One draw back to having a lot of goats

dosthouhavemilk · #1 08/25/10, 03:39 PM

All those hooves to trim!
I managed to trim hooves on 41 does (including a doeling) yesterday. Which is not even half of the mature does we own.
I am certainly feeling it today!

I need to get through the rest! Thankfully, some of the worst hooves were in those 41. Hoof rot has been a big issue for those in this area this year. Even with Copper Bolusing, we are still seeing issues with it. It would be far worse though if we didn't bolus, I am sure.

KimM · #2 08/25/10, 04:06 PM

Oh Roseanna, I'm sorry! Is that why you called yesterday for some help? You should have asked me anyway.

FunnyRiverFarm · #3 08/25/10, 04:14 PM

Holy Moly! That's an insane number of hooves to trim!

BethW · #4 08/25/10, 04:19 PM

I think about this every time I trim my three goats. How you all with large herds do it, I just don't know

dosthouhavemilk · #5 08/25/10, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KimM

Oh Roseanna, I'm sorry! Is that why you called yesterday for some help? You should have asked me anyway.

Nope. Didn't call about that. Well, I was wondering when y'all might make it out for a visit again, but I was more wanting to know how you were doing and get your opinion on the soaping class.
I had not figured on doing that many. I had just figured on tackling part of one group, but they weren't that bad (thank you sandy soil!). So I just kept going.
I'm headed back out now to try and finish up the 2nd Groups hooves and tackle the bucks hooves (again). That will leave the barn group, the five goats in the Blue Goose Pen and this year's doelings.

CountryGoalie · #6 08/25/10, 04:24 PM

Wow... and I thought our ~20 (to be honest, I'm not certain exactly how many my mother has right now...

) was a lot to trim! And some of them are young'ns....

RedSonja · #7 08/25/10, 04:30 PM

Wow. And I thought my back hurt after just trimming hooves on 3 does the other day... Thanks for the sobering thought on limiting herd size.

-Sonja

PotBellyPigs · #8 08/25/10, 06:08 PM

Have you ever thought about putting a gravel road down the middle of your pasture, so that maybe some of your goats might wear some hoof off?
I have 2 Saanen does, 1 Alpine doe, Two bucks(Saanen, Kiko/Boer cross), 2 Nigerian dwarf bucks, 1 Nigerian doe, and 1 Pygmy doe.
I could not even imagine cutting 41 hooves........

dosthouhavemilk · #9 08/25/10, 07:02 PM

Just polished off another 24 does/bucks. Did not do the main buck herd. Just Rocky, the intact dud, and Remmington, the Fullblood Boer. The Blue Goose Pen is done.
So that's 65 goats in two days. I really did do all the trimming myself. I had help catching about a dozen of the goats though.
65 goats means 260 sets of hooves. 520 individual toes.

In reality, most of the goats are lucky if they get trimmed once a year. If I keep going at this pace, it will likely be the first year all the mature animals have had their hooves trimmed at least once in at least a decade. Our soil is such that most are worn down nicely. With them out on 80 acres it helps. We also have a cement slab climbing area at the barn pen, so they can wear some down that way.
Normally I trim the goats with obvious need of it and let the rest go.

Now it is off to worm another friend's herd, along with giving her kids their CD/T shots. Then I need to soap three batches and then I can go to sleep.

SilverFlame819 · #10 08/25/10, 07:07 PM

WOW. Back when I was raising dairy goats that was the WORST backbreaking job ever!! I've been reading recently that there are lots of people who do it right after milking, when the goat is still in the stanchion, on a rotating schedule, so the hooves stay nice and short and easy to trim. I suppose that would work well if you had a small herd you milked in raised stanchions, but not so great if you had a commercial operation where they filed in to be milked side by side...

HappyFarmer · #11 08/25/10, 07:26 PM

Wow, you did good! I can only handle trimming about 10 to 12 goats at a time. After that my back just can't take it any more.
I can't imagine trimming 41 all at once!

