Sometimes what man does is not a good thing. As in the case of Angora goats. Gracious, I don't know how they survive. The does picked today to drop their kids, today, because it is minus 4 and humid outside and that is cold. The moms do not clean up their kids and the kids are too weak to move when they are born. It is a rare one that can actually stand to nurse. Both moms had twins and it was a race to try to keep them alive. I was busy trying to warm and feed the first two and the second two got cold. The female expired as I was warming her brother in the laundry sink. I won't breed the goats again. The other kids born to the Pygmy and Nigerian Dwarf does are vigorous and up and nursing in minutes and the mother has them cleaned and dry while they are busy nursing. I did mange to milk the second goat, but the first would not let me near her and it was more important to warm her babies and get something in their tummies, so I used milk replacer. Tomorrow I will tackle her and milk the essential colostrum for her babies. One had to be tube fed, but the second feeding, he did suck the bottle. They are in coats and out with their mothers, but in a few hours, I will be up to feed them again. The poor babies, all for the sake of the best fibre, have been forsaken and the mothering instincts all but bred out of the breed. Sad.
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I had all these fabulous new pictures that I accidentally deleted, so tomorrow, I will have to take more. This morning I had to pull a lamb whose leg was backwards. Lambs should present with the two front feet and nose first. This one had one foot and the nose and the other foot was back. I tried to stuff the baby back and find the foot, but no luck. The only option was to try to pull the lamb out when the mother was pushing. Fortunately, we did it and the little ram lamb was born. He was weak, but not as weak as his sister, who followed shortly. When there is distress in multiple births, the unborn can be deprived a good oxygen supply and sometimes, they are not quite right. The little ram is pure black and the sister a beautiful deep chocolate moorit. Her front and one back legs are not quite right. This is the first year that there have been any deformities or weaknesses in the sheep or goats. Neither twin was strong enough to nurse, so I milked 8 ounces of colostrum from the mom and bottle fed half to each of them. That perked them up to try to nurse on their own. The male is still very weak but the the ewe lamb, despite her bad legs, is quite spunky. I think her legs will straighten out in time. If they have not improved by tomorrow, I will put her in splints. Shortly after that birth, Sharon the goat gave birth to triplets, all boys. What is with the males this year. So far, there is on set of female twin lambs and one of the twins born today is female, and only one out of 9 goat kids is female. There are still a lot of goat babies to come. They are all white Angora looking and all have blue eyes at this stage, and beautiful white curls. That was the last of the Icelandic ewes to birth, but the ram busted through the fence when he had bred his ladies, so it will be a wait and see event now to know how the lambs will turn out. Hopefully Walter will have done his share of breeding before the Icelandic ram got in. The Babydolls were bred Babydoll, but it appears only 3 became pregnant and one has lost her lamb. The Jacobs ewe was bred Jacob, but the Jacob ewe lambs were in with the Babydoll ram until the last when the Blue Faced Leicester ram came in for clean up. I cannot wait to see how the Jacob Babydolls will look and their fleece should be amazing. Tomorrow the Tunis ewe arrives. She is heavy in lamb, so will give birth to one to three babies in a day or two. Tunis are naturally reddish sheep with somewhat fat tails left over from their original breeding and they have moderate wool. Time to snooze....zzzzzz. Tomorrow is another busy day! I woke up early to check on the sheep and goats who are in the midst of having babies. Little Rosey Babydoll Southdown, was not doing well. She was trying to birth a huge lamb, a little coloured girl, but the lamb had died from stress and Rosey was upside down and still straining. The second foot was locked back so I got it out and then pulled the lamb from her. I was shocked at the size, the lamb being twice as big as the Icelandic that was born to a