Adventures with Goats....and Banjos

Maybe I should change the name of my blog from Adventures With Goats to Adventures With Goats And Banjos. Perhaps I should explain. For a while, I've considered taking up banjo or some similar instrument. I saw something called stumstick, and looked into it. I was going to get one, since it's not too different from banjo. Mom agreed, but decided that it was too simple and I would get bored. (It's made for beginners) So we found a cheap, quality banjo instead. I still kinda like the idea of a strumstick, but banjo will be fun, too. I'll tell ya'll (Who am I kidding, I'm the only one who reads this) when it gets here, and how it goes.

Bit by the Hunting Bug

I know, It's been forever since I last blogged. It's been kinda busy with school starting. But school hasn't kept me too busy to get hunting fever. This year, I have both an any antelope tag, and a deer buck tag and doe tag.  Antelope season starts October first, and goes through the 14th. We're going to try to go on the first.

Another Random Goat added to the adventures!

  From the title, I'm sure you know what happened. We couldn't control our addiction, and we're picking her up in two weeks. She's Alpine, LaMancha (Notice a trait with all our goats?) Toggenburg, and probably a lil' bit of everything. She isn't named yet, although I'm thinking Cinnamon Roll, or something along those lines. She's not Oberhasli red, or dull chocolate brown, Kind of a roan of the two.
 
   In other news, my lambs sold, they're being picked up tomorrow.

Ribbons and Dogs...

Back from the fair with some good ribbons! With lambs: Purple in showmanship, red in non-market (There were so many lambs that didn't make wieght they made a class for them) With goats: purple, bronze medal in showmanship, and purple in market

We got our farm dog! We don't have our farm yet, but we've got the dog!

She's the product of a divorce, the ex hubby took her, then the ex's girlfriend took to beating the poor dog. Our rescue friend took her, then mom fell in love, so we took her. She's a really good dog. Right now she's sprawled out beside me. :)

I've been bad...

I'm killing time. Taking the animals to the fair in about an hour.  I'm terrible about bloging lately, so I'll tell you what all's happened.

The lambs fell out of the trailer. * Mine were OK, but Stella broke her tail off!

Stella is 20 pounds under for minimum weight for sale on Saturday. *When they fell out of the trailer, they went off feed.

Still missing her

A know it's been awhile, but I still miss Caris. I thought I was completely over it by now, I guess you never get completely over it.

Triple Yank!

Before you think I'm racsist, let me explain. 'Yank' is what the guinea's alarm call sounds like. Thier nickname has become 'yanks' from that. I though I heard "the call" so I went in there. There, on the 'roof' of their cardboard brooder box, we 3 very smug guineas! Two of them scrabbled to the other end of the box, where it sloped, and slid right in the laundy basket! Easy catch on those two, the box piece covered most of the top of the basket. Third guinea was another story. Chased him around the room for a while, finally caught the little booger!

Tired Guineas

We have started turning the Guinea's heat lamp off during the day for two reasons, 1 It's so stinking HOT they don't need it. 2 If they have it all the time they won't feather out as quickly. It was dark in there, and I peeked in to check on them. All 10 of the little boogers were curled up, heads tucked behind their wing! Then we talked too loudly...."Pip?"....

Camp War Stories!

I got back from camp alive and able to tell war stories! So here are a few!

Our dorm leader was awesome! She said she liked noise, and didn't like awckward silence. I called her on that later. One thing I should explain is that we had acsess to coffee practically 24/7! (Imagine 12 hyper girls jammed into the same room, yeah!) We got to stay up late, but we stil didn't get to bed before 2:00 (AM!) each night (er, morning!) Every night in the dorm was very, er, loud. LEt's see, there was Sarah being obssesed with popping ballons, There was Ellie and her whoopy cushion, there was the shoe fight, there was Ellie being really loud, there was Ellie being duct-taped, there was the threat to sleep in the hall if we didn't quiet down RIGHT NOW. (BTW that usually sounded like, "HALLWAY!!!! NOWWW!!!!!") Hmmm, what else, there were games, there was us being really hyper, there was "HALLWAY!! NOW!!" If Elle used the whoopy cushion one more time. (The hallway threat was all in good fun, though) There was the fact that security camped outside our door. (Yes, they did, don't ask) There was Sarah scaring the dorm next to us by popping a ballon in their room after they turned out thier lights. So yeah, camp was really boring and dull!

