We are struggling with our goats. They are rotated every 1-2 weeks on fresh, rested ground and have a really diverse diet of grasses and woody weeds. They look strong and healthy but a couple of days ago one gave birth prematurely to still born twins. She retained some placenta which we thought had been passed in full and sadly, she died overnight.
We have had 3 goats birth now and have no living babies to show for it which is heart breaking. The first birthed unexpectedly and we had made the mistake of not separating Hagrid off from the pregnant girls. Being young, it seems he was over excited and licked the baby goat to death after birth. There were no signs of trauma or damage to him and Hagrid was quite distressed when we had to remove the dead baby goat from his flock. He is excellent with the goats generally, it was entirely out fault for not separating him and actively teaching him how to act around baby goats. It was a hard lesson to learn.
Next was a runty little goat rejected by its mother. I took it in and tried to save it, but sadly it died too. Its mother is not the best frame but we are hoping next time she does better.
Aggie keeping watch over the sick goat. In this photo we are trying to warm her up in the warmer of the Aga. The warmer is exactly that, warm, but not hot. They have frequently been used on farms as an incubator for cold, sick animals.
We are researching and doing our best to provide them with everything they need. When we bought them they were weaners and a they were a bit runty and struggling with worms. The farmer had just drenched them with a new drench that seemed to be working better, but they have remained very susceptible to worms since. This wasn't helped by the serious floods we experienced a few months ago. Like much of this region, we had a very difficult outbreak of barbers pole after the floods and the ground was sodden. We couldn't move the goats to higher ground as we couldn't get them across the swollen creeks and they spent a couple of weeks knee deep in mud. They lost condition, perhaps that impart has led to increased difficulties in maintaining healthy, live pregnancies. Perhaps our soil/feed is deficient in a nutrient. We will up their pelleted feed to daily as we have only been giving it as a treat, in the hope of filling any potential dietary gaps. They have apple cider vinegar in their water to help with gut health, are vaccinated and a lick block available. I'm unsure of what else to do.
As all the issues have been different, perhaps it is just that they are first time mothers and we have had a run of particularly bad luck. Perhaps we need better genetics, or a different breed of goat entirely. Perhaps their next births will be more successful.
What I do know is that I am finding very disheartening. Since I am home most, it is me finding the dead animals and having to remove them. Grant having extensive livestock experience, is much more matter of fact about these things. He’s confident we work it out in time and all will be fine. He's on the look out for a few proven mothers to add to our small flock at a decent price, which is proving difficult to find at the moment.
A poor photo of the new garden beds in progress and the sand pit to the right, ready to be filled.
In happier news, we have two new garden beds nearly built and mostly retained. There is just a small retaining wall along the yurt to finish off. Between them is a pebble path to the caravan and outdoor laundry area. This area will be fenced off with a recycled timber picket style fence like my other little garden and it will become a dog-free play area for Elise with a little sandpit and plenty of sensory plants. The sandpit is built and waiting for a load of sand to fill it. The new garden beds will be a combination of veggies, herbs, flowers and a couple of small shrubby trees. There is a crape myrtle in one bed and there will be an Elderberry in the other, once I can lay my hands on one locally.
When it comes to planting we are going with a kind of no-dig method which means laying a thick layer of cardboard then bringing in a load of mushroom compost/mulch to plant it out. Though clearly one bed has been built up with the retaining. The cardboard will suppress weeds which is a big struggle in such a warm, wet area. We also have two raised beds to find a place for in the yard. One we brought with us from SA and the other I bought of market place for $20. The kids are in the process of collecting sticks and small logs to turn them into hugelkultur beds. I think I'll be sticking to thrifting second hand raised beds from here on out. Building fences around each garden bed to keep out the dogs is very time consuming and raised beds are a natural deterrent to dogs digging and trampling. Also I can place them and fill them myself which frees up Grant for more important jobs like building the shed and building up his wood roach business.
We are working on a garden update YouTube clip at the moment, which will show our garden plans. I hope to get it out in the next couple of weeks. You can see the last one Grant and I did HERE
Well, the sun is shining and its a beautiful day so I'm off the pop some washing on, tidy up and enjoy the beautiful day. I hope things are well where you are.
Emma
xx
