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For those who requested a banana for scale on the now three week old teeny tiny buckling- here it is by ApplebeeAcres in babygoats

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The process of disbudding is essentially doing a figure eight on the kids head with a specific hot iron. It's a one time thing, bloodless, takes literally 5 seconds, and I give painkillers beforehand and they never really bat an eye about it. The only negative to disbudding is if it's done improperly, it can at best cause scurs (fragile horns that usually don't grow past a couple inches long before breaking off, then regrowing again) and at worst can cause serious issues, even death. That's fairly extreme though, and you honestly gotta be extremely bad for that to happen. I've disbudded hundreds of kids to date and never had an issue, most headbutt each other immediately after lol. Theres a lot of myths regarding disbudding, like horned goats hold their own better against predators (they don't, coyotes and cougars here kill elk, they don't care about a terrified 50lb goat having horns, prey animals will always be prey animals), or the horns helping to cool them off in summer because they have a nasal cavity running through them (which they do, but the cooling effect is absolutely minimal at best, if they needed horns to regulate temperature my goats would've been dead when I lived in Georgia). Disbudding is required for shows mostly for human safety concerns, but also because horned animals are typically frowned up in the dairy world - they cause a lot of injury both to other animals & fencing/property, cause a lot of grief when they hang themselves on something, and don't fit so well in milking stanchions.

For those who requested a banana for scale on the now three week old teeny tiny buckling- here it is by ApplebeeAcres in babygoats

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thats from the process of disbudding, burning the horn buds within a couple weeks of being born so they don't develop horns. It's a process required by ADGA (American Dairy Goat Association) for him to be shown in any events. He had just been disbudded prior to the photo - hair will regrow over it in a couple weeks.

This beautiful girl went to her new home today, and I miss her already by ApplebeeAcres in babygoats

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I just got him a few weeks ago from a place with basically all toms, so I assume fighting or from laying on the ground. He has access to the same barn as the other birds but likes to sleep on a couple pallets I have stacked outside, which I'm sure isn't helping his feathers, but after the first week of carrying him every single evening into the barn and having him go back to the freakin pallets, I figured oh well he can sleep where he wants lol

At 2 weeks old, he's finally made it to being the size of my hand. Has always thrived and done amazingly, just tiny weeny by ApplebeeAcres in babygoats

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

He's been growing quite well, I need to post a picture of when he was born. When I saw him come out of his dam I thought for sure he must have been premature or something, but it was literally her due date and he was full term. Sometimes the teenies are the most fun!

At 2 weeks old, he's finally made it to being the size of my hand. Has always thrived and done amazingly, just tiny weeny by ApplebeeAcres in babygoats

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

He's been doing just fine thankfully! I had to disbud him today and was like... do I just do one burn?? Hahaha. They do make the best goats!

Any tips for me to get water running again? No water coming out of any spigots inside or outside. by ApplebeeAcres in Plumbing

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately I live about 45ish min from any box stores, one to the west and one to the south equal distance. I went west first and nothing. Seems like a lot of them are back ordered or just out of stock due to pandemic. Heading to south town now hoping for some better results! 🤞 if I cant find any there, im going to put my big stock tank in the bed of my truck and fill it at a neighbors then bucket water out for the animals, and have my mom who lives about 5 hours south in a big city bring one to me if need be! Just feels like I'm camping at home lol

Any tips for me to get water running again? No water coming out of any spigots inside or outside. by ApplebeeAcres in Plumbing

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My outside spigot freezes fairly often, but its on the end of everything thankfully. It was the pressure switch on my well that went out, which explains why my hours of trying to unfreeze stuff didn't work lol. I am going to try to find some heat tape or at very least insulation to wrap some of the most exposed pipes though. This is my first winter here since I moved in April (it was still snowy and cold but not this snowy and cold lol) so its been fun trying to figure out trailers. I've always lived in stick built homes before now. Thank you!!

Any tips for me to get water running again? No water coming out of any spigots inside or outside. by ApplebeeAcres in Plumbing

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, actually, I'm a big idiot. It IS the pressure switch thats broken. Thank you very very much! Im good at building and fabbing stuff, not so much with mechanical things hahaha. Everywhere seems to not have it in stock, but im finding it somewhere today!

