Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[greybeard]

With goats, I feel that most of it is learned behavior.

Much of it with cattle is too. With them tho, the genetics and epds have been so well documented and studied over the last couple of decades, it's pretty easy to make a determination whether it's worth the risk of keeping a calf and if you have a closed herd and your own bull, it's also pretty easy to learn pretty quick which mommas are prone to raise a calf with 'bad habits'. Either way, whether learned or inherited, too often seem to never forget or be able to 'unlearn' some of these behaviors, no matter how good of an animal it may seem to be otherwise.

No matter what the species, one unruly member of the herd can make the whole experience and endeavor a royal pita and really make you question why you still do it.

 

[AClark]

I'm with Greybeard with the "snowflake" momma's too. We had one mare way back that didn't discipline her foals at all, let them run amok. Her last stud colt was a total demon. Gorgeous, but just pushy and rude, and had a terrible habit for biting. She never had another foal and he wasn't kept, though someone wanted him as a stud and then couldn't handle him (a self-proclaimed "horse trainer") and he ended up resold several times as far as I know. I personally wouldn't have bred him because of the crap attitude, but he wouldn't have made a better gelding either.
At least with horses, bottle raising doesn't help much either. The orphaned colt we had was a demon too, mouthy and unruly. Of course, he was orphaned at 3 days old and because he didn't have a mother to kick the crap out of him, and as humans by the time they are a month old they are bigger than you, he got away with a lot. He ended up gelded because he got "too friendly" when he was fed, and he did end up making a nice riding horse.
Herd dynamics are like that, with my horses, Trav and Belle (in my avatar) pick on the kids horse because she's just not a dominant mare. I feed the kids horse separately in the pen so she gets her feed, but she always has bite and kick marks on her. She's such a sweet thing and has her own role to play, as do the other two, so we have to work around it. If we had more space I'd get the kids horse a mellow friend and split them all up, which is what we'll do eventually.

That said, if you have the space and inclination to move her with an equally bossy friend, she may do ok. Athena was nasty before she was bred, but that worked out well since I sold her and picked up the Boer/kiko does at the same time and she paid for 1. It wouldn't hurt to look for a trade on her either. Some things aren't worth the headaches though, and it's amazing how the stress in the herd relates to stress in the owner with having to deal with their crap too.

 

[farmerjan]

I'd put Angelica in with Falina for company and let Ruby be a grump by herself. She doesn't deserve to have companionship with that attitude.
Also a good case to have shelters that are split so that one goes in one side and the other in the other side. Sometimes an animal will go from one to another to just be a b###h but they will find a spot they like best and then the others can go in the other side.

 

[Devonviolet]

Also a good case to have shelters that are split so that one goes in one side and the other in the other side.

Actually, I've been wanting to tack a shelter onto the West wall of the goat shed, for just such a thing. Just last night I was telling DH we will have to do that sooner than later.

Also, as far as Falina being lonely, the way our runs are set up, They are adjacent to the goat yard, only separated by wire fencing. And at night, we open the gate separating the goat yard from the chicken yard, so the dogs & goats can walk around the entire back chicken runs. I asked DH & he said Ruby & Angelica spend a lot of time back by Falina.

ETA: Falina isn't all that accepting of Angelica. She has been known to head butt that sweet little girl for no apparent reason. IDK, but it could have something to do with the fact that she is Ruby's kid.

 

[Latestarter]

YAY! Temp got up to ~32-33° today... long enough for the frozen hot water pipe to the kitchen sink to thaw out. Finally happened around 1pm. It's in "dribble" mode now to hopefully keep it from freezing again tonight. Temp is back down to 31 and dropping on the way to an expected 14° tonight. Mid 40s tomorrow with tomorrow night being the last sub freezing (~24°f) for a while.

In happy news, all the goats slept in the shelter peacefully last night without me having to tie any of them to the cattle panels. Less happy is that Mel was alerting off and on most of the night. Whenever he'd get down near the fence barking, of course all the goats would come running to him to see what the commotion was all about. After he'd stop, it would take a little bit for them to settle back down and go back in the shelter.

Dot butts CB & CM, which are Bang's kids. But she isn't mean to them and chasing them down to butt them into the ground or the fencing. Bang actually tries to corner CC and blast her. Just finished goat chores so they're good to go for another night.

 

[Baymule]

Sure glad that your water thawed out!

 

[AClark]

Ugh, the constant drip of the kitchen sink is so annoying, but necessary. Our outdoor faucet broke on us last night, it had frozen and split a seal or bearing or whatever is in those things (the pipe part that attaches to the Pex pipe for the house) luckily it only leaks when the faucet is on, but it's a lake out there from watering last night. I knew I should have gone out and wrapped it with the big roll of heat tape. We had to replace the same piece last winter for the same reason.
We are, as I imagine you are as well, welcoming the warm up for the weekend. Actually, we are welcoming summer, as we're burned out on hauling 5 gallon buckets out to the animals.

 

[Baymule]

Yup, tired of the bucket brigade here too.

 

[Pastor Dave]

Mine is on a smaller scale, of course. I do a hot gallon jug of ACV diluted drinking water and a lukewarm jug of the same . These do 10-32oz. bottles. The hot is in case there is ice in the bottles and it can melt it to get it to lukewarm temps to drink. Sometimes I get lucky and they are already drank empty and don't need much thawing so use tbe lukewarm.

I carry a gallon bucket with lid full of hot water to thaw all the nozzles. A gallon jug of hot water to help melt the solid iced bottles from tbe inside, and a gallon jug of hot water to pour in a 5 gallon bucket to put the frozen bottles in to thaw once I pour hot water in the bottles.

Not a lot of carrying like y'all with your 5 gallon buckets and big hairy beasts, but a lot of work thawing once I get in to the shed.

I just ordered some neoprene beer bottle koozies to make a contraption to help insulate my water bottles. One slipped on from the top and the other from the other end that lets the nozzle protrude. I'll let you know how they work. Maybe someone has another technique...?

 

[Bruce]

I'm carrying water in (what I think are 2.5 gallon) cat litter "jerry jugs" with screw caps. Not as much water but also a lot easier to carry and half the weight. 5 gallons of water weighs about 40 pounds. Of course I don't have as many animals to water as some here.