Look at this face. Olga is so pretty and sweet. Most of the time. But then, for no reason at all, she will ram her whole body into poor little Inga. A lot. But just look at her. She has invisible devil horns, this one.
This is Inga, in the front. With the horns. Every day, I go get some branches for them to eat. And Olga rams poor little Inga. I can put piles in 10 different spots, but Olga will go to each spot and push the little ones out of the way. They run to the next pile and here comes Olga. Goats!
Sweet little Alva. I have still not pet her. But I'm feeding Inga and Alve when I bring Olga and Freja into the milk room. So I get to be a little closer to her and talk to her. She's so sweet.
So I am really thinking about banding Inga's horns when it starts getting cooler. I've read about how to do it. I think I'm going to. Has anyone ever banded goat horns before? What was your experience? Inga is young and her horns aren't very big yet.
Last week, I started milking Freja once a day. I'm getting nearly a half gallon. That's what I was getting when milking twice a day. This way, I'll save a little on feed. I sure hope I don't have to start feeding hay yet. It's been so dry here. But it's raining as I type! And chances for rain all week! We really need rain. I have lost a few blue berry bushes.
In the fall, I plan on planting blue berry bushes down between the apple and pear trees. I'll be able to water down there now. And I want more blue berry bushes here.
Just realized we've been here at Outback Farm 11 years. The 2nd longest place we've lived. We'll be married 37 years Oct. 28th. The 1st home we lived in for 6 years. Then moved to Flintstone and lived there 17 years. Then to Ringgold for 3 years. Now here. I keep saying when I can't do this anymore, we're moving to St. Elmo, right inside Tn. I love it there. And it's right near Chattanooga, where I am several times a week.
3 comments:
My friends up the road banded horns on a 3 year old boer doe. It took about 3 months, but they fell off beautifully.
I plan to band the horns on a couple of our does also. Never done it before. Also waiting till Fall. They are the few that we will be keeping that have horns *for now*. I read its best to make a notch so the band stays in place, then wrap tape around it so they can't rub it off.
Good luck!
That's what I read too. Make a little notch on both sides of the horn as close to the base as possible, then put the band around it. Would be a good idea to put tape around it to keep flies off too I guess. And keep wound spray on it too.
3 months is a long time. I was thinking more like a month. But I guess it's different for each goat too.
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