GOT THEM!!!

We got them! We got the guineas! Mom got them while I was at camp! They're so cute! There are 10. There are ,3 Lavendar, 1 White, and 6 mixes of Pearl and something else. We are going to get pictures of them tomorrow. I am going to try to make a little penout of chicken wire for them so they can play in the grass. They will only get to be out for a few minutes, but I'm very sure they'll love it! I have been watching them, and I have come to some conclusions...

-They are funky birds.
-They are funky looking birds.
-They are funky acting birds.
-They dish out 'The stinkeye' often.
-Whenever they lower they're beaks, they scratch with their foot.

 I have to go to bed, so this will be continued tomorrow. (Maybe)

Hot!!!!!!

I know I've been a bad blogger. There just hasn't been too much going on lately. Besides that it's hot. Really hot. Did I mention that it's hot? I'm leaving for camp on monday, so I won't be blogging next week, at least not until friday.

Rain

    After Caris died, mom wanted to get a replacment as soon as possible, so that her place wouldn't be left empty. We went to a friend, not thinking they would have any babies so late in the year, but they did! We thought she was Alpine, but she's... Alpine, Lamancha, Nubian, and maybe something else, she has saanen ears. She is soooo cute!  She is marked just like an Alpine, with the pretty lil black sideburns! She is a gorgeous cream/red roan like color. She's skittish, because the only time she has ever been handled was when we came to look at her. She's already settling down, not liking to be caught, but becoming a love bug after she is! Yes, I'm in love!

   She is going to sleep in the milk barn for a few nights, until she is adopted by her new mama. Last night she got to sleep with a lamb her size. Before, it had only come into the milk barn to get it's goat. It bounded all around the barn, jumping up on the stands, crying for her goat. Rain just watched, wondering what was wrong with it. I am going to go see her in a few minutes, to see how well she did.

RIP

Carris fell into the horse tank last night. She didn't make it. Rest in Peace, Carris.

Goats, goats, and more goats...

Got back from the goat show. It was awesome! There were some AMAZING goats there! I had a hayday scetching goats. Soo fun! I could tell you about all the beautiful goats, but it would take a whole book to write about! I get to go tomorrow too!

I've been watching a bunch of gaot videos online, and saw a really awesome one. I'm not into meat goats, but there was an anglo-nubian (Whatever that is)  That's fatter than any boer I've ever seen. Well, it's not really fat, actually. It's MUSCLE. You can just see em' rippling as he walks! He was a REAL looker! (This doesn't mean I want meat goats now, honestly! (;  )    But still, he was pretty!

(Ok, I'm done ranting about goats now.)

Edited to add. Wait, no I'm not. I just realized that I never told anyone about showing Andy last year. (Please don't think of this as bragging, I'm not trying to, and it will explain my confidence in her)

I got her last year, in March. She had hardly ever been touched by anyone, and was more skittish than a wild rabbit. It was a wrestle to catch her, and a fight to force the bottle into her mouth. After about two weeks, I could get about halfway across the fairly small shed to her before she spooked. Be two months, instead of me having to smack her on the head to get her to take her bottle (Figure of speach, I never actually hit her), she was smacking me into subbmision!

I bonded with her a lot. We became great friends, and she would get to come out and follow me around. She became my pride and joy. Everyone commented on how pretty and sweet she was. I worked with her, training her for the show ring. It didn't take long, and soon she walked like a dream. She would set herself up, too. She would line her legs up perfectly, and stood amazingly still as long as I could.

