tamara dutch

Tereza Okava wrote:

tamara dutch wrote:I would also put a wildlife camera on the cage, because i'd want to know what chewed on the newborn kits. The doe herself or a rat/whatever. Might also answer the question of stillborn or killed after.

I would also want to see how the babies are getting outside the box. Maybe the nest box needs some improvement, or the babies need some more protection (did they die from exposure, were they stillborn, etc etc)

Given that this happened during kindling, the doe likely started outside, rabbits don't move their kits.

I would cull doe 1. Mothering for me is an inherited trait and that is a problem here. I would also put a wildlife camera on the cage, because i'd want to know what chewed on the newborn kits. The doe herself or a rat/whatever. Might also answer the question of stillborn or killed after.
Since the mothering trait can be passed on via a buck to his offspring, i'd say no to keeping any for breeding from her.

Note : there are plenty of breeders that do the 3 chances thing on this, it tends to keep such traits going. So ask about the mothering abilities of the doe you get a kit from. Good from first litter on or losses first and why.

I make handsoap, but due to some research on how soap works vs detergents (i.e. commercial washingpowder), i don't use it for clothes and such.
Plainly put : soap "sticks" to rough surfaces like cloth just like it does to dirt. Means it wont come out of the clothes easily, hence the hard bashing and scrubbing the old washerwomen did to get clothes clean before washingmachines and detergents.
In  a modern washing machine that doesn't do bashing, since with detergent that is not needed, some of the soap (and dirt) stays in the cloth.
So it may be ok in old fashioned setups with a washboard, but i wouldn't want to. I did wash by hand for a while with detergents (no machine for a bit), but that already is enough work on top of a full workweek to not be attractive.
Better explanation in this link :
http://butterbeliever.com/homemade-laundry-detergent-soap-diy/

Here EU/NL you can buy minutes for calling / text that is valid for a year and longer if you add some before the year runs out. Also keeps the number yours on the chip you bought to start with. Buy your own phone to use it. Done this for 20+ years by now, but most years i use up about 15 euro's a year.

Quotes i see above here aboout US plans sound expensive to me. Also pick a phone that handles a touch more then just call and text and get whatsapp for free text + photo's and such, helps with questions to say friend, vet or doctor if you can add picture (and taking pictures has its uses for other things as well). Some tech stuff is getting usefull these days, but i agree with staying on the simple side of it. My phone could do way more then i allow it internet and such wise, i don't like the miniscreen for it or the vulnarability and having everything everywhere. Rather have tasks like paying and internet on a bigger screen and just one device.

Batteries are the big money part of a solar system and part of that is the short lifespan compared to the other parts.

This article lays out the option of using direct solar and avoid the battery (mostly) by using electric when it is produced and also charging machines and such that have their own battery (mobile, laptop, powertools, ... ).
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/08/direct-solar-power-off-grid-without-batteries/
&
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/12/how-to-build-a-small-solar-power-system/

Overall : yes to prevention via rotational grazing (longer gras and move before the second bite), hay and such fed off the ground and a diet with the right dose of minerals. Herbal dewormers? Honestly i haven't seen a real use/proof of working from these. As prevention they might have a place due to solving deficiency, but actually kicking worms out the back end not so much. Makes them more a cost for peace of mind then a usefull part of the diet. Means you'd be better of taking a critical look at the diet, adjust where needed and get things back on track with the addition of a chemical dewormer if needed.
Also : yes to doing your own fecal tests on your goats. Because not all lifephases of the worms shed eggs and not all eggshedding worms pass eggs along every time the animal poops, test your (suspect) goat twice daily for 5 days. A vet can't do that due to time and cost, so mostly an animal that fails to thrive and presents with could be worms symptoms will be wormed.
If you want to avoid chemical wormers due to cost, access or philosophy, you'll need to do fecal tests on your herd (mix or individual) every 6-8 weeks for 5 days twice a day as long as the gras grows/insects are active. And as part of a prevention plan that includes how you feed (off the ground), minerals and pasture management. Also once you know who your high wormegg load culprits are, worm them with chemical dewormer and test them again 2 weeks later and onto normal schedule to see if the load goes down or that they can't keep the worms suppressed by themselves. You may have to decide to cull/sell such animals both due to contributing to the higher parasite load on the property and the failure to thrive under your circumstances. A normal, healthy animal should be able to suppress the wormload to low just because they are healthy and the immunesystem handles such problems without a bother. Pretty much all animals in contact with living things and soil/organic material will have worms as mothers will pretty much pass them to ofspring through feces (eaten to start intestinal flora) and the curiosity of tasting pretty much anything (mouth is for animals what hands are for humans when it comes to that). So you can't get the wormburden to zero and it is not needed to try, health handles most if not all of those problems, so select for it in your animals. Healthy animals are cheapest to keep and don't keep you up at night worrying.

Usually the standard 4, and some years just 2 : Wet & Dry

If you pick more primitive sheep breeds (shetland, soay) you'll get some goat traits in your sheep. And yes shetland is the 3 purpose breed for milk, wool and meat back on shetland, along with the trait of a rooing coat i.e. it can be plucked when ready, so you don't need to shear (and get someone to want to help you) and supposedly that makes the wool easier to handle if done by hand. Other option for a rooing/shedding coat is breeding to soay to bring the trait into your flock. If you just want some wool to play with, ask around, because wool is pretty much waste farmers need to pay to get rid of. Likely you can get some for free if you ask and come to pick it up.

On milking and teat lenght, length makes milking easier because you have something to hold, but ease of milking is in the tissue and how wide/thick the teat canal is. I had twin sisters where one had like needle width teat canal and the other normal, for the same size teat that meant about 1 squirt from the second was 2-3 from the first volume wise. And teat size tends to increase with age and more lambings/kiddings. So small teats on a first freshner is normal.
Now if you want to have animals for milk even if you don't want to milk them now, if they have lambs/kids check the udders daily and certainly with singles milk them some, so the udder produces well in both halves. That start up tends to "set" at first freshen, so stay on top of production from the get go esp. the first month of production.

Stopped the shampoo, conditioner, detangler routine over a decade ago when it kept being itchy, sticky dandruf mess that was also dry and tangled badly. Grabbed a good (well rounded pins) fleacomb and a bowl of soapy water to clean the comb and used that 2x daily to clean my hair. Other option was medicinal agressive shampoo and that i liked even less. Now everything is stable and other than the occasionnal rinse with warm/hot water and regular brush/combing it is shiny, easy to brush/comb and pretty much scentless.
The combing to clean method is an old one from before showers and safe water for washing/drinking and such being easily available. Penny combs where very common in many big(ger) cities for instance, no water doesn't mean no hygiene possible. You just transfer that dirt to something you can wash safely like clothes (change often like at least for sunday church or more) and scrub cloths (used without water on skin, often lightly sweaty to help remove body odors). Clothes you can wash in not safe to drink water and many fabrics like towels and scrub cloths can be boiled in soapy water to clean.
Only body parts that would be washed with soap and water would be hands, faces and really dirty parts if needed when clothes couldn't cover.

Jeremy VanGelder wrote:I was surprised by the number of hoes and axes that it recommends. "Five broad hoes, 5 felling axes." Then I saw that the tool quantities were recommended for a family of five. Even making provision for breakage and loss, that is quite a bit of duplication. So they weren't thinking that one or two people would be felling trees at a time. They were thinking that four or five people would be felling trees at a time. Probably all day, for months or years.

They would have had to all pitch in for the basic shelter and gardens to get through the first winter. Maybe one or two people could do the daily needs for like firewood and weeding later, but not when you start from just a piece of raw land with winter on the way.