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Goat Husbandry

11/8/2013

2 Comments

 
Picture
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.

2 Comments
Moab
11/8/2013 02:53:24 pm

Fascinating, after reading these two blogs I am reminded of all of the pleasantries of mixed farming in the north. I would have though that all that special soap that you produce, would get the smell out. I do also remember being on several farms and cousins, uncles and friends always had that sower smell to them. (Even if you sat beside them in church) The famer never thought otherwise but the city boy was a little distracted.
I can imagine that after a long day, in the kitchen cooking and cleaning, out in the yard hauling water, hay and firewood off with the animals feeding, doctoring and laying on the ground trimming and sheering, that when you're all done and can lay in that nice warm soaker tub, that your heart must soar and your dreams would float aloft.
Moab

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Fluffy link
11/9/2013 04:04:36 am

Moab, there is great pleasure in doing all that I do. I view the B & B as my ministry, an act of servitude with gratitude and my care of the animals as a joyous passtime and a time to ground with the Earth. I am looking for moccasins with thick leather souls, like the ancestors wore, to allow the vibrations of the Earth to connect with my body. I believe all of it is part of the interconnectedness we have to living things on this planet. And, yes, when I am soaking in my antique clawfood tub at night, I am also giving gratitude to the water and infusing it with love so that it can carry that love on to where it flows. Peace is the freedom to serve with the intent of love.

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    Fluffy writes daily about the experiences on the farm and with the bed and breakfast patrons. 

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