bbredmom
Ridin' The Range
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We live on 8 acres in central Arkansas. Three acres are fenced securely. We have three livestock guardian dogs (two pyrs and a newfie), and two shelties for alarm systems.
All my goats have access to clean water, fresh hay, occasional but not too much grain, warm mash on below freezing days, and a very warm barn in the winter, which is equally well ventilated in the summer. They get clean bedding, secure stalls, and everyone gets all the shots and wormers.
And yet, I keep losing them to (mostly) freaky things. I just want to know if this is normal, if anyone else has had this kind of bad luck, etc. Almost all of my goats have been rescues from various levels of neglect and abandonment.
First goats were in 2008. I got a billy and two does. Within a month the billy and one of the does were killed by the neighbors pitbulls (my ex wouldn't allow be to get a great pyr, but did allow me to get a GSD puppy to raise with the goats).
I got another billy, a wether, and a supposedly sterile doe (Etta) to keep Rosie company. Rose gave birth, and my german shepherd, who had been raised with the goats since he was a baby, stole the kid from the pen on its second night and ate him. Rosie then dies about a month later because she figured out how to get into the storage room and open the feed bin for the chicken food, and she bloated. The GSD was sent to live with my then in laws immediately.
My husband and I got divorced, I immediately got a Great Pyr, and for a while all was well. We actually separated the day Etta gave birth to Duke. 7 months later I met my now and forever husband, and two months after that we rescued a severly malnoursihed, inbred and bowlegged sanaan, who it turns out was pregnant.
That following January was the coldest in Arkansas history, and that was of course the day both does decided to give birth to twins and reject all the babies. So I'm bottle feeding four babies in 15 degree temperatures with no car and frozen pipes. All the babies thrive and by the next day are messing all over the house. We never could get the mommas to accept them.
Three weeks later we buy two nubian/sannen 8 week old does in the hopes of increasing future milk production. Everyone at this point is happy, healthy, and a good herd.
On February 8th, my barn burned down from bad wiring on the previous owners part in the walls. We lost everyone except the firstborn of the January babies, Zeus. We build him a temporary structure out of a 8x10 dog pen, plywood, and three layers of tarp. We immediately go buy whatever goats we can afford and dont have sign of CL, which are three pygmy dwarf sisters. They are wormy but otherwise healthy.
At this point my now-husband/fiance has convinced me to let him bring his terrier mix dog home from his sisters house. She promptly chases one of the sisters to death, and goes back to living with his sister. Another dies from unknown causes within a week. The third, Metis, survives and is Zeus's constant companion, until she tries to climb the fence and gets her front legs tangled in the barb wire. She spends a week under intesive care with me constantly flushing the wounds, pumping her full of meds, etc. I am determined to not lose another one, and I dont.
New barn is built in April. We get married in May. Goats are in the wedding, all is well.
We als purchase a small herd of papered dwarfs which come with "health guarantees", which turn out to be false when within a month two of them have CL leisions. I find them a closed rescue herd to go to, and begin immediately testing and vaccinating everyone. Luckily Zeus and Metis come up clean, and to this day I have not had CL show up on my farm again. I contribute that to not allowing the leisions to burst uncontrolled, fire, and vaccinations. I still test every year.
That summer I see an ad on freecycle for a smooth collie raised on a farm in need of a home. I love herding breeds, and I've always wanted a smooth collie. Arwen comes to live with us, and all is well for a month. Then she kills metis, and we come home to find her trying to drag the body under the truck. She immediately goes into rescue with all the notes of no farm animals.
And Zeus is alone again. We get a mini donkey friend, and that works for a while.
I have an acquaintance who got into goats "cause it seemed so fun!, but has bad fences, coyotoes, and then her caretaker of the goats died. She then gave me all her goats. A wether, a billy, two does, two yearlings, and four babies. All of whom are related. One of the babies is extremely malnourished and weak, and his feet bend under. I ask her whats wrong with him, and she said "Oh, his mom rejected him and I tried to bottle feed him but it didn't take. So he's just a little runty." He's two months old at this point. It didn't take because she had the milk so hot it burned his lip! I finally had to teach him how to suckle, and boost him with as much butirnets and supplements as his little body would handle. We also built him splints to strengthen his legs. He started to get better....and died of pneumonia.
