Getting Ready for Rain

A couple small rain systems came through last week.  Nothing very cold or very wet.  But today, a substantial winter storm arrived.  We spent Sunday getting ready.  Brett clawed leaves out of the rain gutters and shoveled them out of the drain pipe where our driveway meets the road.  I added more straw to the goat shelter.

Before dinner, we brought the horses from their pastures to the barn.  Lucy and Pistol were led in first; Lucy wanting to prance but holding it together, and Pistol slowly walking behind.  Pistol will be 22 this year and in the past month we've noticed that she is walking slowly.  Her appetite is good, and her attitude bright, but she walks slowly now.

Brett led Flash to the barn next and then I attempted to lead Tex to the barn at liberty.  He was very tempted by the grass growing around the barn.  He struggled, but stayed.  Until we got to the barn door.  He stopped; he looked down the barn aisle; he looked at the grass; he looked at me -- pondered a minute and then walked off to the grass.  I followed.

He had his head down, as I approached, under a maple tree behind Flash's stall run-out, when Kersey jumped up from where she had been sitting and dashed past him.  He was already feeling uncomfortable with me approaching to move him along and, as she flew by, he threw his head in the air, planted his feet and then pushed sideways, exploding into flight behind the turn-outs.  He stopped when he got to the corner, spun and stared at me with his head high and nostrils flared.

"What do you want to do, Tex?"

He trotted over to me and stopped, reaching his muzzle toward me.   I'm not sure if it was "sorry" or "save me" or "do you have a cookie?" -- I didn't really care about the reason; I was happy he had chosen to come to me.  It was getting dark so I slipped the halter, which was hanging from my shoulder, on and led him quietly to the barn.

Goats in Buckets

Goats are funny creatures.  They would much rather eat shrubs, including thorny rose or berry bushes, than grass.  As a result, the grass inside their area remained very long while the horse pasture was nibbled to the nub.  We decided to remove the bar above their gate that keeps the horses out of the goat area, but allows the goats to go back and forth between their area and the pasture, so that Tex and Flash could "mow" the grass.

You can see the difference in the grass height between the goat pen (with the horses) and the horse pasture (in the foreground).

Meanwhile, the goats were relaxing in the sun, in the horse pasture.

Whiskey

The feed bins are a very popular resting place.

The goats were happy to have the horses in their area so we left the barrier down for a few days.

After the grass was nibbled to a nice length, Flash went into the goat shelter and started investigating things.  He made a big mess so we had to put the barrier back up.

Cowboy Take Me Away

Cowboy was named after my favorite Country song. 

Camille holding Cowboy, I'm holding Whiskey.  First time we met the babies in 2011.

First pedicure

Trimming back the blackberry bushes

Cowboy never recovered.  He wasn't in pain but became quieter as the week went by.  Brett found him this afternoon where he had been sleeping in the sun.  Rest in peace, sweet little guy.

Too Much of a Good Thing

The other night, Brett mentioned to me that Cowboy seemed a bit under the weather.  He wasn't running around with the other goats but was, instead, spending his time resting in one of the igloos.

That's Cowboy standing in the back.  Don't ask me how I tell them apart; I can't explain it other than to say that Cowboy and Whiskey have different energy; a different way of standing and a different way of looking at me.  

The next morning, I got up extra early so I could take a look at him before leaving for work.  I found Cowboy in his igloo and, when I opened the gate to the pasture, he came out of the igloo but didn't follow the others in their mad dash to the pasture.  Instead, he stood on shaking legs and looked at me.  He wouldn't let me near to him, but I could see that he was definitely bloated and uncomfortable.

I did some research online and easily identified his condition as bloat.  This happens when a goat gorges on lush grass or grain, and his gut can't keep up with gas that is created, as all of that ferments in the rumen.  I checked some goat sites and then asked my most trusted source-- Michaele who raised goats, sold goat milk soap and other products, and used to blog about it.  She suggested treating him with a paste probiotic and gave me the name of one she had used and felt worked well.

When I walked into the feed store, on my way home from the office, the girl behind the desk looked at me dubiously.  In my corporate attire, I did not look a typical feed store customer.  I'm usually wearing jeans, boots and a dusty ranch jacket when I go in there and she clearly did not recognize me.  I asked if they had anything to treat goat bloat.  One of the guys from the back, where the hay is stored, was walking by and he laughed, "too much green grass, right?"  We have lots of lush, green grass this winter.  The goats are on pasture everyday, so I'm not sure why Cowboy suddenly decided to binge on it.  He wasn't going to tell me.  He didn't want anything to do with me.

