Lisa Maureen

Little Larry, the goat, is doing much better.

What really bothers me about this, is that the people I suspect own the offending dogs told me with their own mouths that their dogs brought down a young deer while they were hiking, and they have also killed several chickens in the neighbourhood. Talk about making waves!! I took pics of the goat up to the owners and said I had notified animal control, but I thought I would let them know about the incident myself...as a courtesy. Not even two weeks later, the same dogs were at my friend's homestead (at least a mile away)! It won't be long before they meet an untimely demise at the end of a barrel if they keep this up...

I guess they don't really give a crap about other people's livestock!

I don't really know why I posted these pics, maybe just as a PSA to show that it's not always fatal, but all dog owners, myself included, owe it to our neighbours to be courteous and control our animals. This poor little goat will be getting rain and flies in his ear for the rest of his life....okay, maybe just flies. I've yet to see my goats venture out in the rain

Lisa

Hey Permies,

I just wanted to post these pics of our goat after an encounter with what we suspect was the neighbour's dogs. We live in a predator-free area (an island) and Racoons are about the worst nuisance we have here for the chickens etc. It seems something got a hold on his ear through the fence and the wire eventually sliced it off. Although we did find the ear on the other side of the fence...

His tissue was so enflamed...it's much better now.




We improvised some bandages for a few days. Duct tape will solve almost any problem, or so it seems.

We also have a dog, and are sad that this happened because we love dogs and we love our goats as well. Plus to make matters worse, we are the new people in the area as well, so we are already "making waves" so to speak.

We are thinking about renaming him Vincent

Alison Freeth-Thomas wrote: mine hate it too, in fact won't eat their beloved grains if they're 'poisoned' with alfafa pellets! The sheep on the other hand just love them, though you have to be careful not to give them too much either.

thanks for this! And I will check into that blog as well.
Lisa

Thanks to you both for your suggestions and support! We are worming all animals on saturday, so if there are any internal parasites we'll take care of them then. I will mix some old hay with the new stuff and see about getting our tiny one to eat some of that rolled barley you mention. Good thing I have a friend on the island with a horse for the *new* bag of alfalfa cubes

Secretly, I love that goats are picky eaters, mostly because I love to watch them taste things and then dismiss them haughtily. Sometimes I cut some slash from around the property and the neighbour's ditches (scotch broom, salal, sword fern, blackberry) and weave it into the fence for a little fun while they are in the paddock...

Again, thanks for taking the time to lend a hand and reminding me to be patient,
Lisa

Hi all,

I wondered if anyone could give me some advice:

I have been kid-sitting some of my friend's goats (two doelings and a wether, nubian crosses) for a while now. They seem to be getting on just fine and the vet said they are the image of health. We recently acquired a new doeling, a Nubian. She is SKINNY! The reason she's been "sold" is because all they have is three strand electric fencing and she was a jail breaker for sure. So, I think they may have kept her in "jail" in the paddock. Jail was a little x-pen. I think, now that we have her, she's got a little muscle wasting, and she is really ribby.

Anyway, how do I best fatten her up? She won't eat goat text (that pellet, grain, corn mix), and today we tried alfalfa cubes. Nothing. She'll eat apples. And hay. And sword ferns. When we let her out for a browse the other day I don't think she knew what to do. She'll actually eat hay off the ground, something the other goats won't do. She grazes grass too.

Then, we bought some new hay, and none of the goats are keen on it.

So now I have four goats, three eat text, one who doesn't, they are shouting for different hay, don't eat alfalfa cubes and I don't know what to do to fatten the skinny one up!

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks Permies!
Lisa

Hey Permies,

Just stumbled upon this on the interwebz...What a fantastic idea for our out buildings, shelters etc that need a little light during the day but have no electricity to them.  And, it's a neat cause to help brighten up some homes in the favellas world wide.  Anyway, just thought I would share...

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-SOLAR-BOTTLE-BULB/
Lisa

Thanks for posting!  I really found it interesting and helpful as well - keep on going!  It looks good from here, and I hope you fix the smokeback issue.
Lisa