Lindisfarme Oberhasli Dairy Goats

Purebred Oberhasli in SW Ohio

2011-11-23T16:03:00.005-05:00

I've been remiss about blogging. Just never seem to get to it. However, I'll try harder to post and put pictures up.

Last August I shipped in 8 purebred Oberhasli kids from Texas. Many thanks to Laura Rivard. She wants pictures but I've been remiss there, also. I promise to try to get those up soon. I love pictures, too.

These does are yearlings now and each and every one of them is a good looking and healthy young doe. Of course, I have my favorites. Here are the names in case you want to look them up:

Rivard-Farm Zorro's Cashew
Rivard-Farm Lucious Lilly [polled]
Rivard-Farm Wonder Woman
Rivard-Farm Sapphire's Summer [twin to next]
Rivard-Farm Star Sapphire
Rivard-Farm Lime-x Artemis
Rivard-Farm Zorro's Victoria
Rivard-Farm Limex Sweet Dreams

Purebred [PB] Oberhasli are descendents of the Pence Importation of Oberhasli in the '30s.

I have made a big effort to get PB semen in the tank to use. Some of these are:

Destiny Farm Duncan
Y-Knot Time to Dance
Commancheland Rewind
Meadowsong Rewind Yuri
Meadowsong Levi Amos

I'll post it if I get any good AIs settled. If you have any information at all about these does or bucks, I'd love to chat.

Information about American Oberhasli in the herd will be in the next post.

Oberhasli Buck Roll Call 2010-2011

2010-10-07T06:29:00.004-04:00

First up, the American Oberhasli buck: *B Heaven's HOllow Pistol Pete. This is Pete's third breeding season with us.

http://www.adgagenetics.org/GoatDetail.aspx?RegNumber=B001436090

Shotsi classified 92EEEE and was the Reserve National Champion in 2008 and National Grand Champion in 2009. She has made the top ten in the past and is slated to make it again in 2010. Shotsi's 2010 buck has been selected for the 2010 Spotlight Sale. This would be full brother to Pete.

We are all pleased with first kids out of Pete. Have no milker yet to show but soon.

2. Robin-Wood Bunda Big Cinsation.

http://www.adgagenetics.org/GoatDetail.aspx?RegNumber=B001532120

"Runaway" is a beautiful, growthy, balanced young American buck. He is the result of an AI breeding to the great *B White-Haven Bundaberg, who happens to be sire to Shotsi as well.

3: The Lindisfarme Red Apache, pending.

This young buck is a Purebred which we purchased to breed to our young Purebred Oberhasli does when they are big enough.

His sire is: Milk-n-More PG Red Apache, owned by Arden Ward.
His dam is: Milk-n-More Miss Bonetti.

We have some other American homebred bucks here:
Lindisfarme Life Insurance, Ludwigs Mohawk Vada's Hansel X Lindisfarm Zeus Annette.
Lindisfarme Oscar, Ludwigs Mohawk Vada's Hansel X Squaw*Mountain Raspberry
Lindisfarme Pete's ...., Heaven's Hollow Pistol Pete X Lindisfarme Hansel's Trouble

All these bucks will be collected and semen available.

S:

Cabbage Leaves! Get out of my way!!

2010-09-23T17:18:00.004-04:00

Yes, my small herd of purebred and American Oberhasli goats are getting cabbage leaves and some cull cabbage heads again, just like every year. People are sometimes surprised how much they love them and how many they eat. My goats can hear the old farm truck putting up the road and run to the fence in anticipation. The horses are eating their share as well. All four of the horses are cabbage eaters. My granddaughter swears that the horses hooves are improved due to the cabbage leaves.

While the goats prefer the crunchy leaves, the horses eat the heads like big old apples. And speaking of apples, they are all getting apples as well this time of year. The pen of purebred kids has had their cabbage leaves thrown in but aren't really all that crazy about them. They nibble, but really haven't gotten enthusiastic yet.

So I have a routine that I have evolved. I fill up the feeders with hay. Then I thrown in cabbage leaves or let them go to the pile. Then I give them their grain a couple hours later.

Pumpkins will be coming soon, girls.

Catch up!

2010-09-14T00:42:00.003-04:00

I have a new junior herd sire. He is a son of *B White Haven Bundaberg and out of a doe that is linebred on Willow Run Sir Wil Hassida, 3X national champion, 92EEEE and top ten. Her picture is here on the blog. Haven't bred him to any does yet but he's eager to get the chance. He's available for outside breedings. Just let me know.

Last weekend we shipped in 8 purebred Oberhasli doe kids from Rivards Farm in Texas. Along with them came a polled PB buck kid. So I'm in the PB Oberhasli ranks now. Still have the Americans but I'm sure excited about the purebreds. On the way back Bob stopped in Tenn and picked up another PB buck who is out of Milk-n-More lines. He's a big beautiful buck kid and if these little girls get busy and grow we'll hopefully get a few PB kids in the spring.

*B Heaven's Hollow Pistol Pete is scheduled for collection again in Oct. Then in December he will be collected again. Semen is for sale by contacting me any time. It will probably also be on Come to the Farm Auction for benefit of the OBA in late Oct.

*B Heaven's Hollow Stetson This is Pistol Pete's full brother, born in 2010. He's been selected to be in the Spotlight Sale at the ADGA national convention in October. Their dam Shotsi is milking very well and racking up a great lactation record for this year that will no doubt put her into the top 10 once again.

My friend Katie Morgan is out in California until December and is learning to collect and process semen for A.I. She'll be back in December and then we'll have a lot of practicing to do. I was chatting with Katie on Facebook and it came on the news that there was that huge explosion which leveled 50 houses and killed some people. Katie was not too far away from it. Terrible tragedy.

Well, let's see I think that's all the goat news.

Breeding Season or The Joy of Hormones

2010-09-14T00:40:00.001-04:00

I have a pen of 9 sweet little 50# PB does. Right along side is a pen of 3 kid bucks. they're fighting and butting heads and mounting each other, blubbering at the girls. Then my big buck gets out and he's been blubbering around the little girls for 2 days. By that I mean, he was running around the pen on the outside, fighting with the little bucks in their pen throught the fencing and trying desperately to get to the girls. Knowing I was going to drag him back to his own barn, he wasn't about to let me catch him.

I go down yesterday to feed. Horror! Here's the 3 buck kids running amuck! the old buck was so upset and running around the outside, pushing the gate and sticking his head in. He just couldn't get over it. Just couldn't figure a way to get in.

The little girls are running around and around in the doe pen trying to get away from them. But there's no way to get away from 3 horny little bucks. One of the larger ones seems to be in heat but wasn't standing. And a couple of the other little girls had managed to get into the buck side. They were too spooked to let me catch them.

One person can only do so much.

I managed to get the three buck kids back on their side but the does wouldn't cooperate so I had to leave them in on the buck side, too. Poor things. They were jumped and mobbed and molested continuously until someone could go down and help me separate them.

Yeah, it's crazy all right. I don't really think anything got bred, but you know goats! It'll be over in a month or two. TG.

Pistol Pete semen is available at Naitonals.

2010-04-04T15:40:00.003-04:00

Since Pete collected particularly well this winter and we are well stocked for 2009 semen we are offering it for sale with delivery to the National Show in Louisville. Please get in touch with me so I can reserve the straws you want. Pete's semen was used this past winter and he has AI kids on the ground.

I have two beautiful buck kids out of Pete. One buck's gr-dam was a once in a lifetime milker. See this blog for an old post about Cherokee. It was our first modern oberhasli and we didn't know that she was special. She milked almost 2 gal 2X a day and even in the fall was over a gallon. That certainly would have put her in the top ten and maybe even a bigger record. We weren't on test. The dau doesn't milk anyway near that but has a beautiful round udder and small teats. Her name is Lindisfarme Fred's Cherry. Price is $350.

Second buck is out of a taller doe. Again very prestigious pedigree. West coast genetics. Great udder, good milker. If I can get her into the show ring should be a winner. Price is $400.

Looking for some young stock to add to my herd. Let me know if you want to trade or sell.

Horses and Goats from YouTube

2010-01-31T17:09:00.001-05:00

These aren't my horses or goats but I still enjoyed this. The goats are well behaved and very good looking. Enjoy.

Funny Song-I Kissed a Goat and I liked it

2010-01-31T00:21:00.001-05:00

Glycerol to Replace some corn in rations

2009-09-18T15:37:00.003-04:00

Some one asked about this very topic today on one of my lists. I can't find the post to reply personally. This research is on dairy cows, but since both dairy cows and goats are ruminants, I feel it is valuable information

************************
Feeding value of glycerol as a replacement for corn grain in rations fed to lactating dairy cows
S. S. Donkin*,1, S. L. Koser*, H. M. White*, P. H. Doane{dagger} and M. J. Cecava{dagger}

* Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907
{dagger} Archer Daniels Midland Company, Decatur, IL 62521

1 Corresponding author: sdonkin@purdue.edu

Growth of the corn ethanol industry has created a need for alternatives to corn for lactating dairy cows. Concurrent expansion in soydiesel production is expected to increase availability and promote favorable pricing for glycerol, a primary co-product material. The objective of this study was to determine the feeding value of glycerol as a replacement for corn in diets fed to lactating dairy cattle. Sixty lactating Holstein cows housed in individual tie stalls were fed a base diet consisting of corn silage, legume forages, corn grain, soyhulls, roasted soybeans, and protein supplements. After a 2-wk acclimation period, cows were fed diets containing 0, 5, 10, or 15% refined glycerol for 56 d. Cows were milked twice daily and weekly milk samples were collected. Milk production was 36.3, 37.2, 37.9, and 36.2 ± 1.6 kg/d and feed intake was 23.8, 24.6, 24.8, and 24.0 ± 0.7 kg/d for 0, 5, 10, and 15% glycerol treatments, respectively, and did not differ except for a modest reduction in feed intake during the first 7 d of the trial for 15% glycerol (treatment x time effect). Milk composition was not altered by glycerol feeding except that milk urea nitrogen was decreased from 12.5 ± 0.4 to 10.2 ± 0.4 mg/dL with glycerol addition. Cows fed diets containing 10 and 15% glycerol gained more weight than those fed rations containing 0 or 5% glycerol but body condition scores did not differ with glycerol feeding. The data indicate that glycerol is a suitable replacement for corn grain in diets for lactating dairy cattle and that it may be included in rations to a level of at least 15% of dry matter without adverse effects on milk production or milk composition.

http://jds.fass.org/cgi/content/abstract/92/10/5111?etoc

Key Words: glycerol • energy • biofuel

Oh No!! Don't Go into the Woods today!

2009-09-12T14:31:00.002-04:00

Without tucking your pants in your socks, that is. Just what we need, another tick-bourne disease!

Researchers have found that up to 15% of ticks collected carry Anaplasma phagocytophilum part of the same group of bacterium that cause Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Fifty cases have been identified in humans in the past three years. Ticks in the western part of the United States, yes, the same ones who carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, the deer tick is the culprit.

There are antibody tests in place to diagnose Anaplasmosis.The antibiotic doxycycline is the treatment. Use precautions against tick bites that are in place for prevention of Lyme’s disease.

Read more at: http://www.examiner.com/x-7707-Infectious-Disease-Examiner~y2009m9d12-An-emerging-tickborne-disease-seen-in-parts-of-the-United-States-What-is-anaplasmosis?cid=examiner-email

SGCH Heaven's Hollow Shotsi 5*M 92EEEE is the 2009 ADGA National Champion

2009-08-03T06:19:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Shotsi and Jill. Last year Shotsi was Reserve Grand Champion in Louisville. This year she strutted her stuff and won the 2009 championship in heavy California competition.

We are thrilled with this because we have her 2008 son Heaven's Hollow Pistol Pete here. He is a fine young buck and sired five does for us this year. Looking forward to the next crop. He was collected last fall and we got 24 straws. We donated 5 straws to a charity auction where it went for over $200!! I have a waiting list for this year but if everything goes all right should have more semen to sell and/or donate this year.

Great Info on Goat Forage - Turnips, rye and alfalfa

2009-07-19T17:18:00.002-04:00

This is another great article that Noah Goddard found and put on his lists. I got really excited when I read about sewing turnips for winter forage. I'm going to try it if I can find some turnip seeds. If you do this, please, please, please publish the results somewhere and let us know in a comment about your experience.

----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce E Anderson
To: HAYFORAGE@listserv.unl.edu
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 1:36 PM
Subject: Hay & Forage Minutes for July 20 through 24 -- turnips, alfalfa pasture, fly into corn

69. PLANT TURNIPS FOR WINTER GRAZING
Interested in a high quality pasture for late fall and winter grazing? Then plant turnips into wheat or oat stubble this year. Stay tuned for more.

You need all the grazing you can get this year. One way to get more grazing is to extend your grazing season into fall and winter using turnips. Turnips provide good grazing beginning in October and often lasts into the new year. Also, turnips are cheap to plant since seed can cost less than ten dollars per acre. And late July to early August is the time to plant turnips for fall grazing.
Seedbed preparation and planting can be done several ways. Some turnip growers work soil like a fully prepared alfalfa seedbed. Others heavily disk their ground, but leave it fairly rough before broadcasting seed. And a few growers spray glyphosate or Gramoxone on wheat or oat stubble to kill weeds and then plant no-till.
Whatever method you choose, good early weed control is essential. Turnips do poorly if weeds get ahead of them, but once started, turnips compete very well. Since no herbicides are labeled for turnips, weeds must be controlled either by tillage or by using contact herbicides like glyphosate or Gramoxone before planting. Then plant quickly to get the turnips off and running.
Plant only 2 to 4 pounds of turnip seed per acre. Turnip seed is very small, so barely cover it. If you drill your seed, just scratch the surface with your openers. Simply broadcasting seed onto tilled soils works well for many growers, especially on rough seedbeds where rainfall or irrigation washes soil onto the seeds for soil coverage.
Then wait. With a few timely rains you will have excellent green feed for late October, November, and December.

