SDBoerGoats, HORSE FAIR IS OVER!

[SDBoerGoats]

1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like? Oregon, I live in the high desert. Warm to hot, dry summers, cold winters. Some snow.
2. How many people are in your family? 3 grandkids live with me, and my younger sister with Downs. Marital status? Widow
3. How would you define your farm? 7 acres, along Willow Creek, with dryland grasses and Junipers and sagebrush. Large boulders and hillside on one side, creek on the other.
4. What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed? Build an indoor arena and start showing cutting horses again.
5. Have you ever built a house, barn , or other types of building? My husband and I built nearly every barn and arena, and all horse shed rows on each property we owned. Do you want to? Been there, done that but would build an indoor arena at this property.
6. Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet? Nope.
7. Who or what inspired you to be a farmer/rancher, hobby farmer? Married a cutting horse trainer!
8 Is it a hobby or an occupation? Both
9. In what areas are you knowledgeable and in what areas would you like to learn more? Been raising, training and breeding cutting horses for 30 years. Stood many stallions. Just started raising Boer goats 2 years ago. Would always like to learn more about the goats.
10. In what types of farming will you never choose to do? I'd do pretty much any of it, have raised cattle and buffalo for training the cutting horses, raised hay, ran a cattle feedlot.
11. Are you interested in providing more of your own food supply? Yes, would like to raise chickens and love to garden.
12. Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world? On the computer, researching something about horses or goats, or reading up on the same!
13. Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi? Got my own tractor!
14. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these?
15. Can you legally have all forms of livestock where you are at? Yes Do you have any? Yes What kinds? Horse and Boer goats
16. Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood? Nope
17. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing? LOVE to garden, like to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, corn etc
18. Do you fish? Bait or explosives? Nope
19. How much space/land do you have or rent? 7 acres City farm? Country?Country
20. Are you a Novice, Technician, degreed? no
21. What is your farm specialty? Horses and goats Or what one would you like to learn?
22. If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take? Artificial breeding for goats
23. Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet?
24. Are you interested in herbal animal medicine? yes
25. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be? Someplace where it is always warm.
26. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking? Pellet stove
27. What would your ideal super hero/villain be?
28. Are your family or friends also interested in animals? yes, they all own horses, dogs and I am partners with my SIL and daughter with the Boer goats
29. Do you like to cook? yes Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? yes raw milk? yes farm fresh eggs? yes
30. What was your best animal experience? Learning to cut cows on my cutting horse, Doxie, who is 31 mow. Worst? Losing my very first twin does out of the first goat I ever bought, when they were already a year old and healthy. I've never got over it.
31. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs? no
32. What skills do you have that help you be more a self sufficient farm?
33. Do you process your own meat? Can or preserve?
34. Do you use alternative energy sources on your farm? Would you like to?
35 What is on your to do list? finish fencing off my property so the goats have more forage.
36. Have you ever lived completely off what you produce? Would you like to?
37. In what do you trust? Myself and God
38. Do you make and fix things yourself to save money? yep
39. Has the experience with animals changed your attitude or habits? I'm a happier person if I get to spend time with my animals or if I get to ride my horse, because it makes me calm and peaceful, it's what makes me happy.

 

[elevan]

Another one gets sucked in

Welcome to BYH journalling!

 

[bonbean01]

Looking forward to reading your journaling One of these days...maybe this winter when things get calmer (yeah right...at lambing time..LOL) I'll start one too.

 

[SDBoerGoats]

yeah, well, I like to talk, and sometimes my kids get tired of hearing me talk about goats! HAHA!

So here goes, my husband trained cutting horses for 30 years, I was his assistant. Broke all the colts and got them ready to be put on cattle. We had a feed lot of cattle, and sometimes a herd of buffalo to work the horses on. Now THEY were fun! They have a distinct personality, and once they are trained to "head", they never change. Each one is different, I always knew what their pattern was by their ear tag number, like #28 was slower, did a lot of stops and starts. #32 was fast and ran a lot, when she did stop, better be ready for her to take off again cause it would be like a rocket. They sure got your horses attention!