sheep three times Rosey's size. It was sad for the mother sheep. All day she cried for her baby. I was hoping another sheep would give birth to twins and I could graft one on to Rosey, but there were no more today. There was a goat though, who had triplets. I arrived just as she dropped the third, but she was aspirating on amniotic fluid so I turned her upside down and cleared her mouth and nose. A weak little cough and she was gurgling and attempting to breath. She is the only little female goat born so far, but she has problems. She cannot use her back legs. She dragged the tops of them raw, so I made her some splints and gave her a coat. I did help her nurse from her mother and was going to milk the mother, but when I arrived to do so, she had dragged herself on her front legs and was nursing on her own. I have left her with her mother at this point, but the two brothers are much stronger and will likely push her away. I have a bottle ready just in case. Celia had twin boys today too, two little bucklings. All the kids look like miniature Angoras with white coats and the typical round Angora kid head and curly coats. I was hoping for coloured babies, though so far, they have all been white because the colour and coat are so dominant. So, so far, Celia has twin bucklings, Taffy has a single buckling and Sherry has triplets, two boys and a girl, but the girl is crippled. I did give her a vitamin shot and looked for selenium and Vitamin E, but I am out. Tomorrow morning I will go to town early and pick some up, plus some more nipples, just in case. Then Rosey had a little girl but lost her and Leda has twin boys and so does Red. It seems to be a boys year. I hope tomorrow is a better day for the little mothers. Bless you sheepies and goaties! The babies have started to arrive in full swing. Today, this morning, I was greeted with a baby cria (llama), a sweet little girl with a red coat and black mask. She is so beautiful. Lucy Llama, her mother, is a quiet, halter trained llama, and is very protective as is her Aunty Karin. The ewes all came over to inspect the new arrival. Then in the early afternoon, I was surprised by Leda, a young ewe, when she delivered twin boys, one black and one white, but they weighed only about 2.5 and 3.5 pounds each. It is not unusual for Icelandic ewes to birth twins and even triplets, but she is young, only a year and a bit herself, so this was quite difficult for her. She had the boys cleaned up and nursing quickly, then moved them inside for the evening. In a day or two, when she feels they are aware enough , she will bring them back to the flock. The twin girls born two days earlier have already joined the adults, though Mamma Red keeps a close watchful eye on them. Then late this evening, Taffy did not come out of the small shelter when I checked the goats. It was nearly dark and I thought for a moment I saw something small and white near her. Sure enough, there was a tiny blue eyed buckling, half Angora and half Nygerian. He appears to be healthy and robust. I will check on him before bed to be sure he has nursed. Sometimes new mothers are not quite sure what that is all about. If his tummy is full and his mouth is warm, he and she will have figured all that out. Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats are great, but Angoras are terrible, because the mothering instinct has been forsaken for the best fibre. These babies are only the beginning of an estimated 60 lambs and goats that will be born on the farm this year. It is the most exciting and heartbreaking time. Sometimes nature takes its course and for whatever reason a young one does not make it. The mother cries and so do I, but for the most part, we have been extremely fortunate at The Fat Ewe Farm and the babies and mothers have gone on to see tomorrow. How blessed I am to be the stewardess in all of this. It is pure bliss and I am grateful to our Creator that I can share in the new lives. Thank you. Leda is a yearling Icelandic ewe out of my beautiful leader sheep, now living at another farm. Leda has twin boys, the tiniest lambs I have had so far, with the white one at just under 3 pounds and the black at just over. Leda has the boys mostly cleaned and they were attempting to nurse when I left them for the evening. Icelandic sheep have not lost their strong maternal instincts and seldom require any interventions. They are very milky and make superb mothers.
