Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[Latestarter]

Oh, and just as an aside, When I picked them up, April was the wild and wary one and boy did she struggle trying to get her loaded into the truck. She danged near tried to strangle herself. I think she's starting to like me better than her pen mates... When I go out she comes sauntering up like she knows I have treats or something I think being the lowest in the order and getting pushed around she's starting to like the attention. Bang seems to always be on the defensive in protection of her kids. While she does come up for treats, she does keep her distance and remains ready for flight. Dot is the friendliest of the bunch though and is always the first to come to me when I'm out there. The kids don't want anything to do with me. Once I have them in my paws though, they settle right down and relax. Just a matter of slow and easy to capture them

I was amazed a while ago when I went out I saw a tick right under little guys eye, fully bloated. I didn't see that tick yesterday even though I held him and burned him... That tick attached and filled up quick! I ripped it out and threw it into the water trough. It sunk to the bottom. OK, so far this goat ownership thing is pretty decent... Hope I didn't just jinx myself

 

[CntryBoy777]

Now, I'll warn ya....they can and will Grow on ya!!....

 

[goatgurl]

well youall, what do you think, I work, slave, feed, spoil and take the best care of LS's pig that I can and he throws her out of the truck on the way home. I just don't understand... or the other scenario is that being the good little razorback hog she is she would have thrown herself out into the wild instead of having to spend the rest of her days as a texican. I couldn't believe it when he called and told me she had bailed out when she hit Oklahoma. I am locking the goats and sheep up in the pen for the next couple of days and leave my front gate open just in case she finds her way home. as the crow flys she is only 2 or 3 miles from my house. not that i'm counting on it but stranger things have happened. if she does make it home i'm not gonna tell LS i'm just gonna hide her and protect her from him, my guess is that she has already has found friends and we will have more little spotted feral pigs around here. just what we need, more wild hogs and I will be keeping an eye out for flocks of buzzards too just in case they find her instead.
am so glad the girls are settling in well. it is very quiet in my barnyard now. makes me sad. going to be an adjustment for sure. at least I know they have gone to people that will love and care for them. that is important to me.

 

[Bruce]

He hasn't seemed to display a huge amount of interest in them yet aside from them being a novelty.

Merlin was like that after the first few days other than the one time he tried to entice the boys to play. There were times they were in the barn and he was outside, other times it was the reverse. When they were all out sometimes he would lie nearby and follow if they moved, other times nowhere near them.

No idea what it would be like now that the weather is more pleasant. I doubt any of the three would be inside much. The boys haven't touched hay the past few days since the grasses are starting to grow and they are outside most of the time.

 

[AClark]

If you are going to need hay over the winter, it's better to buy now and store it, because that price is going to go way up once winter hits. Alfalfa doesn't do so great out in the weather like bermuda will either so it at least needs to be covered. It tends to get black and slimy if it gets wet, and then it's not good for much except cattle. Our alfalfa here comes from my hometown (which is tiny!) in Arizona. I buy alfalfa cubes because it's cheaper and they don't blow away in the wind like hay does, and I do the round bales of bermuda.

I'll add more to this later, gotta get kids off to school.

 

[greybeard]

Check in to the Tx regs concerning tags/registration on farm trailers and trucks LS.
(assuming you have farm tags on your pickup truck)
Probably 1/2 the bumper pull and gooseneck stock trailers I see at the sale barn have no lic plates on them.

 

[greybeard]

If you are going to need hay over the winter, it's better to buy now and store it, because that price is going to go way up once winter hits. Alfalfa doesn't do so great out in the weather like bermuda will either so it at least needs to be covered. It tends to get black and slimy if it gets wet, and then it's not good for much except cattle. Our alfalfa here comes from my hometown (which is tiny!) in Arizona. I buy alfalfa cubes because it's cheaper and they don't blow away in the wind like hay does, and I do the round bales of bermuda.

I'll add more to this later, gotta get kids off to school.