In 2005 my husband had a heart attack while he was working a horse on cattle. Got him to the hospital, and they kept him over night, sent him home the next day with instructions to go to the hospital on Friday for a stress test. He died that night at home.
So I did the training for a couple years until the economy and the gas prices got so high the clients couldn't afford it anymore.
After a while, I was looking for something to help keep up with the weed eating around the ranch. With him gone, it was starting to look scraggly. He kept the whole place in pristeen condition.
I did some research and natural weed control and found that goats do a super job. I did more research and settled in on Boer goats, they can eat the weeds, and I can breed them and sell the babies to the 4H kids for market goats.

So off I go to find me some Boer goats! I found 3 nice weanlings, and one Nubian/Boer doe, 2 years old and bred. I am set. I am turning them loose on the ranch and they are eating away. I fall in love with the goats right away, they are so personable. But I soon found out, the one weed that I really wanted eaten down, is foxtail, and goats won't eat it! Not even when it is young tender and green. So......now my property is covered in foxtail and it is a running battle keeping the dried seed heads out of my poor German Shepherds feet, last summer he had abscesses in 3 out of 4 feet all summer long, with me trying to keep boots on him, (oh yes, that worked splendidly!)
So the goats aren't eating the BAD weeds I wanted them to eat. And they are costing me a fortune in hay to feed in the winter. Because I no longer have 4 does, my son in law loves Boer goats and wanted to be a partner, so we now have a Fullbood Buck, a Purebred Buck, around 20 does and maybe 10 doelings.
BUT my grand daughter took a Breeder's herd to fair last year and had Grand Champion Doe, and Grand Champion weanling doe and won a trophy for Best Boer Goat Herd. SOOOO it's ALL GOOD!

This past winter was our first big breeding season. Yes Spicey had a beautiful set of twins for me that first winter. I watched her like a hawk and she still had them all on her own, not problems at all, nice big doelings. I didn't know what I was doing, Thank God for Spicey! I was in love the second I saw them. Cinnamon and Sugar, in keeping with their mom, Spicey!
This past winter was a whole different ball game. The first 3 doelings I bought, Ginger, Amber and Sammy, were finally old enough to have babies, and they were first timers. Another Kiko/Boer cross first timer also. We did pick up a couple of fullblood does, this was their second time, so not much to worry about. I was a basket case! Worried sick about the babies I had raised from weanlings. And the learning curve was steep. Spicey, of course, had TRIPLETS this time, all drop dead gorgeous. And no problems again. Gotta love that doe. Which was good, because Ginger went into labor and pretty soon it was clear she was in trouble. Baby had a leg back. My daughter, the vet tech, was here and she reached in and fixed it. WHEW! 2 big bouncing baby boys, out of one of the does we wanted for market kids. Second one, Sammy, went into labor when I was in the house, no one told me. I get a call to come outside, there's trouble. Well, she'd had the kids on her own but the first one must have been stuck, cause he was really groggy from oxygen deprivation and barely alive, not even cleaned off. I whisked him into the house and got him warm and he perked up. Got him to drink. But he was having seizures, so couldn't put him with his mom. He would scream and stiffen up, freaked me out! It was like he was blind at that time too. I did a lot of research, gave him B Complex every day for 2 weeks, the seizure finally started to slow down but he could hardly walk. He wanted to and tried to but he would fall and couldn't get up. I just kept up the B complex, the little bugger ended up being the biggest wether of all! And completely healthy.

Had some other bad stuff, one of the fullbloods, my favorite, got toxemia, took her to the vet and treated her, wanted a C section but he said let's wait til Monday and also said she wouldn't make it through surgery. I said well, it's better to get those babies out then isn't it? Well, he sent her home, she went into labor a day later and was too weak to push. She was on IV's the whole time but she was just too weak. We pulled the first one and saved him, the other two were all twisted around and by the time we got them out, they were dead. She died later that night. I was depressed about this for a long time.
Well, that's the start of MY start in the Boer Goats. I will add more tomorrow.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

Welcome to journaling!
Was nice to hear about you and look forward to hearing more in the future!

 

[CochinBrahmaLover=)]

I shall follow your jounrla like a hawk ----> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iDPw_qjhtM OR GLUE!

Nice start, not the worst I've heard ! lol. Keep us updated!

 

[Symphony]

Welcome to the Journals. I agree its hard to find people who will listen to you or I talk about our animals for any length of time. Its wonderful having this forum. I look forward to reading your journal.

 

[Catahoula]

I am sorry for the loss of your husband.
You have had quite a journey and your love for animals/goats helped you through the good and bad. I look forward to reading more of your journal.

 

[SDBoerGoats]

Thank you all for your nice comments! I just might get into this journaling!

Let's see, things were humming along just fine, then in March we bought 7 registered does, all bred. Bad business move. Bought them by pictures, pedigree and took the woman's word. The does were delivered. And Oh what shape they were in! Rough coats, thin, lame! She had trimmed them the day before and apparently it was the first time in a long time, she just chopped off the long toes. 3 stayed lame for a couple of weeks. Plus they looked like holy crap. Only one was older, the worst looking one. The rest were 1, 2 and 3 year olds. One had lumps on her jaw. Of course the lady told me she had never seen or knew anything about it. I had blood work done and found out that 4 of them were positive for CL and the older one in the worst shape also had Johne's.

SO I call her and she promises that she will make it right, and any losses she will make up for. Well, of course there's going to be a big loss, I can't sell positive goats! So I end up with 3 out of the 7 goats, and 2 them produced singles. At least they were doelings. Still have one left to kid, she is my favorite, a red paint fullblood. I don't think she is due when the lady said, she has a the belly but barely the beginnings of a bag, so I don't think it's any time soon. Thank God, due to their rough coats and bad condition, I kept them quarantined and they were never exposed to my herd. ANOTHER big hard lesson learned. If they don't have the papers in their hand, drive away. And never EVER buy goats by pics and pedigree, I don't care how well bred they are, or how good they look in the pics, some people just don't have any morals when it comes to selling animals.

 

[SDBoerGoats]

WHICH brings me to the here and now, this week.

The kids talked me into being their goat leader. What on earth was I thinking? I don't have enough to do? So anyway, here I am, approved to be around young children, as no signs of violence showed up in my back ground check. And so, while I am AT it, and since I have been a horse trainer all my life, the horse club really needs another leader. Would I PLEASE PLEASE sign up for Horse leader too. Now I give lessons almost every day to my 3 grand kids on their horses, and in the afternoon they work with their market goats, and I pretend to be a judge while they work on showmanship.

I traded one of my cutting horses in on a nice quiet paint mare for my grandson. He, 12 years old, has always been timid about riding. Now I think it was more he didn't have his own horse. He didn't know this mare from Adam, and had only ridden twice in his whole life. I brought home this mare, and the first day, he was trying to head out across the back 40 on a trail ride! Sparky is such a good quiet mare, which my cutting horse was not, I love him to death, but he is hot and spooky. Not a kids horse, at my age, maybe not even a ME horse! HAHAHAHA! Anyway, he got a great home, and Sparky got a wonderful new life with a kid who loves her. Sparky has had some rough times in her life in the past it seems. She has a deep scar on her lower lip and in her tongue, looks like maybe someone did some severe bitting up.

So I turn her out the other day in a newly fenced pasture. William went to get her that night, and called me on his cell phone to tell me Sparky was really lame. I go to check her, and she darn sure is. Her hock is a little swollen. We run cold water on it and I put Numotizine on it. The next morning the swelling is down, but she is 3 legged. More cold water and I wrap the leg with Numotizine as the swelling is lower. That night I discover an injury on the back of her hoof and swelling around the coronet band. It's getting infected. Call my vet and run up to get some Uniprim and I wrap the coronet with an antibiotic cream. I wish I could say she is better but she isn't. I am worried about her getting well by fair time. William has BIG PLANS for fair this year. It is his first year. In the past, he would visit me in the summer and always went to help his cousin Kendra, with her fair lambs and horse. Stayed at the camper, got up and went to the 5:00 meetings, helped all the kids wash their animals. One year his shoes got wet from all the baths and it was HOT. Then he insisted on RUNNING along with the parade so he could throw candy to the kids. His feet were like literally cooked! But he wouldn't tell me or quit. This kid really deserves to go to 4H!

