Got Milk?

 This is what goes on here every morning and evening. Usually there are about 4 cats in here too but I made feta cheese yesterday so the cats and chickens got whey this morning. This is how the dogs get their milk. Stella, as you can see in this video, likes her straight from the goat's udder, please! They are so funny. And you can see Bubba looking at the teat, like he's saying he's finished and needs some more, please.

 Sophie is a lady and will have hers in a bowl. Plus she's too small and old to get up on the stanchion.

These 2 dogs are great at cleaning the stanchion, too.

 They all say thank you when they are done.

 Abby, finishing up her breakfast. She's such a good old goat. 10 years old and still the best milker ever. She's been a little droopy with this heat so I gave her a shot of Thiamine yesterday. Also mixing the goats up a bucket of brown sugar, mineral salt and baking soda in water. They suck that stuff up. I'm sure it helps them in this heat.

I tried to get a good shot of Sandy, but she's more interested in eating here.



Just a typical morning here at Outback Farm. What's it like at your farms in the morning?

Rain!!

 This is from the front porch. You can see the water coming off the roof. I think our gutters need fixed or cleaned out, ya think?

 Looking towards Pigeon Mt. Where is it? Behind the clouds and rain!

 Looking North from the front porch. Water just pouring off the roof to water the bushes and flowers.

 Looking out the kitchen door. Nice and wet out there. And it cooled off so much. I am so thankful for this little bit of rain. It has stopped but what we did get was much needed and very appreciated for sure. My sheep are happy!

I hope everyone who needs rain gets some soon. This was wonderful, if only for 15 minutes. It helped. It's been about a month since we have had rain here. All around us has had rain at some time but it's missed up by about a mile each time.

Lucinda. Again.

This morning while feeding and doing chores outside, I noticed Lucinda's jaw was swollen. Again. So I got 2 syringes and filled them with Cydectin and Ivermec. Grabbed the shepherds crook and some feed. Went out there amongst the sheep and proceeded to catch Lucinda. She has been letting me pet her just a little lately. But sheep know when something's up. And something very serious was up. With her. So Lucinda and a few others went into the little place that has a gate and I went in and shut it.  Gave them some feed and waited. I grabbed her with the crook and she let me give her both wormers and was so good. She knows I am not going to hurt her. I am just trying to help her.

It has been so hot and very dry here for the past month. The grass is all crispy and brown. So not much good stuff out there for the sheep and goats to eat. But the worms love this. They are thriving. I was talking a someone up in middle Tn. who has about 130 sheep and he said they have been going through the worm meds like crazy lately. In fact, he said that they have had 5 sheep die from this. I hope they can get theirs under control soon. If we could get some good rain and cooler temps, I think we can.

So lets all do the nekked rain dance!

Happy 15th birthday, Sophie!

 Sophie will be 15 years old tomorrow, the 7th. We got her and her sister Zoe when they were just 6 weeks old. So long ago. Zoe died 1 1/2 years ago in Jan. Sophie is doing pretty good for 15. She's a Rat Terrier. I have heard these little dogs can live to be over 20. She is so much like a little old lady. She has to take a running start to get up the 2 steps to the living room. She lays in the sun when it's 100 outside. I kid her and tell her she needs her sweater on. I have a friend who is 95 next week and she wears a sweater all the time.

 This is my husband. I got the 2 dogs for him way back when. She loves him.

 And she's had enough fun for the night. She's going to bed. She's old, she goes to bed early. And she will sleep all night til about 6 in the morning and wake me up with a few yips. I don't need an alarm clock. She's a good ole dog. I hope she has many more birthdays. As long as she can get up those steps on her own. I told her she's going to the doggy nursing home if I have to carry her in and out. That ain't happenin"!

Penelope Jane and Zarah Belle

This is Penelope Jane.  She looks so little here. She is a small goat, but really not that small. A few weeks ago she was laying on the ground and would let out a blood curdling scream. I took her into the milk room and checked her out all over. Nothing I could see was wrong with her. She didn't do it again til Tuesday evening. She'd lay on the ground and then just scream, kind of like she was in labor. So I checked her out again and only found a little sore spot right between her front legs. I put some antibiotic gel on that. Went ahead and wormed her with Valbazen. And gave her Nutridrench too. She seemed o k. 

