Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[blackandtan]

Hear that Chlorox is in short supply, and folks are stockpiling UV light tubes and KY jelly.

Uv lights I can kind of see, it might be necessary to grow your own veg year round if things get worse.
But why ky? I use it to lube my airbrush compressor but I don’t think that’s why most people buy it lol

 

[sourland]

Uv lights I can kind of see, it might be necessary to grow your own veg year round if things get worse.
But why ky? I use it to lube my airbrush compressor but I don’t think that’s why most people buy it lol

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Thanks so much! This is incrediably helpful and thoughtful of you to take the time to post. I'm definintely not in a hurry to rush into anything. We are still researching breeds and trying to decide on what I want to do. Most likely we will go with meat goats or a dual-purpose breed if we can find something like that. Probably I cannot commit to milking. I only work on Fridays and Saturdays, so weekdays wouldn't be a problem, but not sure I could commit to milking twice a day after 12-13 hour shifts--if I could get away with doing it once a day for a few days a week, maybe. Also not sure if we could consume or store that quanity of milk.

Fencing will definitely be our biggest hurdle. Cost is more of a concern than it might ordinarily be. I think our jobs both secure at the moment, but with the economy insecure, I don't want to be over confident. I'm kind of contemplating building a permenant field fence or corral by the barn, maybe electrified, in addition to a temporary electric netting in the field that I could rotate perodically to give them more room for browsing and variety. I've read horror stories about electric netting, but I think if I train the goats/pigs to it first and primarily use it on the days I'm home to watch...they should probaby be ok?

Thank you again for the great advice. We are definintely still in the early planning stages! I certainly won't act until I have a clearer picture of what will work for us.

Milking- Despite what some well meaning, but inexperienced goat "owners" say, milking only once a day is quite feasible. I think Fias Co (yes, 2 words) has info on her site about it, but if not it's out there for a google search. Some years I would milk twice a day and some years just once a day. And not all my does at any given time would be in milking rotation. Some years I might have just 2 other years maybe 5 to 7, and still other years I might let some moms raise her own kids. Milking can also be seasonal too if you want because they are not like cows. Not uncommon to milk in the spring and early summer then dry a/the does up late summer going into fall. Just all depends on your goals. I once kept a really good doe in milk for nearly two years. And milking is easy... once you have the knack takes maybe 15 minutes.

Excess milk can be fed to hogs for wonderful tender meat, and the extra can also be given to chickens. I was not a straight drinker of the milk, but rather I made cheese, custards, and fudges. Those were my hot sellers. Milk is also freezable and great for all kinds of bottle
babies.

Dual purpose- really read up on those. They are like DP chickens.... ok at both but not really good at either. Or at least they didn't used to be. You can also keep a milking breed doe and breed her to a meat breed buck.
Speaking of bucks...I don't recommend a new owner to start out trying to own a buck. A smelly, stinky, rude, obnoxious hormonal buck is not a good way to start the adventure. They are a handful and if you don't know what you are doing it's easy to get hurt by one.

Well... how do you breed then? I can hear you asking... Goats are seasonal breeders, so a buck is only needed for about one month of the year anyway.
For the first year or two, if you have a good breeder you are working with, it's easy to take your does to the buck to be bred.
Just like with horses...and it's well worth the breeding fee not to have to deal with owning a buck until you learn more about goats. (Goats ride well in the car or SUV and with a goat sized crate in the truck too. )
I started this way and once I had my goat chops, I went looking for a good male to purchase for my farm.

Can't help on the netting because I've never used it. Also because I had dairy goats and all my goats were disbudded or born polled (no horns.)

Books-
The Storey's guides are good, I have them, but don't rely on just one book, or website for that matter. I found the FFA book to be very helpful and more current-
https://www.amazon.com/How-Raise-Go...words=FFA+goats&qid=1587995407&s=books&sr=1-1

Only $5 here-
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/pr...ts--Everything-You-Need-to-Know-9780760331576


And I also have this one too-
https://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Goa...words=FFA+goats&qid=1587995407&s=books&sr=1-5

Used book sellers and used book sites usually have the books you need for under $5 and even Amazon sells used books. You will want to have some paper copies handy once you have said animals (goats, pigs, cattle, etc..)

Oh, and any goat is good for brush and weed control because goats are browsers, not grazers. Cattle and sheep graze and goats will clean up the rest.

I don't have them bookmarked anymore, but there are some big meat goat farms in the south and in TX that have extensive sites with hundreds are articles like Fias Co. If you can find those they are gold! Meat goats tend to have a few more more parasite problems than dairy goats and ones in the south even more so because winters are not cold enough to disrupt the parasite life cycle. If you start looking/googling Barber Pole worm you might find them.

Couple more I just remembered-
https://www.sheepandgoat.com/articles

https://extension.umd.edu/sheep-goats

http://hoeggerfarmyard.com/

Check your local county extension offices (ag offices) they may have some resources and usually universities with animal science programs, like the umd link above, have resources galore.

Happy reading.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Uv lights I can kind of see, it might be necessary to grow your own veg year round if things get worse.
But why ky? I use it to lube my airbrush compressor but I don’t think that’s why most people buy it lol

The UV lights are to kill the virus if you get it.
The KY is so you don't get an owie inserting the light.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

@Molpet

See Mol...I'm like this with everyone. (see goat post ^^^)

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Stupid seems to be a job requirement for politicians in the states - I was floored when I watched your president the other day actually suggest that injecting cleaners should be tried as a cure! I felt so bad for his advisors sitting there, they looked so embarrassed, that lady doctor couldn’t even make eye contact with anyone! Then later he comes back with a retraction “I was being sarcastic”, uh, no, that was absolutely not sarcasm.

Some of us who live here were horrified!
And that's all I'm allowed to say.

 

[Folly's place]

Some of us have been horrified since 2016.
Mary

 

[blackandtan]

Some of us who live here were horrified!
And that's all I'm allowed to say.

Yes sorry I violated the no politics rule, but I do think that this thread is the place to talk possible cures, regardless of whose mouth the idea came out of lol

 

[Folly's place]

I also understand that Ivermectin is in short supply, because of that report recently saying that it kills the virus IN THE LAB!
A great reason to bathe in it, or inject it, right?!?
BTW, Ivermectin toxicity is very difficult to survive...
Mary

 

[Shadrach]

I also understand that Ivermectin is in short supply, because of that report recently saying that it kills the virus IN THE LAB!
A great reason to bathe in it, or inject it, right?!?
BTW, Ivermectin toxicity is very difficult to survive...
Mary

I blame casportpony. She told everyone to use Ivermectin for scaly leg mite.