70. ALFALFA FOR SUMMER PASTURE
When pastures are short and low quality during summer, what can you graze to maintain animal performance? Maybe alfalfa is your answer. Stick around.

Most pastures have difficulty providing abundant, high quality grazing throughout the summer, regardless of whether they are drought stressed or not. Yearlings and calves can really use better pasture at this time. Both drought-stunted alfalfa and well-growing alfalfa might fill that role of a better quality temporary pasture.
But, how do you get started and how do you avoid problems with bloat? Begin by dividing fields so animals graze no longer than 5 days at a time on any one area. One rule of thumb is that one ton of standing alfalfa hay will provide about 45 cow days of grazing. If you estimate your alfalfa would yield one ton of hay if you cut it right now, then one acre should feed 45 cows for one day. And if possible, limit the size of paddocks to 10 acres or less to get more uniform grazing. After grazing a paddock, plan grazing and haying so at least 35 days of regrowth will occur before harvesting the same area again.
To reduce bloat, begin grazing alfalfa after it begins to bloom. Short, drought-stunted, yet blooming alfalfa should be pretty safe. Also, be sure animals are full before first turning onto alfalfa and never let animals get hungry. In addition, begin grazing mid-afternoon and do not turn them onto fresh alfalfa that is moist with dew, rain, or irrigation. Yearlings tend to bloat less than cows, but feeding supplements like poloxalene, rumensin, and oxytetracycline can help reduce bloat for all classes of cattle.
These precautions and management practices can help you use alfalfa for pasture and overcome the late summer pasture slump.

71. FLYING TURNIPS OR RYE INTO CORN
Crop residues like corn stalks provide good winter feed. Adding turnips or cereal rye to them can sometimes make them even better. Stay tuned for tips and risks.

Corn stalks are one of the better and least expensive winter feeds we have. But once cattle finish eating the grain and husks, what remains isn’t all that good.
Some growers have improved both the amount and quality of corn stalk grazing by flying turnip or rye seed onto standing corn in early August. When successful, turnip or rye plants provide more grazing days and extra protein when corn stalks become poor quality.
Let me emphasize the words ‘when successful’. It’s not all that easy to get a good stand of either turnips or rye to become productive in a growing corn field.
Several factors limit success rates. Moisture easily can be limiting in dryland corn, but also can be difficult to manage in surface irrigated fields. Even under pivots, providing water for rye or turnips without slowing corn harvest takes planning.
Another problem is the density of the corn canopy. Irrigated fields can be especially thick, acting like weeds to prevent adequate light from reaching new seedlings. Chopping corn for silage or combining high moisture grain early helps.
And speaking of weeds, herbicide carryover also causes problems. Turnips are very sensitive, but rye also is affected.
Lastly is wheel traffic at harvest. Turnips are damaged more than rye, but both lose stand if fields get muddy.
I do like improving corn stalks with rye or turnips. But be aware there are challenges, and try to find ways to overcome them.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Bruce Anderson
Extension Forage Specialist
Department of Agronomy and Horticulture
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68583-0951

voice: 402/472-6237
fax: 402/472-7904

Prison's Cheesemakers in Colo.

2009-07-19T17:14:00.001-04:00

An interesting article going around Yahoo lists.

Prison's goats fuel industry
By Douglas Brown
DENVER POST
Sunday, Jul. 19 2009
CANON CITY, Colo. - The men wearing green uniforms and tall rubber boots spread
out across the compound, herding goats into pens, pouring grain into feeding
troughs and serving as nursemaids to those giving birth.

Many of them, all inmates at Skyline Correctional Center in Canon City, had
never touched a goat or heard one bleat before becoming involved with Colorado
Correctional Industries, a division of the state Department of Corrections.
It's likely, too, that few of the prisoners had ever tasted goat cheese.

But that's what happens to nearly every drop of milk the prisoners draw from
the animals, most of which goes to Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy in Longmont in
northern Colorado. Cheesemakers there transform thousands of gallons of milk
from the Canon City goats into chevre logs, cubes of feta, pungent rounds of
raw milk cheese and more.

And then a shopper at a Costco or a cheese connoisseur at a gourmet boutique in
Philadelphia, or a diner at a fancy restaurant in San Diego will buy the
cheese. The diner will chew the slice of Red Cloud and marvel over its
evocative flavor.

How does milk from a prison complex in remote central Colorado end up in a
high-end restaurant?

It begins in the pen.

Tall, muscular, tattooed and in prison for cocaine distribution, Thomas R.
Major III seems an unlikely nurturer of goats.

But a year into his seven-days-a-week apprenticeship, he's a leader of the
goat-milk operation.

"It's human nature. You get attached to something the more you hang out with
it," said Major, 31, as 56 goats standing on a pair of concrete platforms on
either side of him ate grain as they were milked. Between the goats' staccato
cries and the rhythmic shushing sound of the milking machines, he had to nearly
shout to make himself heard.

It takes about two minutes to milk a goat, and when they all are finished,
prisoners herd them out through one door and usher in the next group of goats
for milking.

Major and the other 29 men who tend the animals give them vaccinations, trim
their hooves, move around hay, build barns, clean the milking machines and do
everything else it takes to run a goat farm.

By the end of the summer, the prisoners will manage about 2,000 goats,
including Alpines, Nubians and Toggenburgs, said Mary Provost, who oversees the
operation.

Most of the minimum-security prisoners shrug when asked whether they will
pursue careers in livestock when they emerge from prison.

Not Vincent Gonzalez, 26, who is in for kidnapping.

"I like milking," said Gonzalez as he cleaned equipment in a small, humid room
full of stainless steel tanks. "When I get out, hopefully, my parents have land
near Calhan. They want me to learn as much as possible so I can open a goat
business."

Gonzalez has studied every aspect of the trade. He even learned how to ferment
cheese, which would make him one of the few prisoners who can imagine what
happens to all of that white liquid after Haystack employee Bill Napier pulls
up in his truck, pumps 9,000 pounds of milk into a refrigerated steel tank, and
drives back to the dairy.

Haystack buys milk from the prison because it is the only nearby farm large
enough to accommodate the dairy's needs, said Haystack's Chuck Hellmer.

In June, Haystack took about 110,000 pounds of Canon City milk.

A day after Napier delivers the milk to Haystack, Wendy Freund puts rennet, a
substance used to coagulate milk, into a vat holding 1,800 pounds of raw goat
milk.

Five minutes later, Freund presses her finger on the milk; it has developed a
skin.

She dips a steel device called a harp into the vat and begins pulling the milk
toward her, breaking the curds into smaller pieces. She raises the temperature
slowly, and switches tools, from the harp, which was sort of like the frame of
a paddle strung with wires, to a rake.

Freund got the gig three years ago, after moving to Longmont from Houston. She
knew nothing about cheese, but was intrigued by the ad for a cheesemaker in the
Longmont newspaper. Now she's passionate about the subject.

"Cheese is a living creature," she said. "It's like a big science project every
day."

After raking the curds, Freund hauls scoops of them from the tank and packs
them into cheesecloth-lined wheels. The rounds of wet curds drain for a day,
and by the time they are placed in a walk-in refrigerator they have gelled and
hardened.

Haystack turns the goat milk harvested by prisoners into a variety of cheeses,
from their best-selling chevre logs, which feature the kind of simple,
pasteurized goat cheese that you can spread like thick hummus, to Sunlight, a
raw-milk cheese that you slice.

Soon, they may be adding a camembert to the list, a project the head
cheesemaker, Jackie Chang, has been working on since January.

"I wanted a mushroomy, lemony taste," said Chang, in red rubber boots and red
shorts one afternoon as a fresh load of milk from the prison arrived. "That's
the part about my job I love, experimenting every day. It's like raising kids.
Lots of caring, lots of love."

The product of at least some of Chang's - and the prisoners' - toil ends up
every week at the Denver restaurant Rioja, where Haystack cheese makes
appearances in a variety of dishes.

Chef and owner Jennifer Jasinski buys so much goat cheese from Haystack that
the company ships it to the restaurant, instead of going through a distributor.

"There are much cheaper ones out there," Jasinski said during a recent lunch
rush. "But the quality is the first answer. I think it's an excellent product.
And I like that it's 40 minutes away."

Elsewhere in the kitchen a cook placed dollops of a Haystack goat-cheese and
artichoke mousse onto squares of fresh pasta, which he then folded into
tortelloni, which are large versions of tortellini.

The dish - the pasta served in an artichoke broth and draped with shavings of
Haystack's Queso de Mano - is the restaurant's signature, said Jasinski.

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Dam of New Junior Herdsire arriving in 2days!!

2009-05-15T17:32:00.004-04:00

SGCH California Kalvin's Special K, 90EEEE, #1 top ten milker

According to information available from the American Dairy Goat Association, our little buck’s story started with a doe named White Haven Nasake, an Oberhasli donated to the university by Jean White, Molalla, Oregon. The breeding of this doe to Clovertop's Ecktorsketch Kalvin, a buck donated by Lorrie Echols, Sebastopol, California, herd name SquawMountain, produced the dam of our buck, California Kalvin Special K.

The Clovertop buck behind this breeding was masterminded by a well-known dairy production breeder and ADGA judge, Raymond Vieira, Artois, California. Our buck was the result of an potentially great AI breeding to White-Haven Remus, from semen contributed by Jeannie White. Picture of Remus' dam coming soon, she is a national show champion.

My bucks half sister, the 2009 Spotlight Sale doeling, Kia, was the result of artificial insemination, via donation of semen from the Udderly Crazy herd, Carolyn Hoeker and family, Monroe, Washington.

More about the sire, White-Haven Remus soon.

Home Made Yogurt

2009-05-15T03:55:00.001-04:00

via videosift.com

I did two things today. I shopped Amazon for a flip camera and I made yogurt. I haven't gotten my flip camera yet but still wanted to treat you to this video.

New 2009 Junior Herdsire

2009-05-12T04:15:00.003-04:00

This little guy is getting on a plane and flying from UC Davis in California to Dayton Inernational Airport sometime within this next week, probably Sunday. We can't wait to get him.

His dam is the lovely SGCH California Kalvin Special K and AI sire is White-Haven Remus, son of National GCH White Haven Misty. Special K is multiple top ten doe. She has classified 90EEEE and was #2 in her class in the 2005 National show. The ETA of this buck and his two brothers is 99/44 which should put him on the Elite Young Sire list.

Oberhasli Doe Giving Birth

2009-05-12T03:56:00.001-04:00

This is video of an pretty Oberhasli doe giving birth to a large half boer buck. The doe yells a lot for a couple minutes, but if you stick with it you will see her afterwards taking care of the baby and obviously very proud of her little one.

Confusion Clears: Vaccines and how they work

2009-05-11T01:23:00.003-04:00

Vaccines and how they work, generally but particularly as related to CL

This is a guest post from Bob Glass,Pan American Vet Labs
Hutto, TX
www.pavlab.com

I have posted on this before but this is a clear and easy to understand explanations. It is hard for me to achieve this, being trained in biology. I want to go into biochemistry and cell biology. This is called this and that is called that.

So I hope you understand this. If not, please comment here and I'll try to help. Or I'm sure Dr. Glass wouldn't mind you emailing him directly. This is his stock and trade.

************************

For the sake of simplicity I will use the term "vaccine" as a generic term
here. Actually the term vaccine is correctly used to described a
preparation which stimulates a protective immune response against a virus.
The term for the same type of product against bacteria is "bacterin" and
against toxins is "toxoid"

Vaccines are intended to "simulate" an actually infection in order to induce
the animal's immune system to react as if infected. In many (not all) cases
this will provide protection against future infections. This is the same
logic and mechanism which is employed with human vaccines.

If the same strain of a disease which causes disease were used, the vaccine
caused disease would be just as harmful as any "wild/natural" infection.
There are two strategies to overcome this problem. In some cases the
"vaccine" consists of a live but attenuated (greatly weakened) organism
which is not able to set up a persistent or disease causing infection.
Although weaker and less harmful than a natural infection this "vaccine"
infection will induce a protective immune response. A good example of this
is type of vaccine is sore mouth.

In other cases a killed vaccine is used. In this case the organism which
causes the disease is killed during the vaccine manufacturing process so
that no actual infection occurs. However the vaccine contains a large
number of these killed organisms which are able to stimulate the patient's
immune system. Often when a killed vaccine is used multiple doses are
required to sufficiently stimulate the patient's immune system. In both
these cases the goal of the vaccine is to stimulate an immune response that
kills the organism causing the infection.

In other cases a purified or semi purified vaccines is produced. A good
example of this is vaccines against toxins. Toxins are protein/carbohydrate
molecules produced by various organisms which have a pathologic effect on
the patient. Botulism is an organism which produces toxin. In these cases
it is not enough to kill the organism because the toxin will still be
present and cause life threatening illness. To combat this the toxins are
purified from the organism and "denatured" by various means
(heat/ph/chemicals) to make the toxin non harmful. This denatured toxin is
then injected into the patient who develops an immune response which
neutralizes the toxin. The antibody produced in the scenario is a
"anti-toxin". This is the same as the anti toxin you can buy and give to
animals that have not been vaccinated and become ill due to a toxin
producing bacteria. Anti Toxins are purified and concentrated antibodies
made by vaccinating animals with toxoids.

I have not read the article by Dr. Sparks, but I expect he referred to
introducing the disease organism into the goat (not the disease). In the
case of CL the organism is killed so the actual disease will not occur. In
some cases the patient may have a local immune response at the injection
site. In fact this is the body responding to the dead CL organism as if they
were "alive, thus the abscess, but in this case the CL is dead and the
abscess is "sterile".

