Well I finally did it! Got a "real" LGD pup. He's a Pyrenees, Maremma, Anatolian, Akbash, Ovcharka cross. (That's a mouthful!) 11 weeks old, and he's wonderful! Very normal puppy like in some ways, but I can tell he's going to be a good guardian already. I think he has really bonded to me, he follows me around everywhere, and gets really happy to see me. He sits outside the milking parlor while I am milking and just watches everything. He is doing really well here even though it's only been two days. He sleeps in the baby barn at night with the baby goats (with a gate between them) and has already claimed the baby barn as "his territory". Yesterday some people came up to buy rabbits and as soon as he saw them he started barking! What a good boy! That's what I want; I don't want just anyone to be able to walk in with the goats (so they don't get stolen!) He goes in the baby goat yard with me and also the big goat yard, and he is good, but I still have to convince MY goats that he isn't going to eat them. LOL! He did try and mouth the baby goats a little bit and I've just been giving him a firm "no". He is picking it up quickly. I did have to give him a little bop on the nose and a loud NO when he put his whole mouth around one of the baby goats legs. I know he is just playing though. But I won't leave him alone with them until I know he knows not to chew or chase them. The baby goats still have to get used to him too, they aren't too sure what he is, lol. He also dug out of the baby goat yard when I walked away because he wanted to be back in the baby barn, lol. I may eventually have to get hotwire to teach him to stay inside the goat yards. Every day I am moving him all around to all the different areas so he gets used to them and recognizes them as his territories. He also gets to see my two other big dogs and is just fine with them. He also met the turkeys and the rabbits today and wasn't quite sure about them but with my showing them to him and reassuring him he was fine after just a couple minutes. He's here to stay!!! Yay I am SO excited!!! I can't tell you just HOW excited I am!!! Ghiselle is building an udder!!! This means she is finally preggo!!! Yay!!!! She is due April 25th!!! For those that don't know the backstory; I purchased her last February as a yearling (never freshened) at 13 months old. She was the second goat we ever bought. We did a driveway breeding the day we picked her up. I *thought* she was preggo as she gained a bit of weight and *looked* pregnant to me, but never started building an udder; and I had zero experience so who knows. I dewormed all my girls with Ivomec Plus, when she *would have* been about 2 months along... after I had read a few places that is was safe for pregnant does. Well I later read other places that it WASN'T safe, and that even "safe" drugs can cause abortions or re-absorptions. So I think she actually was, but just reabsorbed it because 150 days came and went and no udder, no babies. The breeder offered a free rebreeding, but September comes along and I am already taking all my other girls to a different breeder, so I just take Ghiselle with the rest of the girls there. Well earlier in the year she had cut her lip and it got infected and infected her lymph node on the same side. (It's not CL we were under the care of a very good vet and had it flushed and tested). So the lymph node is swollen and she is on and off antibiotics. While she is at the breeders it gets really large, so we bring her back home and to the vets again, and after we get her back and she has to go in quarantine and back on antibiotics, so I think with all the stress from boarding, vets, and meds, she didn't settle. I knew she didn't she was still coming in heat afterwards. We finally get her lymph node all cleared up and take her BACK to the breeders in November for a third try. She has easily detectable heats and we were able to do a driveway breeding and bring her right back home all in a few hours. AND NOW SHE HAS AN UDDER!!!!! YAY! I had a feeling she was, as she is definitely getting fatter, and her girly parts looked puffy like my other does that just had kids, but I didn't want to count my goats before they hatched! I AM SO EXCITED!!! AND SHE IS EXACTLY TWO YEARS OLD TODAY!!! IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!!! First Start of her FF (First Freshener) Udder: How it turned out (beautiful!) : The little babies are doing great! All got disbudded a few days ago, and today they got their first vaccine. Little cutie pies. Didn't even know what hit them. We let them out a bit to play in the sun and they were very happy to get out and explore. We have their play yard about 1/2 fenced, and we need to finish it ASAP so we can get them out of the barn and into their play yard during the day! We also cleaned out their barn as the straw was so dirty already! Well it was a little wet from the rain we had 2 days ago too. Little buggers are eating A LOT. Each one is getting 17-20 ounces three times a day. Oink Oink!!! I ordered the Lambar feeding bucket this morning as I am still doing all six by hand bottle feeding. It's a lot of work, I don't mind but I did have to drop one of my classes because of the extra workload around the farm. Not that I mind. I did miss one or two feedings on Monday because I am fighting not being sick and was completely out with a migraine on Monday. Couldn't even get out of bed. I haven't had a migraine since I had my wisdom teeth removed and I woke up with this one. Weird. Still feeling groggy headed 2 days later. On a happier note, we can't wait to get our new LGD pup!!! We pick him up March 23rd... SOOOO excited!!! I hope he becomes best friends with my baby goaties!!! Everyone is doing really well today. All the babies seem healthy and happy! We worked on putting up the chain link for the baby pasture today, as well as getting the corral out so we can move it down to the area where we will be keeping the bucks. However, I now have a problem. We are keeping all four girls, but had planned on trading one of the girls for a buck of unrelated lines. We were going to keep ONE of our bucks with the new buck for company. However, that buck is not available now. So do I keep one buck and look for an unrelated one or do I keep both or none? I am so confused now. I don't want to give up ANY of the babies! |
AuthorsIn 2009, we moved to a rural rental on the outskirts of San Diego to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and to get away from the chemicals in our food and in our life. Little did we know that just a few years later we would be real farmers; growing fruits, vegetables and herbs, as well as many different kinds of chickens, ducks, turkey, bunnies, guineas, quail, goats and more! We left the suburbs for "Green Acres" and haven't looked back since! Categories
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