We got to the fair, and she was an angel all week. She was quiet, and the one time she escaped was when the gate was left unlatched, and everyone got out. She was caught quickly and easily, she didn't run when I came for her. I took her out of her pen to prepare to show about two shows before our turn.  It turns out that the judge was long winded, so it ended up being three hours before our turn. Andy was tired. She was very content to just stand and try to get some sleep. Yes, she did fall asleep in the ring. We had to trade goats for a few minutes, and she didn't give him any trouble either. I got third purple in showmanship with her. I was so proud of her! In showmanship, it isn't just on how well the human shows, it's also about how well the human and goat work together, and how well behaved the goat is. She went home, with her ribbon proudly displayed, and me very happy with my amazing goat. If I have what may seem like to much confidence her, this is why.

Two Options

There are two options for someone going to watch a goat show.



-Not give the dozens of pens a second glance. You've seen goats before.

OR

-Nearly kill yourself trying to pet them all at least once, sketch as many as possible, and still see a few shows.

I think I'll go with the second one! (;

Hairy Dairy Tomorrow!

Yay! Hairy Dairy tommorrow! I don't get to show in it, but I can't wait to see all the goats! Soooo wish that I could show Neal, that beautiful red moonspotted nubian buckling! *swoon*  

Started Tommy on collar training today. He didn't like it very much, but we're going to work on it. Now it's time to start working on setting up my lambs. Rugby is maturing nicely, but still isn't friendly. Stella is a a big happy lamb!

Pleeeaaasssseeee?????

Went to get rabbit feed today. Guess what? They had Rhode Island Reds...AND...Barred Rocks...AND...Guinea Keets!!!  *Swoons*   I want...    BUT we can't get any until we have room for them and  Ducks, Geese, LowLine Cows, Goats, Sheep, Pigs, Horses, Alpacas, Laamas, Donkeys...

Hi, my name is Connie and I have a problem.

Millers, Beetles, and Ticks, Oh My!

I know I haven't posted for a while, we are staying at the other place for a bit, and don't have internet.

I's much wetter here than there. There are about 20 varieties of weeds, and approximately 3 million ticks. Those things are NASTY! We went for a walk in the woods, dad wore dark cothes. We cam out, and mom noticed a red spot on him. So we pull off tick after tick, and the grand total is probably over 40! Another thing that this wet weather produces is HUGE beetles. Like two-inch-long-beetles. We captures one. I named it,    Big Burly Biker Beetle Bob! 

Along insect lines, we also have a million pet millers residing in the garage! If you want  to go in there after dark, you want to make sure you turn the garage light on before you really open the door. If you don't, there wil be a giant cloud of light-crazed millers eager to get at the kitchen light!

Tomatoe Sprouts!

Since that most of the plants have sprouted, now I can tell you what they are.      Let's see, I planted cherry tomatoes, Garden Huckleberry, Cosmos, and Chamomile! I was really happy when a second tomatoe sprouted, then I under the paper to show what kind of plant it was, and there were three little tomatoe sprouts! So there are now four little tomatoe sprouts!

Ack! Appendixitis!

Wow, you never know what's going to happen, do you? Two days ago, mom woke me up, saying to get up, hurry and pack because dad was in the emergency room.  We got there right before he went into surgery for appendixitis. (It was a four hour drive due to temorary living arrengments)  The surgery went well and quickly. (Although it was the longest 45 minutes of my life!) Now he is home, and doing well!

Bad Dog!

I am mad at my dog. I wanted to sleep as late as possible, and 6:45, lick, lick, lick, slurp, licka, slurpa, lick, lick, slurp! (Repeat 20 times) I thought that he was FINNALY asking to go outside instead of just marking everything in sight, so I took him out, turns out, mom had taken Sarah to bed with her because she was cold. So now I'm awake, and very very mad at a jealous little dog for waking me up! Well, I guess it's all right, because I can go work my lambs earlier today.

Adventures of Herry the Duck

Well, I saw something online and wanted to try it, so here it is... The Adventures Of  Herry The Duck!
I know the name was not very creative, but he's stuck with it until I come up with a better one!

Herry the Duck got to go outside and have a great adventure, and, to say the least, he was hyperactive!


He wanted to explore the garden, and gave new meaning to "found under a cabbage leaf!