HF

garyh141 · #12 08/25/10, 09:53 PM

I just can't imagine that many. We do half of ours one day and the other half another day. My back also hurts by the time we're done for the day. We have Nigerians, so that is a lot easier, but I've found that putting them UP on something so they are my level helps. They are either on the milk stand (and I sit next to them) OR they are on the home made dog house which is perfect height for ME! We live in Missouri so we have rocky soil, but we still check every 4 to 6 weeks. This past hoof trimming was only 3-1/2 weeks ago and they already need trimming. I either didn't do a good enough job (hubby usually trims and I hold) OR with it being soooooo dry OR I cut them in the wrong signs (like hair cuts in the signs -- sometimes it grows fast, sometimes slow).
Sandra

ozark_jewels · #13 08/25/10, 10:00 PM

Yes, I remember that......LOL!! When we were milking the commercial herd, I would trim 40-50 at a time as they came through the barn. I'd mark each doe as I trimmed her, so I could do the rest the next day(or whenever my back and hands recovered). Fun days!!

Good for you for getting so many in two days! Have fun!!

Oat Bucket Farm · #14 08/25/10, 11:26 PM

My mother sits in a lawn chair and holds the goats and I sit on a garden stool and do their feet. When I'm done with one side we just turn the goat around to face the other way. Very easy on the back.

Slugmar · #15 08/26/10, 12:22 AM

with big herds you need a table....

This is my sister and dad him or I just sit down as we run them into the table flip them on there side and done in 5 min.

One draw back to having a lot of goats - Goats

One draw back to having a lot of goats - Goats

Currently I'm trimming 32 goats at my place once a month and I have started picking up some clients my son and I did 70 goats yesterday in about 8 hours that including travel time from the time I left my drive way till the time I got back to my drive way.

Table makes it really easy.

dosthouhavemilk · #16 08/26/10, 10:14 AM

Wow. That table would make a huge difference!
There are a lot of contraptions we are finding would be useful to own at this point to make working goats easier. A chute system being the biggest one. For now, we just have them in a catch pen and catch as we can. Kim has actually helped. It could be far worse (and has been in the past).
The barn pen is going to be the hardest to do by myself. That is why it has been put off until last. Too many things they can run around to get away from me.
I'll probably talk dad into helping me with that pen.....unless Kim wants to come over. :smiley-laughing013:
Unfortunately, any extra money needs to go towards fencing and buildings. So we make do with what we have and what we can create.

KimM · #17 08/26/10, 01:48 PM

Oh ya know I will but have to do it on DH's day off so he can "puppy-sit". I'll call you with his schedule.
We really should have worked something out on that Goat Worker. What a time and back-saver that would have been for you. There's one on Craig's List!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dosthouhavemilk

Wow. That table would make a huge difference!
There are a lot of contraptions we are finding would be useful to own at this point to make working goats easier. A chute system being the biggest one. For now, we just have them in a catch pen and catch as we can. Kim has actually helped. It could be far worse (and has been in the past).
The barn pen is going to be the hardest to do by myself. That is why it has been put off until last. Too many things they can run around to get away from me.
I'll probably talk dad into helping me with that pen.....unless Kim wants to come over. :smiley-laughing013:
Unfortunately, any extra money needs to go towards fencing and buildings. So we make do with what we have and what we can create.

CaliannG · #18 08/26/10, 01:49 PM

I was just examining hooves yesterday, and trying to decide if I want to bless or curse the soil here.

Curse: Hard to plow, hard to cultivate, hard to grow ANYTHING in. The stuff is mostly clay, sand and gravel (Great bricks! Bad gardens!), and the amount of backbreaking hauling I have to do to try and improve a garden plot is rather depressing.

Blessing: It does grow all of the goats favorite weeds and saplings, and, it seems, does wonders for hooves. I trimmed about a month or so before we moved down here, and it has been 2 months since the move....and the only goat that needs even the slightest trim is the new girl that I got a couple of weeks ago. Even so, she needs LESS of a trim than she did the day I got her home. I wonder if by this weekend, when I plan on tackling everyone's trimming, worming, etc., needs, if I will need to trim anyone at all.

I guess that is the silver lining behind my soil cloud?