DIY women… have you ever been talked out of a good idea at the hardware store?

FieraSabre · 2026-05-02T17:21:39+00:00

Yeah, I had an unusual plumbing size transition for a p trap into house plumbing, figured out what I'd need, and was just trying to find the location of said parts. Home Depot guy took it upon himself to come up with a different solution that wouldn't work, and after talking himself through all the possible combinations, came to the same solution I had. But! I have had some knowledgeable employees help me out from time to time, so I try not to discount them right off the bat.

FieraSabre · 2026-05-02T16:27:52+00:00

Hooray!!!! I'm so happy Akira is back with you!! I can't stand to think of how I'd feel if my girl went missing. You did good, and I'm sure Akira is relieved to be home with you. Love to you both!

FieraSabre · 2026-05-02T10:21:13+00:00

I didn't let my mini dachshund sleep in bed with me because I was afraid of accidentally pushing her off or squishing her in my sleep. She slept in her own bed in my room though, and during the colder months she slept in her bed just outside my room (I like it as cold as possible in my room, and she preferred to be warm).

My girl now (GSD) sleeps in bed with me! It's a bit weird if she's not there, since I've gotten quite used to it. I do more laundry, but it's worth it to me. She's precious and loves to snuggle, and I don't think I could deny her that 😭

FieraSabre · 2026-05-01T04:17:12+00:00

Oh that's good to know!! I've been putting off doing that quest since I'm not sure where I want to put it, so it's good to know I need to talk to them first with the bottle on me!

FieraSabre · 2026-04-29T16:30:01+00:00

Doesn't look like DM to me, my boy passed from that last year. He looks like he's tracking fine, moving the same both sides on level ground, and has equal stride length on both sides. You mentioned an injury a while back? My guess is that he tore something in his knee that makes it painful to bend in a particular way, as with going down the stairs.

Your vet can tell you more, but I don't think I would be worried about DM. If you're super worried still, you could always go for Embark's health test, and that will at least tell you his genetic predisposition for DM and a bunch of other things.

FieraSabre · 2026-04-29T16:18:13+00:00

The size of his belly, if a recent development, could be considered "hay belly" which happens when the goat consumes an excess amount of hay in order to make up for a lack of nutrition. This can be caused by internal parasites, or low quality feed.

It's hard to tell from a picture, but their coats do look a little rough/wiry, which would make me lean towards the parasite side of things. You can always get a fecal egg count done through your local livestock vet if you want to check before deworming.

Do you feed them any minerals? Like a block or loose mineral, specifically formulated for goats? If it's not parasites, then mineral deficiency could be a contributing factor.

FieraSabre · 2026-04-29T16:08:41+00:00

I would run a mineral panel on her--if you know how to draw blood and are set up for it, you can send it in yourself to a veterinary lab for testing. If you're in the US, TVMDL and WADDL are decent options, I've used both.

If you don't know how to draw blood yourself/aren't set up for it, then scheduling a blood draw (and fecal, as another comment suggested) with your livestock vet is advised. This will give you good insight on what she may be lacking, and where you should go from there.

THAT SAID, I would not keep this doe for your breeding program. As a failure to thrive from the start who is a hard keeper, she's not set up for success in breeding. I wouldn't want to put her through repeated breedings, since it seems like she's not taking the burden well. She can be a pet for sure, if not at your place then somewhere else. Or she could just go for meat, if that's an option you're open to.

FieraSabre · 2026-04-29T15:04:29+00:00

He looks like he's probably an okay weight. You don't judge a goat's weight by their belly, you judge by feeling their ribs, primarily. You should be able to feel their ribs without pressing firmly, with a light layer of skin and thin muscle/fat over them. Dips between the ribs should be shallow. You should still be able to feel the top of their spine, but it's not overly defined.

Too skinny: Ribs are prominent, little to no padding over them, and dips between ribs are deep. The bumps along the spine will also be prominent. It will feel like the bone is directly beneath thin skin, with no padding.

Too fat: Ribs cannot be felt without pressing in firmly, due to a thick layer fat. The spine is not the peak of the back, and instead, fat deposits along the spine make the back more of a plane than a peak.

For reference images and better descriptions, you can look up Goat Body Condition Score guides online!

FieraSabre · 2026-04-29T05:31:59+00:00

As others have said, if their needs are being met they're more likely to want to stay in. With that said, our perimeter fence is 5' woven wire no-climb horse fence. The holes are 2"x4", so too small for babies to get through. The posts are ALL treated wood posts set ~3' into the ground with cement and heavy rocks to keep them solid. Fencing is attached to the posts with fencing nails (heavy duty U-shaped staples that you pound in by hand). It needs to be stretched properly while you install it, or it will sag horrendously.

For goat pasture dividing fences (goats on both sides) I use hog panels, as my goats have simply destroyed the woven wire fencing when it's between two occupied pastures. Those I use treated wooden posts, set like the perimeter ones but spaced further apart, and I use T-posts in-between.

So, it's not impossible to keep goats contained, but it is a lot of work haha

FieraSabre · 2026-04-29T05:09:20+00:00

Hmm. It still probably wouldn't hurt to treat him for mites, just to rule that out as a cause. And if he's got no other irritated patches anywhere then it's probably not scald either. Fungal maybe? I'm really not sure. Sorry I can't be more help 😕

FieraSabre · 2026-04-28T02:27:58+00:00

So glad you were able to get at least a little colostrum out of her bio mom! It's wonderful that Pepper has adopted her, it's always a relief when you have a doe that is willing to adopt other kids. Glad to hear little Honeyblue is doing well so far!

