The Old Folks Home

[superchemicalgirl]

You take an old rag and rub it all over a nice stinky buck. Then put it in something airtight - a glass jar, a ziploc bag... and let the doe smell it. If she goes berserk, she's in heat.

 

[Arielle]

SCG-- if you just need to keep the goats for a friend and don't plan to milk or produce kids, then you can skip the buck and breeding. I try to be available for lambing; occassionally they do need help.Especially a first time mother. BUt I'm home more than you are. WHen I worked full time, my boss let me take a long lunch to zip home and check who needed help. SOrt of funny, in a dress and all. Save yourself a head ache.

I'm not going to do the New Years hatch athon. I'm still moving out the last of the poults. Most went out to their new coop this afternoon. I would like to be free of chicks for a while. Funny to look at chick--they grow so much slower than the poults.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

The guy I got the goats from told me that he probably won't want them back in 2 years, unlike what he told me originally. So I'm pretty stuck with these goats.

I wouldn't mind having the milk, but I'm not dead set on having it, either. It's more like something to do, something to try.

The guy I got the goats from did say that I could drop Augustina back at his house for the birth, otherwise BF's mom (or other midwife surrogate) would need to be present or available. I really don't do birth. I even hate walking into the coop when my leghorns are laying. I can hear them pushing their eggs out and straining and breathing heavy and kind of lightly grunting. It's horrible.

I don't have to make a decision until Nov/Dec - I don't want her to kid too early, because it's COOOOOLD here in early spring. I don't have a nice warm barn, and they're certainly not kidding in my house.

 

[Kansaseq]

SCG, thanks for the info--I now know what a buck rag is! And you are too funny about the birth thing. I used to have nightmares about being pregnant (about the worst thing I could ever imagine happening to me). But not liking being in the henhouse when the girls are laying? Too funny!
Incidentally, I am unable to avoid the entire birth thing, as I'm a vet tech. I always feel SO bad for the dystocia dogs who come in; straining to have their puppies but they can't. Just makes me ache for them. And SO glad that will NEVER happen to me--ugh!

 

[Bunnylady]

SCG-- if you just need to keep the goats for a friend and don't plan to milk or produce kids, then you can skip the buck and breeding. I try to be available for lambing; occassionally they do need help.Especially a first time mother. BUt I'm home more than you are. WHen I worked full time, my boss let me take a long lunch to zip home and check who needed help. SOrt of funny, in a dress and all. Save yourself a head ache.

This reminded me of something a friend of mine told me. She is in charge of the animal barn during our fair, so she has to deal with all kinds of situations. One year, there was a mini mule that someone had brought, and it had been left pretty much alone during the whole fair (feeding and cleaning of stalls for all animals is done by the fair volunteers). When the time came for the animals to go home, the owner of the mule sent her 20-ish son and a friend of his to bring the mule home. It's always a Sunday afternoon when the animals go home, and my friend had come straight from a church service, so she was still in her "Sunday go to meetin' clothes." It was clear to her that neither of these guys were horse people, and that mule was pretty wild. The pen (stall) wasn't all that big, and these guys were chasing her all over it, but at the same time were too afraid to get close enough to risk her kicking them. After watching this fiasco for a few minutes, my friend (who is a horse person pretty much from birth) took pity on them, and waded into the fray. She cornered the mule, and when she put her hands on the animal, the mule reared up. She wrapped one arm around the mule's neck in a sort of half-Nelson and said, "hand me her halter and lead". They did, and she wrestled the halter onto the mule's head with her free hand. Since they now had a "handle" on the mule, the guys were able to take it from there, but they couldn't resist teasing her about giving them lessons in "mule wrestling". She told me, "I didn't think about it at the time, but I reckon I did look pretty funny holding that animal up with me in a dress!"


BTW, the mule in this story is now MY mule, Betsy.

 

[Stumpy]

Betsy is the prettiest mule I've ever seen! And she certainly looks well-cared for now.

 

[Bunnylady]

Aw, thanks. I think Betsy's pretty special, but then, I may be a little biased.

Mini mules aren't very common, so Betsy is almost unique around here. She's almost an institution at the fair. A couple of times she's been not too happy about it (like the time they put her by herself with only cows in the stall next to her) but other times have been better. Last year, they gave us a double stall, so she, Syd and Blondie (my two miniature horses) got to stay together - she liked that. Put a gelding in the stall next door (Betsy's a terrible flirt) and with all the carrots that the volunteers give her - she's in mule heaven!

 

[mickey328]

She's gorgeous! I just love the Long Ears

 

[Glenmar]

Mini mules are rare. Jacks will not always breed horse mares. I have never seen one in person. She is a cutie.

 

[mickey328]

We try to get to the mule stuff at the county fair and they have 'em all...from the drafts down to the minis...and every year, I want to take a few of each home with me, LOL