Really nice all day
Took off for the Blue Rose Goat Ranch in Winlock and spent a couple of hours buying kids and looking around the farm. They work hard to keep it up. The goats, all 120 of them plus kids, have lots of space in the barn which is divided up into large pens with stock panels.
I picked up two goats. Both are Boer crosses I think, but judging by the goats they should be plenty milky for me. I'll have to take a better look at their ears. If they're floppy they have Boer in them. One is a Saanan cross and one is an Alpine cross. The Saanan I've named Blanchetta (Blanche for short) and the Alpine I call Alfreda (Freddy for short). Each was $25.00.
I think they're at least a week old. Blanche will be larger than a regular Boer but not as large as a Saanan. Freddy will be slightly larger than a Boer.
On the way home I stopped and picked up some Lamb milk replacer at the Farm Store. The instructions were torn off the back of the container. I called the Farm Store and had them give me the instructions from another bag.
The instructions say to use 1 scoop (comes with the bag) per 4 cups of water. Put in hot water, sprinkle the milk replacer on top and mix well with a whisk. Then add cold water to make four cups. It's better to feed the kids cold milk replacer. It's less likely to give them scours. Each kid gets 2 cups morning and night. I'll be starting them on grain pretty soon.
Blanche did not drink much of the milk replacer but Freddy gulped it down and begged for more. She got a sip more. Blanche will no doubt be very hungry this morning.
I have them where I put Three (calf) before I moved him to the middle stall in the cow barn. The stock panel has 5" x 8" holes. After I fed them the first thing the kids did was to walk out into the pen with the rest of the goats who fortunately ignored them. Violet seemed quite taken with the babies.
Our mail delivery person stopped by the house to give us our mail. I wrangled her into staying for a bathroom break and gave her a pop. I also gave her a very late Christmas present. She gives such great service and is so friendly.
After dinner I ordered 25 chicks, a mixture of red, yellow and tri-colored French Colored Range Rovers (colored Range chicks) from JM Hatchery (www.jmhatchery.com/ ). I plan to put them into the chicken tractor once they're old enough to go out. I'll need to get a pen made in the loom room and locate the waterers and feeders. I also need to get some chick starter and see if I can locate my QuitPick anti-pecking solution in case any of the chicks start picking on one of the other chicks. I wanted to order Muscovy ducklings but just can't justify buying 20 or 25.
Maybe my Muscovy hens will lay eggs this year. They should be just about old enough. They're already starting breeding behavior but the males don't seem to know what to do after the hen crouches for them. It's always humorous to see the expression. Well, I've got her down, now what do I do with her? I expect the mating will come later this spring.
I also ordered some things from Caprine Supply. My Pritchard nipple is really old had been nibbled on by a mouse so I ordered two of them, plus 3 adult collars, an automatic waterer nipple so that I'm not constantly filling up water buckets (although I will have to do so in the winter time), number tags (11-20) and a package of Kid ID Neck Bands, 20 to a package.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment