Nic Sold

Sold Nicholas the weck today. Good timing. Saturday after working at the farm in the pouring rain, I discovered that he had destroyed a partition in the goat house during the day, and as exhausted as I was, I had to figure a way to fix it. I want to tear that house down in the near, so I was pretty frustrated having to patch it up in the meantime.

Yesterday a very good friend showed up on the verge of tears over financial difficulties beyond his control. He has helped me out many times so I gave him a bit of cash and bags of pet food (I keep that stuff stocked up since the big bags are a much better buy) and some food out of the cupboards to see him through to his next paycheck. To me it is a testament to the sour state of the economy, as this friend has always had enough for himself and family and been there several times when I got in a pinch with emergency pet surgeries.

Three of the four of the last shifts I have worked at the farm have been in downpours. Today we had several inches of rain along with gale force winds; then the sun broke out this afternoon and the temps at two banks on the coast read 68 and 61 degrees F. I am letting the fire die out in the woodstove and have a window wide open upstairs. Phew!

Anyhow, I was soooo soaked through today-jeans, long johns, yes, even my socks shirts and underwear-even though I was wearing mudboots and raincoat. The trouble with all the rain, not just with getting wet, is I work short shifts-just doing the basics of hay and grain and extra bedding-so it hurts the paycheck. I was actually much relieved to sell Nic for the amount I gave my friend yesterday, since I wasn't counting on the money from Nic I broke even in the end. Plus I'll save a bit on hay and grain in the meantime-and will feel safer with the saplings in the goat pens since Nic was too aggressive and used to even shove me around.

I do feel badly for him-he was definitely the lord of our little herd-so I wish him well in his new home.

Haying my Herd with the Dog

My friend Tonia over at allnaturalsimplelife.blogspot.com. , makes taking a good picture of a goat look simple. Ha-it's impossible!

I am never particularly motivated to take photos of my own herd, usually because I have my hands full when I am around them. Hay, grain, water, chainsaw...lol.

This afternoon I decided to try and get pics of the ones whose feet I have trimmed in the last few days-sorry no pictures of hoof rot, of which there were several cases.

I put my camera in my new Turkish shoulder bag ( a gift from Boss after a recent trip to Turkey) and slung the hay under the other arm and headed out.

I took four times as many pics as I am posting. Goats just don't hold still for a camera! And the light was bad, even though it was overcast late afternoon. Still, I came up with a few to share

Here is Moonshadow, or moo, or moonie. He is our only polled goat. His horns had been removed when we bought him, also at auction. I saw him advertised in a local buy and sell it guide and called the woman to find out she had indeed taken him to auction that day, so I know that he is Nigerian dwarf and pygmy cross.



Cricket the Beautiful and her white face. She was bought at auction and was also sick as a weanling. Nic the cashmere weck is to the left, stuffing his face. I made up the name weck since he is what I call a wether with buck characteristics. A pain in the *** is more like it.

Nic had a retained testicle and I banded the down one, rendering him sterile but he is just like a buck. He smells worse than 19 bucks at the farm combined, and coddles his group of does and kicks the crap out of the wethers. I couldn't give him away,(I tried on Craigslist) and don't care to eat him, so he is still with us for the time being.



The small doe in the center is Anna, Cricket's daughter. Cricket is all white, Anna's father, Derek, is brown with black points. Anna is so cute but wild even though she was born here. The herd took her in. Her Grandma, Daphne, our herd queen,the black pygmy yawning in the front, tore down the fence and had Anna sleep with her every night in a little house while her mother slept in the cold outdoors against the house.
The face in the far left is Moonie-no horns.



Anaken, three year old Alpine wether. Look at that nice straight topline! If I was going goat dairy, I would try and get a couple of Alpine does. Anaken was the runt of a pack of around twenty Alpine bucklings at auction, and had coccidiosis rather severely, so he is on the small and scrawny side.



and lastly here is Peko, who loves to race along the fence as I carry the hay out tot he goats. He barks viciously at them to keep them in their places. Here he is in the pet cemetery, next to Louise's grave with his tennis ball...Gandalf's grave is in the background on the right.

Hooves

Anaken, Obiwan, and Derek had their hooves trimmed yesterday. Obiwan is having some trouble with his toe tips.

Still combing, but everyone appears to be about finished except for Obiwan. Nic might have some more fiber on his body, but it is not releasing.