What did you do today?

[sydneyjd]

Oh Sad to hear.

[Nanno]

I'm so sorry about your buckling, Charlene.

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

ya what a crappy way to end a nice weekend Sorry Char.

[COgoatLover25]

Hello all, know it's been awhile since I've been on but wanted to let you know I'm still alive hehe

[sydneyjd]

Nice To Know CO. LOL

[Nanno]

It's hard to keep track of what we've been doing lately because we've been doing so much! I bought two more PolyDomes the other day since we now have ten goats and Cuzco dominates one shelter all by himself. Pac-Man and the two new girls have been spending too much time out in the wet when the bad weather blows in, and the babies are rapidly out-growing their little Dog-loo shelters.

The bucklings are beginning to be rank. Poor Finn doesn't understand why no one wants to hike with him or even pet him any more. I try to be as nice to him as I can, but petting him makes him excited, which makes him spray all over us. The bucklings are not allowed to leave their pen at all any more without direct supervision. My neighbor has Boers and neither of us want my bucks breeding his does. They hate being locked up all the time, but there's nothing else to be done until they're all wethered. I'm sure if they knew the alternative they'd be happy to stay in their pen, but it's hard to explain to a goat that he can have either his freedom or his fertility. Finn jumped out of the pen last week when Phil left for a hike without him. I'm assuming he zapped himself pretty good on the way over because the poles were all bent down where he hit the fence and he hasn't tried it again. Poor guy--he does love Phil (we can tell because he sprays Phil more often than he sprays me!).

Phil and I are gearing up for another "goat vacation" next week. I trimmed Cuzco's and Pac-Man's hooves this morning in preparation. This year we're sticking closer to home. We'll be spending a week in my old stomping grounds in Lake City, CO. People there will flip when they see Cuzco. He was a town celebrity. It's because of Cuzco that we opted out of Utah this year. He's just too old to make that long trip any more. The trailer ride takes far more out of him than the hikes because he simply refuses to lie down while we're rolling. His joints can't take standing for hours on end two days in a row. But he still loves to hike and pack, so we're not yet ready to leave him home altogether. Pac-Man will come with us too.

Sadly, Finn will have to stay home due to all the unsavory habits he's developed of late. Trapping him in the confines of a horse trailer with Cuzco and Pac-Man for a week would be cruel to those poor wethers, and I don't think my trailer would ever be the same again! He'd also give an undeserved bad reputation to packgoats everywhere. If he didn't have to breed Nubbin in a couple of months I'd have wethered him by now, but he's too nice not to breed at least one season. I have outside people interested in breeding to him as well, so maybe we'll make a little money off him this fall. He must be a nice goat if people want his babies!

[Taffy]

Have fun our your trip to Lake City. I'm glad it's close enough for Cuzco. I doubt he'd be very happy being left behind. Have you ever considered giving him a dose of banamine to help him through the travel?

I know what you mean about the buck smell. We have 3 bucks on our farm my son's 2 and my 1) and the air gets pretty thick! I have some anise soap that really helps to get the buck smell off if I pet Simba. Like Finn, he doesn't understand why I don't want to give him a good scratching or let him too close.

It's awesome Finn loves Phil so much and from the photos it looks like the admiration is mutual. With the mess he made of the fence I hope he learned his lesson about jumping it. But what a way to learn! Ugh!

---

I got home late Tuesday night from a week long trip to my brothers. Wednesday morning I went out to see my goats. The two does saw me first and just stared at me. I didn't say a word. When they realized who I was they started calling and coming toward me. Bourbon and Banjo were out in the field grazing. Bourbon looked up when the girls began calling and started running as fast as he could toward me calling loudly. Banjo came trotting in when he realized I was there. He immediately wanted scratched. It was a long time coming earning his trust but now he wants his scratches like the rest of the goats. Simba and Jethro are in a separate pen and were standing on the railing calling and wanting attention, too. It was so heartwarming knowing they missed me as much as I missed them!

[Nanno]

Phil and I just got back from our annual "goat vacation" this afternoon. We had a great time in spite of some cold weather early in the week and I was happy to see that our other goats were well taken-care-of when I got home. The gallon of Nubbin's milk that we took with us on vacation stayed fresh and un-goaty the entire week, so once again I found myself thrilled at the nice milk goat we have.

On the not-so-pleasant side of things, I came home to find both my horses have what appears to be vesicular stomatitis. It's been going around Colorado all summer but hasn't been in my area at all as far as I know. I had to call the state veterinarian, and he'll send someone out tomorrow to run a test and then tell me what to do. Jet has lesions all over his mouth and tongue and can hardly eat. Skokie's mouth is fine but his sheath is grossly swollen and covered in lesions. They both got Bute for the pain and Skokie's swelling. If they have VS I'm curious to see what things the quarantine entails. Thank goodness the disease is not easily contracted by goats! Although since it is possible, I'll be making sure to wash hands, use gloves when handling the horses, keep the goats locked away where they can't access the horse water or corrals, and I'll have to be careful to keep feed buckets separate. I'll probably be going through a bit of bleach over the next couple of weeks!

[sydneyjd]

Wow, since yesterday the temperature has dropped like 30 degrees. its 40 here and raining. Fall must be here. Stay away snow!!!!!!!

[Nanno]

Today I enlarged the goat areas! The goaties now have browse again (they already cleaned out the rather large brush area I moved them to last month). Yay for not feeding hay again for a week or two!

I also spent some time loving on the bucklings today. They're feeling decidedly ignored and left out these days. I put on some old clothes and my rubber boots and let them rub their sticky yellow noses on me to their hearts' content. Finn especially could not get enough. I think if he could crawl into my hip pocket he would. And boy is he getting big! I had to let out his collar today. It was getting tight. I won't be able to let it out much more. I was planning to get him a grown-up collar for Christmas but he'll for sure need something bigger before then!