Full Circle, or A trip around the block.

Ever get the idea that you're just not supposed to do something? Yeh, me, too, and it must be that these two goats are supposed to be here, at least for now.

A few days after I sold them, I got a phone call asking if I'd take them back.  These two does are CAE positive, but pretty healthy for all that, and I sold them with full disclosure. The buyer was okay with it at first, but was scheduled to have surgery just about the time Leah was due to kid.  Too much in too short a time, and second thoughts about the CAE.

So, they're back, and I'm in milk again.  Hooray!  I might not let Sanuba go again.  I had second and third thoughts about it, and though she will never give me any registerable kids, I could breed her to a Boer and have meat goats.

Violet and Leah

Leah, bless her pea-pickin' little heart, still has an udder that I don't like, but until I find the perfect home for her, she's here to stay, and keeping Violet company.  They were SO glad to see each other!  Once in their stall together, they immediately butted heads, again, and again, and again! Bam!  Bam! BAM!  Then they cuddled up together for the night, and they've been hanging out together even more  than before Leah left.  Goats are so strange. Or maybe, absence makes the heart grow fonder?

Beatrice is CAE+, too, but she's not going anywhere.  Too good of a milker, bloodlines too good to let go of, and a wonderful udder. CAE+?  Fine, I just pull the kids and feed the pasteurized milk.  I started that last year and was surprised to find it wasn't a hassle at all.  Feeding was more of a hassle than pasteurization. 


I'll continue my CAE protocol:  giving CAE nosodes monthly, giving Apis mellifica during labor to deter congestive udder, and making sure they're well mineralized and as stress-free as possible.  So far my does are symptom free.  I plan on them remaining that way, and if no one else wants them, so be it.  As for their kids, they'll be bottle fed heat-treated milk and live in separate quarters until they're weaned or sold. 

The CAE crowd is divided into two camps:  those who think it's a horrible thing and goats should immediately be culled, maybe even euthanized; and those who wonder what all the fuss is about.  I'm convinced that the first camp consists of those who have never had CAE in the herd, and the second is those who have.  One vet called it "an economic disease", because no one wants to buy them.  He wonders why it's blown so out of proportion.  So do I.  There are so many serious diseases to be cautious of, to really want to eradicate, like Johnes, Caseous Lymphadenitis (CL), Brucellosis, and Tuberculosis, that can wipe out a herd, or even be passed on to humans.  CAE, on the other hand, becomes symptomatic in only 10% of goats that test seropositive, and often very mild symptoms at that.  The worst thing it can do to humans is give them immunity to HIV. Hmm.  Come to think of it, that's not such a bad thing.

The pull of heartstrings

I sold Leah and Sanuba today.  Leah is a goofy girl, who settles down and becomes mellow after freshening, but she didn't fit into my new breeding program.  I'll miss her, but the strong attachment was just never there.  But Sanuba--oh, how I'm going to miss Sanuba.  She was my first kid. Beatrice fostered her, I watched her grow from the time she was a day old. She's become tall and queenly as she's matured.  As I milked her the past couple of days, I asked myself again and again why, oh why, did I agree to sell her?  Of course, the answer is that she doesn't fit into my breeding program either.  But she does give the best, the absolute best milk: sweet, creamy, wonderful milk.

I scratched Leah's neck a lot in the past few days, saying goodbye.  And I hugged Sanuba, my elegant, lovely Saanubian doe, hugged her and held my face close to her, my cheek on her neck, saying goodbye, I don't know how many times.  I will miss my beautiful Sanuba, but she'll be the milk goat for a family, she and Leah both.

Time to move on, to pursue my new endeavor.  Sables!  I have only two does now, Beatrice, a Saanen and Violet, a Sable, both from excellent milking bloodlines.  Despite the pull of heartstrings, the letting go of past joys, life is filled with new promise.  I'm looking forward to kids in the spring.

The mothering instinct

Sasha and the chicks

I was recently talking farm animals with someone looking to get a goat or two.  As the conversation progressed, we touched on birds.  Tom told me about his dog, Sasha, who was present when some chicks started hatching.  She was so excited, that she had to be there for every one of them.  The result, of course, is that they imprinted on her.  The color match between dog and chicks is wonderful.  No wonder they called her "Mommy"!

The conversation reminded me of a terrier/shepherd cross I had many years ago. Jody wanted to mother everything that came along.  My son's hamster disappeared one day and we searched everywhere for it.  Finally, we just followed the dog--there is was, soaking wet from her washing it.  

We took in a stray cat and her kittens sometime after that.  After trying in vain to keep Jody away, I finally had to put a barrier to keep her from the kittens.  The decision wasn't made lightly; she loved those kittens, but when I heard her growling menacingly. Jody was curled up with them, threatening the mother cat, who was meowing loudly, pacing and wanting to feed her litter.  

The funniest mothering incident, though, was when Shawn got a  Saanen kid for a 4H project.  Jody following that kid around, trying to lick and comfort her.  Melanie, though, was having none of it.  After a few aborted attempts, Melanie promptly butted her in no uncertain terms.  Poor Jody!  I can see her face still!  The expression was so dumbfounded, so sad!

Dogs with a mothering instinct are gems, no doubt about it.
 