We find a new home for the buck, because he is related to everyone, and one of the yearlings is too aggressive to the babies. We then buy two very healthy, happy does and their 6 month olds. We find homes for the two bucklings as pets, and keep the doeling. This is in late spring.
So the count now is Zeus the survivor, Wilbur the weather, four does, one almost yearling, three babies. We lose the yearling in early spring in childbirth-apparently the baby was too big for her. We find homes for the remaining babies because they are also too small to breed, and are better suited as pets than milkers.
All four does give birth the following spring, two have Zeus babies, two have the babies of the buck we gave away. Single-Phoenix (the first baby born of Zeus's line since the fire), single-Haley, twins (Mal and Zoey), twins (River and Simon). The two singles are very healthy. One set of twins is very healthy. The last momma immediately tries to kill her babies, and I have bottle babies once again. We find her a non-breeding home.
Zoey, who is fearless, at one week old gets her front leg caught in a part of the supposedly baby safe milking stand and breaks it. We fight for three weeks to heal the leg, and she dies of a staph infection.
River and Simon, who are teeny tiny, go to live with my friends dad, who has 80 acres and wants pets for brush control. River dies the following week from eating some plastic fencing he had accidentally left out.
Two of the mommas, Butterscotch and Tally, die when the babies are two months old from what we think was copperhead bite induced bloat. The dogs kill a huge copperhead that night. This is now May 2012. We now have Zeus, one doe Speedy, Haley, Phoenix, who is now needing supplemental feedings, along with Mal.
Two weeks ago we lost Mal to pneumonia. He was fine, healthy that morning, and that evening we came home and he died in our arms.
Last Friday we bought two more does, both pregnant. One an Oberhalsi/alpine, the other a brush goat dwarf mix. Both are very healthy, red eyelids, utd on all the shots, everything. Experienced mothers.
Last night we came home, and Honey the Obie was dead, from what we think was a miscarriage.
*******
Sorry for the long post, but I am so hurt and frustrated at this point. What am I doing wrong? Our pasture is checked twice a year for anything possibly poinsonous, all the flowers are well out of reach, the feed is literally locked away. If they are at all stressed, I give them all power punch or probitics. The have baking soda free choice. Goat nurtrients, free choice.
I know some of this was my fault, especially the dogs. I know this. But at the same time, I feel like there is something I'm missing.
Is bad luck really possible?
All my goats have access to clean water, fresh hay, occasional but not too much grain, warm mash on below freezing days, and a very warm barn in the winter, which is equally well ventilated in the summer. They get clean bedding, secure stalls, and everyone gets all the shots and wormers.
And yet, I keep losing them to (mostly) freaky things. I just want to know if this is normal, if anyone else has had this kind of bad luck, etc. Almost all of my goats have been rescues from various levels of neglect and abandonment.
First goats were in 2008. I got a billy and two does. Within a month the billy and one of the does were killed by the neighbors pitbulls (my ex wouldn't allow be to get a great pyr, but did allow me to get a GSD puppy to raise with the goats).
I got another billy, a wether, and a supposedly sterile doe (Etta) to keep Rosie company. Rose gave birth, and my german shepherd, who had been raised with the goats since he was a baby, stole the kid from the pen on its second night and ate him. Rosie then dies about a month later because she figured out how to get into the storage room and open the feed bin for the chicken food, and she bloated. The GSD was sent to live with my then in laws immediately.
My husband and I got divorced, I immediately got a Great Pyr, and for a while all was well. We actually separated the day Etta gave birth to Duke. 7 months later I met my now and forever husband, and two months after that we rescued a severly malnoursihed, inbred and bowlegged sanaan, who it turns out was pregnant.
That following January was the coldest in Arkansas history, and that was of course the day both does decided to give birth to twins and reject all the babies. So I'm bottle feeding four babies in 15 degree temperatures with no car and frozen pipes. All the babies thrive and by the next day are messing all over the house. We never could get the mommas to accept them.
Three weeks later we buy two nubian/sannen 8 week old does in the hopes of increasing future milk production. Everyone at this point is happy, healthy, and a good herd.
On February 8th, my barn burned down from bad wiring on the previous owners part in the walls. We lost everyone except the firstborn of the January babies, Zeus. We build him a temporary structure out of a 8x10 dog pen, plywood, and three layers of tarp. We immediately go buy whatever goats we can afford and dont have sign of CL, which are three pygmy dwarf sisters. They are wormy but otherwise healthy.