Not a lot of alfalfa available in East Texas,and down here, it is very expensive.
Yes, buy 2nd cutting hay in the late spring early summer--all your expected winter needs +10%. 1st cutting tends to be weedy and probably wasn't fertilized. 2nd cutting more weed free, is probably fertilized high protein with good fat content. Last cutting, (3rd) is a crap shoot. Likely to be past boot stage and not fertilized and grown under poor weather conditions of mid to late summer heat in Texas.
Ask to have the hay analyzed for protein and moisture content.

Square or round, store it inside or tarp it. I paid the stupid tax on the following already, got the shirt, wasted lots of $$ and saw & smelled the mold. Do not cover it completely in East Texas with tarps--it will mold just from the humidity. It needs 'an umbrella 'and air circulation, not a sauna.
Proper way to tarp round bale hay in high humidity regions:

 

[AClark]

First cutting is supposedly too rich for cattle and can bloat them as well - I'd imagine the same for goats. First cutting is good for horses though since they are not ruminants and feed is processed in the hind gut.
Alfalfa isn't cheap in Oklahoma either, they ship it in. I feed the cubes at $8 a 50# bag (if you throw water on the cubes they expand to being more than a bale by far) If it's coming from NM/AZ you get more cuttings, 4 or 5 since the growing season is really long, but the last cuttings are usually "feedlot crap" quality.

ETA: $6 a bale isn't bad at all, I've seen it up to $17/bale at the feedstore for the 3 strand bales in the winter - much better and cheaper to store it up during cutting season than to find out you're screwed come winter and paying that!

Late, if I see your piggy here in OK, I'll ship her home in a cooler You need something like this: https://lawton.craigslist.org/grd/6044885002.html
Though I think their price is a bit high for it.
Or this one (Dallas shows up on my local CL) https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/grd/6056534877.html

We aren't required to put plates on trailers unless they are for commercial use here in OK. I have to because I don't have OK plates on my truck, but if I did, I wouldn't need a plate for the trailer. If I remember right, farm trailers didn't require a plate in TX, mine didn't qualify so I paid quite a bit to tag it, but I don't remember my friends horse trailer even having a plate on it.

 

[greybeard]

First cutting is supposedly too rich for cattle and can bloat them as well - I'd imagine the same for goats. First cutting is good for horses though since they are not ruminants and feed is processed in the hind gut.

True for first cut alfalfa and legume hay, but very little of that baled in East Texas.
Here, the 1st cut health risk is not bloat potential.. it's high nitrates, which causes grass tetany/grass staggers etc. It can happen with just about any grass hay under a number of different conditions, but usually in the spring growth or after first frost of the fall/early winter. Bloat and GT are 2 different things, with grass tetany being caused by high nitrates and low magnesium in the soil and forage and thus in the animal's blood stream. The animal will access all the magnesium available in her system to counteract the high nitrates and a low Mg condition will occur--first sign is too often a dead cow. It's another reason for testing. Tetany is always a risk with lush spring forage, and can be present in hay from that forage as well, if not cut at the right stage and tedded correctly. I always start feeding hi-mag mineral a few weeks before the spring grass is ready for grazing. Never lost one to GT but I'm always worried about it. I've never had a cow get bloated on hay no matter when it was cut. On grain, yes--once, but not hay.

1st cut bahia, Tifton, and coastal is not usually fertilized--fertilize just encourages weed growth and increased lushness. A couple weeks after first cutting, any weed growth is taken care of by spraying, followed by fertilize.

 

[AClark]

Thanks Grey, I've never heard of it, probably because feeding grass hays is pretty new to me. We've always fed alfalfa because that's what is cheap in the area, and grass hay is at a premium - total opposite here. I keep a salt/mineral lick out for the critters though, and their pasture is pretty chewed down since it's not huge and has a pretty good livestock load on it.
I have an abundance of broadleaf plantain weeds though - and nothing likes to eat those!