The Bible according to children

Received from a friend today, I doubt that a nun ever saw any of these papers, but they must have come from somewhere, and they're pretty funny.  They remind me of the old Art Linkletter show, Kids Say the Darndest Things.  I suspect that these are real answers by real children and collected by an unknown soul who just had to share them.

A Nun Grading Papers

Can you imagine the nun sitting at her desk grading these papers, all the while trying to keep a straight face and maintain her composure!

Pay special attention to the wording and spelling. If you know the bible even a little, you'll find this hilarious! It comes from a catholic elementary school test.
Kids were asked questions about the old and new testaments. The following 25 statements about the bible were written by children. They have not been retouched or corrected. Incorrect spelling has been left in.

1. In the first book of the bible, guinessis. God got tired of creating the world so he took the sabbath off.
2. Adam and eve were created from an apple tree. Noah's wife was joan of ark. Noah built and ark and the animals came on in pears.
3. Lots wife was a pillar of salt during the day, but a ball of fire during the night.
4. The jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with unsympathetic genitals.
5. Sampson was a strongman who let himself be led astray by a jezebel like delilah.
6. Samson slayed the philistines with the axe of the apostles.
7. Moses led the jews to the red sea where they made unleavened bread, which is bread without any ingredients.
8. The egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, moses went up to mount cyanide to get the ten commandments.
9. The first commandments was when eve told adam to eat the apple.
10. The seventh commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery.
11. Moses died before he ever reached canada then joshua led the hebrews in the battle of geritol.
12. The greatest miricle in the bible is when joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.
13. David was a hebrew king who was skilled at playing the liar. He fought the finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in biblical times.
14. Solomon, one of davids sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.
15. When mary heard she was the mother of jesus, she sang the magna carta.
16. When the three wise guys from the east side arrived they found jesus in the manager.
17. Jesus was born because mary had an immaculate contraption.
18. St. John the blacksmith dumped water on his head.
19. Jesus enunciated the golden rule, which says to do unto others before they do one to you. He also explained a man doth not live by sweat alone.
20. It was a miricle when jesus rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance.
21. The people who followed the lord were called the 12 decibels.
22. The epistels were the wives of the apostles.
23. One of the oppossums was st. Matthew who was also a taximan.
24. St. Paul cavorted to christianity, he preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marraige.
25. Christians have only one spouse. This is called monotony

Life--a poem

I came across this poem by Jessie Belle Rittenhouse, and had to share it.  Lots of food for thought.

My Wage   I bargained with Life for a penny, And Life would pay no more, However I begged at evening When I counted my scanty store; For Life is a just employer, He gives you what you ask, But once you have set the wages, Why, you must bear the task. I worked for a menial’s hire, Only to learn, dismayed, That any wage I had asked of Life, Life would have paid.

Occupy

I've been watching the whole "occupy" thing with some bemusement.  The Occupy movement has been the darling of Main Stream Media, the same MSM that vilified the Tea Party protests.  However, I didn't see the violence and lack of respect for property with the Tea Party protesters that I've seen with the Occupy protesters.  Certainly I never heard of any Tea Partiers relieving themselves in public as the now-famous photo of the protester defecating on a police car in Manhattan, nor have I heard of Tea Partiers leaving trash everywhere.

Do the Occupiers have some legitimate complaints?  You bet they do!  However, I believe the Occupy movement has been totally infiltrated by left wing socialist types, just as Whittaker Chambers outlined in Witness.  And by the way, I think Witness should be required reading for anyone interested in how the tenor of the country has changed in the last 80 years. The spotlight should not be on corporate dominance or Wall Street, but on government intervention in business and the economy. Without government's meddling, corporations would not even exist, since they are a creation of government (government charter). Without government's abdication of its right and duty to coin sound money, bankers could not transfer real wealth into their coffers by debasing the currency. Without government winks and nods, genetically modified products could not exist, for patents on life would not have been awarded and the marketplace would have quickly disposed of the products.  Without government subsidies and programs dating from the 1930's, which set out to diminish the number of farms in operation and bring agriculture under government control, Agribusiness could not and would not exist.

The Occupy movement does not have my support, and shouldn't have yours either, for it takes the focus off the federal government, the perpetrator of the atrocities, and puts it on the beneficiaries. 

Some thngs just shouldn't be done...

...And one of them, I'm convinced, is transporting goats in cold weather.  Violet had a bit of a cough when she arrived, but nothing major.  Next night it was awful: racking, croupy, wet.  Aconitum 1M, then Herbiotic herbal remedy several times last night and again several times today.  She was improved today, cough still awful when it occurred, but not the racking cough that she had last night. 

I let her outside for about an hour or two late this afternoon, after locking up my other goats, who very much protested since they know there's another goat here and they want to meet her.  No fair!  How could I do that to them!

Violet stayed close to the barn, checking things out, following me around as I cleaned, filled hay racks, and water buckets.  I brought her in some fir boughs, but she wasn't interested in them--and even ignores apples and grain.  What kind of goat is this?  She did try out carrots and thought they were tasty, but only as long as I hand fed her.  The pieces I put in the feeder are still sitting there, waiting for her attention.  

Tonight when I went out for final check, she coughed several times in succession, but this time a dry cough.  So it appears she is better in the morning and worse at night.  I gave her a different homeopathic remedy.  It's a pretty cold night out there, and I found my head shaking as I marveled at the Father's incredible engineering that allows animals to stay warm in weather that sends me rushing to the warm house.