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You guys have days like this too?

2K views 16 replies 15 participants last post by  Quint 
#1 ·
Anyone had a day like this?

We had a bad storm go through our place last night. We went out this morning and found 12 out of 18 pullets dead. They are a couple months old, and were in their own place. I suppose they just got cold or scared and piled. Then, when we went out to check on the pasture animals, one of our goats is dead. :waa: We couldn't figure out what in the world had happened to it. Shortly thereafter we see one of our horses running around with one of our other goats IN HIS MOUTH! What the heck is with that horse?? I'm not sure, but I now wonder if that's not what killed the other one. Why would a horse do this? He's been in this pasture with these goats since he was less then a year old and never had I seen him do this.

So, now I have to order new buff orpington hatching eggs or chicks. (Anyone have good quality hatching eggs to sell?) And I have to call the mink farm down the road to come get my dead goat. Then I have to do something with that horse so he doesn't kill all the other goats. :no:

Ever have a day when you just ask yourself if it's all worth it?
 
#3 ·
A neighbor of mine got a Donkey to guard his Sheep,it killed a bunch of them,bit them on the back of the neck and shook them.

That old on your Pullets they should have been ok,they may have gotten too cold.

big rockpile
 
#4 ·
wow!! that's rough. but it can be a learning experience. did you chicks drown by any chance? i lost my first ones like that. had a tarp over them, and the tarp filled with water and collapsed, drowing almost all of them. i never have heard of a horse killing goats, tho. that is weird!
 
#5 ·
I never have had a day like that, and hope I don't! What a hard thing!

Cheryl in SD
thequeensblessing said:
Anyone had a day like this?

We had a bad storm go through our place last night. We went out this morning and found 12 out of 18 pullets dead. They are a couple months old, and were in their own place. I suppose they just got cold or scared and piled. Then, when we went out to check on the pasture animals, one of our goats is dead. :waa: We couldn't figure out what in the world had happened to it. Shortly thereafter we see one of our horses running around with one of our other goats IN HIS MOUTH! What the heck is with that horse?? I'm not sure, but I now wonder if that's not what killed the other one. Why would a horse do this? He's been in this pasture with these goats since he was less then a year old and never had I seen him do this.

So, now I have to order new buff orpington hatching eggs or chicks. (Anyone have good quality hatching eggs to sell?) And I have to call the mink farm down the road to come get my dead goat. Then I have to do something with that horse so he doesn't kill all the other goats. :no:

Ever have a day when you just ask yourself if it's all worth it?
 
#6 ·
thequeensblessing said:
Anyone had a day like this?
Ever have a day when you just ask yourself if it's all worth it?
So sorry! We have all had unforseen things hit us out of the blue..I wondered about the horse being a stud or if its just a younster "feeling his oats"..aggression towards smaller animals does show in certain horses..just have to seperate the animals when they do this..Usually it is stud behavior or a lone horse...I have seen donkeys kill sheep & goats so kind of feel sorry for inexperienced folks trusting them to guard their sheep/goats..best to have them corraled at night for safety than have them at pasture ..
Don't give up !! GrannieD
 
#7 ·
We had an old horse, and we had dairy goats in the same pasture. When the goats kidded, one of the young males (He didn't get to be a buck) ate with the horse out of the same bucket. This old horse tolerated this for nearly six months, and I was rather bemused by that, as the horse could be cranky.

One day, while out at the barn feeding the critters, I had put the horse's feed in his bucket then turned around. I heard a horrible goat scream and whirled around just in time to see that horse had the goat by the back of the neck. He then flung him about 15 feet away and calmly went back to eating his feed.

I was absolutely amazed that the horse was able to do that, and also rather amused. That young kid had begun to be obnoxious, and I figure he had decided HE was the boss of the feed bucket. Let me tell you - that goat never ever bothered that horse again. (And he wasn't injured, just seriously chastised.) Horse didn't bother the other goats - ever.
 
#8 ·
When I read this my first thought was exactly what Grannie said. This is typical stud behavior. If this is an intact stud, you need to whoop his little knackers off.

A good stud makes a great gelding.
 
