...trying my best

Slev · #1 08/08/06, 10:10 PM

Having had the demon little goats from hell in the past, I vowed to avoid them in the future, and have done so for several farming years. However, since we watched a friends goats over the winter and plan on keeping the one female nubianXboer, I'm finding it hard NOT to like her.

**mygoat** · #2 08/08/06, 10:47 PM

Haha, sounds like my dad. We had a large breed goat (I was too young to know or remember what kind, lol) named Gismo. It's sole purpose in life was to destroy our barn or anything else. We finally got rid of it to an add in the paper "free goats wanted" and my dad was forever destined to dispise goats. I was barely able to talk my dad into getting my first goat. The only reason I was able to is because I told my dad that I've always been on the honor roll, wasn't a bad kid, exc. But I was only supposed to have ONE. I got a pygmy doeling, and I named her Daisy. Well, Daisy got lonely so I talked dad into getting her a buddy, a pygmy wether... Now I've got (currently) 11 pygmy goats, though 3 are for sale/sold, and I am currently making arrangements with someone on this board for my adoption of one of thier nubian wethers... But anywho, my dad has secretly decided that he does like goats. And you should see my daddy grin when I say "Such and such had her babies today! come see!!" and he gets all exited and happy, and wants to hold them, its so funny. Whenever I complain about them he says "Hey, I'll go get my shotgun and we can have goatburger for dinner tonight!" and he says he hates them, but I've caught him in the pen more than once trying to get them to come over to him... and holding one of the babies once or twice.

kidsngarden · #3 08/09/06, 01:18 AM

I can't tell you how many times I have said the word goats with BLASTED in front of it! "Blasted goats ate my rasberries! Blasted goats in the chicken feed! Blasted goats wrecked the fence AGAIN!"

Then you are standing there in their pen, building "goatcatraz" so they can't get out and they come nuzzling you for a scratch and DARN IT! You like them again...

BLASTED GOATS!

kids

Shazza · #4 08/09/06, 05:48 AM

Kidding time every year sucks ya in to keepin them....of all the animals we have the Pugs and the Goats will always stay a part of our farm....

mary,tx · #5 08/09/06, 07:55 AM

I thought at first that you meant you started with bad goats and have managed to have nice ones since.

Some goats are, you know, much easier to manage than others. But what really makes a goat good is good fencing.

mary

Milking Mom · #6 08/09/06, 07:19 PM

Well said. And... good fences make for good neighbors, especially when one or both of you have goats.

Slev · #7 08/09/06, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mary,tx

I thought at first that you meant you started with bad goats and have managed to have nice ones since.

Some goats are, you know, much easier to manage than others. But what really makes a goat good is good fencing.

mary

...now see, what I think makes a goat good is a little bar-b-que sauce... just kidding, actually our 1st attempt with goats was a freebie that was lost in a storm and ended up in my mother-in-laws subdivison. So we kept it. Not sure at first what sex it was because it had horns we thought must be a male, then we figured out real quick, NOT a male as there wasn't a "package" dangling from the backside. So we named her Gotcha. We had her for a year or so. Then the following Mothers Day a volunteer where I work at offered me a male goat, FOR FREE!!! well hell, didn't take this scotsman decendant too long to think about that one. (a second free goat, hey this farming thing is gonna be slick -we're gonna get everything for free!!!!)

So I went to pick him up in my 1982 VW Vanagon, (stickshift) It took some adjustment, driving down the road, shifting gears and steering with one hand, while holding him by his massive set of horns with the other. Now, mothers day is in May, so as cool as it was there was no real reason to have the windows down, and once I started on this trek, I really didn't have a free hand to roll down a window, if you know what I mean.

Well, it only took about 3-5 minutes in that VW holding onto that goat to start to smell .....something. something horrible smelling, something unlike anything I had smelled before. (Thank God it was only about a 30 minute ride back to the farm) So getting out of the van, I presented her with the goat I got her for mothers day. I guess to explain the total situation, I don't want anyone to think I'm the type of guy who'd pick up a FREE gift for my wife, then turn around and give it to her. Truth is on Saturday I was at an auction and managed to pick up a Sears self-propelled, electric start lawn mower for only $45 WHAT A BARGAN...! when I got home Saturday, she said no way was she going to accept a lawn mower for a gift. (So now you see I HAD no choice than to pick up the goat.) I figured, if she wasn't going to mow, I needed some way to keep the grass down, thus the male goat...

unloading the new male goat from my van, I had no idea that it would take several weeks before the SMELL of him would leave my van.

Compairing the 2 goats side-by-side, it was clear that we now had a "breeding pair" of goats. The male had thick, heavy horns, a long and very smelly beard, and an enormous set of balls that almost dangled to the ground. All our little girl had was a thin set of horns and a twitchy tail.