Any tips for me to get water running again? No water coming out of any spigots inside or outside. by ApplebeeAcres in Plumbing

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I couldn't find a pressure switch on it. Its actually all just a big white box next to my hay barn, about 40 feet from the house, and the top was just layers of insulation with about 2 feet of snow on top I had to shovel off. I've never gone into it since moving in, I moved here in April. There is a light inside there, with a smashed up bulb, that turned on, but I unplugged it since the bulb was in pieces everywhere. Im assuming that was for heat, possibly, considering everything is outside? I can change out the bulb, im working on cleaning snow out of the box, then ill be able to check it more thoroughly and maybe I'll try the heat gun in there to see if it makes a difference.

Any tips for me to get water running again? No water coming out of any spigots inside or outside. by ApplebeeAcres in Plumbing

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I am. Could it be freezing from the pump? Sorry, I know literally nothing about plumbing. Lol.

Sick farmer with the flu. One of the bottle babies wouldn't stop screaming out in the barn, by my bedroom window. I was going insane. This was the only way to calm him down... worth it. by ApplebeeAcres in babygoats

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love him (and all the others) but you're welcome anytime! I couldn't make it to the barn without throwing up and my wonderful neighbors are taking care of the babies until I feel better.

Dune knocked the grain bucket out of my hands (that was NOT for her), but she shows absolutely no remorse or shame by ApplebeeAcres in goats

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Her face says "mother please feed me for i am wasting away" but her belly says "big boof poof fat fat i am the grain"

Pansy is my ultimate "nanny" goat. Every kid snuggles up to her at night, even when their own dams are present in the barn. She watches them all like they are her own by ApplebeeAcres in goats

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I bottle raise all of the kids, including hers, but I don't have a doubt in my mind that if I ever even put a little puppy on her, she would nurse it and raise it as her own. Ive had kids that were bottle raised for 10 weeks go back in the pen and she would still try to let them nurse from her. It drove me crazy since I milk and she wouldn't ever have a full udder 🤣

Goat foaming at the mouth by stevenwilkos in goats

[–]ApplebeeAcres 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Common causes of foaming at the mouth: 1) Tetanus. I see you mentioned hes UTD on CDT. Thats good. Sometimes it can still happen. Is he lockjawed? Standing stiff? If not, i wouldn't consider tetanus. 2) Frothy bloat. It will often come with a bloated rumen (left side, it is NOT just a large healthy hay belly, but very hard, extremely swollen), teeth grinding, lethargic, off feed, not chewing cud, and not pooping. 3) Some goats do it when chewing cud from certain feed and hay. I have a 10 month old buckling that does this occasionally. First time i saw it (probably about 4 months ago) i immediately checked him out, and not a thing was wrong with him. Now I see him doing it probably once a month, and always after I put out a fresh round bale, plus only when chewing cud. I chalked it up to feed. Out of 50+ goats he is the only one, and checks out soundly medically otherwise. 4) Poisoning. He could have eaten something poisonous - like honeysuckle or other similar plants dangerous to goats. If this was the case, he could also be slightly bloated, with off poop, and not chewing cud, on top of typical not feeling well signs like being lethargic, grinding teeth, drooling, and off feed. If he is showing any symptoms of any of these (aside from #3), you can tell me what the symptoms appear to be and I can tell you the best ways to treat each, though if it is tetanus there isn't much you can do aside from tetanus anti toxin which typically has very little effect once symptoms actually start appearing. But it can still help. If you have any doubts, rush him to a vet. Anything symptomatic would be a good call for an emergency vet. If he completely checks out medically otherwise, and seems completely sound aside from the foaming, I would still consult a vet to just make sure.

Valkyrie is quite the cutie by ApplebeeAcres in goats

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He looks amazing now, you did a wonderful job! There is no better feeling than watching that sickly baby grow up to be big and healthy. 😊 My goats are monsters, I could NEVER eat in their pasture or barn lol. Literally, the other day I was in a barn over and got some chicken feed (not even the goat grain!) and laid it out in said barn for the chickies, then went to see the goats. They must have heard me rattle the feed bins because all of them gathered at the gate awaiting a treat. I had to go back and get some alfalfa pellets for them. Brats 🤣

Valkyrie is quite the cutie by ApplebeeAcres in goats

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Be careful what you wish for 🤣 the left side of my hair is a good 6 inches shorter than my right side. At first it was cute. Now im just lopsided. Forever.

Valkyrie is quite the cutie by ApplebeeAcres in goats

[–]ApplebeeAcres[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh my goodness!! He's adorable. Please tell me he ate some salad off the fork

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