#9 ·
Indeed I have, I can sympathize. A while back I had a freak accident where the wind blew down a seemingly healthy tree and smashed my chicken coop. The tree didn't actually kill too many of my chickens but some stray dogs someone had dumped took advantage of the situation and killed every single chicken I had. 26 chickens and only maybe 4 or 5 were killed by the actual tree impact but the dogs killed the rest of them.

Yeah, it is worth it but after a day like yours it can be really hard to see the point. You just have to take a deep breath, put one foot in front of the other and realize that these problems are much better to have than city problems. I may have lost my chicken coop but if I were living in the city I could have had my place robbed by crackheads and while I may have lost my chickens to stray dogs, at least I could shoot them. You can't shoot the filthy bums who urinate and defecate on the sidewalk and aggressively panhandle/threaten you while you're trying to get to work.

The next day I had a pretty pink sunrise peeking through the trees and the birds singing and even the chicken coop disaster didn't seem so bad when I had the beauty of God's handiwork around me.
 
#10 ·
Yep sure have.See the other post about going on vacation.The last time we left for 4 days all h-ll broke loose here.Hog gate left open,and cow running down the road.Nothing like a phone call that went like this......So how do you fix the lawn from your hogs tearing it up and oh by the way we cant find your cow.In those 4 days we lost more animals then we had in 2 years,the died either because of lack of water or just plain dumb moves.
 
#11 ·
thequeensblessing said:
Anyone had a day like this?

We had a bad storm go through our place last night. We went out this morning and found 12 out of 18 pullets dead. They are a couple months old, and were in their own place. I suppose they just got cold or scared and piled. Then, when we went out to check on the pasture animals, one of our goats is dead. :waa: We couldn't figure out what in the world had happened to it. Shortly thereafter we see one of our horses running around with one of our other goats IN HIS MOUTH! What the heck is with that horse?? I'm not sure, but I now wonder if that's not what killed the other one. Why would a horse do this? He's been in this pasture with these goats since he was less then a year old and never had I seen him do this.

So, now I have to order new buff orpington hatching eggs or chicks. (Anyone have good quality hatching eggs to sell?) And I have to call the mink farm down the road to come get my dead goat. Then I have to do something with that horse so he doesn't kill all the other goats. :no:

Ever have a day when you just ask yourself if it's all worth it?
Hi tqb;
Sorry about what happened to your pullets, goats and your horse going crazy. I guess the lightening spooked him. I have a dog that bolts whenever there is lightening, He doesn't come when he's called and acts as though he doesn't know anyone.
I did wake up one morning to find ALL my chickens and ducks dead. They'd had their throats punctured. I was in college at the time (double major chemistry and biology) I asked my favorite professor, a zoologist about it. He said it sounded like a weasel. The predator had killed just for the sake of killing. It was a gruesome sight. Quite disorienting and disheartening. All the work and expense but more importantly the poor animals did not deserve to be slaughtered. Nature can be cruel.
It may not seem like it now but it is worth it. Independence and self-reliance have a high price tag sometimes.
So sorry about your troubles. Hope your horse and goat are okay.
tamilee
 
#12 ·
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{HUG}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}​

Things will get better, but in the meantime, it feels SO crummy. I'm so sorry to hear about your animals, and I hope things pick up really soon!

Pony!
 
#13 ·
Last spring we had aboiut a week of that. Seemed every morning I would find the new day old kids dead or almost dead. I had them enclosed with their mom. I finally figured that we had a rat problem and the females were trying to paw at the rats. Instead they were knocking the 1 day olds in the head. Lost 17 kids that way.
It is worth it, what would be the alternative.
steff
 
#14 ·
The children came in this morning saying that something was wrong with their two pet rabbits. They were both dead. They were put back in an outside cage two weeks ago. Dumb, in hindsight. The wind was blowing strong. It got down to 34 last night after being 80 last week.

The menagerie is too big.

I'll have them read your posts.
 
#16 ·
We bury everything in the woods. I do not like to throw any animal in the trash, eagles tend to eat them and then the birds die from the biuld up of gases in the flesh. If they get dug up int the woods I do not mind. I also do not have small children.
steff
 
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