Update

The kids are all doing well except the one that i have called "Bat ears" for obvious reasons! As indicated in an earlier post,she was up for sale & has actually had a lady offer to buy her along with the other female kid. However, she has developed an Umbilical Hernia which means that the wall of her stomach has broken through her skin. This is often the result of the naval not closing up properly or an infection around the naval. After the kids are born we spray iodine onto the naval to reduce any chance of infection. The result of this is that she has to go into the vets on Tuesday for an operation to close up the whole. We have been assured that there should not be any long term problem & that she will be alright to breed from, so fingers crossed. The lady is still going to buy her which is good news as she is a lovely kid with a really sweet nature. She will have the stitches out 14 days after the operation & be running around in no time.
Benji has settled really well & is eating us out of house & home! He is very much in love with Snowdrop who is a nannie housed next to him. They share a hay rack now as Snowdrop will not use her own.
Patch & Mabel are both milking well so hopefully they will be going to Tregaron Goat show at the end of may along with Bramwell (British Alpine goatling) & Bronte, a BA female kid off Mabel.

We are now waiting for the next run of births: 10th May & 20th May both Anglo-nubian first kidders.....could be interesting!!   

Yonderwood Benjamin

This is Benji, our new Anglo-nubian billy goat. He has a really nice character & is a gentle giant! His breeding is really good & he is actually the grandson of our nannie Guneryhite Bhangra. We are now looking forward to next year to see the kids that he will produce.

We have been having a bit of help the last week from a young helper; he has had a go at milking & has even tasted some goats milk. It has been encouraging that a 10yr old is interested in the goats & also the poultry. He has shown no fear of the goats & has been in with Benji giving him some cuddles!


This is Christopher milking Guneryhite Bhangra!

Kenya

Kenya died at 10.10pm on Wednesday 6th April.
First thing in the morning she had her antibiotic injection but there had been little change in her. We gave her some more fluids, arnica, & fed her some porridge oats warm with some natural yoghurt to try & keep the rumen working. We massaged her udder to try & break up the mastitis but it did not seem to improve.It felt very cold & remained very blue.
Later on that evening while feeding & milking the other goats,i could not help but feel that something more was going onwith Kenya.I sat with her as she cried out in pain. We treated her with arnica again to help with the pain but she was getting worse so we called in the vet.Unfortunately,she had died when he got there.
Obviously,we went through with him what had happened. Her udder had become gangerous because the mastitis had effectively killed half of it.Usually,goats will then form a sort of wall & fight the infection going anywhere else with the help of antibiotics. Kenya couldnt do this & so her blood became poisoned & that is what finally killed her in a horrible way.My only consolation is that she wasnt alone.
It really has been an awful experience & i hope i dont see it again but it has to be said that keeping livestock can be totally heart-breaking. Kenya was the first Anglo-nubian that we bred ourselves,we showed her last year & she had the makings of a good milker & it breaks my heart to lose her like this.
Today,we had to arrange for her to be taken for incineration which is what now happens to all dead livestock & of course you have to pay. It is not pleasant to see your beloved animal piled on to a lorry of dead carcasses but it has to be so to avoid anymore outbreaks of disease.
Goodnight Kenya.

MASTITIS is so cruel.....

Our Anglo-nubian goatling kidded on April 1st; i will not forget it in a hurry! The first kid was coming out backwards so we tried to push it back & turn it but to no avail....it was already dead so had to be pulled out.It was a billy & quite big. The next kid came 15 minutes later & although Kenya needed help the kid was fine & she took to her straight away. After another pause another billy was brought out. Kenya was really tired but she licked the kids & fed them that all important colostrum. The second two kids are very small but very cute! They are a sort of silver colour, quite difficult to explain.
The next day all seemed to be well; mum was looking after the kids really well although she didnt eat a great deal herself, preferring to have just redigrass & some warm molassed water. We treated her homeopathically to make sure her insides repaired themselves. Sunday came & Kenya began to seem unsteady on her feet & look a bit confused so we gave her a calcium injection as the kids can drain their mums reserve & she cannot produce enough to cope herself. This seemed to help & again she seemed ok. Monday morning her udder was like rock on one side so we took the kids off straight away which did not bother her as she felt too ill by this stage. A partition had to be made to seperate these newborns from the bigger kids & a heat lamp set up over them. They were quite happy & took to a bottle straight away which was a relief. Next was to ring the vet & see what we had to do. We went to town & collected some serum to put into the teat to disolve the mastitis & relieve the pain & also an antibiotic injection for 2 days to kill any infection she may have got from the assisted kidding. By lunchtime the udder had turned blue & was really gold; this means it is gangerous & basically dead. We have to keep drawing off any milk/water or mostly blood & be really careful as it is highly contagious to the other goats.
Tuesday morning & i feel thankful she has made it through the night she is so poorly. She will not eat anything offered even her very favourite things. When a goat does not eat it can lead to all sorts of problems within the rumen so we shall have to try & boost it with the correct sort of bacteria. She is also not drinking so we have to give her fluids in the form of electrolytes which replace the salts & sugars which their bodies need to avoid dehydration. She is also having garlic to kill bacteria & we are massaging the udder with a natural deep heat cream. It is so cold to touch & she is in so much pain.She will have more injections tomorrow.....i just hope that they work......

The kids are fine on a good note.