 Then he decided that he wanted to help, but since he couldn't push the wheelbarrow, he took a ride instead.

 Then he checked the mail.

 He also wanted to "help" mow the lawn.

 I turned my back for one second, and look what  happened!

 Then, he wanted to meet the rabbits...

 Then we tried to play frisbee, but, well, you can see.

 Last of all, he wanted to ride the motercycle.

Well, Those are all of the adventures of Herry The Duck!

Hot Weather and Gourmet Biscuits

Wow! It's hot here! I was going to work my lambs today, but I might just work them later tonight and maybe stay the night (maybe maybe maybe).

Oh, and you're wondering about those gourmet biscuits I tried to make? Well, they definetily weren't edible! I went to all the trouble of rolling them out and making them into nice circles and squares, opened the oven to pull them out, what I saw was a large, mushy, bubbly, boiling, mass of yellow soup! Hoped it might be all right, just not to pretty. Well, you touch it, and it crunches under your finger, like snow that sat overnight and got a really light frost. So, the gourmet biscuits got scratched. Sigh, so much for that!

Cooking, Animal Crackers, and Angry Birds

Made a pie yesterday, it was apple and pretty good! Now I am making biscuits! They are taking longer than I thought, because I didn't notice two things, that the butter needs to be thawed, and that it need to be chilled, too. So maybe sometime today they will be ready.

Gave Andy animal crackers, that is all she will be interested in with me now. :) 

I got my butt kicked by a chicken today! :P Well, this hen had the only two chicks they were, the cats had eaten the slow, easy to catch ones. (You can imagine the "skills" of these two chicks) This hen was very protective, but we (me and my friend) wanted to catch one. Well, this hen wasn't two happy about it, so we finnaly got the chicks in a pen where the hen couldn't get, and then the chase began. We finnally caught one. My friend put it back, because I'd taken the first two angry-hen-beatings. Ahh the trouble we go through to hold pure cuteness for 20 seconds!

Potted Plants

Got some plants started in pots, some Chamomile, and... Oops...My mom reads this, and the other ones are secrets, and I can post what they are once they come up, because then I will tell her. They are some really nice plants,  they should be something she'll like.

We took Sarah and Cocoa for a walk today. Sarah had a chain leash, and got it tangled in a chair right before we left. That was the end of the word. The only way she could be untangled would be to let go and let her pull it out, then she started running, and the chain made NOISE!! When I finally caught her, she was so shaken up she couldn't enjoy the walk, because the terrible chain leash was sticking to her!

Also made a chick palace out of a box! It has three stories, a nest, and a ramp! The top story doesn't have a ramp, because there wasn't room for a good ramp. Instead, there is a reward for chicks that fly up, a nest!  Made out of strips of an old T-shirt!

Desicions!

Great news! My mom has been sucked into the crazy world of goats! She got her *first* one today! Now it needs a name.  She wants to name it Caris, but isn't quite sure. I think it looks like a Peaches n' Cream! As far as looks go, she is a really pretty orange, white, roanish kinda color. (Sorry no photos yet)  

There is another big desicion to be made. Whether to band Thomas Hunter or not. There are pros and cons to both sides, and I will post them here.

                                                                         Leaving Intact
Pros

- No stud fees.


Cons

-Has to have his own pen.

-Can't be let to breed his mom.

-Has to have a wether (banded goat) friend.

-He will stink.

-He will be unbearable when the girls come into heat.


                                                                         Banding
Pros

- He can live in the same pen with the girls.

-He can detect when they are coming into heat.

-He can make them have more babies. (Won't get into details.)

-He won't stink.




Also, I put Andy on the stand to get her used to it, so that when she actually needs milk she won't put up a fight. She did great! (Then again, she did have grain most of the time!) Her udder is coming in nice. She didn't have any milk at the moment, because Tommy had just had a big meal. But it was nice, even if it was empty! She has really great attatchements, too!


Stella is getting really big, Rugby too! They are about ready to be weaned, too.

Guinea Facts!

