Jumping the Moon Dairy - the next chapter

[farmerjan]

After my little "eyes locking" issue, and feeling pretty good about my chiropractor saying it was a my spine being so out of alignment and "pinching a nerve"; I can still relate to how scary it can be. And I didn't "check out" like you. Sincere hopes that they figure it out. If they do blood work, make sure that the dr also will test for any kind of imbalance in the mineral department....if one is way higher in ratio to what it should be, it can cause all sort of crazy stuff. Your stress levels have been so far out of anything remotely normal, that I wonder if that isn't a lot of it.

 

[babsbag]

I do think that stress has a lot to do with it but I am not usually too bothered with stuff and I roll with things pretty well. I work myself half to death but it isn't always in a stressful kind of way. Having this unknown ailment is causing me more stress than anything else in my life; I need to make some decisions pretty quickly about the dairy and this isn't helping me at all.

 

[Ridgetop]

I am so sorry to hear about all you are going through. With the Farmer's markets closed down for the winter season (?) can you get in for the EEG? Our youngest (adopted) daughter had "space outs" and we took her to several neurologists who did short EEGs without finding anything. We kept insisting that she was having small seizures that only lasted about 30 seconds+ at a time. Finally we took her to Children's Hospital after a year or two of the neurologists saying they couldn't find anything. That neurologist admitted her for 3 days where she was hooked up to the EEG the entire time and they finally found the seizures. She has been on anti seizure meds for 8 years now and is doing fine. She has fetal alcohol syndrome, but with the meds is able to go to college and concentrate. In high school she did very poorly because she would have seizures and just blank out. Then she couldn't remember anything about it.

Stress can easily bring on all sorts of things. While you may not feel overworked physically, the emotional toll could be causing mini seizures where your mind just takes a "rest" to avoid a major breakdown. Also, have you had a mineral panel done? I suffered from all sorts of crazy symptoms 12 years ago, ending with not being able to walk! It turned out to be a huge calcium deficiency. It took massive prescription doses of calcium for almost a year to regain my strength.

Dry up the goats, don't milk over the winter (with the continuing power outages you can't milk all those does by hand) and concentrate on getting your barn finished, pups whelped and eventually does kidded. Consider it medical leave, and make sure to have that EEG and lots of different tests to find out what is wrong. We don't want another Latestarter Joe tragedy! Take care of yourself.

 

[babsbag]

I will be getting the EEG in a few weeks but it will only be a short one. I also have a phone appointment with my doctor scheduled for next week so I will start there and see where it goes. I can't be away for three days as there is no one to feed the critters and Mia won't let anyone near her and her puppies, she is a good mama. I have got to get this figured out.

The does are all dried up thanks to power outages. I am selling a bunch of goats too and if I miraculously need more milk I have lots of friends with good goats I can buy, beg, borrow, or steal. Trying to decide what to do with the minis, I am so torn. I like them and have a few years into breeding them but just not sure that they are for me.

 

[Mini Horses]

Trying to decide what to do with the minis, I am so torn. I like them and have a few years into breeding them but just not sure that they are for me

My mini nubs gave good milk in large amounts-- fed trips each year and they were fat -- but, did not keep the lactation going for the length of the Saanens & Nubians.

 

[babsbag]

I did this mini breeding right, started out with a good nigi buck from @ragdollcatlady and then added a few more does and a new buckling from another one of her bucks so I have some diverse genetics as well. They milk well and have good size teats even for hand milking but I just have too many goats. As far as length of lactation it is hard to say as I ended early this year due to the power outages but everyone was still in milk when I quit. I don't have a good grasp of how much they eat in comparison as all of my goats eat together and the hay just disappears. For now they are staying but I the final verdict is still out.

 

[Ridgetop]

I am glad to hear you have dried up the does. Milking a full dairy complement by hand is too much with the health issues you are having. If you are selling off goats, keep your high yielders and the best genetics standard dairy goats. Since you are not sure the minis are really for you, sell the minis. They can't produce the volume of a high yielding standard dairy doe, and even though they may milk well lb. for lb. in comparison to standards, it takes twice the work milking 2 minis as milking 1 standard for the same amount of milk. You may be able to sell them more easily too since they have good genetics and minis are popular. Weren't you on milk test and putting milk stars on your girls? Keep the star does since they will produce more milk with less feed and work. That is the main thing now - reduce your work load.

Since you can get milk from other goat people, you can pasteurize their milk to use in feeding kids this spring. That way you can keep your Grade A milk for making cheese, ice cream and other dairy foodstuffs you sell at the Farmer's Market. Once you are on your feet again you can decide about adding more milkers. Maybe you can borrow or lease extra milkers from your friends when you need them for making your cheeses, ice cream, etc.

Downsize now. Enjoy the puppies. Relax until kidding season starts. Finish the barn if you are up to it. Get your EEG and other tests, and solve your health problems. We want to keep you around!

 

[babsbag]

@Ridgetop. Thank you. That is some of the best advice I have heard in a long time and it actually made me cry. I have a lot on my plate and I feel ok physically but I am trying to take it easy and it is hard as it isn't in my makeup to do that. Getting milk from my friends for the babies is a great idea that I never thought of. DUH!!! Thank you. The barn has to get done, Mia needs to whelp in there.

I have a craft fair today at the school I used to work at. I am selling soap and lotion. It has been fun making that again, certainly a lot more relaxing than cheese.

@HomeOnTheRange Do you need a herd of minis?

 

[Ridgetop]

I am glad you are going to slow down for a while. Do only what you enjoy, and have fun playing with Mia's pups!

 

[Baymule]

Sometimes you just have to take a step back from it all-for yourself. I agree with the mineral test, a mineral shortage or overload can really whack you out. A visit to a chiropractor wouldn't hurt either.