It is a big day tomorrow. The sheep, Angora goats, llamas and alpacas will all be sheared. This time I am trying the Hutterite colony. They are experienced with shearing and have won awards for their wool (not sure where, just that is what they told me), so I am willing to give them a go. I did have to call them because they did not show up the first time booked. Nat, the man in charge, said he lost my number. Anyhow, tomorrow is the big day. I spent a few hours preparing the barn, sweeping the floor, putting down two sheets of plywood, making a holding pen and a release pen with livestock panels and installing power via two long extension cords. I likely will have to come up with a second extension line, because I believe there are two shearers and two helpers. I won't have time to skirt the wool, only to fold and pack it and then tomorrow I can lay it out and take my time cleaning and skirting, which is removing the manure tags and very dirty wool. It is supposed to be just above zero, so it will be cold again. They do not think they will take a whole hour to shear 50 sheep, 3 llamas and 2 alpacas, plus the 6 Angora goats. The cost is $7 per animal, plus so much a kilometer to drive here, calculated at around $130 dollars. All in all, it is estimated to cost $450 or so dollars. I did not ask if they trimmed hooves, but I will when he calls tomorrow to say they are on their way. It is going to be a big day! The temperatures have stayed in the minus 20's for a long time, gong down to minus 32 and 34 at night. For the most part the sheep and the dogs, except of Harley, who has arthritis from being fed GMO grain based dog food when he was a pup, are pretty comfortable. Both the dogs and sheep can curl up on the snow and sleep there and not be cold. The dogs curl up and their bushy tails cover their noses. The sheep are well insulated and the alpacas seem to be too, more so than the llamas. Those poor goats run out to eat and shiver and run back to their barn, staying there until they have to eat again. They do not like the snow or cold and only travel on their paths, never venturing their little hoofies into the snow. The Angora goats were not shorn in the fall, so they have long thick warm coats that will be of little to no value other than insulation, because the fiber will mat and it is so full of vegetative matter from feeding alfalfa hay. It does make good insulation though. Some of the chickens only venture out to eat and drink and spend the rest of the day on their perches in the coop, trying to stay warm. The ducks and geese come out to eat and drink, but drop onto their downy bellies frequently tucking their toes into their feathers so their feet do not freeze. In their coop, they have a thick straw bedding that insulates their feet from the icy ground. Still, one duck froze in his sleep this winter. The trees can be heard cracking loudly when it is crispy cold, freezing as they stand. In the winds, these weakened trees are blown over and up rooted or simply broken in two. No other living things are seen around the farm, no weasels, no coyotes, nothing, because of the pack of livestock guardian dogs that keep it safe. The lens on the camera continually fogs over because though it is very cold, there is also a mist in the air of ice particles. It has snowed non stop for the past three days, lightly, but non stop. One would wonder why anyone would choose to live in such a frigid area, and yet, further north, there are much colder regions where people also live. Just because winter is so hard here in northeastern Alberta, the anticipation of the beautiful summer is so looked forward to. But, darn, it is cold right now. Jenna does not look for shelter, just curls up and tucks her nose under her tail. Robbie does not have the same beautiful thick double coats that the livestock guardian dogs do, and he does get cold and shivers. He sleeps in the house and Harley gets to come in for the afternoon to nap where it is warm.
Goats are high maintenance! They have to have their little hoofies trimmed twice a year and they need special diets to ensure they get all they require. Poorly fed goats get sick and die, just like that. They also need excellent worming schedules or the worms will literally suck the blood out of them, leaving them anemic and likely to die if not caught early enough. But... They are cute and friendly and curious and comical and give good milk and are simply enjoyable and lovable. So yesterday, it was day two of hoof trimming. I managed to catch the most friendly ones and do their feet a few days before, but the rest suspected something was up and they decided not to come anywhere near me. Travis helped me corner them and catch them. Bending over is hard when you have to do it for a long time, so I sat, or sort of laid and trimmed the toes. The two Angora goats that I had not caught the days before, also need their fiber trimmed around their rear ends and down the legs. They grow such thick fiber that it acts as a strainer for anything that comes its way, in this case feces and urine. The urine salts build up to a septic lump, GROSS! and the feces will collect and clump all the way down the legs. Breeding season is coming up, so a nice clean bottom gives the girls a good chance of pregnancy without the introduction of unwanted bacteria. I cannot say it is easy, but it is rewarding.
Taffy is rolling the spool.