I hope this helps;

Bob Glass
Pan American Vet Labs
Hutto, TX

Liver Fluke in Goats

2009-05-06T16:43:00.001-04:00

LIVER FLUKE
(an often-misidentified worm that's lethal if not treated for properly)
Update 2/08 by Sue Reith.

SYMPTOMS:

Liver fluke damage is generally rather slow in appearing in mature goats... In a reasonably healthy goat, it can take years of gradual decline before the owner is even aware that Liver fluke is present. Symptoms are some, if not always all, of the following: Gradual increase in unthriftiness (dry coat, guard hairs sticking up, ribbiness, pale eye membranes (indicating anemia caused by the worm's activity), a swelling under the jaw (that has erroneously been considered among the veterinary community to be symptomatic of resistance to treatment for haemonchus contortus), and, eventually, a possibly sub-normal temp (less than 102 degrees), a distended belly (symptomatic of last-stage liver disease), and fecal pellets that are almost black in color and shriveled up with pointy ends on them.

Often the victim goat is one that has been wormed routinely, and yet still continues its gradual decline. The problem is that there's only one wormer on the market that will wipe out Liver fluke properly, Ivomec PLUS, (the PLUS part being clorsulon, specifically for eradication of Liver fluke) and many owners don't even know this wormer exists! Sadly, even when the owner finally learns about it and starts treatment, by that time there has often already been too much damage to the goat's liver for it to be saved even after proper worming.

BTW: While Liver fluke damage is often found in otherwise well-managed mature goats that despite good care continue to decline in appearance, in my experience this sudden appearance of anemia and weakness with either normal, or subnormal, temp (and sometimes swelling under the jaw as well) is not at all unusual to discover in young ruminants within the first few months of life as well. At that age it commonly shows up when they're heavily exposed to it in pastures containing wet areas, before their immune systems can get up and going to protect them. In fact, it's not uncommon for these young victims to die so fast they hardly have time to be sick.¹ This is especially true if there are any clostridial (Entero) organisms present in them, since they multiply and secrete their toxins fast in the already damaged, poorly oxygenated liver tissue .¹

TREATMENT:

I'm not one to quit without at least doing my best to save the goat...So if a goat of mine were affected with Liver Fluke I'd start it immediately on Ivomec Plus, using the appropriate worming approach as follows: All wormer packages note on the packaging that the product kills off ONLY the adult stages. So in order to get the worm load in the host down to a low enough level so that the immune system can take over and keep the problem under control, you need to worm 3X, with 10 days between wormings. The first dose will wipe out the adults already in there, the second dose will wipe out the larvae as they become adults (but before they can start laying eggs of their own), and the third dose kills off those eggs that were already in there when you started the worming, after they've passed thru the larval stage, when they, too, have become adults.. That leaves just a very low level of the parasites still in the host, the ones that from sheer timing
(good luck?) missed being wiped out by the worming onslaught... And that's just enough for the immune system to keep under control from then on. Having begun the repair process by giving the first dose of Ivomec Plus, the next step would be to immediatelystart it on subcutaneous injections of Ferrodex 200 (each 1 ml dose of which delivers 200 mg of elemental iron), to restorethe liver's red cells, the loss of which was the cause ofthe anemia and the blackened, shriveled, pointy-ended fecal pellets.And at this very critical time, as adjunct (supportive) therapy, I'd give it subcutaneous doses daily of 'Fortified' B-complex' (a combination of B vitamins needed for proper body function that has everything but B-12), essential because every time the patient urinates, it's losing all of those vitamins that are needed to maintenance of its body functions, and BoSe (to support his stressed immune system so that the goat can help itself to get well from
inside, while I work on it from the outside), and Banamine (to reduce the goat's pain and cut the inflammation caused by the worm damage) which, once given, will encourage the goat to want to eat once again! And last but not least, I'd give the goat a preventative doe of C&D antitoxin (to prevent entero from taking this opportunity to sneak in and finish the poor victim off because while it's down its stomach is not digesting food and moving it out of its body as it should.)

BACKGROUND:

Liver fluke is found in most of the US, but it's especially common in the Southern states due to the lack of good frosts to wipe out eggs and larvae in winter. We see it often up here in the Northern states as well, but because we have colder winters, the numbers, fortunately, are somewhat lower. However during the rainy season, no matter what part of the country the goat lives in, the Liver Fluke problem becomes particularly pervasive each year!

Today, by far the most difficult problem that we as owners face with Liver fluke treatment/control is that the veterinary community in general isn't even aware that it's there. As a result, they're unable to recommend proper treatment for it. This is because the egg of the Liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica)² looks so similar to that of the Barberpole worm (Haemonchus contortus)² that when it shows up on the slide in the Vet's office it's routinely misidentified to BE that of the Haemonchus contortus (or perhaps by some general term like strongyles, stomach worms, et al).

Until just a few years ago the veterinarian, seeing what was thought to be Haemonchus contortus eggs on the slide, would recommend Ivomec to the owner as the wormer of choice to eradicate it. And rightly so, because the moment Ivomec appeared on the scene back in the early 1980's, it was recognized as the most effective general wormer to show up ever! And frankly it remains, in my view, still the best and most efficacious general wormer on the market today.

And largely because the real Haemonchus contortus has always responded very well to Ivomec, veterinarians, misidentifying Liver fluke eggs as those of Haemonchus contortus, quite logically continued recommending Ivomec for treatment. When the Liver fluke failed to respond to the Ivomec treatment, unfortunately the loss of the animal in question was assumed to be a sign of the Haemonchus contortus having developed 'resistance' to the Ivomec! This notion has now become so pervasive that the veterinary community in general believes these days that the worms affecting livestock have developed a resistance to Ivomec, the result being a recommendation to their clients that they (1) increase the doses, and (2) turn to other wormers. Neither approach has even slowed down the deaths being caused, in fact, by Liver fluke. Since neither of those suggestions are working, the most recent approach has been to set up Famacha classes to
instruct owners and veterinarians alike in how to check the eyelids of the downed animals to see if they're anemic. If the animals have pale eyelids, indicating they're anemic, owners are sometimes advised to destroy the victim, fearing that if it lives, the 'resistance to wormers' will spread even further.

Sadly, neither plain Ivomec, nor Panacur, nor any of the other general wormers on the market today, are effective against Liver fluke. The fact is, this parasite can ONLY be eradicated efficiently by using a product called Ivomec Plus . It's not the Ivomec itself, but the PLUS part of the combined wormer, which is actually 'clorsulon' , that effectively wipes out Liver fluke. And (very critically) since it only kills the ADULT of the species, clorsulon (just as all wormers) has to be used at regular doses, 3 X in a row, 10 days apart, to kill it off completely. ¹

And it will no doubt be of particular interest for those owners who are worried about using milk from does being treated with Ivomec Plus that the Pharmaceutical companies have now run the required tests on those two products that officially clears them for use in lactating ruminants!

So in my view, these days (particularly if the reader is having a hard time controlling internal parasites in his/her animals) Ivomec Plus (instead of plain Ivomec) should ALWAYS be used for general worming, 'just in case'! Just like regular Ivomec, it can be given orally although it's actually an injectable. But since right now Ivomec itself is less readily being used by people (most of whom have never even heard of Liver fluke, and many of whom have their vets ID their goats' fecal samples as well) Ivomec Plus, while its importance is gradually growing among goat owners, may not yet be available in your local feed store... However it is readily available in livestock catalogs, and online as well, at about the same price as Ivomec.

END

¹ Georgi's Parasitology for Veterinarians, Dwight Bowman, 7th Ed. P116.

² Veterinary Clinical Parasitology, Sloss & Kemp, 5th Ed. P.41, Fasciola hepatica eggs; P.46, Haemonchus contortus eggs

Sue Reith
C Carmelita Toggs
Bainbridge Island WA

(While I urge you to share this information with other individual goat owners, please do not reproduce the article for publication without my specific permission. Thank you. Sue Reith.)

NAIS and the Family Farm

2009-04-22T14:46:00.002-04:00

NAIS ~~~ And the Family
From the National Assn. of Farm Animal Welfare, 4.22.09

Life is precious, even more so when a little life is hanging by a thread. Here at Dickinson Cattle Company Inc., near Barnesville, Ohio, USA, every life is priority, the people and the livestock. When every breath of oxygen and ounce of colostrum is life or death, tender love, and on the spot management is drastically important.
Unbounded Symbol Family Unbounded Symbol Little Girl with Baby Calf

Herd health doesn’t come out of a bottle, or because of a federal law. It certainly is not about ear tags, or about Humane Society animal rights theory. It comes from devoted livestock management by the people who appreciate and respect livestock the most, the owners. Herd health is not a fourth of July rally. It goes all year long with generous amounts of clean hay, water and minerals during cold winter days.

Ranchers know their stock. Genetics are planned with special traits for many generations. Not only do producers know every herd animal, they often know their planned mating genealogies for 20 to 50 years deep back into historic pedigrees. The mind of a true stockman evaluates every trait of every animal. The herd sires receive multiple scrutiny. Frozen semen is a special tool for breed improvement. Check DCCI sires available at http://www.texaslonghorn.com/inventory/semen/index.cfm

Over 1000 livestock producing families per month go broke or terminate their businesses. This is caused by excessive enforcements, taxes, regulations of governments beyond reason, and the cost of labor having to compete against union salaries and the government's high paying jobs. Each day Congress and the Senate pass more laws to increase cost of agriculture production. Look close at these American families and realize they are a vanishing species. They work day and night to excel. The elderly fear the future; youth innocently dream of the grandeur to come. As children prepare for the cattle shows of this coming Summer, Washington regulators prepare to force mandatory NAIS compliance to strap livestock owners with one more hard financial blow.

You may have called your elected federal officials hundreds of times and robotically treated like a borrowed mule, never receiving the dignity of a returned call. Try another hundred emails, letters, fax and phone calls. Call your state veterinarians who have all taken massive bribes (cooperative agreements) from the USDA to promote NAIS. As the elected and employed ones vote themselves increases of salary, insurance and retirements annually, thousands of food producers in the USA depart. Please try a few more times to contact your enforcers. Someday, one may listen to the people affected by their onerous legislations and do the right thing. Please say --- NO to NAIS.

For more info www.naisSTINKS.com, or e-mail Ag.Ed@NAFAW.org

Marily Burgess--Discussion of Changes in Breeds Since 1960s

2009-04-02T01:13:00.007-04:00

Guest Host: Marilyn Burgess-Goodridge
Robla Dairy Goats
mabgrobla@aol.com

I guess I could describe myself as an old timer inbreeding dairy goats. My history with dairy goats goes back to about 1963 when I was introduced to my first dairy goats - a herd of Nubians and Saanens.

Lest someone thinks that I was a newbie to livestock, I was raised on a ranch where my parents had a cow dairy when I was very young that was changed to a beef cattle operation and
a commercial fryer/broiler chicken ranch.

There was never a time in my life except for a year and a half break when I was in college when I have not had something to milk. I was in 4-H for most of my youth. So I do know livestock. My heart has always been with the dairy stock.

Now, I was introduced to Betty Nordfelt (long time head of the Judges' Training Committee) in the mid 1960's. It was her pronouncement that if you put a paper bag over the heads of dairy goats they should all look alike. Betty was the queen then. Wes Nordfelt was long time president of AMGRA that finally became ADGA.

They pretty much ruled our part of the dairy goat world. Even at my young age I was not comfortable with this idea.

My first dairy goats were Nubians of the dual purpose style heavy on the Da Ruth/Oakwood bloodlines. In 1965 I started my own goat dairy with my husband and those Nubians plus a small family of Saanens. A year later French Alpines were added. The next year a Rio Linda Toggenburg doe was added. The next year the rest of her family was added plus a small handful of Rio Linda and Indian Rock Saanens were added.

Shortly after that Hazel Tate of the Law-Zel Goat Dairy gifted my husband and myself with a La Mancha doe as a belated wedding gift. My mentors in the dairy goat world were Gene and Lousie Geiger (Peg's Nubians), Effie Evans (Evania Nubians), Mrs. V. E. Thompson (Oakwood Nubians), Hazel Tate) and N. S. & E. L. Goodridge (Rio Linda Dairy Goats). I had a very good start in the dairy goat world.

I saw the breeds in my area back then. They were quite different from what they are today. A lot of the difference is in the loss of what I call true breed character.

Alpines were quite tall and rangy and lacking in real body width. The head was long with long upright ears that tended to point more out than up.

Nubians were chunky of body style tending to be easy in the chine and while wide in rump more sloped to the pins. The heads were strong of jaw. The eyes tended to be almond shaped. And of course there was that high Roman nose not the convex nose of today. Jaws did not always match. And the ears were very pendulous lying flat to the head with a bell at the end.

Saanens were the "Holsteins" of the dairy goat world. They were big and thicker than the animals we see today. Many tended to have soft pasterns and bad feet. The head was fairly short
with breadth between the eyes. The face was often dished. Many were polled and had wattles. The ears were the largest of the Swiss breeds tending to be set lower and opening wider at the base of the head.

The Toggenburg had two styles. The old-fashioned which was smaller and wider of body. Mammaries were highly attached with teats to the outside of the udder. The other style was a much taller,longer type. Both styles had a broad head with a wide muzzle and a dished face and were more often than not polled. The ears were small and set higher on the head to make a very alert appearance.

The La Mancha was a newly accepted breed to the registry. According to N.S. Goodridge, who was on the original sifting committee for the La Mancha breed, many of the early bucks used on the sport Spanish La Mancha does were Alpines because
the Alpines were known for their higher production and they had more color to offer. A few Saanens and Toggenburgs were used but were frowned upon because of the color factor.

La Mancha heads were longer. There were a number of
ear types. The elf ear was a brief ear with a flap that hung down. The Pixietype had a tab that pointed up. The gopher ear was the one we typically see today. Then there was a very tiny Swiss type ear that was about a quarter the size of the Alpine ear. There was a herd of these does not far from my dairy.

