Testing Goats for CAE (And how I saved $$ doing it w/out a vet!)

About two weeks ago I sent off blood from my ten goats to get tested for CAE. I don't know why I didn't test them for CAE earlier. ( Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis is a chronic disease of the joints which is incurable. More information can be found at: CAE information USDA)I guess the thought of drawing blood sounded intimidating. I contacted the vet about how much they would charge to come to my farm to draw blood from the goats, their estimate was $12 per goat, not including the fee to come out to my farm (about $45). I decided that I could save money by not having the vet come out and draw the blood myself. I had never drawn blood from an animal before. Not much could happen, right?!? Soo I watched a video from Youtube Perdue University Goat about 5 million times to see how they drew goats' blood. How hard can that be?? I ordered the supplies that I needed ( I will show a link at the end of the blog post for a supplies list). I know some people out there who are reading this right now may think that this is not a good idea to draw blood without help from a professional. I did it without needing a veterinarian to come out, but always make sure you feel comfortable with whatever choice you make. In the end It worked out well. I got the tests results. All came back negative. (yay!) So, how much money did I potentially save?

The Vacuum tubes I bought costed $7.60, but I used only 1/5 of them: $1.50
 10 syringe/needle combos from Jeffers: $2.50
 Cost for the CAE test ($4.75x10): $47.50
 2 day shipping: $20
 rubbing alcohol: $0.50
Total: $72

 The large animal vet said it would cost at least $165 for all the tests to be done/sent out. I saved $93! Things can add up real fast.


     I feel like it is important to learn basic herd-owner skills and put them to use! What do you think?

                                                                    

Summer Update

 I don't know where to start! Summer was really busy. I think I will start at the county fair.

I bought the dairy goat above in April. I absolutely love her and fell in love with the dairy goat breed.

                         We showed two Saanens, my Alpine, a Mini-Nubian, and a Fainting goat. We didn't show any sheep this year, but we showed poultry as well. By the time we finished the local 4-h show, we had tons of fun! I recieved overall Champion Dairy goat showman, my two dairy goats received champion and reserve in the 4-h dairy goat show, and my sister's fainting goat received chamion dairy goat buck.

 My grandparents and my cousin visited in July. We had a ton of fun!

Autumn riding Texas.

  These kittens were born in May, they all have been adopted out into great homes!

The pond area in the summer when the chicory is in full bloom. 

This hen hatched hatched and raised turkey poults (yes, you read this correctly) for the second consecutive year!!

                    PS. My adorable nephew arrived on October 6th!!

Is my blog dead? NO! I am back!!

I had such a busy summer. Posting on the blog was one of the last things to do on my list! Don't worry I have come back to blog again! Soon, I will post a flashback blog on what I did over the summer! Right now, I will post a few thing that happened recently and earlier this year.

                                                  Our mini Nubian is (hopefully) bred for February babies. The babies won't be purebred, they will be 1/2 fainting goat. There are 7 or so more does left to breed later this autumn for March kids.

Also, this cute pig made a nice addition to our farm earlier in the spring. She is a purebred Kunekune (no papers). I am hoping to find a boar for her for meat pigs next summer/fall.

I promise the next post will be updates from all the summer activity that happened, Stay tuned! 

Farm Babies & upcycling

   I haven't posted anything for over two months. Much has been happening between now and then. A few goat kids have been born within the last month. The first babies to kick off the kidding season on Easter, April 5th, were purebred fainting goat twins, named Salt and Pepper, they are so cute! 

The next one to to follow, Mr.Strawberry, was born on April 9th. He is a Mini Saanen Fainting goat. He was sold a while ago as a bottle baby. He is so cute, I couldn't resist sharing his photo. He has been sold to a great home as a bottle baby!

The last goats (so far) that were born were adorable fainting Mini-Nubian crosses. They are as cute as a button! 

                           Brownie & Bramble

                        Bramble




     I love watching the babies grow up! When they turn two months they will be sold. Most of them are already spoken for :)



       On another note, my sister and I updated a old vintage chair. We love the distressed look we gave and the and the new (giraffe print) seat cover! The old seat cover was torn and had dry rot. Please ignore the dog! It was the only photo I had before painting! I think we have been bitten by the up-cycling bug!

Snow Day

It snowed a long time yesterday with snow piling up little by little. This is the first "big" snow storm this season, so it was exciting. But awful temperatures are coming with the snow. It will not be much fun doing chores with a possible below 0 degrees later this week. 

                Luckily there was a pause in the cold weather today with being in the 40s so the animals were able to be outside (maybe the snow will melt). But the silkies must have forgotten about the snow. They were by the door of their house waiting to be let back in, and wondering what this cold white stuff is.

                     It is so beautiful right after a snow storm.....

                                          That it is hard to walk anywhere to ruin the beauty of the snow.

                                                        The goats loved entering into this sunny weather. And feasting on                                                              lots of grain.

                                                                 Then the sheep came out.

The two babies were the last, probably scared of the white stuff on the ground.

                                                                     Then they ate.

                                                                And the goats ate.

                                                              Can you find the sheep in this photo?

Sprinkles wearing her blanket for the cold weather.

                                                                      "Can I come in now? I am tired of the snow."

                                                       The goats realized that the hay was better that gran....

                                                            So they crawled under the corral panel to eat.

Tex says"Go away snow." 

Toaster Pastries

Apple Cider recipe

                                                           Apple Cider Recipe

                                                    3 cups apple juice ( I prefer the clear kind)
                                                    2 cinnamon sticks
                                                    5 cloves

                              Heat the spices and juice in a pot on low-med for 30 minutes, or on low for an hour.    Enjoy!