The goaties get to come out in the yard from time to time, but only under supervision. They are highly destructive to vegetation. All trees within their reach will be decimated, all shrubs destroyed, especially pines, lilacs and Caragannas, and flowers, hanging baskets and other tasty morsels demolished. They will find their way into grain bags, bust through wire and otherwise do almost anything to get grain. So, they are only allowed out when watched carefully. Over eating grain can cause death from bloat and they, like sheep, do not quit until they are too full or the grain is gone. Recently the sheep got into some grain. Fortunately, there was not much there, but it was enough to make about 6 sheep quite ill from stomach runs for two days. Yet, given a chance, they would be right back and eat the grain again as soon as they could. Goats are the same with grain. They are not fed grain, nor are the sheep, only grass and hay. The goat kids are starting to play and do funny antics, such as jump on their mothers and flip sideways as they jump off. The boys are very noticeable because they already are much more the show offs than the girls. Four kids were born between yesterday and today, a pair of boys and a brother and sister, all different with different markings. That is one of the nice things about miniature goats - you never quite know what will turn up. There are two more mothers due in the next two or three days and then the last of the pregnant goats will deliver weeks after that. She did not take with the first breeding and was exposed to an Angora goat later, so most likely is going to have an Angora/Alpine cross. These Angora cross goats are popular for their fibre, which is long and quite spinnable. It will be interesting to see what the chocolate box brings forth. Welcome to the Fat Ewe little goaties! Leo in the morning, stuck again. Man does not always do the right thing. Angora goats grow a hair coat that is sheared twice yearly and made into mohair. But, these poor creatures have been bred for their fiber to the extent that they almost lack the instincts to survive. When I first brought the Angora goats home at the beginning of March, I was quite excited. I have other goats, Pygmies and Nigerian Dwarfs and one Alpine, so I was familiar with their needs and ways, but I was not prepared for these stupid animals. My dear cousin said to give them a little time. They were bred and due when they came here, so there was that to consider. The whole living situation was different for them and the feed was different. They were fed pellets and straw for roughage where they came from, but I only fed them hay. They could have starved to death because they did not know how to eat hay and their instincts, even self preservation, were dumbed down. I ended up having to give them grain in order to get them eating again, then sprinkling the grain on the hay and finally they ate the hay. But they would stand and bleat and bleat for grain and only when their stomachs were likely aching from hunger did they eat hay. It took a long time to get them to like hay, though they still fall all over themselves for grain. If I am carrying a bucket, no matter whether it contains water or is empty, the Angoras are climbing the fences to get at the bucket. They do not think like other goats either. Any little hole and the Pygmy goats go through it in search of goodies on the other side. Yesterday when I collected the sheep and goats for the evening, the Angoras went with the sheep. Even when I opened the gate, they stood there staring at me and would not come out to go "home", so in frustration, I closed the gate again and left them with the sheep for the night. The only problem is the goats need minerals and salt for goats (that contains copper), which sheep cannot have. Goats can eat sheep mineral, but not vice versa, so by staying with the sheep, the Angoras miss out on their nutrition. I grabbed the male Angora, who was in the the rams but got himself out in the pasture somehow. This is not a good time for him to be there in case any of the goats who are not bred are cycling and he would breed them, then the baby would be born in the frozen winter. I put Leo back in the bachelor pen and immediately he got himself stuck on the gate between the pens. I unstuck him and in the morning, he was stuck and bleating again. I left him there while I let the sheep out, so he would not make his way out there too and then released him. He stayed with the rams for the day. By breeding for the best fiber, these poor goats have lost their marbles. They need to be babied and coddled and I am not fond of doing either. Now the plan is to breed Leo to the Pygmy and Nigerian girls next year and have hardy goats with some sense, hopefully. Challenging as they can be, the Pygmy goats are my favourites, hands down. Maybe they will impart some of their smarts in the cross. In the meantime, I must babysit dumb goats. Yuk! I plan to sell the Angora girls after the next breeding season and just keep the two bucks for the cross breeding program. Until then, it is what it is. |
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AuthorFluffy writes daily about the experiences on the farm and with the bed and breakfast patrons. Archives
October 2020
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