I have invited another of Cville's goat owners, Anne, to guest blog. She may pop in at any time.
I have also recently learned of goat in the Locust Grove neighborhood. That brings the confirmed total to 10 with rumors of more in Frye Springs.
In the meantime, the county is struggling to get its ducks in a row ..... and we wish all the best to the family who is having to re-home their animals (including two goats) while they thrash through the details. Come on Albemarle, do the right thing!!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Heat
The central and eastern part of the country are (we hope) nearing the end of an extended period of ridiculously high temps, low rainfall and generally gross weather. Being the Nervous Nelly that I am, I came home from work early Friday in order to keep an eye on the goats and ducks. Of course, everyone was fine. When things aren't fine is generally when you think they are. Lesson 1 of farming.
Our goats have been holding up like champs. When my husband designed our pen/housing/milking cottage, he arranged things so that the pen gets a lot of shade during the summer and much sun during the winter. Our goats always have a shady spot in the worst part of the day. Whether they are smart enough to go and find it is a different story. I refill their water bucket a couple times a day to make sure the water stays cool as they are uninterested in drinking warm water in 100 degree weather. Not so dumb after all, eh?
When I let the goats out to graze, they will sometimes get frisky, and run and leap around. This makes them pant and it does take a while for them to return to normal. This completely freaked me out at first, but I realized this is their "normal" and not something to be overly concerned about. Of course, this is normal for my goats and yours may be different.
Here is an excellent article on heat stress in sheep and goats from the Maryland Small Ruminant website. The site is AMAZING in its comprehensiveness. When you have a week or so, check it out. The info is endless.
This article was linked to on the Virginia Dairy Goat Facebook page. It is full of helpful discussions and information. Just search for it on Facebook and join up!
Our goats have been holding up like champs. When my husband designed our pen/housing/milking cottage, he arranged things so that the pen gets a lot of shade during the summer and much sun during the winter. Our goats always have a shady spot in the worst part of the day. Whether they are smart enough to go and find it is a different story. I refill their water bucket a couple times a day to make sure the water stays cool as they are uninterested in drinking warm water in 100 degree weather. Not so dumb after all, eh?
When I let the goats out to graze, they will sometimes get frisky, and run and leap around. This makes them pant and it does take a while for them to return to normal. This completely freaked me out at first, but I realized this is their "normal" and not something to be overly concerned about. Of course, this is normal for my goats and yours may be different.
Here is an excellent article on heat stress in sheep and goats from the Maryland Small Ruminant website. The site is AMAZING in its comprehensiveness. When you have a week or so, check it out. The info is endless.
This article was linked to on the Virginia Dairy Goat Facebook page. It is full of helpful discussions and information. Just search for it on Facebook and join up!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
In the beginning
So let me just start by saying that I am by no means any kind of expert on goat keeping. At just over 15 months in, I have learned a few things, but there is so much more out there. And I am afraid a lot of it is going to have to be learned the hard way.
I was thinking what I would post next.... Goat basics, book reviews, guest posts? Where to begin? So I thought that I would start with a warning.
If you plan on getting goats (for you cannot have just one.. maybe more on that later) you need to secure their pen as if it were a playpen. When you think you are done, ask yourself, would I leave my 15 month old child in here? If there is a nail sticking out of something, they will find it. If there is something that shouldn't be eaten, they will eat it. If there is something to get on top of, under, beside, they will be there. If there is something to knock over, you can bet they will knock it over. I have been at this for a while, and I am constantly amazed.
When my husband and I were expanding the goat pen, we had to have my mother come down and "babysit" because the goats were in the middle of everything we were doing. Not just sticking their noses into places that might get them smacked with a hammer, but trying to eat the fencing staples. We pulled more than one out of Zinnia's mouth. I don't know if she would have swallowed it on her own, but she was definitely considering her options.
When we built the milking cottage, we included a hay "loft" which is essentially a table with storage space underneath. Hay on top (we can get 13 bales in there) and feed storage below. As soon as we built it, Zinnia jumped up to explore. No problem, except that the decking wasn't nailed down so when she tried to jump off the edge, the board came with her. And when the bales get low, she gets up there and climbs around on the hay.
Whenever you have something leaning against a wall or, say, the hay stack, the goats will want to get behind it, regardless of how little space there is. They seem to think if their nose fits in, the rest will be able to follow. If you have ever measured the difference between the end of a goats' nose and circumference of its belly, you can see how this might cause chaos. I can't tell you how many times the step ladder and the fold up dog crate have been knocked over.
We have an apple tree that has recently lost a few immature apples. My husband gave some of them to the goats, but because they are an awkward size, they have to be cut up. I had left some in the cottage to spread out the treats. Zinnia must be able to smell them as whenever she comes in, she seems to be hunting for them... On the hay shelf, on the storage shelves, on top of the grain bin, etc. Turn around for a second and she has cleared the shelf of their grain bowls, the cleaning supplies and anything else around. The noise and chaos they create freaks them out, so they panic. And that is the real issue. When they panic, who knows what can happen. I have seen them make some very bad choices.
So there you go. The first educational goat post. Goat pens should be safe for goats and toddlers. If you have goats in the city, I expect you will eventually have both in your goat pen.
I was thinking what I would post next.... Goat basics, book reviews, guest posts? Where to begin? So I thought that I would start with a warning.
If you plan on getting goats (for you cannot have just one.. maybe more on that later) you need to secure their pen as if it were a playpen. When you think you are done, ask yourself, would I leave my 15 month old child in here? If there is a nail sticking out of something, they will find it. If there is something that shouldn't be eaten, they will eat it. If there is something to get on top of, under, beside, they will be there. If there is something to knock over, you can bet they will knock it over. I have been at this for a while, and I am constantly amazed.
When my husband and I were expanding the goat pen, we had to have my mother come down and "babysit" because the goats were in the middle of everything we were doing. Not just sticking their noses into places that might get them smacked with a hammer, but trying to eat the fencing staples. We pulled more than one out of Zinnia's mouth. I don't know if she would have swallowed it on her own, but she was definitely considering her options.
When we built the milking cottage, we included a hay "loft" which is essentially a table with storage space underneath. Hay on top (we can get 13 bales in there) and feed storage below. As soon as we built it, Zinnia jumped up to explore. No problem, except that the decking wasn't nailed down so when she tried to jump off the edge, the board came with her. And when the bales get low, she gets up there and climbs around on the hay.
Whenever you have something leaning against a wall or, say, the hay stack, the goats will want to get behind it, regardless of how little space there is. They seem to think if their nose fits in, the rest will be able to follow. If you have ever measured the difference between the end of a goats' nose and circumference of its belly, you can see how this might cause chaos. I can't tell you how many times the step ladder and the fold up dog crate have been knocked over.
We have an apple tree that has recently lost a few immature apples. My husband gave some of them to the goats, but because they are an awkward size, they have to be cut up. I had left some in the cottage to spread out the treats. Zinnia must be able to smell them as whenever she comes in, she seems to be hunting for them... On the hay shelf, on the storage shelves, on top of the grain bin, etc. Turn around for a second and she has cleared the shelf of their grain bowls, the cleaning supplies and anything else around. The noise and chaos they create freaks them out, so they panic. And that is the real issue. When they panic, who knows what can happen. I have seen them make some very bad choices.
So there you go. The first educational goat post. Goat pens should be safe for goats and toddlers. If you have goats in the city, I expect you will eventually have both in your goat pen.
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