on here.

I ended up milking Olive once we got her mastitis cleared up. Over the last year she has had another bad case of mastitis. We thought we were going to lose her. She stopped eating and got lethargic. We called the on-call vet and he had us give her a heavy dose of antibiotics over a few days. That had her back to normal almost immediately but we still had to hit her with two treatments of “Today” to clear up the mastitis. Even then we thought she would lose her right front quarter. It was hard with a solid mass but with a lot of milking and working the udder she is 99% back to where she was. She is such a good milk cow. She is still giving us about a gallon of milk at each milking.

The winter and spring were relatively uneventful. Except for all the rain. I don’t know if it ever really stopped for more than a couple days. Maybe it was a good thing because we’ve had the best garden in years.

Made some changes this summer that were hard to do and then suffered some heartache. We sold Marla, her heifer calf and several others. Leaving us with Olive, Rosie, BobbyJo, and Violet(Rosies heifer), Mike. We also have two steers ready to go to the freezer, and one for next year. Rosie has a bad hip so she has been retired and is just a pet now. I don’t know if she could handle the bull or calving so she is just a pet for the rest of her life.

We traded five goats for a full grown KuneKune boar named Baccon. We didn’t need another boar but we did need to get rid of some goats. They had been causing me trouble jumping and pulling down fences. That and Waylon had some health issues and at the time I wasn’t certain that we wouldn’t lose him. So now we have three intact boars. Willie, the registered AGH; Waylon a year old red KuneKune; and Baccon is several years old and proven black and white KuneKune with wattles.

It’s been a rough summer. I’ll be glad to see a change in season. We’ve lost three dogs to old age or health issues. First was mom’s dog Bo. He was suffering from heart failure and had to be put down. Then we lost Brutus (BooBoo). I think it was his heart as well but don’t know for sure. He started acting off and had a heavy cough. We brought him inside for a few days and he seamed to improve a little. Then after letting him outside for a little while I found him dead under the front porch. The hardest loss was our Little Man Oliver. We’ve had him since he was only a few days old. He was blind and born with a cleft pallet. Lisa tube fed him for about four months until his mouth could be fixed. We almost lost him several times during that time. He was getting old but should have had several more years. Over the last couple of years He had developed severe allergies and none of the treatments were working anymore. He was miserable, losing most of his hair, skin infections, constant itching, etc,… His last day was a good one. We let him spend time outside, something he loved but hadn’t done in about two years. He had his favorite food and snacks, also something he had been denied because of a special diet trying to control his symptoms. He, BooBoo, and Bo are sleeping in the pet cemetery now, never to be forgotten.

Then, another gut punch… About a week ago BobbyJo wasn’t with the others when I went out to feed. The morning before she was pushing her way into the feed barn and getting in my way. This morning she was a no show. I figured she had a new calf and after feeding I went looking for them. Sadly I found her dead. Probably late the day before. No marks or signs of injury, nothing. I have no idea what killed her. She was not only our backup milk cow but my buddy. A BIG dog. She was Olives first calf here and while not bottle raised you wouldn’t know it because she was so friendly. She was always in my way looking for a hand out or an ear rub. I miss her every morning I go to feed.

On a positive note. Violet gave us a little heifer calf Wednesday (8/12/2020). I will most likely keep her if she is short like Violet and Rosie. I’ve named her Tulip.

Back in Milk Again!

Bobbie Jo had her calf this morning so I should be back in milk in a couple days.

On a less pleasant note. I believe that something but more likely someone is messing with the goats. A few days ago I found Butter dead in the pasture. Thinking accident or mishap I moved on. This morning I noticed that his mother SnowBall and brother Cream were missing. I checked all the fences to make sure they weren’t just hung up. No Goats. All the other goats were at the feed barn with Remmie our Great Pyrenees. Did not have a chance to check the middle areas or outside of the fence but I will today after work.

Old Age Strikes Again

     We lost our old man Jack Wednesday. Jack was more dog than goat. His mother died 15 years ago and we rescued him. He was bottle raised in the kitchen of the trailer we lived in while we were building our current home. He was our buddy. Lisa took him everywhere when he was young. He rode in the front seat of the truck and got quite a reception at the fast food drive through windows. “Is THAT A GOAT?” lol He liked frenchfries.

Relaxing on the couch.

Sharing a bottle with another rescue, Sybil the cat.

Playing on the couch with Sybil.

Yes, that is a pacifier.

Bittsy, Jack, Lizzy,Timmy and Anny in front. We lost Lizzy last week. She got sick and we couldn’t get her to bounce back.

Buffy, on the right is the last of our original 5 goats. She is still getting around pretty good but age has her slowing down more and more. I’m dreading the day I have to talk about loosing her but I know it’s coming.

RIP Jack

Roller-coaster life of owning animals

Over the last couple of months we’ve lost or had to put down several animals due to old age or poor health. I guess we are in the middle of the renewal cycle. We started the homestead almost 15 years ago and so many of our pets and breed-stock are hitting their age limit.

Most recently I had to put down my TV buddy Bruce the cat. He had been sick for a while and neither of our vets could figure out what was wrong with him. Finally decided it was some kind of cancer. He is no longer in pain and is resting in our Pet Cemetery.

Sadly all this heartache is just the beginning. We have 3 house dogs and 2 goats remaining from our original six that are all showing signs of advanced age.

On a much happier note we have 2 new additions to the Homestead. Maxwell or Max for short was completely unplanned but a welcome addition. Someone dropped him off in my mother-in-law’s yard. She had him for a couple days but just couldn’t take care of him as much as she wanted to. She is on a fixed income and already has a dog. So now Max sleeps on Lisa’s pillow.

The other addition is Waylon as in Jennings. He is an 8 week old full but unregistered KuneKune boar. He is a charmer already. He is learning to sit like Hank did and loves his belly rubbed as much as he loves to eat.