Finding out more about guinea fowl, and found out a bunch of interesting facts about them. (You might want to look away, so you  don't pass out from boredom)

-Guineas are like homing pigeons, they try to go back to where they grew up.

-Some male Guineas mate with only female, and stay with her for the rest of their lives.

-Guineas eat nearly anything that crawls, and even small mamals, like mice and rats.

-Guineas will kill snakes, and have been know to chase preditors.

-There are over thirty different varieties of Guinea fowl.
Pretty cool, I think! Of course these are probably Duh! inducing facts that everyone but me knows. :)

Goat Visit

Went and visited Andy and Tommy Today. It was too windy to work my lambs, so I just sat in the goat barn with them. Not much to post about it, except that Andy is getting a beautiful lil udder! As far as I can tell, (underneath all that hair) She has good attatchments! To me that is just as important as lots of milk. Tommy is getting big and handsome, he is hardly three weeks old and already huge! He can hardly fit his huge self underneath mom to get a drink!

Guinees!

Yay! Might have found a place in the country, but it has grass up to the house, and the bugs to go with it. But we have come up with a very fun solution... Birds! Guinees, to be exact! Well, 10 guinees, 4 turkeys, and 16 of the cheepest (bad joke, I know) chickens they had that had the same hatch date. (The chickens were for body heat, so there are enough birds to keep each other warm)  These will be kept at a friend's house until we are sure about the house and they are big enough that the resident skunk won't kill them. We will leave most or all of the chickens with the friend, along with one or two turkeys, as a thank-you-gift for letting us keep them with them.

Also went to the fabric store and got some fabric (on sale, too!) to make a coat for Andy to wear at the show. It's going to be blue, with sequins (intimidation factor) and maybe some ribbon around the edge (maybe).

Made an anti-marking-belly-band for Peanut, it worked, too! What it is is an old helmet liner from my dad's job with a denim strap, it works well, even though Peanut doesn't like me now.

We lost another rabbit to the dogs that come over the fence. Of course it had to be one of our two girls, not one of our three males! (Not to mention it was the sweetest girl!) So now we have three boys, and one girls, and this is a little out of balance. We are going to give our current herd-sire to someone for a pet, then maybe eat or sell a little male. We have two littles, so we might have at least one more girl in there.

Halter Trained!

Went and stayed and worked my lambs for nearly the whole weekend, and I am proud to anounce that... Stella is officially halter trained! Rugby is not quite halter trained, yet.  Since Rugby is a different breed, he isn't getting bigger half as fast. Unless the judges really take a shine to him, I don't think I will show his breed again. Stella on the other hand, Stella is getting HUGE! I think that she is my best lamb, she's big, friendly, walks, and doesn't have much DRAMA like Rugby does.

Andy is doing great, but I think she could use some copper. Tommy Hunter is getting big, and is friendly now, too!

More Random Pics!

 Bunnies!

 Sarah in her classy coat!

Sarah modeling another coat!

Goats and Boots!

Went and visited the happy little goat family today, they are doing great! Andy does not have a very big udder yet, but then again Tommy Hunter has a big appetite! His is doing great, and is no longer skittish! I had a nice long conversation with Andy, not quite sure what was said, but I think it was good bonding time! :) Tommy's rumen is up and going, saw him eatin' some hay with mom, and later felt his rumen roll. I went up the hill to visit and say goodnight right after dark, and didn't see Andy or Thomas anywhere, so I looked in the little goat barn, and there she was, having properly put her son to bed! I talked for a few minutes, then went out of the barn, and prepared to hop the fence out of their pen, and heard a whicker! Turned around, and there was Andy, wondering where I was going! I was all too happy to give her more loves, and Tommy too, of course!

Also yesterday went to the thrift store and got... A pair of perfectly fitting boots for... $5:00! What a score!