The next morning  (July 4th of course) she was worse.  So took her to a vet I like up and over the mountain. While I was waiting, I noticed Penelope scratching at her right ear. And she coughed too. So did Zarah. So I told the vet. She checked her ears and they were full of crap. She looked to see if there was anything in them alive but nothing. Just crappy ear goop. She also checked her with the stethiscope. Her lungs sounded pretty bad. We thought maybe lung worms since she and Zarah both coughed quite a bit. So she gave me 2 syringes of Nuflor, a strong antibiotic, to give them that day then today.  Since I had already wormed them both with the Valbazen that morning.  Penelope is a whole lot better today. I also gave her a CDT shot. 

And this is Zarah Belle. This morning, a few minutes after giving the Nuflor shot to Zarah, she's laying on the ground, stretched out and screaming every few seconds. Then she'd get up and just jump in the air. I called the vet and left a message. I still have not heard back from her. So called a friend in Ohio. She has goats too. She said it sounded like tetanus. So I ran in here to the computer to see what to do for that. I had some of the things so ran around getting sugar water for electrolytes, Kaopectate, probiotics, and a shot of Pro Pen G. Gave her all that too. Also gave her and Penelope and Iris a CDT shot too. Oh, also gave her a shot of Ivermec under the skin because that kills lung worms. She was laying on the ground for awhile and then she'd move to another spot. I had also called another vet closer to see about getting some Banamine for pain.

And Friday is my day to be with  my 95 year old lady for the day. I take her to get her hair done, get groceries, pay her bills... So had to tell the other caregivers I couldn't come today because my goat was dying.

So I went to the vet and was telling them all her symptoms. The vet said it was a Thiamine deficiency. So got a bottle of Thiamine. (When I got home, I read that B Complex would do the same thing if I didn't have Thiamine. And I had B Complex.)  I am supposed to give her 3cc every day til she gets better.  When I got home Zarah was up and eating hay. She had drank all her water. I gave her more. She drank it. I went ahead and gave Penelope a shot. Then had to catch poor Zarah. She didn't want any more shots! And this is what she looks like now. Normal!

So these 2 goats have had all kinds of worm treatments, CDT shots, antibiotics. You name it, they have had it the past few days. So something has to work. And I am sick of all this too. I am going to put them all on a dry lot and just feed them hay. I also read that sulfer is in molasses and they should not have that. It depletes the thiamine in their bodies. I feed my milk goats 16% all grain with molasses in it. Then just started feeding the rest of the does and the buck a sweet feed pellet with molasses in it. They will not get any more of that. It's really hard trying to keep these animals healthy. And I hope all this helps.

If anyone has gone through this, would you please share how you treated it? I am always learning new things. And it's so helpful to know there are others out there that go through the same things.

This is just a view of what I have done with these 2 goats. I am not a vet, although I am learning so much by doing a lot of this myself. I can most of the time figure out what is wrong with my goats and sheep. But most of the time I ask for help and advice from my goat friends and vets. I can give shots and trim feet and help birth kids and lambs. So I know a little. And I learn a little more every day.

Naps Are Nice

This morning I woke up early, got all the critters fed and milked. Then went to the gardens. I picked a bushel of beans and that was just one side of the double row. Then went and picked cucumbers. Man, if you don't get those stinkers every day, they get as big as watermelons! Then picked some of the running beans. Then it was inside for me. I sat awhile and could not keep my eyes open. It could have been the Benadryl I took earlier because I was sneezing like crazy and my eyes were itchy and watery. That and the heat. But I had to go lay down. And I did.

Then the phone rang. My friend up the road stopped by to get advice about their new goat kid. He had cut his leg. So I went up there with CDT and antibiotic shots and some Vetericyn gel spray to do the vet thing. Got that all done. Now I am back in til later.

My friends will come about 8 tonight to help load 3 huge ram lambs into my Trooper for a ride to town. I have a friend with  a big fenced in yard that she needs them to eat down for her. She's been working on getting it ram ready. They'll stay there a few months. It's a nice place and they will get plenty of attention from all the people that live there.

I hope you all have a great day and stay cool! Thanks for coming to read my blog and see what's going on here at Outback Farm in Ga.

Cherry Limeade

This is the best drink on a hot summer day. And so easy to make. I just use sprite, cherries and some juice, limes and some Grenadine. And plenty of ice. Just mix all together and there ya go. Go find a nice cool shade tree and a good book. That's about all you need right there. (The store didn't have regular limes so I had to get little key limes. They work just as good.)