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Offline Natalie

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My New Baby Goats
« on: February 15, 2010, 11:01:36 pm »
I have had computer problems so was offline for a couple of weeks, it felt like forever and its taking me all night to get caught up on all these threads but its good to be back.
It wasn't to bad because I had something to keep me busy while the computer was down.

I bought some goats last month and am having a ball with them!
I am soooo excited I seriously cannot stand it!

I have been considering goats for a long while and talked to the town about getting the permit for them, had the inspector come out and look at the yard and see if I have the room and all that.
My yard is totally fenced in and we had housing for them so we got the okay.
I also talked to a livestock vet about it and she graciously stopped by my house to check out my yard and give me advice on housing requirements,feed and care so I felt good about our decision.
I lurked on some goat forums, read some books, talked to other goat owners and decided to take the plunge.
We decided to build a goat house and add a fenced in pen around that so that they can hang out in there if I want them to or I can open the gate and let them out into the yard.

Anyway, I got a pregnant Nigerian Dwarf and a Pygmy goat.
I wanted a pregnant goat so that I can get my hands on the babies right away and make them as friendly as possible and to also have the milk to make yogurt, kefir, cheese, soap etc.
So my wish came true, while I was at the farm picking up my girls
She is a hair sheep and does not need to be sheared, she is orange and black with catlike eyes.
So I had Lilly the Pygmy goat, Annabelle the Sheep and Tess the pregnant Nigerian.
I brought them home and they have been a barrel of fun every minute and I love getting that millk.
Who ever thought I would be milking a goat someday?

The people I bought them from are hardcore organic and do not vaccinate or medicate their animals so just to be on the safe side I had the vet come by and give everyone a check up and have them tested.
She thought they looked great and took some blood to test for CAE/ CL and Johnes disease.
It was really important for me to know if they had anything like that.
All of the tests came back negatvie and she has declared them the picture of health.

So last week my Tess kidded and gifted me with gorgeous twins, a buckling who I will have whethered and a doeling who is so sweet I can't stand it.
They look completely different from eachother which is really cool and makes my little herd even more diverse.
The boy has the exact color and markings of their mother, black, tan and white with brown eyes and the girl looks just like her dad and is the blackest black with white frosted ears and nose and blue eyes.
Their personalities are as different as their looks.
She is quiet and cuddly and he is a loudmouth momma's boy who screams like you are killing him if you pick him up when he is hanging out with mama. He is a handful and cracks me up.
He will cuddle but it has to be when he feels like it, such as in when he is not trying to perfect his leap onto his mother's back.
We named them Roxie and Ratchet (which my 7 year old son got from a video game and insisted was a great name for a goat) it meant so much to him so I figured what the heck.
I happened to be home for the birth and she had an extremely easy time of it but she has done it before.
I swear if I blinked I would have missed it.
The vet has came out after and inspected everyone and dubbed them very healthy so I guess I am good to go.
I also had some new chicks hatch the same day the goats were born so there are alot of babies around this house.
I linked my  photobucket album to this post if you want to see pictures of the new additions.
The first goats we got are on the first page and the new babies are on the second.


http://s679.photobucket.com/albums/vv153/natalierosepeterson/?start=0

Offline JP

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2010, 01:17:08 am »
What this world needs is more cute goats! I cannot show your pics to my wife Nat, or we'll wind up getting some and then I'll never be able to leave the house.

Your goats are darlings!


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Offline Natalie

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2010, 11:15:27 am »
Thanks Jp, don't worry about your wife, YOU won't want to leave the house!

Offline Shawn

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2010, 12:38:56 pm »
I dont think Ive ever seen goats that small before. I had to take my dog to the vest the other day and the vets wife raises goats. I think she had about 10 baby goats, not as small as yours, but they sure liked to be around people. What are baby goats called, Kids?

Offline Natalie

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2010, 02:14:41 pm »
I am not sure where the name orginally came from but when a goat gives birth it is called a kidding so they refer to the offspring as kids but I have no idea where kidding came from.
They use the same type of terminolgy with sheep and call it lambing and the offspring lambs.
They are little things aren't they. They are only a few minutes old in those pictures.
I actually expected them to be even smaller since I have only ever raised puppies from birth and they were tiny but the goats are still small.
Mine are the dwarf nigerians so maybe the ones the vet's wife raises are the full size goats.
You can see in the pictures how big the adult goats get when they are the dwarf variety.
They are so much fun to have around and I seem to be getting the hang of milking.