Now we come to the Swiss Alpines which is what we now call the Oberhasli. Via Hazel Tate I was introduced to Esther Oman and her "Swissies" who was living with Hazel at the time. When I first saw them I thought they were the dairy goat world version of the Jersey cow. They had the same color pattern though the goats were red while the cows were fawn. They had very similar black markings. And they had that very short broad dished face.

Ears were tiny and very erect. Stick-up ears my husband called them. There was also a certain body style of a shorter body but very wide sprung ribs. Rumps were broad and flat from the hips to the pins. They did tend to be hocky. Teats were small as were the udders. Like the Jersey cow they were small.

Thus my remembrances of the dairy goat breeds circa the mid 1960's.

Marilyn Burgess-Goodridge
Robla Dairy Goats

More Info on GM crops and grains

2009-03-06T10:44:00.003-05:00

Guest host: Sam the Farmer

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CommercialGoats1/?yguid=247130111

Sam is at the right, with the full beard. R to L, his uncle Ray and Uncle Milf, all farmers.

I will explain the technology but do not have the time or
desire to get into a long and drawn out debate with
purists who think we should still be living in 1955.

There are two herbicide resistant traits, roundup ready
for glyposate use and liberty link for use with herbicides
by Bayer and Syngenta. So far liberty link is available
for corn only but a lot of crops are using the roundup
ready trait.

In corn if glyposate resistance occurs, liberty link will
kill them, and vice versa.

Liberty link will be available as time goes by in other
crops.

Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) is available for rootworm
control and another for corn borer. The most common
varieties of corn are now available as triple stacked
meaning they are either roundup ready or liberty link with
cornborer Bt and rootworm Bt.

These three traits have boosted corn yields 50% in
irrigated and even more in dryland fields at a very
reasonable cost.

To furthur explain, these traits are contained within the
genome of the plant. Roundup ready is expressed during the
whole life of the plant but Bt is expressed using triggers
to produce the protein at the right time for insect
control. Rootworm Bt is expressed from germination to
about kneehigh then goes dormant. Cornborer Bt is
expressed from about silking to shortly before dry down.

Although we use the term Bt for convenience it is not
really Bt in the plant. They transferred the gene from the
Bt that causes the Bt to produce an amino acid that shuts
down the digestive tract within the larva of the insect
being controlled. It is this gene spliced into the genome
of the corn plant that causes the corn to produce this
amino acid to control the insect.

It takes a different Bt strain to control each different
insect. The Bt that is toxic to rootworm will not harm
other larva.

The reason most folks are concerned is because the
environmentalistshave told them that it will kill the
larva of the monarch butterfly, honey bees, etc. and that
simply is not true.

As Linda stated in a previous post, the genome is
destroyed during digestion so no harm to anything eating
the grain products. Otherwise we would be in danger eating
any product as it all contains genes. It would be like
going to the sushi bar, eating octopus and then growing
eight arms. Doesn't happen and won't happen with any GMO
crop or organism.

Hope this explains it somewhat, there has been volumes
printed on this subject.

I have spent a lifetime studying genetics and it gets
complicated for me.

This science has been explored since the early 70s so has been well researched and tested.

Despite arguments to the contrary, this has been tested to death.

The roundup ready gene is from a plant in the South American rain forest can't remember the species but it is not related to anything else and is naturally resistant to glyposate. In order for this to get into the wild it would have to be transferred to a plant related to the crop being grown. Soybeans being a legume have many wild cousins but soybeans are selfpolinated often pollinating before the bloom is open so cross contamination would be a long shot and coupled with the fact that it does not have any relatives close enough to cross with makes even a longer shot.

Corn has no close relatives.

Cotton has many relatives but again none close enough to cross with.

Allergies are always a concern but Bt and the roundup gene have been tested for that but I'm sure that somewhere on the planet is a person that would react. The risks are minimal when compared to other allergens.

All of this is certainly a lot safer then the insecticides used to control rootworm and corn borer and the traditional herbacides used to control weeds.

Corn is the only plant using this technology that has wind blown pollen.

**********

Thank you for your post, Sam. Please leave comments with your feelings about this issue.

Genetically Modified (GM) Plants and Grain

2009-03-06T00:15:00.000-05:00

Plants have DNA in their cells just like we do. Using recombinant techniques, a gene is isolated from one organism and spliced into the genome of a receptor cell, which is now genetically modified. Insulin is produced this way.

An example would be if you took a gene for cold tolerance out of an alpine plant and put it into a domestic strawberry chromosome or genome, to impart cold tolerance. This is done at a cellular level. Each cell divides and replicates, the daughter cells now carry the new splice as if it is part of it's own genome, a hitchhiker if you like. Cells replicate and eventually form an organism, each cell of which will carry the "foreign" splice of DNA.

There are dangers and unintended consequences of this gene splicing. for example, pollen from a GM plant may be allergenic. While this doesn't sound particularly important, just think how dangerous allergies like nut allergies can be. Also, people are concerned about weird things happening like for example, herbicide resistant genes may cross with noxious weeds producing a really monster weed that would be herbicide resistant. Things like this.

I did run across the study referred to where the rats were shown to have reduced reproductive fitness. however, it was quickly noted that the gene spliced in was already known to be detrimental to reproduction and not to be the end product of this research.

The development of GM strains is difficult and costly and the manufacturers, best known is Monsanto, have been allowed to patent these things. Lawsuits about patents have gotten into the realm of the ridiculous. For example, some farmers' crops have been shown to have Monsanto GM patented genes and they have been sued for patent infringement. As Alice said, it keeps getting curiouser and curiouser.

Now, remember that GM foods and grains are going through digestion and the nucleic acids which are the building blocks of the DNA are broken down to A,C,G and Ts and salvaged in the cells to make other cell products. (There's nothing to "leach.") I think that the model folks have in mind is toxic chemical pollution. Toxic chemicals might interfere at the cellular level or even be toxic to the liver or kidneys which is trying to clear the body of these substances.

Weak and Abandoned Newborn Goats

2009-03-03T21:17:00.002-05:00

Guest Post by
Suzanne W. Gasparotto
Internet meat-goat discussion group:
chevontalk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

WEAK AND ABANDONED NEWBORNS

Weak Kid Syndrome is the term used to described newborns who are unable
to stand and or nurse -- regardless of cause. If the producer does not
take steps to intervene quickly, the newborn will die. Kids thought to
have been smothered or crushed by other goats usually were too weak to
stand to nurse their dams and actually starved to death. Getting
sufficient colostrum into a newborn during its first few hours of life
is critical to its survival. Read this author's article entitled The
Importance of Colostrum to Newborns on the Articles page at
www.tennesseemeatgoats.com.

Kids born prematurely for any reason, newborns of does infected with
abortion organisms late in pregnancy, and hypothermic kids (low body
temperature) experience Weak Kid Syndrome. Cold and/or wet weather
strikes, the doe goes into labor, and her newborns are at risk. for
hypothermia A weak kid cannot stand to nurse its mother. If the kid
can stand at all, its back legs will be splayed apart from its body. A
very weak kid will be limp and its neck may fold back like a bird's neck
towards one side of its body. Such a kid is not only weak but is
dehydrated, cold, and almost dead. Do not confuse this kid with the
occasional newborn who develops early-onset fever due to its inability
to regulate its body temperature during extremes of weather. A kid born
with fever or developing it soon after being born has the ability but
won't nurse until medication is given to stabilize its body temperature
at the normal level. Goats with fever go "off feed." How to treat a
newborn with fever will be explained later in this article.

With any sick goat, the first step is to take rectal temperature.
Normal goat body temperature is 101.5*F to 103.5*F. Body temperature
below 100*F means the kid is in critical condition. Fever is much
easier to bring down than sub-normal body temperature is to bring up.
Fill a sink with very warm water and put the kid's body in it, holding
its head out of the water. Massage the kid's legs to stimulate blood
circulation. A cold stressed newborn's body will shunt blood to
essential organs (lungs, heart, kidneys -- not stomach) to sustain life,
leaving its legs with poor circulation and therefore cold. When the
chill is off the kid's body and its body temperature is at least 100*F,
remove it from the warm water bath , towel the kid dry, and administer
Lactated Ringers Solution under the skin (SQ) at each shoulder.

Lactated Ringers is an inexpensive veterinary prescription item that
comes in an IV bag and is used to rehydrate the kid. Using a 60-cc
syringe with a new sharp 18 gauge needle attached, withdraw 60 cc of LRS
from the IV bag and warm it in a pot of water before giving it SQ to the
kid. Test the temperature of the Lactated Ringers Solution on the
inside of your wrist to make sure it is not too hot. Tent the kid's skin
at the shoulder and inject 30 cc's Lactated Ringers Solution under the
skin (SQ) per side. Do not use the same needle twice; LRS must be kept
uncontaminated. In warm climates, Lactated Ringers Solution is best
kept refrigerated, especially after having been opened.

Lactated Ringers comes in various sizes up to a 1000 mL IV bag, but do
not give it intravenously to the kid. The goal is to hydrate the kid's
body tissues -- not to put it in its bloodstream. The knot of fluid
which appears under the skin will soon be absorbed by the dehydrated
kid's body. Continue to give Lactated Ringers Solution until the kid's
body quits absorbing it rapidly, but space the dosing over reasonable
periods of time. Give the kid's body time to absorb and process the
fluid. A newborn kid can live several hours on SQ fluids and without
colostrum in its stomach. Rehydration to get the body temperature above
100*F is vital. LRS can be used frequently and safely in small amounts
as described. Anytime a kid is dehydrated, whether from Weak Kid
Syndrome, pneumonia, eColi, diarrhea, or other causes, Lactated
Ringers is a good product to use for rehydration. Illnesses are
accompanied by dehydration and fever is dehydrating. (Adults usually
require stomach tubing because it is difficult to give them enough
Lactated Ringers Solution SQ to resolve their dehydration problem.)

Once the kid has been hydrated with LRS, use a hand-held hair dry set on
*low* temperature and blow warm air across the kid to help raise and
hold its body temperature. Take care not to burn or further dehydrate
the kid. For quick energy, put some molasses or Karo syrup on your
finger and rub it onto the kid's gums and inside the kid's mouth.
Stomach tube a weak kid who cannot hold its head up with a small amount
of Karo syrup or molasses diluted in warm water or with a solution of
equal parts of 50% Dextrose and water. A weak kid with sub-normal
body temperature is able to absorb these simple sugars while it cannot
digest colostrum or milk. Give the simple-sugar mixture slowly and in
small amounts -- probably no more than two ounces at a time, depending
up the size and breed of the kid. Do not put colostrum or milk into a
weak kid that cannot hold its head up until its body temperature is
above 100*F. Once the kid's rectal temperature is above 100*F, milk
the kid's mother and stomach tube a small amount of colostrum into it,
even if it cannot hold its head up. If the dam's colostrum is bad
(stringy or bloody or won't flow when the seal over the teat has been
carefully removed with a fingernail), thaw some colostrum that has been
previously frozen in plastic soda-pop bottles or use colostrum replacer
(not colostrum *supplement*) and tube feed the kid no more than two
ounces at a time. It is important to use the dam's colostrum if the
producer wants to graft the kid back onto its mother. Dams use smell to
identify their kids, and the smell of the kid's feces must be *right*
or she will reject it.

Colostrum should be thick and creamy in consistency and yellowish in
color. Occasionally colostrum will be so thick that it is "untubable."
Dilute very thick colostrum with a small amount of goat's milk so it
will flow through a stomach tube. Colostrum is required to get the
newborn's digestive system operating. A combination of five (5) cc's
strong coffee (not too hot) mixed with molasses or Karo syrup can be
given orally to *jump start* the kid. Register Distributing in Wade,
North Carolina (1-888-310-9606) sells a terrific product called GoatADE
which can be given to weak kids as a source of quick energy. Goat
Nutri-Drench is a similar product. This writer prefers GoatADE.

Administer orally CMPK or MFO (calcium-magnesium-phosphorus-dextrose
solution). Often given to does experiencing Hypocalcemia ("milk
fever"), CMPK or MFO will help stabilize a weak kid whose calcium
balance is off the from the stress of hypothermia. Use a one-cc
syringe and give as little as one quarter of one cc (1/4 of one cc) at a
time orally. Try to get one cc per pound of bodyweight of CMPK or MFO
into the kid. Example: a six-pound kid should get up to six cc's of
this product orally -- given very slowly. Also give from one to three
cc's (1 to 3 cc's) of Fortified Vitamin B Complex -- again in small
doses. Both of these products are available over the counter from
suppliers such as Register Distributing (www.goatsupplies.com) or
Jeffers (1-800-JEFFERS) and are inexpensive. This writer thanks Donna
Palmer, Crown Hill Nubians, Central Point, Oregon, for this information.

Stomach tubing is easy but can be off-putting to the producer. Have a
vet or an experienced producer demonstrate how to stomach tube properly
and read STOMACH TUBING on the Articles page of this writer's website
www.tennesseemeatgoats.com. The stomach tube must go into the esophagus
and not into the kid's lungs. If fluid is tubed into the lungs, the
kid will contract pneumonia and die. All producers must know how to
use a stomach tube on both kids and adult goats.

Now that the weak kid has received life-sustaining colostrum, wrap or
cover it loosely in a towel, set a heating pad on *low* inside a box and
place another towel over it, then put the kid on the towel-covered
heating pad. In very cold weather, also use a heating lamp with a 150
to 200 watt clear bulb over which a metal guard has been placed so that
the kid cannot touch the hot bulb. Infrared bulbs are suitable for
extremely cold climates only and should be placed out of reach of the
kid and any other animal. Test the heat with your hand and adjust
height and wattage accordingly. Keep electrical cords out of reach.
Set the kid upright on its sternum and turn it from side to side every
30 minutes to avoid pneumonia. Keep the kid hydrated; heating pads have
a dehydrating effect. Use Lactated Ringers Solution for hydration as
needed. A good indication of hydration is when the kid can urinate and
when the kid's body no longer quickly absorbs the LRS when injected SQ.

If the producer is lucky enough to find a weak kid whose temperature is
slightly sub-normal but more than 100*F and it can stand and hold its
head up, then most of the foregoing treatments can be skipped and the
kid can be placed at its dam's teat to nurse. Squeeze a bit of the
dam's colostrum into the kid's mouth and it will usually begin to nurse
if it has sufficient strength. Nursing takes energy. Check the kid's
sucking response by putting your finger in its mouth. A kid that is
only slightly *weak* will suck the finger. Remember that most weak kids
won't be strong enough to nurse on their own but instead will require
stomach tubing.

Cleft Palate is a lengthwise split in the roof of the kid's mouth. In
most cases, it is a developmental problem rather than hereditary, but it
is not repairable. The kid can live with a cleft palate for a while,
but as it grows, the split will widen and the kid won't be able to chew
or swallow its food well. The kid's growth will be stunted, it will
have trouble breathing when fluid comes out its nose, and pneumonia will
develop. A kid with a cleft palate should be euthanized. Check each
kid at birth for a cleft palate.

Atresia Ani is lack of an anus (rectal opening) that prevents solid
waste from being expelled from the kid's body. Like cleft palate,
atresia ani in goats is usually a developmental problem rather than
hereditary and is also not repairable. The kid should be euthanized
immediately. Check each kid at birth for atresia ani.

Fever in newborn kids occurs occasionally. Kids with fever seem
perfectly normal but *stupid* about nursing. A kid with fever won't
nurse. Take the rectal temperature of any newborn that seems healthy
but won't nurse. If fever is present, inject the kid with 1/2 cc
Excenel RTU into the muscle (IM) and 2/10th of a cc of Banamine IM,
then hydrate the kid with Lactated Ringers Solution as described above.

If the kid won't nurse and doesn't have fever, it may be a buckling who
hasn't quite made the mental connection between food and nursing, so the
producer will have to stomach tube him until he figures out how to
nurse. Premature kids of both sexes have problems nursing because they
are developmentally not ready and because their teeth (with which they
hold the teat) are still in their gums. Preemies usually require
stomach-tube feeding until their teeth erupt through the gums.

Entropion is an eyelid condition of some newborns. The eyelid and
eyelashes are turned inward, scratching the eye and causing discomfort.
See this author's article on Entropion on the Articles page at
www.tennesseemeatgoats.com.

Getting a kid to nurse a bottle takes time and patience. Sit or kneel
and place the kid between your legs. Placing your thumb across the
bridge of the kid's nose and your fingers under its chin, insert the
nipple of the bottle into the kid's mouth, using your other hand. Put
your thumb across its eyes to simulate the darkness of being under its
mother's legs. Hold the nipple in the kid's mouth, moving it in and out
of the mouth and squeezing gently to stimulate the kid's interest. Once
the kid learns that the nipple delivers milk, it should begin to suck.
Getting a newborn to accept a bottle is much easier than an older kid.
By then the nipple does not feel like mom's teat and the older kid
will fight acceptance of it. Sometimes it is necessary to let the kid
get hungry by waiting six or eight hours before offering it a bottle.
Do not let the kid have access to dam's milk or water during this
waiting time. When the kid gets stronger, you can sit on an
overturned five-gallon bucket, place the bottle under your knee, and the
kid will feel like it is under its dam's legs nursing her teat. If at
all possible, graft an orphaned or rejected kid onto another dam.
Bottle babies are not desirable. They are expensive to raise, almost
never fit in with the herd because they view themselves as people, and
are dangerous when grown because they still perceive themselves as that
eight-pound kid who used to climb into your lap. The most dangerous
goat on your ranch is a grown male who still believes he is a bottle
baby. Someday he will hurt someone unintentionally -- probably you.

Suzanne W. Gasparotto
ONION CREEK RANCH
HC 70 Box 70
Lohn, Texas 76852
325-344-5775
email: onioncreek@tennesseemeatgoats.com
website: www.tennesseemeatgoats.com
Internet meat-goat discussion group: chevontalk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Internet meat-goat emergency group: GoatER-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
2/20/06

Saving Baby Goats in Cold Weather

2009-02-18T01:14:00.003-05:00

Two words: hair dryer.

The best piece of baby goat equipment is a hair dryer and chances are you already have one.

Hair dryer, heating pad, wood stove, space heater, warm water, whatever. You got to get them warm asap. If the inside of the mouth is cold, get busy. If they won't suck or stop sucking you need to get busy. They can't turn themselves around and will die without your help.

As you are warming the baby goat, rub the body, the legs, the cold little feet, move them. You want to get that blood flowing through the muscles. Stand them up, spread all four legs and prop them up, or hold them and just let them put some of their own weight on those little legs.

If they fall, pick them back up and prop them up over and over. If you can get them to stand up for minutes or even longer you have achieved something. You'll notice that when they start to take a step or lose balance they may fall but try to right themselves. Even if they fall, that's still good. They need to get those muscles working, again to increase blood flow and increase body temp. Bicycle the legs. If they resist you when you are moving the legs that's also good. It is getting the muscles primed with blood and increasing body temp. If the kid is limp just keep working on him until he does start resisting.

If they are born on ice but stand up they'll make it. The ice and/or snow will lower their body temps if they are down on it. They need to achieve a normal body temp to get to some kind of homeostasis asap.

After the body temp is up to normal or almost normal, then put some kind of coat on them. I like small dog sweaters but I've improvised with all kinds of children's/infants sweatshirts and sweaters and safety pins. I leave that to you. If you notice within the next couple days they are getting a little lethargic don't wait, they haven't quite achieved homeostasis yet. Get out the hair dryer again. Heat, message, standing, and then a coat. Repeat as needed.

Once they have achieved homeostasis, they are amazingly resilient to all kinds of weather conditions.

Also there are what they call "pig mats" now available through the animal suppliers. they are heating pads invented to warm little ones without the danger of heat lamps. They are more economical than heat lamps to run as well. A little expensive to buy but if you save one baby they might pay for themselves.

Toxoid or Anti-toxin

2009-02-14T18:56:00.001-05:00

Guest post by Suzanne W. Gasparotto

TOXOID OR ANTI-TOXIN?

Knowing the Difference Can Mean Life or Death

Toxoids and Anti-toxins are medications for identical goat health
problems, but their usage is dramatically different. Which vaccine
should be used depends upon what the producer is trying to accomplish.

The two most common vaccines that come in both toxoid and anti-toxin
forms are the overeating vaccines and the tetanus vaccines.
Confusing the matter is the fact that there is a vaccine for Overeating
Disease which is also combined with Tetanus prevention.

Toxoid vaccines are used for long term protection. For example, the
vaccine for Overeating Disease combined with Tetanus prevention is
called "CD/T." These letters represent protection against Overeating
Disease caused by the most common and dangerous organisms . . .
Clostridium Perfringens Types C & D. The "T" part of the vaccine
provides long-term protection against Tetanus.

Toxoid vaccines are given once, with a booster injection following 30
days later. CD/T vaccine is given to unvaccinated adults and kids
twice in the first year, one month apart. Booster vaccinations are then
given annually, although some goat veterinarians and producers are
boosting this protection twice a year and oftentimes one week before
does begin to kid, in order to "jumpstart" the immune systems of the
soon-to-be-born kids.

Anti-toxin vaccines are used in medical emergencies, when immediate but
short-term protection is required. The two most commonly used goat
anti-toxin vaccines are C&D Anti-Toxin and Tetanus Anti-toxin. C&D
Anti-toxin should be used whenever Overeating Disease is suspected to be
the cause of the goat's illness. As with the toxoid vaccines, the
anti-toxins are recommended to be used SQ (sub-cutaneously . . . i.e.
"under the skin). C&D Anti-toxin vaccine is very safe to use and has a
very high margin of error. It is one of the few medications which can
be used without fear of hurting the animal, even if the problem turns
out not to be Overeating Disease. "Bloat" is another goat health
problem against which C&D Anti-toxin may be used, in conjunction with
other medications.

Tetanus Anti-toxin is used after castrations are done ("wethering a
goat"), for injuries (bites, cuts, puncture wounds), and when
Tetanus-like symptoms are present (goat's neck is dramatically bent to
the side and unable to be straightened, eyes unfocused, difficulty
standing).

The temporary protection afforded by both of these vaccines lasts from 7
to 14 days. If the goat survives the illness, the producer must wait
at least five days and begin the two-vaccination toxoid series again,
because the Anti-toxin has cancelled the benefits of the Toxoid
vaccine. Some folks will argue that this occurs, but it better to be
safe than sorry, particularly since these vaccines are very inexpensive.

Note: CD/T, the toxoid, will sometimes cause a "knot" at the injection
site. This is evidence that the vaccine is successfully interacting
with the goat's immune system. To avoid these "knots," injections can
be done inside the loose skin where the front leg meets the goat's body
(in the "armpit," so the speak). Usually, but not always, these
"knots" eventually disappear.

Here's a "word association" (courtesy of Jerry Munns of Honea Path,
South Carolina) to help remember the difference between Toxoid and
Anti-toxin:

TOXOID . . . . TO AVOID
ANTI-TOXIN . . . IN NEED OF FIXIN'

Suzanne W. Gasparotto
ONION CREEK RANCH
HC 70 Box 70
Lohn, Texas 76852
325/344-5775

website: www.tennesseemeatgoats.com

Baby goats in the House

2009-02-02T03:53:00.001-05:00

I don't know about everyone else but sometimes it's much too cold outside for baby goats and I grab them and head for the house. They spend a few minutes under the hair dryer and then the rest of the night by the wood stove. I use dog cages mostly to contain them. I also have a 100 gal rubber stock tank that I use as a "play pen." But it only takes a couple weeks until they are popping out and making a mess. Then I'm scrounging around for a screen or baby gate, something to lay on top.

When I read about this lady, Mary, and how she puts diapers on her kids I thought how much better this would be. Here it is cut and pasted from one of my goat lists:
********************************************************************************

Posted by: "combmaker@aol.com" combmaker@aol.com hemizonia

Sun Feb 1, 2009 3:06 am (PST)

(first part edited out)

I used regular human infant diapers, starting with newborn, and sizing
up as the kids grew. I'd cut a tiny hole for the tail, and pull it thru. I
would have the kids wear a cat or small dog halter ... would secure the diaper
by connecting the halter and diaper with a shoelace. With bucklings, you
have to keep the bottom of the diaper placed about to their chest. With
doe-lings, you didn't need to be as fussy. A shoelace on the bottom of the diaper
to the halter helped keep the pooplets in the diaper.

Mary, No. California
*******************************************************************************

Well my Swiffer mop is going to get a lot less use this year thanks to Mary's idea of the diapers and dog halter. hehe. And they might be out of the dog cages more.

I have one more tip. After you give them their bottle, stick them out the door and within a few minutes they probably will pee and maybe number two. Then you can bring them back in. Watch so that they don't wander off.

Emergency Preparedness--What if we had a blackout, or other emergency on the farm?

2009-02-01T13:53:00.006-05:00

Emergency preparedness comes natural to my husband, a pig farmer, Ohio farm boy his whole life. When our electricity went out for a about a day, we had the wood stove for heat. We could heat our foot on the top of it. He got an small TV out and hooked it up to what we call the "hotbox" the thing we use to jump-start our cars and trucks. He had a DC light hooked up. We had flashlights and candles. All in all we were relatively comfortable until the electricity came back on. (Well, I missed the computer.)

During this past year I have also become interested in emergency preparedness. So I have been trying to build up an emergency food and water supply and think about these things. You know: what if? What if? After I stockpile soup, beans, flour etc. for us, what about the dogs? What about the horses? What about the goats?

The reason I'm bringing this up is the news that down in Kentucky there is a huge blackout caused by a terrible winter ice storm. The national guard is going house to house to help out residents. I'm sure there are farms and animal owners down there also without electricity and heat. Hundreds of thousands of people are off the grid and suffering. Children are no doubt being traumatized and everyone is stressed out to have their lives interrupted one way or the other.

I'm not going to list out a bunch of "hints" for preparing in animals, especially dogs, goats and horses, in mind even though I could. I would rather you think about it. Mull it over. What if I ran out of feed and the roads were blocked? Or the feed store was closed since they don't have electricity? What about water? How would I get water to my animals? Do i have enough flashlights on hand? Do I have a kerosene heater or something similar in case I need it? What if the cell phones go down....

Ask yourself "what if" and then just start mentally making plans for an emergency, short term and maybe even long term. For example, I think I'm going to bring home a couple of round bales of hay and store them behind the barn, just in case. I'm also going to get a rain barrel out there close to the barn.

Please leave comments about this. What are you thinking about? What can you do to prepare? We can toss this around.

Another Dose of Cute--Baby Nubian

2009-01-31T13:52:00.004-05:00

http://queenacresonline.blogspot.com/ for more baby goat pictures

I thought you might to see this little guy getting his dinner. This breed is called Nubian and is the most numerous breed of goats in the U.S. It's got to be the ears!! They don't stay this little for long. He or she probably weighed about 5# at birth and will gain about 8# a month until she/he's full grown.

The Queenacres blog is chatty and fun, a glimpse into a farm family with goats and chickens, homeschooling and other lifestyle information.

Beautiful Rear Udder--Okanogan Oberhasli Hyacinth 2X GCH

2009-01-30T02:59:00.003-05:00

Sigh. I wish she were mine. (Note the cutie at 2:00)

http://www.netneon.com/88257494006C1FEE/pitem/Okanogan_Oberhaslis_Hyacinth_2xGCH_-_Kids_9A003FEF56B243DD8825754E00236A11

OD on Cute--Baby Boer Goats

2009-01-30T02:41:00.002-05:00

These aren't mine. I just thought this picture was so cute. Someone should think of a clever caption.

The are for sale on the Dayton/Springfield, Ohio Craigslist.

Top Ten Reasons Anyone Over 40 With Goats and/or Horses Should Own a Bobcat

2009-01-29T02:57:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure not we would live without a Bobcat. We bought it with every penny we could scrape up about 2003. At the time I was reluctant to spend the money, but now...

1: Clean out pens. We take down the goats and panels that make up the pens and hubby goes in and scrapes up the manure and bedding. Doing this once a month is ideal, but we usually end up doing it more like every 3 months.

2: Along with #1, we bucket the manure/bedding to the area of the garden by the fenceline and let it compost for a year or two.

3: Hubby transports bales of hay, both large round and small, two or more at a time, from one barn to another.

4. While we're on the subject of hay, Bob made hay one year and the bales were all over the field. Neither him nor I had the backs to handle that much hay. He used the Bobcat and precisely stacked those bales on the trailer with great precision. And it didn't take that much longer. It would take a lot of practice to do a job like that but it is possible.

5. He has used the Bobcat as a jack. Yes, a car, tractor jack.

6. We had to bury a horse. that was a sad job, but it worked well.

7. He cleans off snow. You can either scoop it with the bucket or turn the bucket upside down, and driving backwards, scrape it.

8. You can put gravel in a truck or you can put gravel in a driveway or something. You can move heavy rocks or boulders.

9. You can pull out fence posts. You use a log chain, wrap it around the post, and lift the bucket.

10. You can use it as a mini-bulldozer to tear down an old shed, to scrape off heavy weeds, to dig a hole, to smooth out a low or wet area... actually about anything you need to do that would require heavy lifting.

Memories of a 50% Boer doe, Jar-Jar

2009-01-08T10:49:00.003-05:00

Before I started establishing my Oberhasli herd a 50% boer doe came into my life. We named her Jar-Jar and she was really beautiful. She was red and white with white legs from the knees down. She reminded me of a majorette with white boots on, I loved that.

The reason she came to me was funny. She got into her previous owner's pocket and ate his cash, over $50! So she was worth more than $50 right off the bat! Can't you just visualize that! Jar-jar running off with his cash, eating it as she ran and him running after her trying to get it back, yelling and screaming and cussing. I assume he didn't have a gun handy.

When she kidded with two big old vigorous buck kids there was plenty of milk and after the bucks were sold, what the heck. I went down and dug my old milk stand out of dad's barn and set it up in the corner of the pen. About that same time I got my wonderful Cherokee aka Grandma, the heaviest unofficial milker in Ohio, and I started milking both of them.

Jar-jar drove me crazy. She had her head in Grandma's feed when I was milking and no amount of hitting, kicking or yelling would deter her. Then when she got her turn she would eat another scoop of feed, finish that and then look at me from the side of her eye and stomp her feet demanding more feed. That goat could both eat and milk! She stopped her pick pocketing but made up for it with her voracious appetite.

Milking Jar-jar was an experience. She had very small teats, four of them. The extra two were small, about an inch long, at the base of her normal teats and didn't seem to function so they weren't any problem at all. Her udder was so soft and supple, it was heaven and milked down to nothing, what you wish would happen with your dairy goats. The teats were so small that I had to milk her udder. That is, I would grab above the teats and work down to the teats. It was a different technique but worked just fine. Now I have automatic milkers and it wouldn't even be worth mentioning.

If you find yourself with a Jar-jar, just appreciate her for what she is. Like men, goats don't change.

How Goat People Ward off Cabin Fever

2009-01-08T10:28:00.005-05:00

We are having a ball on the various Yahoo Groups lists I'm on. On chevontalk@yahoogroups.com we have had a lively discussion about CAE with Tanya leading the way and even had the president of a vet lab reply. Tanya changed the subject to CL, same thing. A lively discussion is in progress. This was my reply to her. I was thinking: wow that would make a great blog post so here it is:

There will soon be an effective vaccine out
for CL and from that point on there won't be any excuse for CL bumps
and lumps. I had CL in my nubian herd in the early '80s and had an
autogeneous vaccine (then highly experimental and expensive) made at
Ohio State through my vet. Over 3 years it was completely gone with
attrition.

Once animals are properly vaccinated there won't be the panic about CL
at shows, fairs, new animals. There won't be any point to keep blood
testing for it after that. Oh, happy day!

All I can say is since you haven't had CL first hand so it must be hard
to visualize. The capsules are actually lymph nodes which have captured
the CL bacteria (and antigen/antibody complexes I assume) . They grow
over a couple months, the top skin gets thinner and thinner and loses
the hair because it loses the blood supply. Then the weakened skin
opens and the pus seeps out. It doesn't really explode, per se.

Re internal abscesses, I've heard that that is more of a problem in
sheep. I don't really know. But thank goodness CL in goats is almost
just a bad
memory.
*******************************************

On nubiantalk@yahoogroups.com there is in progress a fascinating discussion of the history of the breed. And low and behold an English lady, Christine Ball, who you may recognize from the Golden Guernsey world, comes on and shares her knowledge from that side of the pond. What a treat! Maybe I'll ask her to write a guest blog.

For example, did you know that before the English ladies used Swiss breeds in their breeding programs they worked with an old English breed? Those were the goats that were crossed with 3 exotic Indian and African breeds to produce the Anglo-English. I just always thought, they took a Saanen and a wild nubian and voila, Anglo-Nubian.

But that's not all, now we find out that there's a breed in New Zealand that Capt. Cook carried off. A university in Spain is doing DNA tests to verify the lineage of the goats. Yes, I definitely need to capture this on my blog.

Raspberry and Bill Burghart and others have been discussing old herds, long dead bucks, sharing history, photos and all sorts of other treasures. If you join Nubian talk, you might want to go back a month or so and check out the archives. Even if you don't have nubians like me, I think you will enjoy these conversations.

Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee

2008-12-22T02:20:00.004-05:00

For the past 3 or 4 years I have been reading the website of the sanctuary and checking out the ele-cam. This is such an enjoyable site. The workers keep diaries for the individual elies and after a while you feel like you know them. I have shared the joys and sorrows with them, bought things from the web store and donated small amounts of money.

This is off topic for the blog but I know that goat lovers would also be animal lovers. I encourage you and your children to check out this website and enjoy getting to know these gentle giants.

http://www.elephants.com/

I've had a soft spot in my heart for Shirley ever since I saw her story on a TV documentary about 10 years ago. She was the lone elephant at a zoo in St. Louis or someplace and she had an aging but devoted keeper who pampered her and talked to her like a dear child. It was sad to see the old friends part. However, Shirley is no doubt happy and thriving in her retirement running around the hills of Tennessee with her friends.

DIY Microscope using Webcam and Toy Microscope

2008-12-21T09:36:00.002-05:00

This is so COOL! I haven't done it and I really don't need to, since I had a nice microscope already. So if you are inclined to give this a try, please follow the link and let us know whether it is a success or not. For those of you who don't already know, goat people like to use microscopes for fecals, to identify internal parasites as well as to example semen for sperm count and viability when doing artificial insemination.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-USB-Digital-Microscope-in-60min-and-15/

*B Heaven's Hollow Pistol Pete Collection

2008-12-19T06:51:00.004-05:00

The son of SGCH Heaven's Hollow Shotsi *M, 92EEEE and Res. National GCH 2008 and #5 Top Ten milker, is generating a lot of interest because of his impeccable pedigree. Pete is now a working buck. He has been in the pen with most of the does and they are starting to show heavy bellies so no doubt we'll have a lot of babies in a few months.

Pete was collected for AI in November by Biogenics. He was dwarfed by the other bucks, these big old nubian behemoths. The only other young buck there was also an Oberhasli. He was Kirt Schnipke's buck Utterly Crazy Richochet. When it came to "jumping the does" you had to get out of the way for the other bucks, they reminded me of a fancy quarter horse running up and sliding to a stop. But not Petey. He acted like he didn't know what to do.

The collector suggested we take him and the doe outside and try it without the other bucks and people. He got a slow start but after a while he caught on and we collected 27 straws. Kirts buck collected about as well. So it was a successful collection even though the little guy got off to a slow start.

I donated 5 straws to a fund-raising auction on cometothefarm.com for the benefit of OBA. There were two eager bidders and they went for $201! So we'll be shipping it out to Dan who has the Butte Creek herd in Oregon or Northern California. I'm not quite sure which.

I hadn't planned on selling any more but there seems to be enough interest that I'm going to see if I can have him collected a second time after the first of the year. If you are interested in a purchase let me know. I'm not certain I will be selling any more this winter and spring but it is a possibility, and I can start a waiting list.

Every spring is an exciting time. I am so fortunate to have owned and used such fine bucks. My foundation bucks were so precious and choosing and buying them all those years ago was such a matter of beginner's luck. Last year I used the son of GCH Vassajara Vada, 91EEEE, Top Ten, and an Elite doe. These are some of the prettiest kids ever born here.

Using fine bucks, generation after generation, the quality of the herd progresses every year. Pete is bred to about 15 does, many of them daughters and granddaughters of our dear late FDF-Pleasant Fields Solaris, son of GCH Destiny Farm Souvenir 91EEEE, 2X Res. National GCH.

Artificial Lighting Increases Milk Yield in Dairy Ewes

2008-10-26T14:04:00.000-04:00

I hope I'm not boring you with scientific or technical articles, in this case an abstract. I have feeds for these things and when I see something interesting, I want to share it. This study was with dairy sheep, but they certainly are similar to dairy goats.

**********

Artificial Lighting During Winter Increases Milk Yield in Dairy Ewes

A. D. Morrissey, A. W. N. Cameron and A. J. Tilbrook¹

Department of Physiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia

¹ Corresponding author: alan.tilbrook@med.monash.edu.au

In Australia, the supply of sheep milk is reduced during thewinter. Housing dairy animals under lights during winter isa simple technique to increase milk yield; however, it is difficultto predict the magnitude of this increase in dairy ewes, becausethere are few corroborating data. We studied 220 East Friesiancrossbred ewes (50 primiparous and 170 multiparous ewes, respectively)that lambed in April to May 2007 (late autumn, southern hemisphere)and were weaned from their lambs within 24 h of parturitionand milked exclusively by machine. These ewes were ranked accordingto their milk production, and ewes producing 1,000 mL/d of milkwere allocated to 1 of 2 groups. One group of ewes was keptindoors under a long-day photoperiod (16 h of light), whereasthe other group was kept indoors under a naturally decliningday length. Ewes were maintained under these conditions for8 wk. Milk yield was measured twice weekly, and ewe weight andcondition were measured at weekly intervals. From a subset ofewes (n = 20 per group), milk samples were collected twice weeklyat the morning milking to measure milk lipid, protein, and lactose,and blood samples were collected once a week to measure plasmaprolactin concentrations. Mean daily milk yield was analyzedas a percentage of preexperimental milk yield because the milkyield of ewes housed under the long photoperiod was lower thanthat of ewes under a declining day length when the treatmentsbegan. Thus, the ewes under a long photoperiod yielded 91.7%of their starting yield by wk 8 of treatment, whereas ewes undera declining day length yielded 76.25% of their initial value(LSD = 5.1), and this divergence in milk yield was apparentby wk 2 of treatment. Mean plasma prolactin levels were greaterin ewes housed under the long-day photoperiod (n = 20) comparedwith control ewes (n = 20) at wk 6 (168 ± 27 vs. 72 ±19 ng/mL, respectively), wk 7 (125 ± 28 vs. 37 ±7 ng/mL, respectively), and wk 8 of the experiment (132 ±35 vs. 31 ± 7 ng/mL, respectively). The composition ofthe milk was similar between the groups at each time point,and milk from these ewes (n = 20 per group) contained, on average,6.1 ± 0.05% lipid, 4.8 ± 0.02% protein, and 5.4± 0.01% lactose (n = 309 samples). We concluded thatewes increase milk production in response to being housed undera long-day photoperiod during winter.

J. Dairy Sci. 2008. 91:4238-4243. doi:10.3168/jds.2007-0918
© 2008 American Dairy Science Association ®

OBA Picture Calendars available

2008-10-24T15:40:00.000-04:00

Jillian announced this on OberhasliTalk today:

tervherd@yahoo.com writes:

Hello Everyone,

I'm pleased to announce that the 2009 OBA Photo calendar is available
for purchase.

Sneak peek images of the calendar are available in the files section
of OberhasliTalk under OBA Fundraising.

_http://tech.http://tech.http://techttp://tech.<Whttp://techttp://tech.http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/OberhasliTalk/files/OBA%20Fundraising/)

make PAYPAL payment to:
_secretary@oberhaslisecr_ (mailto:secretary@oberhasli.net) for the total
amount.

These beautiful professionally printed calendars sport full color
photos of lovely Oberhasli. The photo titles are humorous and
creative. Each calendar is only $17.25 and that includes shipping by
first class mail. We can even send them to friends on your behalf.

If you are following this blog and are bit by the Oberhasli bug or if you know someone who might like this, say a 4H leader, please use the email address above or me at lm12oliver@hotmail.com and we'll make sure you get one or more. They may be available at the NAILLE show in Louisville, KY next month as well.

SGCH Willow Run Hassida *M

2008-10-20T01:05:00.000-04:00

This is three time national champion, Willow Run Hassida. Not only is she quite a show girl, she was a top ten milker.

This doe is related to my foundation buck, FDF-Pleasant Fields Solaris. Sol's dam is Hassida's grand dam, specifically GCH Destiny Farm Souvenir, two time Reserve Natl GCH.

Hassida was the national champion once again in 2008 with Heaven's Hollow Shotsi, my new buck's dam, in Reserve. Both of these does classified 92 the highest scores in the Oberhasli breed.

Laboratory Determination of Fat in Milk

2008-10-20T00:57:00.000-04:00

The following is straight from my college nutrition lab book. Please leave comments if you have questions and cannot find answer on internet. I'll try to help.

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Milk is a colloidal dispersion and contains water-soluble solutes as well as insoluble material. Fatty compounds are generally insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents like hexane, chloroform, etc. The determination of fat in milk will require extraction of fat in an organic solvent. Direct treatment of such an organic solvent generally produces an emulsion at the junction pf twp solvents (water from milk and organic solvent.)

The problem can be solved in various ways. One of the simple methods is to first precipitate the proteins and then filter them out. Proteins can be precipitated out by trichloroacetic acid, acetic acid (vinegar), and heavy metals or by adding large amount of salt.

REQUIREMENTS: Milk sample to be analyzed, suitable reagent for precipitation of proteins, organic solvent to extract fatty compounds, filter equipment or a centrifuge, evaporating dish or beaker, separatory funnel, balance (scale).

PROCEDURE:

1. Weight a 250 ml size beaker. Place 100 ml of milk sample in it and record the total weight. From these weights find out the weight of milk.

2. Add 40% solution of trichloroacetic acid (be careful) solution or acetic acid solution (vinegar from a supermarket) whichever is provided to you. Stir continuously and continue the addition of a reagent until the precipitation is complete. If a pH meter is available check the pH of the milk sample. You may use pH paper. The pH should be 4.0 or less than 4.0. The pH of normal milk sample is generally close to neutral pH (i.e., pH 7.0).

3. If a centrifuge is available, centrifuge the sample carefully in the pre-weighed centrifuge tubes for 25 minutes at 4000 rpm.

Pour the supernatant into a clean beaker. If a centrifuge is not available, filter the ppt (precipitate) using pre-weighed Whatman 52 or fine grade filter paper.

4. Now add approximately 20 ml of hexane or petroleum ether or the solvent recommended by your instructor to the filtrate or the supernatant (liquid separated after centrifugation).

Stir well and pour the contents into a separatory flask. Allow the two liquid layers to separate as clearly as possible. You may add approximately 4 ml of methanol if you see emulsion or scum like cloudy or milky interface.

5. Separate the organic layer. Depending on the density of the solvent used, the organic solvent will be either upper or lower layer. Collect the organic layer in weighed evaporating dish or a small beaker.

6. The water layer should be treated with 20 ml of the fresh organic solvent for the extraction of fat. Then separate clear organic solvent.

7. Repeat the extraction two more times. Collect all the extracted fat solutions in the same container.

8. If air current is available dry over such air jets and weigh the beaker/evaporating dish. Otherwise, dry it over a boiling water bath.

CALCULATIONS:

Weight of beaker:

Weight of milk and beaker:

WEight of milk used: (in other words, net weight)

WEight of dish:

Weight of dish plus dried fat:

Weight of fat: (in other words, net weight)

% fat content = [weight of fat X100]/Weight of milk sample

%fat content = [weight of fat X 100]/Weight of milk used

SAMPLE CALCULATIONS:

Wt. of beaker: 25.5 g
Wt of beaker + milk: 115.0 g
Wt. of milk = 115.0 - 25.5 = 89.5 g
Wt of dish:35.8 g
Wt of dish and dried fat: 39.8 g
Wt of fat= 39.8 g - 35.8 g = 4.0 g
% fat content = [4.0 g X 100]/89.5 g = 400/89.5 = 4.47%. This might be a homogenized milk sample.

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"Laboratory Manual for Introductory Course in Nutrition," by Kris Dhawale, Professor of Chemistry, IU East, Richmond, IN. 2003The following is straight from my college nutrition lab book. Please leave comments if you have questions and cannot find answer on internet. I'll try to help.

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DAIRY MANAGEMENT: EVERY SECOND COUNTS

2008-10-12T18:24:00.000-04:00

THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN WITH COW DAIRIES IN MIND BUT I FOUND IT VERY HELPFUL FOR GOAT DAIRY MANAGEMENT AS WELL.

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Dairy Management: Every Second Counts

The little things we do during milking time have a profound effect on udder health and milk quality. It is important to remember that every quarter of every cow must be prepped for milking the same way by every milker at every milking.

Specifics of milking procedures may vary from farm to farm. For example, one farm may prep cows in sets of 4 cows, while the next farm preps in sets of 6. However, the basics of timing should ideally be the same or similar on every farm.

The first important time frame to remember relates to contact time of the teat dip being used as pre-dip. The contact time of teat dips applied before milking need to be on the teat skin for a minimum of 30 seconds to have adequate killing effect. During this time, the quarters can be stripped, but the dip needs to remain on the teat skin for the full 30 seconds prior to wiping.

In addition to contact time, we must ensure that the “prep-lagtime” has an average length of 90 seconds from start of tactile stimulation. Prep-Lag-Time by definition is the time from the start of either stripping, massaging or wiping the teats with a towel, whichever comes first, to unit attachment. On some farms this is stripping and others it is wiping, depending on the order of your preparation procedures. If we attach the units prior to the 60-second mark, we have not given adequate time for oxytocin to reach a useful concentration in the udder. On the flip side, we need to ensure units are attached within 90 seconds of stimulation to make maximum use of the letdown effect. I encourage you to take a stop-watch to the parlor, check your timing of milking procedures and make necessary adjustments to your routine until you are within these time frames.

One suggested protocol would include prepping cows in blocks of 4 or 5. Begin with the first cow by removing lose debris with a towel, then stripping each quarter and examine the milk for signs of mastitis. This would be repeated for the remaining cows in that block. Start back at the first cow of the block (do not weave back through the cows in reverse order) and apply the predip ensuring at least half of the teat is covered. Once the entire block has been predipped, begin wiping the first cow of the block with a single-use towel.

At this point, you should be able to also attach the unit before wiping the second cow of the block. However, check your timing and make sure a full 60 seconds have elapsed from the time that cow was stripped. If you are shy of the 60-second mark, continue wiping the remaining cows in the block and then return to attach the units, starting at the first cow.

Once you have a routine established, you will need to monitor the routine monthly to ensure the time frames are being met. Proper milking procedures will help to lower somatic cell count, increase pounds in the tank and decrease milk out time.

By Christina Petersson-Wolfe (Extension Dairy Scientist, Milk Quality & Milking Management)
Dairy Pipeline newsletter - Virginia Cooperative Extension

Published 10/10/2008

Source: Virginia Cooperative Extension Dairy Pipeline

Head Shot of Cherokee, the heaviest unofficial milker in Ohio

2008-09-28T15:38:00.001-04:00

This is Cherokee, aka Grandma, taken probably the year before we lost her. I have other pictures of her body but they are not digital and I never seem to organize myself enough to get them somewhere to scan them.

She was a beautiful doe, with a champion body and an "old fashioned" udder. My hands couldn't take the milking. I had to have someone relieve me, milk her more and then I would finish her off.

So, if you want to see her pedigree, look up Natl. Trail WSWN Cherokee on ADGA genetics.

Best Oberhasli

2008-09-28T15:09:00.000-04:00

For a while I couldn't quite make the seasonal adjustment from summer to autumn. It was so hot so long. This week we have finally got our 50 degree good sleeping weather nights and a few dry leaves are starting to hit the lawn. Pumpkins, gourds, mums decorate the yard.

And the bucks smell to high heaven.

Our new buck Pete is doing his buck job. He's in with the girls and I seeing him chasing one, then another. He's a busy guy. I haven't seen him actually breed any of them but I don't have to. I know he's doing his job.

On OberhasliTalk@yahoogroups.com recent we had a discussion about memorable Oberhasli goats we have known. I told the story of my first modern Oberhasli. I wanted to copy and paste it here but can't seem to find it. Airhead me must have deleted it. So I'll just tell it again.

In 2001 a really beautiful Oberhasli looking doe fell into my lap. She was half wild. Wouldn't come to me but would milk or lead nicely if I cornered her. At the time we had the goat pen (3 goats) under an apple tree on the east side of the house. We moved it because in the winter the wood stove smoke blows that way. Knowing that smoke isn't good for people I figured it couldn't be good for goats either.

Anyway, we called her "Grandma" and she freshened in the spring with twin bucks, a habit of Grandma her whole life, bucks, bucks, bucks, bucks, doe, bucks. Yes, one daughter in all those years we had her. The goats lived in a shed which was basically a large dog house. I drug my old milk stand out of my dad's barn and put it in the corner and started milking her.

She ate as much as she wanted basically. I milked outside. I milked by hand. If it was raining I didn't milk at all. Here's the neat part. The old girl started filling up the gallon ice cream pail that I was milking into. Then she filled one and part of another. Then at her peak she almost filled up two gallon ice cream pails, two times a day. Yes, that's almost four gallons of milk a day.

And I thought, man, these Oberhasli can really milk!!! That would be about 30# more or less milk and definitely in contention for breed leader, had we been on test. Well, she was a once in a life milker and that was her one glory year. She was a good milker, a persistent milker, but never milked her brains out like that again.

We tracked down her tattoo and the people were kind enough to give me her papers and transfer. Yes, she really was an American Oberhasli with a pedigree going back to some really great Seneca Valley lines and others as well. She was linebred on Seneca Valley Hedrick 20+ times that I counted. Her grandsire on maternal side was Barabbas, a well known buck in this area.

We lost her at 10 years old and even though she was always a free spirit, miss her terribly. Hubby especially liked to treat her. Her took her out apples, starlight mints, crackers, and other treats. In that way she was thoroughly spoiled. I should have called her "Beginners Luck."

Breeding Dairy Goats

2008-08-06T03:26:00.000-04:00

Many people probably don't realize that dairy goats are seasonal breeders. They start coming into heat towards the end of August and on through the fall up through about January. Going into breeding season, the bucks are starting to go into rut, which means they get stinky and disgusting.

Although our bucks are sweet as they can be, there are times when you can smell them before you get to the driveway. A couple years ago we wouldn't have company or let anyone come over it was so bad. We sold a litter of pups and I drove them down to the truckstop and met people there in order for them not to come over.

Many people will hand breed their does. That means they have to recognize a doe in heat and then take them to the buck. This has never been a successful technique for me. When I have tried to do this I have missed a couple. So I pen breed. I put the buck in with the does I want him to breed and let them do their thing.

Choosing which bucks to use on what does is just your best hunch. In the past I have had older proven bucks and I pretty much knew what to expect out of their milking daughters. This year and last I have used young bucks with no milking daughters, just relying on their impeccable breeding and the quality of their dams.

Making hay.

2008-08-06T03:02:00.000-04:00

Sometimes easy things get so hard!

Hay was in such short supply that this spring I bought a bailer. It's an old baler, but seemed to be well cared for. Bob went over it and greased it where it needed it, etc. But on one side the knotter isn't quite right and he can't seem to get it knotting like it should. So our first cutting of hay has wierd shaped bales or are just bale shaped with no strings at all. We just fed it up.

OK, so he found the son of a friend of ours who works on balers and asked him to come to the house and see if he could fix it. He came out but wasn't really much help. He only works on New Holland and ours is an IH. So now the dad is going to come out and see if he can remember anything about these old things. I forgot to mention that the baler was probably manufactured in the 1950s.

So, Bob went out to mow hay the other day and broke the mower. Mowers are very temperamental. Turns out a wooden slat, called the Pitman arm, was the wrong size and broke. The tractor supply wanted over $100 for essentially a broom handle. Bob got a wooden slat and has drilled holes in it. There was some play in the chain and he thinks he has that fixed.

He was raised on a farm and is used to constantly fixing and tinkering to get things done. It is very frustrating to me, not being mechanically inclined.

Anyway, I would recommend this for other goat people who are having trouble getting enough hay locked in the winter. Buy yourself a baler and make it yourself. That way you won't have to sell goats or horses that you would rather keep.

Several people have called us this year to bale hay on their property as an alternative to them mowing it. Obviously this is because of the high cost of lawn mowing gasoline. We have just taken these jobs when they are close. However, I really think there may be some business opportunities for someone who wants to take this on. In the past we have had to go halves with landlords or bought the hay from them. This way you are getting the hay for just what it costs you to make it. Actually you probably could charge them since you are doing them a service.

Speaking of that Bob says we still have at least $1 a bale in it just due to the gas it costs to run the machinery.

Finally got a good rain last night and this morning. Bad for making hay but great for the garden and pasture!

Oberhasli Breeders of America

2008-08-04T22:26:00.000-04:00

For people who raise Oberhasli dairy goats or just people interested in Oberhasli, there is a breed association call for short OBA. OBA was founded from the very people who worked so hard to get the breed out of the alpine herdbooks and established as a separate breed.

The website is Oberhasli.org. One of the Board of Directors is currently in the process of updating the website. On the website you can pay you annual dues by Paypal, which is the way that I do it.

I have the privilege of being on the Board of Directors for the past two years and I'm again running for office. Please vote for me if you are already a member.

If you're not a member, go pay your dues and sign up. There are many special programs that recognize outstanding Oberhasli for both show and milk. We have a very informative newsletter that is sent out several times a year.

Right now a fundraising auction is being planned for OBA. It is on the website cometothefarm.com. Please consider donating or if you see something you like be a bidder or better yet a buyer.

We need feedback about the OBA, so please feel free to leave a comment. What do you like, don't like, would like to see done better?

Tonka Tails Court Jester, the Bizmark of the 2000s

2008-07-28T00:19:00.000-04:00

This is *B Tonka Tails Court Jester. He is arguably the most influential buck of this decade. And he figures prominantly in the pedigrees of elite animals in the breed and in my own herd as well.