One thing I am really excited about is Hairy Dairy, which is coming up in May. If you don't know what Hairy Dairy is, it is a goat show where you don't shave the goat like you normally do. A tad more casual. I am really excited about it! I am going to be helping a friend show her animals, too. She signed up a bunch of goats then realized she would have to be in about twenty places at once is she was going to pull off showing all those goats! So I will be one of many people helping walk a couple goats around the ring. Since I am a goat addict a can't wait to show a sweet li'l brown nubian buck with white spots and ears! He's young, so he's still loveable, unlike he will be in a few months once he hits adolecence.
 (AKA Peeing all over himself) The main problem there will be with showing him will be, that instead of standing still like a good goat, he will be jumping all over you proclaiming his love in goat. That will be something to work on with him.

Some Random Pictures

 From left to right, Peanut and Cocoa

 From left to right,  No Name, No Name, No Name, No Name, No Name, No Name, No Name, No Name, No Name, No Name

From left to right : On Top: Cocoa, Peanut  :On Bottom: Eddy, Gabriel, who has gone to a different home.

Introduction

This is the first post on my new blog, but then again, you probably know that. :) I live in a a small town in Western Nebraska, and keep my animals at a friend's farm.  My mini-herd consists of...

-Andy,  An Alpine/LaMancha, yearling doe
-Thomas Hunter,  Her 3 week old, Alpine/LaMancha/Toggenburg  buckling (That was an accident, will explain later)

-Rugby,   A Border Leicester lamb, for 4-H

-Stella, A Sufolk lamb for 4-H


All of these are going to be shown in 4-H this year, but only the lambs are being sold. For Andy and Thomas Hunter, (Who is going to be wethered) this is just experience.

Please don't expect any profound statements or stories, because you'll be disappointed. This blog is just going to be a place to share all of my little adventures working my lambs and spending time with my goats. These are farm animals, so there might be some mildly offending bits if you do not raise animals, too. Those moments will be few and far between, but just a warning.


To explain about Thomas Hunter being an accident, since I keep my goat at a friend's farm, she is around other goats, too. (including several intact bucks)   There was one buck, whose name was Gennis the Menace, was an escape artist. What happened, is that Gennis knew that Andy was in heat,  and used he "abilities" to get out of his pen. and into her's. Thus the start of  Thomas Hunter. She was a tad young to be bred, and she might be a little bit smaller than if she hadn't been bred.


This is going to be both my, and Andy's, second year in 4-H. I got third purple in showmanship. (third choice for first place). I did not show her in market, which is just body evaluation. Due to misunderstanding, I did not show her in that one, so we will never know how well she would have scored.  With my lamb last year, I got Blue in Showmanship, and Red in market. 

We also raise California White Rabbits, that run free in the back yard. It wasn't always this way, though. First they were in small cages, with a little run for exersice. Then they started the burrow. Now we expect the yard to cave in!(We had forty rabbits down there at one time! The fence worked great, until a rabbit that was too smart for it's own good learned how to jump on a hay bale just so and get out. It then taught all the other, dimmer, rabbits how to do it too! So we just took away the fence so it could be used else where. Then the neighbor's cats and dogs started getting quick meals from our babies. For a while nearly all of our little rabbits got eaten before they were two months old. We put the fence back up. We now have two littles at  the moment.

Then there are the dogs. Eddy is our medium size mix from the pound. We think he is has some border collie and some spaniel in him. He has been known to point at cats right before he barks at them. Then there are our three chihuahuas. There is Cocoa, a purebred chihuahua we were given to as a thank you gift when we found some one's dog for them. Peanut is her son, he is supposed to be purebred, but he doesn't look like it.  Sarah is also from Cocoa, but a different batch of puppies. She was born with a cleft palete, and bottle raised. At about two weeks, we took her into the vet to see what was wrong with her. He said that she had a cleft palete and that it would be best to put her down. We didn't, since we had gotten her that far, we weren't giving up now! Now she is nearly a year old, and thriving! She is the queen of the house, one bark sends then all scurrying!

 This is Sarah

                                              There isn't anything wrong with her, she is just very trusting!

              This is her with one of her toys. (You can tell how dominant she is by the size of her toys!)

 
And just an all around cute picture of her!

 This is Thomas Hunter, the morning after he was born! Cute, isn't he? Better than kittens, as my dad says!

 This is Thomas Hunter with his mama, Andy! He looks just like her!