So, time for introductions. For some reason she was not accepting to his very willing romantic behavour, as he pranced up along side of her and tried to rub his chin along her backside. Every time he'd prance along side her, she'd run off in another direction.

Now I consider myself a patient man, and enjoy a few beers after I get off work, but after several days of her playing hard to get, enough was enough. I curled my cans for the evening and walked out to the barn and held her by the horns so he could have a go with her. -Hey, if I'm now a farmer, then by God we WILL have some goat kids running around here I thought. And so, the deed was done. All I had to do was wait until kidding time, but how long is the gestation cycle?

We had a little of pups at the time and as luck should have it, a Veteranarian from the city called and wanted to check them out. Once we found out she was a Vet. I told her about our attempt at goat kidding and she offered to take a look to see how much longer we'd have to wait until our little Goatcha had her little babies.

And so, we put the puppies aside and walked back to the barn. I have to admit that I felt proud as we walked and talked along the path, that a Vet. from the city liked what she saw. It assured me that we did make the right decission to move out to the country and to buy a farm.

Maybe some of you can relate to this, but when you're young and you make big decissions, ....like buying a farm, or a car, or stuff like that you'd like to make sure you're making the right decissions. If my father was still alive, these are the big calls you'd like to seek reasurance on, so it was kinda nice to have a veteranarian commend you on your first farm. Lost in a little mental "at-a-boy" patting myself on the back, it took a moment for her words to sink in, I had to ask her to repeat herself please?

She said again, "This goat is not a female, ......it's a wither"

Suddenly, I had a knot in my gut and all I could offer her in responce was a blank look, while I thought back to my partisipation in a drunken goat sodomy barn brawl.

......to this day I have vowed not to drink and practice animal husbandry at the same time.

ps. the lady left, not giving a second look back nor further interest in the pups.

ozark_jewels · #8 08/10/06, 06:03 AM

Toooo funny!!!

Faithful Heart · #9 08/10/06, 06:42 AM

OMG!! That is SOOO funny! Absolutely killing me!!

That's one story I won't be forgetting any time soon.

kidsngarden · #10 08/10/06, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mary,tx

I thought at first that you meant you started with bad goats and have managed to have nice ones since.

Some goats are, you know, much easier to manage than others. But what really makes a goat good is good fencing.

mary

Ditto on the good fencing - I know that it's my own fault the buggers get out! Goatcatraz in working, BTW, but the pen is too small for foraging - so we let them out a few hours into our less than adequate fencing - with us out and about so we know when they get out! 3 hours is the maximum they can stand before getting into mischief so back into goatcatraz they go!

We start next week re-wiring the electric.

kids

mary,tx · #11 08/10/06, 01:10 PM

That is a really funny story. I guess I don't have to tell you to be sure you get does next time.

Giving a novice a buck and letting him drive it home in a VW

--that's just mean.
mary

kidsngarden · #12 08/10/06, 09:45 PM

Oh and Slev, I had a similar experience with pigs. I went to auction and went in a pen and picked out a nice young gilt, bid on and won her. But then these other pigs came out, really tiny - too small to be weaned, hadn't seen them in the stall earlier, so bought them without a thorough check out. I bought two barrows for a song. My husband joined me later for pick up and as the gal handed the piglets over to me I said, "see hon, there's our barrows, aren't they cute?" The lady gave me a funny look, but didn't say anything.

Now I had pigs at home. Much bigger pigs, a couple months shy of butchering. Got them at about six weeks old and they were still bigger than these little barrows. I had one girl and four boys. Just in case you don't get the anatomy. Girls pee and poop out the back, boys poop out the back and pee down below. Pretty obvious spouts on the girls.

But these little barrows were sick with the scours something terrible. I spent a good 2 or three days trying to figure out why they had scours so bad and why thier little penises were so swollen and so far to the middle of thier bodies...calling friends and vets - everything. I probably even posted here!

Turns out the penises were hernia's and they were gilts. They had scours so bad I couldn't tell the poop from the pee! After my AhA moment I could easily see the whole anatomy thing.

Felt pretty stupid. They both died.

not as good a story as yours. but I feel your pain!

kids

Slev · #13 08/14/06, 12:44 AM

yes, it seems I'm on a learning curve when it comes to farming. Another story was when my friends dad told me to ask for stump-broke cattle. I did, the seller choked on his tobbacco, I knew i had been had then. Hey, got to learn sometime...!

the mama · #14 08/21/06, 10:47 AM

LOL I did the same thing with rabbits. I had 2 females but one was agressive and would ride the other. I couldn't figure out why there were no kits, after I had 'bred' them three months in a row with no kits, a friend looked , laughed and pronounced both as female.