We have four goats.  Three of the goats like nothing more than to be handled.  They mob us for attention and scream at us when we leave.  Cowboy has always been different.  He's an independent goat and would much prefer to not be touched.  Once in a great while, he will shock me by coming over for a back scratch.  But, in general, he keeps to himself.  I thought, how on earth am I going to catch this goat and stick a tube of goop down his throat.   

After chasing him around for a bit, Brett and I got him to go into the goat shelter.  He looked around and then headed into his igloo.

I got down on my hands and knees and crawled in after him.  He looked at me in mild alarm but there was nowhere for him to go.  My body completely filled the exit.  My legs and butt were outside and my head and shoulders were in.  He didn't fight me when I gave him the medicine.  In fact, he seemed to enjoy the taste; licking his lips and chewing.  I massaged his belly for awhile and then backed out.

We opened the gate so the other goats could come back in from the pasture.  They were not at all happy about being separated from Cowboy.  Bear jumped up on their platform and then stretched his nose down to talk to Cowboy.

When he was done talking to his herd mates, Cowboy walked around for a bit.  I encouraged him to move and I listened for him to burp; a sign that gas was being released.  It didn't take long.

Cowboy even felt good enough to pick up stick and wave it at us.  

This morning, Cowboy seemed better.  He's still moving slowly and was the last one out of the gate this morning but he did go to into the pasture so that is improvement.  We are heading into the weekend so I'll be able to keep a closer eye on him.  He's not 100%, but I'm hoping he's on his way there.

Keeping the Goats Warm

In the winter, I pile straw in the goat shelter to keep them warm.  Straw provides excellent insulation; much better than shavings.

Whiskey and Cowboy waiting for me to unload the new straw

I have to add more straw every month because they eat their bedding.  They have green grass and they eat the same hay as the horses, but they would rather eat dry, brown straw.

Little Bear sampling the new straw

I pile it high on the top and sides of their igloos to provide insulation.  I also make a deep pile in the back for the goats to burrow into when the wind blows.

Piling straw around the igloos

There are three igloos and four goats.  One of the igloos is quite small and I'm not sure that it gets used much, if at all.  The straw inside is not matted down into a comfortable bed like in the others.

The igloos before I added new straw

I really need to get a bigger igloo -- but they cost a fortune.  I'm thinking maybe a large dog house would work.

Thistle sampling the staw piled in the back of their shelter

It's Turkey Time!

Dinner's ready; come and get it!

Photo by Steve Neely

Happy Thanksgiving everyone; from our ranch to you and yours.  I am thankful for so many things -- and thankful for all of you; for your support and comments over the months and years of this blog.

Another Wet Weekend

Our friends from Southern California, Heather and Steve visited us this past weekend.  They arrived Friday with more rain.  This storm system was fairly tame, and we even had a bit of a break on Saturday.  They went up the road to the lake and hiked a bit, while I sorted plants for my new perennial bed.

Steve is an amateur nature photographer.  He wandered the property with his camera either in his hand or stashed in his backpack power pack.  Heather is my dressage buddy; we shared the same trainer for many years.  They were very handy with a muck rake and helping us bring the horses into the barn when the rain started.  And back out, when it stopped.  And then back in this morning when it started up again.

The view from Jackson's window

Jackson waiting for breakfast at the round pen door.

Steve said he would share his photos with me and I have permission to share them with you on this blog.  I can't wait!  In the meantime, here are pictures I took of the goats.

Little Bear (back) and Whiskey (front)

Cowboy

We managed to have a great time, despite the rain.  The cool, wet weather was a welcome change, for them, from the hot Southern California fall.

The sun rising and setting in the clouds was beautiful, the stream sang, and the wood stove danced.

Morning Chores

I'm really getting a workout this weekend.  Brett is in Southern California visiting his son's family.  This means three days of solitude (which I enjoy) (which isn't to say that I don't miss him), and three days of full responsibility for the ranch.  I enjoy the morning chores best, when it is cool and crisp, and I still have lots of energy.  I can knock out the morning chores is under 90 minutes.  Lunch is a piece of cake -- just delivering hay to the three pastures.  Evening chores are pretty much a repeat of the morning, minus the vitamins.

I slept until 7am, when the grey light of morning and the pacing hoofbeats of Lucy and Jackson woke me up.  Brett starts waking up around 5 or 5:30 and is restless thereafter.  We are normally up by 6:30.  So, this morning felt deliciously luxurious.