Offline Cindi

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2010, 10:09:10 pm »
Oh Natalie, you maka me smile.  You are that chicken, goat, kid (child), everything mamma!!!  That is so cool and I am so happy for you.  I looked at the pictures of your new children, smiling, and you are gonna have a whole lotta fun with all the little new things in your life.  I am wondering where on earth you are putting everything.  For some reason, I always thought that you had a small yard, now I am thinking that you like live on 100 acres, smiling.  How big is your place anyways?  I really want to know now.  I know that you are a woman that keeps things in order and I bet my bottom dollar that you have things set up -- just right.  Love it, love to hear your stories too, they are always so interesting and love to hear what you are up to.  Have that wonderful day, full of the best health, with love.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Natalie

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2010, 11:57:22 pm »
Hi Cindi, thanks a bunch!
Yup, I do have just a regular ol yard, no acres but it is set up so that I make the most of my yard and it works really well.
I have the vegetable garden, the beehives, the chicken coop and the goat shed along the borders of my yard and the middle is pretty open.
To the left of the yard is where we have the barbecue pit, picnic table, wood swing and all that stuff, its where we hang out. That part is higher than the rest of the yard so its kind of a seperate area for entertaining or hanging out.
The kids ride their bikes all over the yard and its completely fenced in to keep everyone safe and contained.
The weather will be getting better and I will take some pictures of the yard for you so you can get a better idea of what I am trying to describe.
By then it will be time to update pictures of the goat kids anyway, they grow so fast.
I love having them, the babies jump up on their momma's back and see how long they can balance there for. They take turns doing it over and over and she just stands there completely unfazed by the whole thing.
I have some new chickens coming soon. The director of the science department for our school district called me yesterday to see if he could get some fertile eggs to hatch for the classrooms and he told me he had some beautiful chicks hatch from the last batch I gave him.
I give him the fertile eggs, he hatches them with the classrooms and then he gives them back to me.
A teacher introduced us last year because he was going to give up the hatching lessons for the schools because he said the eggs were gettting too  costly to purchase and then he also had trouble getting homes for all the chicks after the hatch.
The teacher thought of me because she knows we raise chickens and thought we could maybe help him out.
I was glad to do it, the kids really enjoy that experience and I don't want them to miss out on it and then I get the chicks back anyway. I keep some and I give some away if someone is looking for  chicks.
Its a good deal all around.
The ones he is bringing back are french black copper marans, frizzles and olive eggers.
He also has one that is an easter egger x cochin cross that is beautiful.
I have a gorgeous blue cochin rooster and he throws some pretty babies, I love the way the offspring look with these types of crosses.

I have some turkey eggs coming early next week and I had planned to incubate them but I may just give them to him to incubate.
I have never tried incubating turkey eggs before and he has one of those professional ones that holds hundreds of eggs, he told me that I could drop eggs in his incubator any time I want.
Have you ever incubated turkey eggs? I wonder if they are trickier than hatchig chicken eggs.

Offline Cindi

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2010, 12:13:26 am »
Oh Natalie, you have painted a nice picture.  But I still think that you must have a very large yard, things do take up room.  Can't wait until you give some great pictures of all your critters and the set up.

Who is the blue  Cochin breeding with?  I would love to hear that.  I love my blue Cochins, I also have blacks too.  I have been breeding them and coming up with some very beautiful blues, splashes and blacks.  Also have some browns that have appeared.  Studying about the brown gene and am going to enter a breeding program to try and breed the chocolate coloured Cochin, one day, some where down the line.  It will take quite a while, but is a remote possibility of having brown cochins eventually.  That is what I have been up to, studying, and studying and studying and time on my farm, makes for a very busy and swamped life.  Not much time here for my forum friends, and miss you all. 

Isn't that just ding dang cool about the incubation of the hatching eggs you release, coooooool!!! (and then get the babies back, right on!!!).  I love the black copper Marans.  My girlfriend breeds them and I think that one day I will get into that breed too.  Not just because of the colour of the eggs, but those Marans are beautiful birds.  Her rooster is probably one of the most beautiful roosters I have ever laid my eyes on. She is up to some interesting stuff that I will be assisting her one day with, we are going to be like partners in developing the Lavender Orpington. She has the breeding bunch.  But as it is such a new colour, the work needs to be done on getting the size and shape of the Orpington more developed.  Let me tell ya, they are incredible. She also has a blue Orpington rooster, what a massive thing.  Looks almost like the blue Cochin, without as much fluffy feathers (and of course clean legged).  She also has Barnvelder, I really like that too, and may add that to my flock, one fine day.  Keep telling of life on your farm, I love it!!!  Beautiful days, spring is coming, life is wonderful, great health.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #8 on: March 08, 2010, 09:34:16 pm »
I had my old nanny goat kid on the 3rd, about 5 pm so it was still light enough to see what was happening.
The cute little doeling is solid mahogany except for 3 white splotches; a white tail, with a Letter M and a Letter Y on her right hip.  We call her MY.
My grandkids played with the temp control on the incubator so the duck eggs didn't hatch and in the mean time Mrs. Duck has flown away again.
I'm going to be setting so Red bourbon Turkey eggs come the weekend, along with a dozen or so selected chicken eggs.  See what the resulting Jersey Giant/Australorp cross will do.  The thing I like about turkeys is the incubation time is the same as for chickens so they can be together from incubation to the dinner table. 
The Red Bourbon Toms are broad breasted while the hens aren't.  There's at least 10 lbs difference in the weight between the hens and toms.

