I am concerned about Peter's umbilical cord...it is still attached and almost as long as his legs...Should I try and somehow tie it off and remove the excess or should I just let it naturally fall off? also Momma goat did not full clean the goop off of the doeling and she is still "dirty"...should I try and clean her or will this interfere with momma recognizing her scent...the last thing I need on my plate is to cause a rejected goat and having to bottle raise it.
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Yup I am pretty handy with Photoshop ;)
We had kind of hoped to wait until after the shoots but need to think of the goats first, photos second.
It takes 3-4 weeks to get to the point where the disbudding scars are not terribly obvious, so March 2 isn't good. You're a creative photographer though! I'm sure you can figure out some good angles! :) And then there is always Photoshop!
Hubby is concerned about the fence thing...I have come home from church one day to find my Doe Deenie happily gobbling the acorns on the wrong side of the fence and my wether tangled up in the temp fencing with his spurs caught...scared the poop out of me.
We will possibly keep the boy intact to breed to Deenie and maybe other future unrelated Does...He is very handsome with his blue eyes and tricolor markings.
So far I am impressed with how caution our vet is with out goats...She is not in favor of banding and seems very knowledgeable in general about both goats and sheep (we will be adding ram lambs this spring and they will be our summer money crop)...and even had some very good informed advice about finding a guardian animal for our little farm.
How long does it take the debudding area to heal? I am doing Easter photoshoots on March 2nd and the babies are going to be the star attraction.
If the vet could not even feel the horn buds last week, odds are good that they are not very big at this point. We've done plenty of does at that age and never had a problem. Sounds like the buckling will be wethered, and if so, he probably won't have a problem with scurs. And even though you don't intend to ever sell the babies, plans can change, and goats without horns are much easier to sell. Horned goats do pose a risk to themselves and others. They can get caught in fences and hay feeders and wind up breaking their neck or being eaten by a predator. A ram lamb of ours was eaten by a coyote when he got his horns stuck in the fence for about the 100th time, and we weren't home to get him free. And we found an adult ram dead with his horns in the fence, so we're assuming he broke his neck.
Kelsie Aman said:
I had my vet come out last week to debud my babies but she was reluctant since at that point she could not even feel their buds yet and told me to call her when I could...I will be getting her back out this week because his are definately up and I can feel hers...I appreciate her erring on the side of caution being that they were so little when she saw them...I am concerned about them being 3 weeks old already...Should I just let them grow horns...besides being ugly do spurs pose any risk to the goats?...we do not intend to sell or show either of the new babies.
No, there wouldn't be enough of any medication in her milk to have a therapeutic effect, but if the kids were not born in a place with lots of fecal contamination, they'll be fine.
Have fun with your relatives. I'm sure the kids will be a big hit!
That is really good news on the debudding time because we have family coming from out of town Wed/Thurs and don't want to freak out the city (vegan) relatives by having the babies debudded while they are here...OMGosh can you imagine.
We decided to keep the Goat Chow that was medicated and the Doe is eating about a 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of that each night...will that be passed thru to the kids in the milk and help with the cocidia? (we are choosing to not milk this time)
There was not alot of poop in the area they were born just dirt where she tore up the grass giving birth in there...We have now sectioned off a small area next to the chicken yard and they are in a clean wooden goat/dog/feed house.
I wish my dog would go cower in the corner...he pushed open the back door and was tearing thru the side yard/field after the chickens this afternoon...he is not on pain meds anymore so is fully wired.
Sounds like you're doing fine. Even when I've had kids born in those icky situations, they didn't get an infection of the navel. The problem I have noticed, however, is that if there was a lot of poop in the area, they will have coccidia right about 3 weeks of age, which is how long the coccidia take to go through their life cycle, so if you see diarrhea at 3 weeks, that's probably it.
Bucks need to be disbudded by a week and does by two weeks, so you don't have to be in too big of a hurry.
Good luck with your dog! When ours had to wear the cone of shame, he hid in my daughter's closet the whole time! I think he felt really vulnerable and scared. It was sad!
Ok thnx...they were born in dirt under the playhouse...she kinda snookered me and went out to graze with the others at 9ish and then at 11 there was a baby goat running/stumbling around outside the playhouse in the grazing pen and she was inside with the second one.
I guess I will dip his just in case, whip her down to make her pretty and have the vet come Thursday....Momma though does not like to be touched herself is being very sweet about sharing her babies with me.
Trying to breath lol...I am also dealing with a blue heeler whom is going nuts with jealousy and acting out despite being in the cone of shame because he was neuted on the 24th.
Take a deep breath and relax! :) It's all fine! I quit dipping cords years ago. Unless the kids were born in a very dirty area -- as in, literally dirt or feces or mud -- the umbilical cord is fine. The kids don't need to be disbudded before your vet gets back, so you're good there. As for cleaning at this point, you can use a wet washcloth to wipe off any gunk. In the future, have towels ready to clean off the kids when they're born. The mom doesn't know what they smell like until they're born, so she won't be upset by you toweling them off.
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