Frosty Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 Don't worry Chellie your goats aren't invisible. That's a handsome little buck. Do you know his lines or are you that into breeding? There isn't much meat on little birds but they roast up quick if you get snowed in long enough to get hungry. Oh sure, feed grain makes good porridge but you have to boil it for hours and little birds on a skewer cook in a couple minutes. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 He's Boer and Spanish I know for sure. I know more of his bloodline on his dams side than the sire. I hope we aren't snowed in long enough to eat the birds... got a lot of meat in the freezer. Including a couple of hogs we took in December. I got one with a .45 colt revolver. I'm pretty proud of that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 I like boers, my experience meeting them is they have a pretty good temperament and lots of meat. BBQ kid mmmmmmm. One of my favorite things about raising goats is if your kids are too much trouble you can sell or eat them. I hope you aren't snowed in that long either, you're probably set for a couple years if you're careful with it. Wait, it looks like global warming is already starting to cover Texas in ice. The ice age cometh! Here birdy birdy. Boar hunting with a pistol, I'm impressed you earned some proud. I'll remember to tease nice. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 I have a six inch barreled S&W model 25 in 45 Colt. When I used to hunt, it was always on my hip. Love that caliber. Never harvested a pig with it but a couple of deer went into the freezer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted February 17, 2021 Author Share Posted February 17, 2021 We are going to start moving heavily into meat production with the goats. And the pigs are plentiful in this area. Trying to get away from dependence on grocery stores. Plus we have the rabbits. We had meat chickens in the works until covid ruined everything last spring. We haven't ordered chicks, but with this freeze, I'm glad we don't have them. This pistol is a Pieta SAA .45 colt with a 7" barrel. It's my EDC. I Wanted a Ruger Vaquero, but couldn't afford it...I get made fun of because I carry a revolver. My other is a S&W .357 snubby that belonged to my Dad. It's amazing to me that I even hit that pig because it was dark. I just saw the outline of a pig and pulled the trigger. We actually shot 3 as we were hunting with our neighbor. We tracked the blood trail on one for nearly 2 hours at midnight and the temperature dropped to 32°. We probably walked 4 or 5 miles through the woods. The trail went cold and we never found it, but it was super fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 When idiots laugh at your revolver give them a pitying look and tell them you don't need to pack so much ammunition if you can hit what you're shooting. Not shooting AT. I don't shoot AT things, I SHOOT them PERIOD. Oh I have a couple auto loaders, I just don't laugh at armed people unless we're joking around. Revolvers are also a LOT more reliable when it's COLD, less to freeze up and jam. You can get away with zero lube for a short time or switch to graphite lube if you're going to be carrying for long in the really cold and nasty. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will-I-am Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 These goats are a year old 2 Nubian with star milker and star buck parents and 2 Swiss alpine mixes. One buck and 3 females hopefully pregnant. Enjoyed reading goat lady and frosty info. Need to rid of stinky male before babies born any day now. Should eat male? Need a drum head for newly chainsaw carved djembe but will meat stink? Could trade buck for more females. Spotted Nubian female will hop up and let me bucket feed her, preparing for future milking. Fat white swiss has fist size milk bag, kids soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 We call them Ozark lawnmowers. Buy them in the spring and BBQ in the fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 If you trade the buck off or eat him what are you going to do for milk, pay stud fees? If you neuter one of the buck kids and you let the boys live separately the buck will stop peeing on himself and the smell will die WAY down. Milk ONLY happens after kidding. Yes? The two fist sized "mild bag" is called an "UDDER" The milk comes out of the finger shaped things sticking out the bottom called, "TEATS" and pronounced Tits Then during breeding season hand breed them. He'll smell the girls in season unless you keep him way up wind which is a fine alternative. Anyway build a breeding pen, not large but roomy enough they wont feel crowded, ours was 12' x 12' with walls the bucks couldn't see through. Well, those were around the buck pen in the barn. We bred them in the area between the buck and doe pens and watched. If they coupled we marked who and when on the calendar and separated them. We NEVER just turned the bucks and does out together. Deb's way we knew within a few days of when to get ready for kidding, she was seldom off a week. If you just turn them out together you will never know when to get the kidding kit out. Yeah, we had everything necessary in the kidding kit, grab it and go. With our winters