At this point my now-husband/fiance has convinced me to let him bring his terrier mix dog home from his sisters house. She promptly chases one of the sisters to death, and goes back to living with his sister. Another dies from unknown causes within a week. The third, Metis, survives and is Zeus's constant companion, until she tries to climb the fence and gets her front legs tangled in the barb wire. She spends a week under intesive care with me constantly flushing the wounds, pumping her full of meds, etc. I am determined to not lose another one, and I dont.
New barn is built in April. We get married in May. Goats are in the wedding, all is well.
We als purchase a small herd of papered dwarfs which come with "health guarantees", which turn out to be false when within a month two of them have CL leisions. I find them a closed rescue herd to go to, and begin immediately testing and vaccinating everyone. Luckily Zeus and Metis come up clean, and to this day I have not had CL show up on my farm again. I contribute that to not allowing the leisions to burst uncontrolled, fire, and vaccinations. I still test every year.
That summer I see an ad on freecycle for a smooth collie raised on a farm in need of a home. I love herding breeds, and I've always wanted a smooth collie. Arwen comes to live with us, and all is well for a month. Then she kills metis, and we come home to find her trying to drag the body under the truck. She immediately goes into rescue with all the notes of no farm animals.
And Zeus is alone again. We get a mini donkey friend, and that works for a while.
I have an acquaintance who got into goats "cause it seemed so fun!, but has bad fences, coyotoes, and then her caretaker of the goats died. She then gave me all her goats. A wether, a billy, two does, two yearlings, and four babies. All of whom are related. One of the babies is extremely malnourished and weak, and his feet bend under. I ask her whats wrong with him, and she said "Oh, his mom rejected him and I tried to bottle feed him but it didn't take. So he's just a little runty." He's two months old at this point. It didn't take because she had the milk so hot it burned his lip! I finally had to teach him how to suckle, and boost him with as much butirnets and supplements as his little body would handle. We also built him splints to strengthen his legs. He started to get better....and died of pneumonia.
We find a new home for the buck, because he is related to everyone, and one of the yearlings is too aggressive to the babies. We then buy two very healthy, happy does and their 6 month olds. We find homes for the two bucklings as pets, and keep the doeling. This is in late spring.
So the count now is Zeus the survivor, Wilbur the weather, four does, one almost yearling, three babies. We lose the yearling in early spring in childbirth-apparently the baby was too big for her. We find homes for the remaining babies because they are also too small to breed, and are better suited as pets than milkers.
All four does give birth the following spring, two have Zeus babies, two have the babies of the buck we gave away. Single-Phoenix (the first baby born of Zeus's line since the fire), single-Haley, twins (Mal and Zoey), twins (River and Simon). The two singles are very healthy. One set of twins is very healthy. The last momma immediately tries to kill her babies, and I have bottle babies once again. We find her a non-breeding home.
Zoey, who is fearless, at one week old gets her front leg caught in a part of the supposedly baby safe milking stand and breaks it. We fight for three weeks to heal the leg, and she dies of a staph infection.
River and Simon, who are teeny tiny, go to live with my friends dad, who has 80 acres and wants pets for brush control. River dies the following week from eating some plastic fencing he had accidentally left out.
Two of the mommas, Butterscotch and Tally, die when the babies are two months old from what we think was copperhead bite induced bloat. The dogs kill a huge copperhead that night. This is now May 2012. We now have Zeus, one doe Speedy, Haley, Phoenix, who is now needing supplemental feedings, along with Mal.
Two weeks ago we lost Mal to pneumonia. He was fine, healthy that morning, and that evening we came home and he died in our arms.
Last Friday we bought two more does, both pregnant. One an Oberhalsi/alpine, the other a brush goat dwarf mix. Both are very healthy, red eyelids, utd on all the shots, everything. Experienced mothers.
Last night we came home, and Honey the Obie was dead, from what we think was a miscarriage.
*******
Sorry for the long post, but I am so hurt and frustrated at this point. What am I doing wrong? Our pasture is checked twice a year for anything possibly poinsonous, all the flowers are well out of reach, the feed is literally locked away. If they are at all stressed, I give them all power punch or probitics. The have baking soda free choice. Goat nurtrients, free choice.
I know some of this was my fault, especially the dogs. I know this. But at the same time, I feel like there is something I'm missing.
Is bad luck really possible?
and the snuggles from the "used to be insane and might still be, but I finally like you" goats....