I should back up a little here, my grand daughter Kendra, has lived with me pretty much for the past 5 years. My 2 grandsons, Ricci and William, have come to stay with me every summer. These 3 are like the Three Amigos. The boys live in a pretty big town, and were not happy in the school system there. Lots of teasing and bullying. They have always wanted to live here where I do. So their parents asked if I would be able to put up with them during the school year, in the meantime they are trying to find jobs over here to relocate.
OF COURSE I can. SO I now have 3 teenagers, well, 12, 13, and 14. They are a big help on the ranch, they live in the country now, they each have a horse, and they help with all aspects of the goat business, from helping deliver, bottle feeding babies, doctoring, feeding, you name it. They just don't have a market goat they take to fair to sell, they help pull the little buggers if need be, and raise it from day one, plus take care of the whole herd. When Popper had toxemia, they took sleeping bags to the barn and slept in the stall with her, with heat lamps, thank goodness, in January! I don't think they're city boys anymore! And all three kids made the Honor Roll!

Fast forward, I am feeling really REALLY bad I put Sparky out in that pasture. I don't know what on earth she could have gotten hurt on, I have never had a horse ever get hurt like this! So this is William's first year in 4H and I get him his first horse, and I get her hurt. And 4 weeks to fair.

I've also had 2 sick babies this week. High fevers, no diarrhea, won't eat. Grinding teeth. But after all my doctoring, I went to the barn fully expecting to find Rango dead, and he jumped up and met me at the gate for a bottle. Same with his sister Savannah, who was running an even higher fever. Gave her the same meds, and she did the same thing. I have no clue what is going on with them. But I am so happy they didn't die!

Yesterday the kids rode their horses, William tried out his mom's horse Chance, who also stays here. He is a little cutting horse, out of my old cutting mare Doxie, who is now 31! And he is by our stallion, who passed away in 2004 at the age of 25. He was the last baby out of my mare and by Peppy, I had 4 of her sons still here and my husband had passed. I had given Chance to him because he was Peppy's son, but since he died, I didn't really want to sell Chance, so I gave him to Kelly. She put him in cutting training and won her year end awards with him, buckles, halters, etc. So that was a good thing.

We didn't know how he would do with a kid, and William is a very green rider, and he has refused to ride any other horses except for Sparky, he loves his horse! But just in case Sparky isn't sound by fair time, we really need a horse for William to ride.

WELL. We started in the small pen, then went to the big pen. Worked on loping, stopping etc. Sidepassing, he even opened and shut a gate with Chance. So after the lesson I say, OK, you kids take the horses out to just relax and ride around the ranch.

I go to get a cool drink, and see an object fly by my front window. Then I see something dash by the kitchen window. I go to investigate and see someone slipping behind the barn. I go to investigate, only to find William and Chance on the top of this huge pile of dirt we have behind the barn! Then I find the other two flying around, and find out they are playing cops and robbers on the horses. In my front yard, my back yard, on top of the dirt pile, and up the side of the hill with the Junipers and sage brush. I warn them to not put the horses in any dangerous predicaments that would cause injury to them or the horses and I leave them to their own devices. They aren't going to learn to ride going around in circles in the arena. When their mothers were kids, they got up in the morning and took off on the horses and were gone all day up in the woods. They came home for lunch, ate a peanut butter sandwich, fed and watered the horses and took off again, I didn't see them til dinner time. Many times they rode with a hay string around Ol Tony's nose and no saddle.

So the babies are better, gathered a fecal to have checked to see what on earth is causing this. And I am heading out to hose Sparky's leg off, I would give anything if she would just be 50% more sound than she was yesterday. But this morning when I gave her the Uniprim, it did not appear to be much better.