having kids born in sub zero weather most often results in kidsicles. They sometimes don't spend much time in labor, especially experienced mothers. Treat breeding and kidding season like a science and you'll have a much better chance of success. You WILL lose kids and sometimes a doe. Have a good livestock vet on speed dial ad learn to turn and pull kids, rubber gloves and KY are kept in the kidding box with scissors and for the nightmare breech births scalpels to slit the doe's throat and try to cut the kids out before they die. Slitting the doe's throat first prevent her from thrashing around so you have SOME chance of saving the kids. Raising stock, while a joy is often dirty smell and horrific. No I've never had to cut kids from a dying doe nor been present. We had a vet out who saved the kids but not the doe. Believe me, there are tears involved in raising goats. Oh I forgot, being buck stinky doesn't effect the meat, it's entirely in the fur. When you slaughter, spray them with grease relief or dish detergent water mix, give them a minute and hose them off good. Or better still NEVER slaughter when the girls are in season or move the boy well upwind. You'll need to have a wether to live with him in isolation, goats are herd animals and NEED a companion or the suffer emotionally. If you have a good buck, keep him and butcher buck kids that don't sell. You have not lived until you BBQ a kid, I've never tasted meat that takes up the flavor of smoke like goat and kid is tender yummy goodness. A last (for now) word of advice. Never, Never, N E V E R play head games with goats. Don't push on them, don't: slap, punch, anything them, in the head. You won't hurt them let alone injure them, what you WILL do is teach them that butting people is allowed. Backing off 6-10' and slamming into each other as hard as they can is their idea of friendly play. You will NOT win. People are injured, crippled ad killed being butted. As kids they'll give you little butts to get your attention. Don't punish them, turn your back on them. They're looking for attention if the fastest way to be ignored is to butt you, even the tiniest bit, they'll stop. Goats are SMART, they learn fast. Be careful to teach them good things and life will be good. One more thing new goat folk think is cute and allow. The kids will jump on ANYTHING and if you bend over they'll land on your back. Do NOT encourage that! Unless that is you think having a 100lb+ adult goat jumping on your back if you bend over sounds desirable. They will do it to anybody so be sure your insurance is good. Don't punish the kids, we'd just sit down on a spool soonest and they'd have to get off, then we just walked away. No more attention, game over it's NOT fun to jump on people's backs! Remember if you allow them to jump on your back they'll continue to do it every time you bend over till the day you put them in the freezer. Hmmmm? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will-I-am Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Thanks, lots of good advice and experience, wow you type fast. I picked up Nubians last spring and alpine in fall. The buck has never bucked me, if he looked frisky I would lay a stick to his ass to let him know who is boss. I don’t want a stinky drum skin so I will probably trade him. Good to know meat is good. I want to band baby bucks and maybe choose newborn to breed. The Nubian buck is dehorned and near 200 lbs. I dragged elm limbs every day to feed them, then got hay rolls last fall. They get soaked corn every day too. Good animals. Chickens too for last 6 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 Will-I-Am, nice looking goats! Frosty gave a good class about these critters. What breed chickens do you raise? My life wouldn't be complete without chickens, goats and dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will-I-am Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Goat lady, we started with ducks 15 years ago and enjoyed many years of eggs but eagles, coons and poor laying location ended that. Then got pregnant sow and raised pigs. Then did free range chickens. Decided 5 years ago to coop them up because our front porch was becoming messy and coons were bad. Killed lots of 30lb coons. We have mixed breeds of all colors. They are getting old now. We used to get 15 eggs every day now only 6. Start fresh in spring. One old rooster and 20 hens. Hens are not good sitters. We had good sitters years back and lovely memories of baby ducks/chickens with mothers. What is your opinion on eating bucks? Here is my greenhouse I built last fall, bent hoops myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Man I HATE banding animals, they spend days in pain and sometimes become necrotic and die in agony. Castrate them and they're up and playing in minutes. The hardest part about castrating is learning to tie the vessels quickly. It's a slip knot that locks when you cinch it down. Then it's snip, Betadine swab and take the baby back to momma. It's over in a couple three/four minutes. The old cowboys on the ranch I spent summers on would castrate a calf in about 30-45 seconds, unless there were problems. The shepherds slit the scrotum and removed the testicles by sucking them into their mouths and biting them off. That just freaked me out and no way was I going to give it a try! I disbudded kids with a Rinehart electric disbudding iron. I buzzed the fur around the buds with a sacrificial set of old Wahl clippers and did the deed hard and fast. You learn the feel when the iron reaches the skull and it's done. They yell during the process but they go straight to momma for a drink of milk and are spronking in minutes. You can band horns too but if you have any empathy, listening to the kids cry till their horns or testicles fall off will end the practice for good. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 Good morning IFI'ers Too bad the rooster isn't in the picture. I could have said rise and shine Will-I-Am, we raised ducks when I was real young. And a few years back, we were given a bunch of them when a neighbor was moving. I wasn't very fond of them. They were Muscovy and they just aren't my cup of tea. Nasty critters. We cooped the chickens when we started out because I was always afraid the dogs would hurt them. Then our neighbors' Guineas started coming over to our house and I noticed the dogs didn't bother them. So I took a chance and let the hens out and they chased them a little, but have never hurt them. Never lost any to predators until recently. Moved to a different area and there are coons, coyotes, fox, pigs, hawks, owls and a couple of Bobcats have been seen on the neighbors game cam. I think a coon got one on Christmas day and sign pointed to a coyote getting two about a month ago. We did a lot of shoring up on the fence lines and started shutting them up during the day. Set out a live trap and camera. Only thing I caught was a cat and only seen wild rabbits on the game cam. Our hens are a year old. I think I'm down to 48 now and we are getting about 31 eggs a day. As far as eating bucks, I can't say. Even though I raise them, I've only eaten one. It was a young wether pit barbecued and it was good stuff. I wouldn't think buck taint would be in the meat though. My thing would be how old is he? Might be tough and not very flavorful. If it's like rabbits, when they get past about 3 1/2 months, they start getting where they taste very bland unless you heavily season them. The young ones almost don't need any seasoning they taste so good. And nice greenhouse. We just set up a small one and are preparing a garden area. Frosty, I don't think I'll try castrating a goat like the shepherds you mentioned either... what a mental image that left in my brain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 OOPS! I didn't specify castrating SHEEP. Personally I wouldn't castrate ANYTHING that way, not even if I were getting my butt seriously kicked in a fight. I haven't been in a fist fight since middle school. Well, PROBABLY not if I were getting a serious beating. Probably, yes that's it, probably not. Now, where did I put that mental floss? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frazer Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Hi Chellie, some fine lookin' animals you have there! Frosty.. I scrolled up two posts to try to decipher what you were talking about.. thanks for that. I was going to make a joke about getting a serious bleating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 I happened to see the shepherds' method of castrating...biting them off, on Mike Rowe's "Dirty Jobs" once....gotta have a pretty strong stomach to see that. I don't know if they talked Mike into doing it...I changed channels before that may have happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Yes, Mike Rowe castrated a lamb with his teeth. Deb was NOT pleased when I convinced her to watch, I knew what was coming. It's much more impressive when you're 17 and visiting with an old Portuguese shepherd who lived in a shepherds house cart he towed behind his pickup. The old school type I can't think of the name. He was a nice old man but always busy as all gitout. He might have started castrating lambs to get us to leave him alone. So Frazer, what was the joke? I'm curious now, spill it! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will-I-am Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 (edited) Goat lady, is that fine critter you have a Nubian/boer mix? My buck has to go, smells XXXX XXXX, gotten stronger in last week. Edited February 24, 2021 by Mod30 Language Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted February 24, 2021 Author Share Posted February 24, 2021 6 hours ago, Frazer said: Hi Chellie, some fine lookin' animals you have there! Hello Frazer and thank you! Will-I-Am, no, he's Boer and Spanish that I know of. He's a mutt I got him for his color. His dam is nearly solid black and his sire is chocolate with a white belly band. Hoping he'll add some good colors to the herd. Plus, his mother is a good, well built goat who throws triplets nearly every kidding. Buck stink is not for everyone for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 27 minutes ago, CrazyGoatLady said: Buck stink is not for everyone for sure! But it's a good way to tell, The buck stops here! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted February 24, 2021 Author Share Posted February 24, 2021 Haha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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