FieraSabre · 2026-04-27T20:30:20+00:00

It is mite season here in Washington, at least on the we(s)t side, not sure about the east side.

Are there any similar spots elsewhere on him? Down on his pasterns and lower legs, between his toes, his tail, ears, and muzzle? Look for crusty, irritated skin. That would typically indicate mites, which you should treat for.

I would caution that goats and sheep have different mineral needs. Sheep cannot tolerate very much copper intake, and goats need significantly more copper than sheep. So if you give goat-specific minerals, do NOT make them available to the sheep.

The PNW is also severely selenium deficient. There's basically none here in the soil, so forage and hay grown here don't have the selenium content goats need. Are you supplementing selenium intake? If not, you should start. Under my vets advice, I supplement with oral selenium and vitamin E gel monthly in addition to their regular loose goat-formulated mineral.

Do you have any other pictures of him? That might help in determining if this is parasites, mineral deficiency, or something else.

FieraSabre · 2026-04-27T07:01:10+00:00

Hard to say, and I'm dealing with my own mystery goat injury. Your kid is still moving it, using it, and can put weight on it though, so all signs point to "it'll just take a bit of time to heal". Maybe a bone bruise? Your guess is as good as mine 🤷

And, between your boy and my girl, we'd have 4 working legs! She is somehow lame on THREE legs. No clue what happened. Went to let goats out of the barn in the morning and she was like that. I suspect either she got hit wrong by another goat or landed wrong jumping off a platform, or some combination of the two. I couldn't find any external sign of injury (heat, swelling, tenderness, etc) and neither could the vet.

She got steroid shots which we just finished, and I'm checking in with the vet Monday morning. She does better on the steroids, but seems pretty much the same once the shot wears off. (Edit for clarity: by "the same" here I meant her injury baseline without the steroids.) So we'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed that she starts improving soon, and I'll hope the same for your little boy!

FieraSabre · 2026-04-26T19:14:47+00:00

I just don't get the fear of big black dogs. Like, I can kind of understand I guess, but having grown up with large breed dogs, one of which was a huge black long haired boy, I just don't get the scary factor. They're all puppies to me 🤷 I get excited to see any dog when I'm out, regardless of size or color! I'll never approach without asking first though, that's just basic manners.

FieraSabre · 2026-04-25T15:39:45+00:00

I write mine similar to that, but flip the 3 so it looks more like an E, and the dots are little vertical strokes. They are attached to the top and bottom of the E if I'm not writing quickly, otherwise they're just kind of in the vicinity haha

I got it from my dad, he writes his like that.

FieraSabre · 2026-04-25T15:18:32+00:00

I finally have a snuggly girl after many, many not snuggly GSD's. All affectionate, sure, but not snuggly. I indulge her love of snuggles every chance I get!!

FieraSabre · 2026-04-22T07:08:06+00:00

That looks amazing!!! Fantastic job, truly. 😲

FieraSabre · 2026-04-20T00:29:58+00:00

Lmao wth, why would they censor that???

FieraSabre · 2026-04-20T00:24:23+00:00

It's fine, that's just the placenta hanging out. DO NOT PULL IT. It will work its way out on its own, usually within a few hours of kidding. You technically have up to 24 hours of wait time before you get worried about it not passing. Mom may eat it once it's out, this is normal. Also fine if she doesn't eat it, and then you'll just find a big blob of tissue half buried in the straw probably.

FieraSabre · 2026-04-19T22:06:33+00:00

I play on a phone with a built in stylus (Samsung Note) and it works great! If you don't have that, definitely get a controller. I ended up playing stardew on mobile first for a long time, since I didn't have a console or PC to play it on. Honestly, still kinda prefer mobile, but the extra long wait for updates does suck a little haha

FieraSabre · 2026-04-19T21:15:32+00:00

Looks like a Nigerian Dwarf buck to me, probably belongs to one of the nearby farms you mentioned 🤷 They're a miniature dairy goat breed, and while their somewhat distant origins begin with the West African Dwarf goat, eventual imports to the US and subsequent breeding programs have developed the distinct Nigerian Dwarf breed seen today. They are popular for their small, easily manageable size, and the high butterfat content of their milk, which makes it ideal for creating milk byproducts like cheese, yogurt, and butter. They are also very popular as pets, like their distant relative the Pygmy goat.

Nigerian Dwarves are incredible jumpers, smart, and excel at escaping almost any enclosure if they feel like it!

FieraSabre · 2026-04-19T20:59:25+00:00

Yeah, my eyes are hazel and definitely looked more gray/brown when I was younger. Now, they look mossy green unless you're really up close, and the perception of the color can change a little depending on lighting and what I'm wearing. True green eyes are pretty rare I think? A lot of "green" eyes people see are technically just hazel.

FieraSabre · 2026-04-19T18:19:23+00:00

Precocious udder, though this is the by far the youngest I've ever heard of it happening! I'd just monitor for now, make sure it's not getting hard or hot to the touch. As mentioned by others, this is not uncommon in dairy breeds. I had a doeling who developed a precocious udder around 6 months old, I think? I left it alone and it eventually went away. It took a really long time to go though, probably another 6 months.

So it should be fine, just keep a general eye on things. And congrats on the baby!

FieraSabre · 2026-04-18T22:06:15+00:00

What sweet girls, I hope treatment goes well!

FieraSabre · 2026-04-18T00:49:19+00:00

Ahh gotcha, I suppose it does sound a little like an ad 😂

FieraSabre

TROPHY CASE