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I dunno, if several of the animals I was watching for someone was DYING IN A FENCE, I'd do my utmost to help it. Or at least try to prevent it. Did the lady seriously spend her days removing goats from fencing?
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Nov 1, 2013 03:21
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Suspect Bucket posted:I dunno, if several of the animals I was watching for someone was DYING IN A FENCE, I'd do my utmost to help it. Or at least try to prevent it. Did the lady seriously spend her days removing goats from fencing? Yeah, the kid was supposed to come on twice a day and I don't know if he didn't bother removing goats from the fence or if they got stuck in the fence so often that he missed some/didn't get to them in time. Certainly he should take some of the blame. But as the owner of the animals I would be busting my rear end to get better fencing up after the first one or two died. By goat 5 things would definitely be my fault. This also happened over the course of several weekends, not all in one visit. She kept having the same kid back even after losing goats on his watch. I have had animals die in fencing, it happens with horned animals sometimes, but the rest of the animals were banned from that pasture until I put in safer fence. A roll of no climb fence and an afternoon of stapling costs a lot less than replacing 5 breeding animals. I got yarn back! 100% Jacob rug yarn  100% Jacob worsted weight   80% mohair/20% merino sport weight  
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Nov 1, 2013 15:43
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So fluffy!
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Nov 1, 2013 16:20
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I am obviously very farm ignorant, but I imagine there are fencing options that don't present a danger of horns getting caught in them, yeah? I have no idea. I just think a horned goat/sheep owner would really wanna have fencing that doesn't catch horns so easily. Maybe it's a good thing because it forces them to check up on their goats/sheep often like a good farmer should? Hurr.
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Nov 1, 2013 16:56
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Skizzles posted:I am obviously very farm ignorant, but I imagine there are fencing options that don't present a danger of horns getting caught in them, yeah? I have no idea. I just think a horned goat/sheep owner would really wanna have fencing that doesn't catch horns so easily. Maybe it's a good thing because it forces them to check up on their goats/sheep often like a good farmer should? Hurr. Yep, and you can pick it up at tractor supply. If it's just one animal that gets stuck you can go with a rod of shame across their horns but if it's all of your goats you should probably just replace the fence. You just need to find fencing with squares small enough that dumb goats can't get their heads in. You can also get some "hot" tape or wire and a fence charger and teach them to stay away from the fence entirely. Goats are a weird combination of stubborn and stupid though so once they start getting their head stuck in the fence you need to stop them because they will never learn that getting stuck is bad. They'll just keep doing it until they die.
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Nov 1, 2013 17:07
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I think my question is going to make me look like a complete idiot but what is the cause of death when they get stuck? A broken neck or predation because they are stuck or starvation because they are unable to get to food? Or something completely different?
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Nov 1, 2013 17:26
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It can be any of those things and more! They can panic and break their neck in the struggle (I had one do that), they can get twisted up into a weird angle and suffocate (that one too, two different types of fence), if it's hot they can overheat or get dehydrated, their struggling can freak out the other goats who can beat the crap out of them while they are stuck, all sorts of things can happen.
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Nov 1, 2013 17:44
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Ah goats... such brilliant creatures.
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Nov 1, 2013 17:46
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Our goats stopped getting stuck because their leader, a weather named Homer, is smart enough to get other goats unstuck. He also leads them to freedom like a goat moses every time he finds a good exploit of our fencing system that was originally for cows.
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Nov 1, 2013 17:49
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Instant Jellyfish posted:It can be any of those things and more! They can panic and break their neck in the struggle (I had one do that), they can get twisted up into a weird angle and suffocate (that one too, two different types of fence), if it's hot they can overheat or get dehydrated, their struggling can freak out the other goats who can beat the crap out of them while they are stuck, all sorts of things can happen. Thank you for answering my question. Wow, that makes me so sad. 
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Nov 1, 2013 18:06
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GabrielAisling posted:Our goats stopped getting stuck because their leader, a weather named Homer, is smart enough to get other goats unstuck. He also leads them to freedom like a goat moses every time he finds a good exploit of our fencing system that was originally for cows. Homer needs to come here and teach Heath this because he is the only one of my goats who have not figured out how to turn his head slightly and get out of fences. I've been dealing with the romeldale girls having gross cow pie poops for a month or so now. I would worm them, see that their poo was still gross a few weeks later and worm with something stronger until finally I stopped being an idiot and sent out a fecal. I have supplies to do fecals myself but I've been so busy it was totally worth the $5 to just toss some poop in the mail and have someone else tell me what was wrong. Turns out they have a very small amount of strongyloides worms (only 2 eggs/gram) and a moderate case of coccidia. Worming can take care of the strongyls easy enough, but it's not going to do anything for cocci. Now I can treat them properly and get them back 100% before breeding in a couple of weeks. Moral of the story, don't be lazy and dumb just stick some poo in the mail.
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Nov 1, 2013 22:49
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GabrielAisling posted:Our goats stopped getting stuck because their leader, a weather named Homer, is smart enough to get other goats unstuck. He also leads them to freedom like a goat moses every time he finds a good exploit of our fencing system that was originally for cows. awwww Homer sounds like a great goat to have around!
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Nov 2, 2013 14:34
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piscesbobbie posted:awwww Homer sounds like a great goat to have around! He thinks he's people. Or a dog. He'll follow my little sister around anywhere, though, and the rest of the goats follow him, so getting them back into the fence has always been a matter of someone opening the gate for her, walking the herd back in, and then closing the gate. She hops back over, and everything's fine again.
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Nov 2, 2013 16:15
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I'm sorry but they're loving goats, they're not going to be as easy as cows or chickens to keep in their enclosure. Having to update the fencing and play the eternal battle of wits against your herd is just part of the loving territory, and anyone who loses more than one goat to a certain fence is loving idiotic and borderline neglectful. Sure, you can lose a goat now and then because they figured out a new and interesting way to kill themselves, but you learn from it and move on and try to prevent it from happening again... don't just go "welp maybe the other goats have learned their lesson". I have Opinions about this because of finding out about what improper fencing does to horses.
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Nov 3, 2013 21:27
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You loving tell 'em, Kittens!
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Nov 3, 2013 21:42
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Pile of Kittens posted:. I have Opinions about this because of finding out about what improper fencing does to horses. Insert picture of a dead horse sliced to ribbons from electric fencing that the horse couldn't see cause it was galloping full tilt 100 yards away 
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Nov 4, 2013 03:01
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Speaking of just how stupid goats are, here is a picture someone posted of a buck who somehow got its back leg stuck in its horn. The owner thought the goat was dead but it was fine, just really dumb. Goats 
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Nov 5, 2013 02:53
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I scared my bird with how loudly I cracked up at that goat's face. LOOK AT HIM. That is the look of a mammal that regrets everything, but is prepared to regret nothing as soon as he can move.
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Nov 5, 2013 04:03
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Tasty_Crayon posted:Insert picture of a dead horse sliced to ribbons from electric fencing that the horse couldn't see cause it was galloping full tilt 100 yards away Or my favorite, a horse sliced to ribbons because it walked into a knee-high pile of barbed wire and flailed around helplessly, gutting itself like a young soldier going over the top in World War I.
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Nov 5, 2013 04:04
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Pile of Kittens posted:Or my favorite, a horse sliced to ribbons because it walked into a knee-high pile of barbed wire and flailed around helplessly, gutting itself like a young soldier going over the top in World War I. Replace the barbed wire with razor wire and you've got one of the cases I remember from when my mom worked at a Veterinary Teaching College. Sick/sad thing was the horse survived it, so the owner was all "I love this horse and he is very expensive because he has ______ bloodlines, so I do not want to euth because he is so precious to me." That poor horse was basically necrotic flesh and open guts wrapped in bandages for weeks because the loving owner couldn't let go/wanted to look like they were compassionate.
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Nov 5, 2013 07:34
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Fuuuuck. Well, in other happier news, I'm doing research for a very weird knitting project and discovered a new and adorable kind of sheep! Everyone, I'd like to introduce the Finnsheep! source: http://www.finnsheep.org/ Apparently they average four babbies per birth and the max recorded was nine.
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Nov 5, 2013 18:17
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I already had a sheep problem before your sheep threads, Instant Jellyfish, but it's become apparent while driving through the English countryside and being heavily distracted by all the sheep and pretty farms that your threads have given me a severe sheep obsession and my new therapy program is going to require you to post more pictures of the sheep and even the goats to keep me from going full crazy sheep person and buying a farm I know nothing about and making a huge mistake. Joking aside, awesome new sheep!!! That's awesome, they're awesome!