Bought the lumber for to do the rest of the fencing and build a leanto on the side of the barn for more hay storage and a place to park the tractor and equipment.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2010, 10:30:10 pm by Brian D. Bray »
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Offline Bee Happy

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2010, 10:05:35 pm »
I gotta side with your boy, ratchet is a great name for a billy goat.
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Offline thomashton

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #10 on: March 09, 2010, 01:43:30 pm »
Nothing cuter in this world than baby goats. Bred mine a bit later than normal this year. They'll be kidding in mid-to-late May--hey, so will my wife :-D!
After 18 months of reading and preparation, my girls finally arrived on April 11th (2006)!

Offline Natalie

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #11 on: March 09, 2010, 04:50:34 pm »
Congratulations Thomas! That is great about you expecting, is this your first child?
You will be busy this spring!
You are right about those baby goats there really is nothing cuter and the fact they are up and running around right after birth just floors me.
They love to jump now so they run as fast as they can jump up on something just to fly right off of it.
They like to hitch rides on the other goats' backs.
Lilly the pygmy goat was so jealous of the new babies at first that when I went out to the pen to see them she would turn her back and stare at the wall.
I couldn't believe that she was capable of those types of emotions but she really had her nose out of joint about the babies getting so much attention.
She is the friendliest one out of all of them, loves to be loved so when she gave me the cold shoulder I was really shocked.
She is over it now but I use to have to go over and talk to her and coax her away from the wall for the first week or two.
I can see why people fall in love with goats, they are so much fun to have around.

Bee Happy, you are right about the name. It was a name I would never have thought of myself but it does fit him. Sometimes kids come up with good ones, although we did once have a chicken name toast because they thought her coloring looked like toast. At least ratchet sounds like a goat name.

Brian, don't you just love those newborn kids, so sweet.
That is cute about the doeling's name.
I didn't know you had Bourbon Reds.
I am actually hatching turkeys right now, I have Bourbons Red and White Hollands.
I really like alot of the heritage breeds but most of them don't get big enough for my liking.
While I am planning to keep a trio of each for breeding I am raising the rest to put food on the table and if they are too small its not worth it for my size family.
A friend of mine is trying to get me to raise Buff Jersey turkeys but I don't know enough about them yet.
I usually buy a 30 lb or larger turkey for the holidays so I went with the Bourbons and the Hollands.
I cooked a Holland for Christmas and my family said it was the best turkey they ever had, it was the thickest breast I have ever seen on a turkey.
I have also heard that the Bourbon Reds have won taste tests the last few years so I figured I would give them a try.
I heard both of their personalities are really good which is important to me with the kids around.
I had to order eggs this time but after this hopefully I will have the trios I want and have a sustainable flock.
I am picking up some poults in April that I ordered from a farm that raises their own line of broad breasted whites, those are like the meatbirds in that they get to big to reproduce naturally so those will be a one shot deal, I'll raise them for the freezer.
I have my last batch of the year of cornish x growing out now, I don't want to raise any during the hot summer months so I have 100 or so for this last round and those will last us until I raise more in the fall.
It always sounds like alot but once you cut them into parts and start having barbecues, making chicken parm, chicken tenders, they go pretty quickly.
Sounds like you have been busy on the farm, glad to hear things are going well there.

Offline reinbeau

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #12 on: March 09, 2010, 08:30:19 pm »
Natalie, you definitely need a bigger yard, the kids aren't going to have anyplace to play soon if you keep adding animals! :)  I'd love to come see your goats - I need goats - don't tell Greg!

Offline Natalie

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #13 on: March 09, 2010, 08:42:07 pm »
Ya know Ann I have been thinking about that and I think the kids need to go, they are taking up space I could be giving to the animals. :-D I mean Scarlett will be 18 in like 12 years so she is almost ready to be on her own.

Offline thomashton

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #14 on: March 10, 2010, 02:38:04 pm »
Thanks. This is actually our third child. We're excited. I'm in the Army so deployments etc keep them spread far apart. There are 5 years between the first two and now about 4 years between #2 and the new one.

I unfortunately lost one of my goats a few weeks ago. She was an angora who was bred to a pygmy billy. It's too bad I lost her, but she was ill for a while. I have another angora and a pygmy that gave me triplets last year who were bred in mid-Dec. I would love to get three kids out of the two of them. Here's hoping...

This is a slower year for me for being gone. Right now I only have about 3 months of the year scheduled to be away so I am trying to rebuild my livestock pool. Hopefully I won't get built back up and get called up for a year again.
After 18 months of reading and preparation, my girls finally arrived on April 11th (2006)!

Offline Natalie

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #15 on: March 11, 2010, 12:00:14 pm »
I see Thomas, you come home for a visit and leave your wife with another kid to keep her busy while you are gone.  :-D

I had the oldest kids all a year or two apart from each other and then there was a ten year gap and I had the youngest boys 14 months apart and their sister a year later so I have them really close together and then long gap and then close together.

Sorry to hear about your doe, that is tough. You get so attached to them don't you. I  love all my goats but I am especially attached to my pygmy Lilly, she is just so loveable and friendly, she forces you to be her best friend.
I have been giving them carrots as a treat and now they know I have them so they wait by the back door for me to open it and give them something.
Someone left the back door open the other day and I came into the kitchen and lilly and her sidekick the sheep were standing next to my refrigerator waiting for a carrot.
They stood there like it was completely normal and they had every right to be there.
I keep telling the kids to keep the door shut when they go out back to play, one day lilly swiped a math test off the refrigerator and ran outside to eat it.

Good luck building up your herd again and the birth of your new little one. I hope you get to be home for a while to enjoy them all.
It has to be tough to be away from your home and your family.
Thank you for your service to our country.










Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #16 on: March 12, 2010, 12:32:45 am »
Natalie:
The Bourbon Reds are the tamest turkeys I've ever been around.  I've had the toms mount the hens between my feet while filling the waterers.  Have to  watch my step to keep from tripping or stepping on turkeys and chickens.  I'm now getting 2 eggs a day out of 4 hen turkeys to slip into the incubator on Saturday.  Should have 16-18 turkey eggs and will put in a couple dozen chicken eggs as well.
The Austrolorps and Black Jersey Giants are turning out better than I'd hoped, not only tame as the Orpingtons I've had in the past but better winter layers besides.  I'm currently averaging 20 eggs a day out of 24 hens.  During the winter we were still averaging 50% layers.  The Light Brahmas quit laying for the winter and have come back strong in the last month.  I also have about a dozen Dark Brahma chicks I picked up and I'll see how they do later on.
I want to see what the Jersey Giant Austrolorp cross will work out to be like.
Meanwhile the mallard hen has taken off for parts unknown but Sir Frances, the Drake, remains earth bound.  I doubt he'll fly again as he seldom flaps his wings anymore and seems to be happy following the sheep and guinea hens around.

One thing I've been reminded of again this year is that new born goats are escape artists.  I honestly think they're like rats, if they can get their nose through it they can get their body through it.  Only a week old tomorrow and she's already escaped from the paddock 3 times.  Keeps me busy, I've already rebuilt one gate that will hold the grown goats but the doeling seems to slip through like knife through hot butter, and I'm in the process of replacing another--completely building a new gate.
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Offline reinbeau

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #17 on: March 12, 2010, 11:23:14 am »
I've heard if a fence can't hold water then it can't hold a goat - I hope someday to find out for myself!

Offline Natalie

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #18 on: March 12, 2010, 11:55:58 am »
Brian those babies are keeping you young by chasing after them.
Mine won't leave the vicinity of their mama by more than a few feet and she is very mellow so they stick around.
They love to jump off of things though, they are hysterical to watch.

You know that turkey eggs take 28 (give or take) days to incubate so you should start those turkey eggs 7 days before the chicken eggs if you want them to hatch around the same day.
Otherwise the chicks will be 7 days old and need to be taken out of the bator before the poults hatch.
I hate having to open the bator for anything during a hatch, so much can wrong when the humidity gets sucked out.
I have heard of turkey eggs hatching as early as 25 days but the standard guideline for incubation is 28 days for turkeys.

I just started my hatch so we should be close to the same timeline, keep me posted on how yours do.
I put some beautiful dark eggs from my black copper marans in with the turkey eggs so I am keeping my fingers crossed, each generation is laying a darker egg than the last.
I threw in a couple of easter egg x copper marans for good measure, I could use a few more olive eggers around.
I am going to thin out the flock this coming fall so I want to get some new layers going first.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2010, 12:04:23 am by Natalie »

Offline thomashton

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Re: My New Baby Goats
« Reply #19 on: March 15, 2010, 01:35:29 pm »
It's true that a fence that can't hold water can't hold goats. I'm redoing the fencing on my "nursery" pasture this year to be more "kid tight". In years past they have gotten out into my neighbors hay field next door and although he is very patient and says that he's not worried about it and that they really can't eat much over there, I don't want them getting out.

It's true. As my step-mom says, they're "stinkin' brats!" and they'll get out of everything.
After 18 months of reading and preparation, my girls finally arrived on April 11th (2006)!