• About Us
  • On the Farm
  • In the Kitchen
  • Our Place
  • Farmhouse Renovations
  • In the Garden
  • Family

Back to Our Boots

Building a Life with Room to Breathe

August 9, 2017

My First Failure

The title of this post is a bit misleading; because of course, I have made many mistakes in my life. But this post is about my first major mistake here on the farm. We purchased four bummer goats from a local goat producer. I knew next to nothing about goats and had never had one before. We got home and I realized, “oh man what do I feed these babies!?” I headed down to our local feed store, only to find they don’t carry a goat milk replacer. We live in a very rural area and do not always have easy access to supplies. After consultation with another local goat producer, I decided to use regular calf milk replacer. Determining how much milk to make, and the milk replacer to water ratio took a lot of calculating and a lot of sifting through google search results, but eventually, we were off and running. The girls each named two goats; Diamond and Pearl, and Rusty and Sparky.

I did a lot of reading, and learned is best to begin offering your kids a small amount of goat feed, and hay right off the bat. I also learned that you should watch your goats carefully. Scouring is a very serious symptom in a goat and should never be ignored. We were feeding our babes three times a day, roughly 15 ounces per feeding. I picked up a bucket for feeding with three nipples, and we separately bottled fed the smallest goat. Great. Until it wasn’t…

When the goats were about eight weeks, on a Saturday my husband came in from the morning feeding and let me know something was terribly wrong. I had fed the night before and everything seemed well. Just like the wise internet told me, I had carefully observed my goats and everyone seemed healthy. But on that morning poor ‘Rusty’ was laying on his side, bleating, refused to stand up, and his entire back end was wet with scours, I knew right away that the situation was bleak. My husband set off to town to attempt to locate some electrolytes, but unfortunately, his gut bacteria was too far off balance to be corrected. It was simply a case of overeating which is relatively common for goats. I learned… too little, too late. Rusty was the most aggressive of the four goats and was likely drinking the most milk. We had started feeding a few handfuls of grain and he was likely eating the bulk of it. Young goats are susceptible to these things. Normally, kids are exposed to a higher level of healthy gut bacteria from their mothers and their mother’s milk. These healthy bacteria get the goats’ rumen working properly.

I grew up around farm animals, and I am no stranger to the realities of farm life. But this was my first farm animal loss in a while.

Lessons learned:

#1: My kids are tough. “Oh Rusty died, that is too bad.” No problem.

#2: I should have had the electrolyte on hand.

#3: I should have been giving a probiotic along with the milk replacer. After this happened I started mixing a little yogurt in with the milk and we didn’t have another problem. There are commercially available, goat specific, probiotics. I was not able to quickly get a hold of any, so I went with yogurt. Had I had access to raw cow’s milk at that time, I would have given them some.

#4: The absence of Rusty from our little herd was profound. The other three goats were in obvious distress and for the first 24 hours or so. It was both sad and incredible to observe these silly little critters searching for their brother.

I am happy to report the remaining three goats are very healthy and happy.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: On the Farm Tagged With: farm animals, goats Posted by Sadie Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About Us

This blog is the story of how my family made the decision to put on our boots and build the life we had always dreamed of living. Read More…

  • Instagram

Subscribe

Recent Posts

  • Our Decision to Homeschool
  • The Secret Sauce
  • Buying Beef Directly from Producers
  • Icelandic Chickens: The Perfect Homesteader’s Chicken
  • Calving Systems: How We Manage Calving Season

Recent Comments

  • Courtney on Calving Systems: How We Manage Calving Season
  • Sadie on Calving Systems: How We Manage Calving Season
  • sikis izle on Calving Systems: How We Manage Calving Season
  • Sadie on Kitchen Renovation: Before and After
  • Janice Hebert on Kitchen Renovation: Before and After

Archives

  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • October 2020
  • May 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • August 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017

Categories

  • Family
  • Farmhouse Renovations
  • In The Farmhouse
  • In the Garden
  • In The Kitchen
  • On the Farm
  • Our Place
  • Uncategorized

Copyright © 2023 · Theme Design by BD Web Studio · Powered by Genesis

Copyright © 2023 · Paige Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...