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Nov 6, 2013 02:41
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Sheep are pretty great creatures  Breeding groups get tossed together friday so I've been busy! I "crutched" (basically gave them a sheep brazillian wax, here's a video of shearer doing it way better than me) the cormos today and inserted CIDRs in the romeldales in preparation. I did it right next to a pen I'm keeping the breeding rams and they were going nuts. Sorry dudes, I didn't mean to torment you with a burlesque show. Here are some sheep pictures from a week or two ago that I don't think I've shared yet. Rowan  Miss Moose and her lovely pink nose  Little Page  Bramble   Perfect Primrose   She's getting so big!  Old greyface Eveleth  Pile of Kittens posted:Fuuuuck. Well, in other happier news, I'm doing research for a very weird knitting project and discovered a new and adorable kind of sheep! Everyone, I'd like to introduce the Finnsheep! I sheared some Finns this year. They have an interesting fleece, at least the ones I saw. Very tight curls, not a long staple length, easy to shear except for one that had matted weirdly. None of the ones I saw had even had twins. The key to getting multiples in any breed is pre-breeding nutrition, even more so than genetic propensity, which those farmers were learning the hard way.
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Nov 6, 2013 03:07
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Instant Jellyfish posted:here's a video of shearer doing it way better than me) Wow, he's just hauling on the fleece to keep the sheep in place while he shears. Doesn't pulling on the fleece like that hurt?
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Nov 6, 2013 03:16
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I have ANOTHER stupid question. Does it matter if the horns grow in symmetrical? Is it preferable? Thanks for posting the great pictures!
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Nov 6, 2013 03:18
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daggerdragon posted:Wow, he's just hauling on the fleece to keep the sheep in place while he shears. Doesn't pulling on the fleece like that hurt? I watched it again to double check but he's not pulling fleece to keep the sheep in place, he's pulling the skin tight so he doesn't cut her. The sheep is held snuggly between his legs. He's shearing a merino and merinos have loose, floppy skin especially around the butt that is really easy to totally mangle if you don't keep the skin nice and tight. It really doesn't hurt them at all and is certainly preferable to cutting them to ribbons. piscesbobbie posted:I have ANOTHER stupid question. Does it matter if the horns grow in symmetrical? Is it preferable? Thanks for posting the great pictures!  It doesn't really matter but symmetrical horns look nicer and make them a bit more marketable as breeding stock, especially rams. Genetics seems to play a small roll but mostly they do what they do. Jazz in particular tends to have daughters with weird horns but her grand-daughters are all lovely and symmetrical. The only thing you don't want is horns that grow towards the eyes. Here is someone's rescue ewe that will probably need trimming at some point to prevent eye damage.  They were told the sheep was abandoned because it had 4 horns and that was a defect. I guess the rescue never looked up jacob sheep?
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Nov 6, 2013 04:11
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Rowan has some magnificent horns! How much of the year do they have to wear their sheets?
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Nov 6, 2013 18:03
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Fuzz Feets posted:Rowan has some magnificent horns! I should keep them coated all year for the best, cleanest fleece but I hate messing with coats so I just put them on from when I start feeding hay in the fall until they are sheared in the April. I should also coat the lambs by a couple months old but I don't have any lamb coats and they're awfully expensive for lambs which are going to outgrow their coats rapidly. This winter I plan on buying several yards of cordura (if I can find someplace that doesn't have $20 shipping for 2 yards of fabric  ) and sewing a bunch of lamb coats so next year I can get started earlier.
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Nov 6, 2013 18:29
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Pile of Kittens posted:Fuuuuck. Well, in other happier news, I'm doing research for a very weird knitting project and discovered a new and adorable kind of sheep! Everyone, I'd like to introduce the Finnsheep! Finnsheep are lovely and have a nice fiber to spin. And apparently there's actually two kinds of Finnish sheep? I was in Finland earlier this year and I saw normal Finnsheep and a kind my friends described as the rarer Finnish sheep. I forgot to take a picture of the label for the rarer kind, but it was all in Finnish anyway and my friends didn't really know anything about it. But it exists! Have some tiny goats from the trip instead.  
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Nov 6, 2013 18:58
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Fuzz Feets posted:Rowan has some magnificent horns! I can't imagine what I would be thinking if I were a little intoxicated and I saw Rowan, at night, in a field....I agree, Rowan has some magnificent horns!
