Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats Blog - Triplets born - New baby pics

[kinnip]

Very cute. One thing I've noticed with mine though. They love to lay under the stars. They have a picnic table and a spool they lay on all night, in good weather. I think they find it refreshing after a 90+ degree day. I have a good fence, so I don't worry about locking them up at night.

 

[ruth]

Well, yesterday we had our first emergency.

I thought the idea of something for them to climb on was a good idea. There was an old bench in stables, similar to a picnic table bench. I put it in middle of goat run and boy were they having a ball. Bitsy especially. She was the first to start running and jumping on and off it. She had been doing that to a little metal chair I had in there for sitting with them and it kept falling over so I thought the sturdy bench would be a good idea. Soon they were all playing King of the Mountain and were running and jumping and doing mid-air aerial stunts and having a ball. I was getting a kick out of it since I hadn't seen them do anything since we got them.

Don't you know it. Bitsy broke her leg. Clean through at upper thigh. It was just swinging in place. She didn't cry out that I know of. I only discovered it when I checked on them and she didn't come running - just layed there. She still looked like she was just taking a little rest. And of course it was end of day, after hours, for our part-time vet but she drove in from Natchez and after several attempts was able to set the leg.

Bitsy is now an indoors goat. She is in Rex's kennel and he is keeping guard next to her. Scarlett (our GSD puppy) spent the night sleeping next to her and she seems to be right at home.

What's that old Rosann Rosanadana saying? "It's always something."

 

[buck-wild-chick]

Sorry to hear about your goat. hope everything heals right

 

[Chirpy]

Oh Ruth .. so sorry to hear about the little disaster. I'm glad your vet was able to get there and get it set. You've done it now though... house goat!

She'll never want to go back outside.

I think that is my biggest fear with my goats.. having them break a leg. They just don't understand the height on things! And, they have to jump into the air, bucking and twisting while coming down to earth, I'm always wondering if they'll land solidly or not.

I have some big cable spools that I got for them to play on ... someday... the spools are just too large right now. So, I put the smaller spools into the yard for them and they love them. A couple of weeks ago I saw my larger ND actually jump up onto the big cable spool that was outside the fenced area and then she jumped back off!!! I let them out to play during the day and didn't think they could possibly jump that high to get up onto that big spool.

Keep us informed on how that leg heals.

 

[ruth]

Hi Chirpy - boy they do some stunts don't they? When I first put the bench out there and they started doing that jumping and bucking while twisting in mid-air thing I ran to get DH to come see the goats. Of course by time he gets out there they are just standing around. He never did get to see them play. They had the bench for a day and half before Bitsy broke her leg. First thing DH did, while I'm still standing there holding a goat with a swinging leg and telling him we need to get to emergency vet, was run out there and pick up that heavy bench and toss it out of pen. Same bench I had to drag and lug a little a time to get it in there. It was really solid and short. I think it was used to sit on to put on riding boots since it was in tack room. I even told myself when I saw them playing so rough that it would be "o.k. cause they're goats" and thought it must be normal for them to be able to jump that high and they seemed to be having so much fun knocking each other off the long bench.

What safe things can I give them to play on? Bitsy is so much smaller than the rest. She was the runt of the breeders herd but I thought she was so cute I bought her anyway. Maybe she just isn't big enough to play with the others, even though she's a month older than they are.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Hi There - sorry I didn't respond sooner. I needed to get their papers in order to answer your questions and I kept forgetting to get back on here and answer.

They came from a breeder in nearby Clinton, LA. Her herd name is Bluff Creek. We are going to use the herd name Bethel Farms since that's our farm name.

They are registered with American Goat Society and are from Lost Valley line, and Twin Creeks Line. I picked goats that each had different lineage so that I could breed them with one another and each other's offspring. I know I'm probably not using the right terminology - got a lot to learn. Have no idea what the different letters and marks after each one's name means.

I don't think I will ever show them but the breeder says that the fifth one I bought (still awaiting) is "show quality" and that I should keep any of her kids because she has a national grand champion as a grandparent (or parent I can't remember) and the buck she is being bred to also has a national champion lineage. Again, not something I know anything about. I just wanted cute dairy goats for the milk. I would have been just as happy to buy unregistered goats but I had been looking for awhile and this breeder was within an hour's drive and it just so happened we were in her town for a festival so we stopped by and.....well guess I got hooked right then and there.

Where in MS are you? Have you been raising them long? If so, I would love to tap your brain for info.

 

[justusnak]

oh Rith....I just saw this thread. Im so sorry about your little one. What a DOLL!!!

Maybe you can put a few bales of straw in there, untill they get bigger?? I dont have goats...but man oh man... those are cuties!!!

 

[Henrietta23]

Oh Ruth, I'm so sorry! Looks like Bitsy has some great care givers though, between you, your vet and Rex. Hope it's a speedy recovery for her!

 

[Chirpy]

Ruth asked:

What safe things can I give them to play on?

Here are a couple pictures of our goat playground. On the far right you can see three tires that we buried in the ground... they like to jump onto them. Their favorite spots are on the two igloo dog houses.​

 

[ruth]

Nice playground. Here's the infamous bench - looks harmless enough to me.

I don't know for sure that's how she broke her leg - just guessing from the way they were playing so rough on it.

Here are her hospital room visitors.