After giving Kersey her medication and letting her out, I turn on my espresso machine, grab the chicken scraps, and head outside.

All our kitchen scraps and leftovers go in here.  The chickens eat well.

After opening the hen house door, Kersey and I head to the barn.  She's first up for breakfast, and it is devoured before I get the first buckets done.  All the horses get a scoop of vitamin pellets and carrots.  Tex gets magnesium to help him relax, Lucy gets magnesium and a joint supplement, Flash gets his arthritis medication - hidden in a fig newton.

The prep table; carrots in the refrigerator to the left.

We converted a stall into the feed room.

Pistol gets her bucket first.  She leaves puddles of drool all over her pasture, anticipating breakfast.

Tex and Flash get their buckets next, and then I push the hay cart over to Lucy and Jackson's pasture.  Lucy works up an appetite patrolling the fence line and urging me to pick up the pace.  While she and Jackson eat their vitamins, I clean/muck their pasture.  I mix 50% leaves with the manure, from the oaks which have carpeted much of the pasture, and then dump it in the compost bin.  After turning it a few times, I will have amazing compost in the spring.

Next, I let the goats out; Bear, Cowboy and Whiskey head for the area where Tex and Flash dribbled and dropped vitamin pellets; Thistle heads straight for the hay.

While they are sorting that all out, I muck the pasture they share with Tex and Flash.

Then its back to Pistol's pasture to pick up manure there.

Back in the barn, I rinse out the vitamin buckets

and reload the hay cart.

Kersey supervises.

Lastly, I walk down the driveway to the road and pick up the paper before heading into the house for that espresso.

Party Animals

Saturday, we hosted a BBQ for my co-workers and their families.  We had 20 some people crammed in the garden and playing games out front under the oak trees.

My boss arrived and the first thing she wanted to do was to meet Tex.  When I took him to the Mark Rashid clinic, I told her all about him and (like so many people), his story touched her heart. We went to the barn to get carrots and headed to the boys pasture.  There were four or five people trailing after us.

"The one on the right, the reddish brown horse, is Tex.  He probably won't come over to the fence since there are so many of us and he is skittish.  But Flash will come for sure."

I got that wrong.  Flash watched from a distance as everyone crowded around the fence, sticking their hands full of carrots into the pasture.  Tex walked over, slowly.  He walked close enough to stretch his neck out and get carrots.  He ate three or four, from me and from our guests.  He stayed far enough back that they couldn't touch him, but close enough to get his lips around the end of a carrot.

Flash made his way over, eventually.  By the time he arrived, we only had a couple carrots left.

The goats ate an entire box of Cheerios, brought by another guest.

Thistle

Our youngest guest, age six, collected eggs from the hen house.  He announced that he wasn't going to eat them, he was going to hatch them.  He dropped one before we were able to get them safely in an egg carton.  Kersey made quick work of the egg, and anything else that fell on the ground.

Shasta Daisies and Bee Balm were blooming in the garden

Today we are going to relax.  We are pretty tired from all the work of the BBQ and it is going to be hot, hot, hot.  The horses will be under the pines, swishing their tails lazily as they doze and we will be inside swishing the ice in our glasses of ice tea.

Climbing Toy for the Goats

A number of months ago, Brett saw a picture of a climbing apparatus for goats in a magazine.  He's been thinking, and plotting, ever since.  At Aspen Meadows the goats had huge boulders to climb but here, other than their igloos, there isn't anything to climb on.  And goats love, love, love to climb.

Black goats: Whiskey & Cowboy; Thistle in the air, Bear to the right.  Jackson in the background.

Brett build a three level goat jungle gym.

There are rocks to clamber on for getting to the fist level.  Bear doesn't need them, but the smaller goats appreciate them.

Cowboy and Whiskey

There is a gangplank between the levels on each shelf and then a jump up to the next level.

Bear in the foreground, Whiskey on the first level and Cowboy checking it out on the right.

Bear was the first one up; followed by Cowboy (the larger of the black goats).  They immediately had a head butting contest, which Bear won.  The posts are great for rubbing those darn itchy spots, especially during the spring when they are shedding.

Whiskey thinks the first level is a great place to take a nap.

In the evening, Bear climbs to top level and happily surveys his world.

We haven't seem Thistle (who is cautious) up there yet but I'm sure we will soon.  Bear says the view is awesome.