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Nov 8, 2013 02:12
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If it wasn't because you sell the fleece IJ, just imagine how awesome it would be to spray Rowan with some glow-in-the-dark substance, you dressed up with a grim reaper robe, and both of you walk down a road in a suburban neighborhood in halloween :3.
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Nov 8, 2013 02:47
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Old picture, but Twofer has even more impressive horns. When people come out to visit they're usually intimidated by him but he's really a big teddy bear and loves cuddles. His horns are wide enough that I fit in between them when he puts his head down to really get in to his neck rubs 
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Nov 8, 2013 03:07
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Instant Jellyfish posted:Old picture, but Twofer has even more impressive horns. When people come out to visit they're usually intimidated by him but he's really a big teddy bear and loves cuddles. His horns are wide enough that I fit in between them when he puts his head down to really get in to his neck rubs Twofer is very majestic looking! Keep him safe from hunters that want a trophy head! Thank you for sharing the great photos!
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Nov 8, 2013 14:34
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Thanks for all these wonderful pictures and stories, I love following your sheep/goats! I have a soft spot for primitive/rare breed sheep after spending a couple of years working on a farm specialising in rare breeds...no Jacobs sadly but Hebridean, Norfolk Horn, Whitefaced Woodland, Oxford Down and probably my favourites, the Manx Loaghtan. Like the Jacobs they can have up to four or six impressive horns, check out this tup we loaned one year (sorry for terrible phone quality!): Please keep the pics coming
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Nov 8, 2013 15:35
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Becklespinax posted:Thanks for all these wonderful pictures and stories, I love following your sheep/goats! I have a soft spot for primitive/rare breed sheep after spending a couple of years working on a farm specialising in rare breeds...no Jacobs sadly but Hebridean, Norfolk Horn, Whitefaced Woodland, Oxford Down and probably my favourites, the Manx Loaghtan. Like the Jacobs they can have up to four or six impressive horns, check out this tup we loaned one year (sorry for terrible phone quality!): What can I say... So majestic looking! Thank you so much for sharing! I'm going to do some reading on those other breed names you listed. WOW! Becklespinax, are you in the UK? edit: How long are those horns? piscesbobbie fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Nov 8, 2013 |
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Nov 8, 2013 15:53
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Finally put breeding groups together on Friday and have been waiting on pins and needles to see if my breeding marker contraption would work. I started finding blue chalk smudges everywhere right away. Everywhere but where they were supposed to be. They were on walls, they were on mineral feeders, they were on water buckets, one ewe even had smudges all over her head. I do not want to know what those boys were up to. Today is the first day we've had significant snow and when I trudged through it to deal with morning barn chores I found 3 different girls with blue butt smudges, one in each breeding group. So we can start looking for babies April 6th! Some were a little subtle and faded so I'll keep checking them all for clearer ones but Jewel had a big obvious one so I think I can count her as a definite yes. I was getting concerned that the big goat girls were not ever going to accept Heath as a real buck and not a tiny wimpy loser. I was even considering picking up some deer buck pee scent and using it like super gross cologne to make him a bit more impressive because he has not gotten buck-y at all. But big, giant, bitchy Dido had a blue smudge all up her back today so maybe I'll give him a bit more time. It could be that she got smudged beating the snot out of him like she usually does, we will see. All goats are getting pregnancy tests in December just so I can be sure I know who to look for kids from. Expect some animals in snow pictures coming up this week!
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Nov 12, 2013 16:14
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BABIES!  But not for 6 months. drat you for throwing out teasers like that.
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Nov 12, 2013 16:30
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Women's Rights? posted:BABIES! Only 5 months! And if I'm stuck waiting all that time so are you all. It's especially hard when everyone else is having end of February/beginning of March babies and I know I have over a month to wait. I promised snow pictures. Flirt is getting her CIDR out on Friday so she should be bred this weekend.  For now she's going to use her head as a shovel.   Jazz really wanted cuddles today for some reason.  Even grandbaby cuddles.  Prim's snowbeard  Clem was not impressed. 
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Nov 12, 2013 19:00
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Aaaaahhh snow sheep so cute overload action go!
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Nov 12, 2013 23:56
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So, I'm not sure if it's just because this is the first picture of clem's behind, but HOLY poo poo is her tail big, are all sheep tails that big? I think I remember you saying earlier in the thread that most people rubber band them which would be why the common image of a sheep is tailless...
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Nov 13, 2013 03:25
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