When did you . . . (sort-of poll)

GoatGirl123 · #1 09/13/14, 10:44 AM

start doing the things below? We still haven't really worked up the courage to do most of them.

Trim your goat's hooves? (We STILL have to have someone else come do it, and we've had goats for two years! Well -- I did it once, only once.)

Give your goats shots? (UG. We can't bear it. We've done it few times in urgent situations, but we much prefer having other people do it.)

Have a doe kid at your farm? (At least we're okay with this one. First time was June 2013, one year after we got our first goats, and now we've done it three more times!)

Anyone can answer! Feel free to add more of your own to the list!

msscamp · #2 09/13/14, 10:52 AM

I have always given shots to my goats, and kidded them out on my place. My first time trimming feet was this past summer - prior to that I used a farrier(cost me $5.00/head) because I have arthritis in my hips and have a hard time bending over for any length of time. I discovered The Electric Hoof Knife last spring, and it really works well! I haven't gotten trimming down to 5 minutes per goat, but I'm getting close!

**mygoat** · #3 09/13/14, 11:03 AM

I grew up owning goats, my family had nothing to do with it. I've done all the goat stuff from day one. Generally if you want other people to do it, they don't do it right or when you need it done. Though, it took 3 years to have the first kid born because dad was against more goats... finally convinced him to get a buck, lol. Those first kids WOULD Have been born here if they weren't stuck, they ended up born on my dad's truck tailgate at the vet's. :P After that I learned how to fix birthing problems and every kid after that were born here, and I've never lost a doe or a kid in birth.

ETA: Someone helped teach me how to trim hooves once, but other than that it was a lot of reading about how to do stuff and looking at pictures. I had nobody to teach me how to assist kiddings, or disbud, or give shots... But, I'm the person who can read and read and read about it, and then do it sucessfully.

yarrow · #4 09/13/14, 11:14 AM

we moved to the country after a lifetime in the city 11 years ago.. we moved to the boondocks (I bought my first goats.. 4 nubians.. online before we closed on the farm).. picked them up within a week of moving here (as soon as the fence was up).. gave CD&T (simple sub-q.. didin't need to do an IM shot on anyone for a few months).. and wormed them the day I got them.. trimmed hooves that first week too.. (was rather clueless.. just took it slow and easy a little bit at a time).. we picked them up in aug.. had our first kid (a BIG single buckling.. that I had to help pull .. home alone of course LOL)..just barely 5 1/2 months after getting the goats.. I just had to make up my mind that if I was going to have goats.. I was going to have to take care of them myself.. (even all the poking and jabbing stuff).. had another HT forum member disbud for me that first year.. I watched and learned.. bought my own disbudder and did my first kids my 2nd kidding season (practiced on the bucklings... just in case I burned holes thru their heads or something.. happy to report.. everyone survived just fine)

susie

GoatGirl123 · #5 09/13/14, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yarrow

had our first kid (a BIG single buckling.. that I had to help pull .. home alone of course LOL)..

Our first was a huge buckling too, but we didn't need to pull him thankfully! He did take half an hour of the doe pushing though.

CAjerseychick · #6 09/13/14, 01:57 PM

Hmmmm I did a bit of trimming early in the summer on 2 of my 3 goats then(now 4)- they need more, am thinking more to hire someone (saw ad in Craiglist) after I get more hours (more cash) at work....
Have yet to do anyof the other things yet- despite having a buck since last Oct (long story we replaced him)... no kids...
and have vitB ready to give IM but goat got better on his own so didnt need to, vet is coming out anyway and since its a drive for her, I just let her do the shots and its alittle more worth her while to do the herd check...

paintpony · #7 09/13/14, 02:46 PM

trimmed hooves when I first got goats 15 years ago. gave shots that same year. the following year at their first kidding. pulled my first kid three years later when a second freshener had quads.

vancom · #8 09/13/14, 05:44 PM

but I HATE disbudding. It's the worst! This winter my DD and I are going to buy a microscope and what-not and learn about worms as a homeschooling project. Well, the whole semester will be spent on learning things like genetics, but the worm thing interests us the most. Nothing like a little science to spice things up!

MDKatie · #9 09/13/14, 08:14 PM

Not a goat, but same thing in this case. I got my first 4-H lamb just before I turned 11. Learned how to trim hooves and give vaccines on that lamb. First lambs and kids born on our place about 4 years later...because for a few years we just bought lambs each year, and sold them at the fair.

LearningLife · #10 09/13/14, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoatGirl123

start doing the things below? We still haven't really worked up the courage to do most of them.

Trim your goat's hooves? (We STILL have to have someone else come do it, and we've had goats for two years! Well -- I did it once, only once.)
We've done this since we got our first goats about four years ago.

Give your goats shots? (UG. We can't bear it. We've done it few times in urgent situations, but we much prefer having other people do it.)
All the shots they've gotten since we got them have been done by me or DH.