New Babies

We’ve got new babies.

Annie and Abby both had kids yesterday.


Annie had a little billy and doe.


Abby had two little does.

Didn’t need any more goats but that is what happens when you procrastinate too long banding all the billies. We had just what we needed and planned to band Timmy and the little billies but first one thing and then another got in the way. “We’ll get them next weekend” became our motto. I hope we don’t have any more but we have at least one more that may be pregnant. Not counting any the dumped off billy may have gotten to before we banded him.

Fresh Milk Again!

Olive had her calf on 10/17. I sure am glad to have fresh milk again.

I gave her a few days for the calf to get the colostrum before I started milking. I guess I waited too long again because the milk from her back quarter was pink. I immediately started adding Raw w/mother Apple Cider Vinegar to her feed morning and night. Within about 4 days things were all cleared up. Time to make Cheese and Yogurt again!

I’d like to add a product endorsement. I don’t do this very often and I get nothing for it. We decided to castrate Timmy, our adult billy goat. We considered taking him to the vet. After doing some reading I decided to just band him. In the meantime I failed to band two other young billies. Neither of the bander’s I owned would work at this stage of development. I ran across the Callicrate Pro Bander. The one below has a built in cutter. The one I purchased does not and may have been discontinued since it is no longer listed on this vender’s website. Once I got the billies secured the banding went off without a problem. Initial cost was a little high but if you have large livestock or if you get so busy and tend to put things off like I have lately, it is a good investment. Cheaper than a vet bill or 3 for sure.

http://livestockconcepts.com/en/castrating/12526-callicrate-pro-bander-kit-wcutter.html?search_query=Callicrate&results=13

A quick Otis update. He is still confined to the house unless we are walking him. All the staples are removed and we are just working to get him to use the bad leg more and more. So far he’s making good progress.
Here is a picture from the day he came home after surgery. That is going to leave a long scar.

Good by Calvin

Sad morning. While doing my morning chores I found one of our original goats, Calvin laying next to the fence dead. The first four goats we started with were from my Grand Uncles flock. Lisa named them from TV and cartoon characters. We had Buffy and Jody from “Family Affair” and Calvin and Hobbs. Buffy is the only one left and it will be a truly sad day when she goes. She and Jody were extra special to Lisa.

I don’t know what the life expectancy for goats is off the top of my head, but I have to think 15 years is a pretty good run.

New arrivals in the storm

Annie gave us two little ones in the storm last night. Sure glad it wasn’t the night before because we received 5+ inches of water out of that flood. The white one is a doe and the black one that looks like it’s mother is a little buck.

On another note about kids, we are going to pick up Jenna and Sebastian tomorrow. Everyone is so excited. If all goes well and Sebastian has all of his school work caught up we won’t have to take them back and we will start the 90 day placement tomorrow. Then adoption in September.

Mishaps, Rescues, and a new calf

     On Thanksgiving day I noticed Abby wasn’t with her mother and brother. I really didn’t think much of it. It wouldn’t have been the first time a baby was left sleeping next to a tree while everyone else moved off only to wake up bleating for it’s mom once it realized it was alone. Still, as I fed the other animals I called to the goats and I never heard her cry out. I decided to make a quick look around even though I didn’t have time because everyone was loading up to celebrate Thanksgiving with relatives. I continued to call out while I walked the area. I noticed something dark hanging in a fallen dead cedar. At first I thought it was just a bag or something the dogs had brought home. As I got closer I could tell it was Abby. She wasn’t making a sound nor was she moving. I thought she was dead until I got close enough to see she was holding her head up. She had been playing on the down tree and slipped catching her leg between the limbs and there she hung, front feet barely touching the ground. I got her out and checked her over. Nothing appeared to be broken but she wasn’t using the leg at first.

     Over the next few days she began to put some weight on it. I still caught her a few times and checked for any sign of a break but everything felt fine. Then this last weekend I noticed I noticed she wasn’t using it at all and it appeared to be swinging unusually. I checked and it was obviously broke above the ankle. Last night with Lisa’s help we put a splint on it. Either the swelling was keeping me from noticing the break or it may have been cracked and something caused it to break after she started using it again. Either way she will be fine in a week or so.

     For a few weeks now we have been feeding some dropped off cats and kittens at the local dump. We decided to take in the remaining kittens this weekend. No we didn’t need anymore cats but one of the kittens was sick and we couldn’t leave it like that. I started putting some antibiotics in their water but the sick one continued to get worse rather than better. So it went to the vet for some stronger medicine. One day and the rattle in it purr is gone. We will keep them in a dog kennel in the barn for a week or two and then open the door and let them be barn cats. Hopefully they will stay. The last two we had at the barn left after about a year and decided they liked living around the house better.

     Last week our oldest grandson Jacob found a baby squirrel. He named it Brandi. It was kind of beat up so it was placed in a cage outside until I had a chance to look at it. It was obvious to me that it was much younger than anyone else thought so I put it in a bird cage in the house with some old rags to burrow in. We have been feeding it with a syringe and a special nipple. Yesterday was the first time we have seen her out climbing around the cage. I have no idea what we are going to do with her if she can’t be released. One of her front feet/wrist may be broken. Hope it heals well. Time will tell.

     Olive had her calf yesterday in a rainstorm. I think it is a little heifer but I haven’t gotten close enough to be 100% sure. The pictures are not that good because the rain was reflecting some of the flash making them look darker. Plus you can see the rain streaking the pictures. I’ll get better pictures later. I’ll go back to milking in a couple days. NO MORE STORE BOUGHT MILK and CHEESE!!!

Lastly here is a picture of Jacob cleaning up around our little barn and refilling the compost bins. He likes driving the tractor.