The founding buck of my herd: *B FDF-Pleasant Fields Solaris was the last son of two time national reserve champion in the '90s, GCH Destiny Farm Souvenir *M 91EEEE. The sire of Solaris was a grandson of Tonka Tails Court Jester.

My new buck, *B Heaven's Hollow Pistol Pete is grandson of Court Jester as well. His sire White Haven Sousa 92EEE is a Court Jester son.

On their website Dauberts a few years ago mentioned that they still had Court Jester but he appeared to be sterile. That must not have been the case because he sired more kids in the last few years, including a spotlight animal. When someone on OberhasliTalk asked about a picture of Court Jester, Dauberts made a rare post and said that he is still alive and looking great. That was about this time last year. I sure hope he is still alive and kicking. Jester was collected and there is still some semen around that people are using from time to time on their best does.

Just as an example or two, here are some winning animals at 2008 nationals and how they are related to Court Jester. Ober-Boerd Jayda was the eye popping gorgeous yearling daughter of Tonka Tails Tipperary Prince, a Court Jester son. A CJ 3year old daughter was 14 place, SG Tonka Tails's Jester's Vanity. First place 4 year old was SGCH Tonka Tails Violet of Toulouse (a former National junior champion) is a grand daughter out of SGCH Tonka Tails Jester's Mischief who is a high scoring excellent doe but I'm not sure of the score right now. There are more; these are just a couple.

These are my observations and opinions. If you want to agree or disagree or if you know of an euqlly influential buck compared to Court Jester, please post a comment I would love to read it.

Cabbage Leaves!

2008-07-24T01:58:00.000-04:00

This is the time of year my goats are the most happy. The neighbor is starting to cut cabbage every morning and then every afternoon, my goat/pigs get a nice pile of cabbage leaves and a few cull heads of cabbage. My neighbors are a family farm, Osswalts (Ohz-walts) and they grow acres of cabbages, more every year. It is a very prosperous farm. Cabbage leaves are my goats' favorite goody and they eat a lot of them, let me tell you.

We park the farm truck at the end of their conveyor belt. The waste cabbage and leaves goes out the barn and into the truck bed. We bring it home late afternoon, dump it and I feed it to the goats two or three times a day. And we take the truck back over and park it for the next day's leaves.

This works out well for both of us. My goats get the added food, obvious benefits for me. Mr. Osswalt doesn't have to dump the leaves in the field and let them rot. OMG they smell like... well, you can imagine. And when they rot they get slimy. Yuck. Much better to put the leaves through goats.

I fork leaves into an old fashioned metal bushel basket and empty it over the fence or into feeders. That way I can keep track of how much I'm feeding. I have several of those hard plastic dark green kids' wagons which are filled up and parked outside the cattle panels. I carry the bushels of leaves and dump over the fence, fill up wagons and even a tote or two. The idea is to get them spread out enough that even the smaller ones can get what they want.

(Jill, Petey loves leaves and he makes sure he gets his fill. By the way, he has had a little bit of a runny nose. You were concerned with the AC at the National Show and I guess it got to him a little, but he is eating good and no temp.)

They still have hay free choice and get feed once a day instead of twice a day, but they will be fat and happy the rest of the year.

New Friends at the 2008 National Show in Louisville

2008-07-20T00:59:00.000-04:00

First of all, I want to apologize that I didn't have a camera with me to take pictures this year. It's a long story. Hubby put the camera somewhere and couldn't find it. I borrowed a camera and it didn't seem to be working. So, I missed some great photo opportunities at the national show.

Today I want to tell you about some of the conversations I had with Oberhasli breeders and maybe gossip a little.

I met one of those sweet little ladies from Tennessee named Arden Ward and her husband Eddie. I really enjoyed chatting with Arden after the show. She only had a few Oberhasli there but they were nice ones. She has a young OberBoerd doe. I was so excited to find out that doe was the grand-daughter of my sweet old doe, FDF-Pleasant Fields Bridgette. I promised her pictures so I'll try to publish those.

Bridgette was such a great doe but it looked like she was put together by a committee. She had a long, level, smooth "national grand champion" body, a lovely udder, milked like crazy. Her udder attachments just weren't the best. It's hard to describe. It wasn't pendulous. It had a large area of attachment. She just needed a tummy tuck, er, udder tuck. Her daughter Garnet, a show stopping doe, classified excellent, a credit to old Bridgette and FDF. Ober-Boerd still has her full sister Tornado in the herd and I think Tornado has the "here for life" deal with the Schnipkes.

Turns out Arden and Eddie, especially Arden, were coveting my new buck before I got there. [See earlier posts.] We're going to see if we can work something out in the future so they can use him or maybe get a son, something. Being one of Arden's goats would be the "Life of Riley" for any goat. She admits she spoils them to pieces. I used to spoil mine, too. That is before I had about 30. So mine don't get much individual attention any more.

I asked Arden about how she got interested in Oberhasli and goats in general. It's a familiar story. She saw some, fell in love and then wouldn't shut up until her husband let her have one. Then one led to two, then three.... But he seemed to be enjoying himself at the show. I couldn't get Bob to come along. He preferred to be home puttering in the garden and making hay. But if he had come along, I think he and Eddie would have hit it off. They both are avid gardeners, married to crazy goat ladies.

I told her I was going to write this blog. I'm also outing her as a lurker in OberhasliTalk@yahoogroups.com. Hi, Arden! Arden's website: www.eponafarmtn.com and email is epona1@comcast.net. Her herdname is Trinity Rose. Isn't that pretty?

More on Shotsi and Pistol Pete!

2008-07-18T14:30:00.000-04:00

These are photos of SGCH Heaven's Hollow Shotsi 5*M, 2008 National Reserve Grand Champion, potential 2007 Top Ten List Milker. Pistol Pete, one of her 2008 triplets is our new Jr. herdsire. I'll add more pictures as he grows.

Compared to our bucks, including the one we shipped in from Arizona, Pete is huge. On the other hand Shotsi is not a huge doe so whatever Pete's ultimate size, he probably won't sire huge animals.

For people who really are not "into" goats or Oberhasli, Shotsi classified 92(EEEE) earlier this year. This score is based on the scorecard which has 100 points. The four letters are for: general appearance, dairy character, body capacity and mammary, in that order.

GCH Willow Run Hassida, three time national show champion and current national show champion, classified 92 last year, the first Oberhasli in history to do so. This year there were two more: Shotsi, of course, and Sir Echo Brickers in Arizona. This is a very elite designation and the fact that two 92 does were champion and reserve validates both the linear appraisal system and the quality of the national show judging.

In addition, the sire of Pete is *B White Haven Sousa, 92(EEE) a Spotlight Sale buck in 2003. The sire of Sousa is the legendary *B Tonka Tails Court Jester (91), arguably the best and most influential buck of the current decade. The dam of Sousa is a doe I've never seen: White Haven Kalliope, but she was winner of "produce of dam" at a previous national show. She also gave birth to White-Haven Precentor a popular buck and sire of one of my own does: Squaw*Mountain Raspberry. I have to look to be sure but some of Kalliope's does may have also been champions in the now dispersed White-Haven herd. It seems to me, off the top of my head that the 2007 National Champion was a Kalliope daughter. I'll look that up and edit this. Stay tuned.

Well, having a gorgeous buck with this pedigree, we feel like we can't lose. However, a "pretty boy" buck is not what we're after. The good or bad (hopefully good) will be on the ground next spring. Good news is that the buck is mature enough to cover does in September for sure. He's got a "let me at her" attitude.

Tomorrow, I'm going to start blogging about herds and people I met at the national show. I attended, without goats, Tuesday for the milking show. As a Board Member of Oberhasli Breeders of America, and since the OBA sponsored the Grand and Reserve, I was planning on handing out awards. I got so involved with the show that I completely forgot.

These are just my opinions. So if I make a mistake or you don't agree with something I've said, leave a comment. It's a bright future for Ohio Oberhasli.

New Junior Herdsire: *B Heaven's Hollow Pistol Pete

2008-07-17T13:56:00.000-04:00

He's out in the yard now, trying to figure a way to get into the doe pen. He is a perfect Oberhasli buck kid. A bit precocious for 4 months. The name is *B Heaven's Hollow Pistol Pete and he is the son of the new national champion Oberhsli, SGCH Heaven's Hollow Shotsi 5*M.

I had ordered Petey a couple weeks ago and went down to pick him up at the National ADGA Show and see the Oberhasli show Tuesday. Louisville is a 3 hour drive, compared to most a hop, skip and jump, but for me and my old junk vehicles it's a major trip. Instead of driving the big truck (aka gas hoggin' SOB), S10 (lights are kind of acting crazy but at least he got the muffler fixed), Ranger (the floor board might drop out any time), I drove the '90 something Oldsmobile station wagon with a large crate in the back.

While I was in the middle of trying to find my way OUT of the fairgrounds Monday night, it started making the most terrible noise. Heart stopped. Oh, no, it's a flat tire! No, it's still rolling. It's the engine. Wasn't overheating, wasn't smoking, wasn't quitting, no lights. Then, thinking back to my Maverick days, it's the donut gasket.

Well, it actually turned out the old girl threw up a spark plug. In my 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme days (Man! That was a beautiful car, silver with maroon vinyl roof.) I had that happen, too, but the Cutless sounded like it had firecrackers under the hood. Anyway, I made it home. It was noisy as heck. I worried the whole way, but it was only 3 hours. Louisville to Indy about 100 miles and about that many from Indy home.

I got home right after dark, stiff and ready to unwind. Get the cover off the hot tub! I hadn't counted on such a big, strong buck so I didn't really have anyplace easy to put him. So we moved the crate into the yard, fed and watered him and left him until morning.

I went out first thing to check him. Here's what I thought would happen: I would let him out in the yard, he would follow me to the barn or at least wonder around the yard a while. I would feed him and put a collar on him. I mean, this is what I've come to expect in 30+ years of having goats.

Turns out Pete isn't tame. He's not skiddish around people, just doesn't really like to be close. Kind of hurts my feelings. No doubt he was left on his dam, Shotsi. That also explains why he's so well grown. He can't really hurt anything in the yard. We fenced in our flower beds last year. You other goat owners will know what I mean. He can come up on the porch but couldn't do much there either unless he decided to nibble on the screen door or something.

After trying to catch him for a while, I gave up but still worried about him getting under the non-goat proof horse fencing down into the woods, or worst yet if he wondered out of the woods and got on the road. What really, really worried me is him getting into Bob's garden. OMG that would be capital punishment! Sends shivers through me.

I still have a few cull buck kids left from this spring and he totally bullied them. I thought they would hang out together. Nothing doing. He was only interested in does on the other side of the fence. What the heck, I needed to make sure if he got down in the woods or weeds he would come back up with them. So I got out one larger doe and two smaller ones, and walked the four of them down into the field, with brush and weeds and a lot of goat goodies.

In regards to the garden, I lowered the height of the electric wire around the garden just in case. Turns out he didn't even glance at that. Thank God he didn't know how tasty cabbages and fresh sweet corn is. Whew!

Then I'm thinking, I'll tether the old goat and that way they'll hang around here. Well, they did for a while. Then the three walked away leaving a very upset Raspberry and disappeared for an hour, a long hour. I had visions of a feral herd in the woods. But all's well, they walked back up to get a drink of water. No creek water for these goats.

We're still debating where to put him. Might have to put the old buck pen back in service, a little distance from the house, since he already has got a little stink to him. Despite the car, and the cost of gas, I had a wonderful time and I just love my new buck. I thank Jill Thomas so much. She not only sold me this buck but she even drove him down, free. She doesn't know it but she has a friend for life!!

Oberhasli type

2008-07-09T13:41:00.001-04:00

I was looking around for a picture of a typical Oberhasli for those who aren't familiar with them. The picture I chose is a doe named Sir Echo Snitzi. She is a two time top ten doe. The Top Ten list is the top producers in the breed for the year. Snitzi had quads this year and has currently tested most than 17# a day, which is roughly two gallons. At this rate she is probably heading for another top ten record.

I never thought I would be able to afford a buck from a top ten doe like Snitzi but since she had three bucks and a doe, I was able to snatch up one of them. His name is Fritz and he is a sweet but masculine half grown buck. We're expecting some great things out of him.

Welcome to my Blog about our Dairy Goats!

2008-07-09T00:28:00.000-04:00

We have a herd of Oberhasli, which is one of six dairy breeds registered by American Dairy Goat Association, ADGA. Why Oberhasli? Years ago we had nubians and bought an American Oberhasli buck to start in that rather small breed. Flash forward 20 years. I have a "modern" herd of Oberhasli that has been assembled and bred using the finest bloodlines in the country. Oberhasli are gentle, pretty and vigorous goats.

They trace their lines back to Switzerland. Dr. Pence made an importation of a buck and four pregnant does and that was the basis of Oberhasli in this country. Every Oberhasli goes back to those animals. For several decades Oberhasli were called "Swiss Alpines." They were part of the Alpine herdbook. Oberhasli enthusiasts worked diligently and got the Oberhasli out of the Alpine herdbook and into their own herdbook in the early 1980s.

Little by little, step by step the breed has advanced a tremendous amount. I attended the 2006 national show in Indianapolis and classes were huge. However, what was really neat to see if that udders, especially fore udders, were beautiful at least halfway down the lineup.

Last year two time national champion Willow Run Hassida classified 92EEEE. This year we know of at least two more does that classified 92. Those are: Sir Echo Brickers in Arizona and Heaven's Hollow Shotsi in Colorado. We, by we, I mean the Oberhasli community on OberhasliTalk@yahoo.com, are still waiting to hear about more high scoring does. Shotsi is going to be at the nationals next week in Louisville, Ky. I will try to get some pretty pictures.

If you are interested in dairy goats, stay tuned. I would like to start discussing various blood lines and my opinion on these. I would like to discuss my bucks and various animals in my own herd.