Have a doe kid at your farm? (At least we're okay with this one. First time was June 2013, one year after we got our first goats, and now we've done it three more times!)
Our first kid came about 4 months after we got our first goats. One of our does came as a package deal - we got her and the kid she was carrying. That kid has kidded twice since then.

Anyone can answer! Feel free to add more of your own to the list!

I guess you could say we jumped right into the deep end when we got started. Hooves, shots, horns, kids, banding...all of it happens right here. We've asked a lot of questions and done a lot of research and are terrified with each new skill, but it has all worked out so far.

Frosted Mini's · #11 09/14/14, 12:10 AM

I kind of am a cheater because I did a lot of stuff in vet tech school, so had a basic knowledge and comfort level for this kind of stuff. I actually learned hoof trimming in school and my first injection at all to any species was actually a goat!! We had a voluntary weekend rotation to various goat farms where we gave shots and hoof trimmed.

My first kidding was a surprise, about 2 months after I got my first goats, in -20 degree weather! I luckily figured out she was pregnant before the babies were born and all was well. I can't remember who my first kids I pulled were, but people around me like to call me as a goat midwife.

wintrrwolf · #12 09/14/14, 06:54 AM

I am with Nancy on this, I did a lot of this stuff working at veternarian hospital's. Though I still hate disbudding don't think I will get over that one.
In the clinic's I was known as the fecal queen, I loved looking for parasites and seeing all the interesting things on slide...

Awnry Abe · #13 09/14/14, 07:49 AM

Right out of the gates when I first had goats. I thought everyone did it on their own, and just picked up a YouTube video or two and went at it.

Doug Hodges · #14 09/17/14, 04:59 AM

Been pulling calves since I could walk. Helped with vaccinations since I could walk. Helped castrate pigs since I could walk. Helped milk cows since I could walk. Dad sold all the cows and bought goats when I was 12. We had boer mostly but also had Angora and the occasional Nubian or ? For milk. We brought them in the house when it was to cold outside for the newborns. We nursed sick ones back to health. My advantage was growing up on a farm. I watched you tube videos for trimming hoofs and I asked 1 zillion questions. (Nubians aren't like Boers)

http://www.spottednubian.com/index.html

southerngurl · #15 09/18/14, 08:50 AM

I did all those from the start (well, my mom who is an RN helped with shots and taught me). The one thing I did not do and still do not do is disbudding after 8 years lol. I already had hoofcare experience with horses, so trimming a goat was not a big deal. It's actually OK if you hit blood? LOL, in a horse it's a grand offense and you have screwed up royally.

**mygoat** · #16 09/18/14, 08:54 AM

I first disbudded when I was 15 or 16 years old I think... I had nobody to teach me so I read and read on here and looked at pictures... tried it out on the bucklings first. The bucklings got little scurs but the doelings were pretty good. After that I did figure 8 burns on bucklings. Its not fun but once you do it a few times it's not so bad.

Pony · #17 09/19/14, 04:26 PM

Kind of like Yarrow, I grew up in The City, then Duh Burbs. Finally got out to my own farm when I hit the big 5-0, and hit the ground running.

I did have a leg up, as it were, because I worked as a tech in a small animal practice back in the Dark Ages. So I do shots, draws, fecals (oh, yeah, wintrrwolf: parasites are fascinating!), pulling kids and lambs (unless there's a mummy blocking the path; thank God for Emily!)

Nick does our hooves, though, because he is WAY better at it than I.

Tim D Pruitt · #18 09/19/14, 05:04 PM

Well I have had goats since a boy. You learned very quickly if you were going to own them, you would have to take care of them. Vet bills can make goats way too expensive. I have never minded hoof trimming as I always thought it kind of fun.

For the newbie, the catalog from Caprine Supply has some illustrations and some helpful hints on goat keeping.

Tim D. Pruitt
Pruittville Nubians
701 Pruittville Dr. Haynesville, LA 71038
(318) 927-6283
http://www.pruittvillefarms.com
Check out our video promo for our farm

GoldenWood Farm · #19 09/19/14, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by southerngurl

I did all those from the start (well, my mom who is an RN helped with shots and taught me). The one thing I did not do and still do not do is disbudding after 8 years lol. I already had hoofcare experience with horses, so trimming a goat was not a big deal. It's actually OK if you hit blood? LOL, in a horse it's a grand offense and you have screwed up royally.

I don't disbud either! 12 years of goats and I still can't disbud

. My friend does all that for me, it helps her out the way of money and I don't have to worry about frying heads! I help hold and what not I just am afraid of frying the brain on a kid.

Everything else I do myself

.

Justine

SJSFarm · #20 09/20/14, 07:37 AM

I've done my own trimming, shots, and kidding (only one doe needed help and she and the kids would have died without the vet pulling).

I had my vet use a burdizzo on two males, but I had to redo one on my own. On a side note, the vet borrowed my burdizzo to use on others farms and everyone was happy!

I am planning on getting a microscope for my own fecals. I also want to learn how to draw blood.

This next kidding season, I'll be doing my own disbudding. Scares me, but I have to do it.