Wednesday, March 21, 2007

First Day of Spring!

The boys reminded me that today was the first day of spring, but around here it's mud season. I am planning to continue writing about our adventures with moving up here and starting our homestead, and the next installment is partially about the mud. More about that later.

I think the last time I wrote I mentioned that one of our goats was very sick. Well, she died the next day. That was over 2 weeks ago, and we have tried our best to do what we could with natural remedies to keep our remaining adult doe and 2 kids healthy. This morning the doe was experiencing diarrhea, and I sure hope the family we bought the goats from is correct in saying it could be a result of detoxifying. We'll just have to wait and see.

Our dog Selah is due to give birth soon. This is a new thing to our family, and I hope everyone is around to watch the birth. Selah is kind of a high strung dog, and I hope she does okay with everything. I have been worrying about her, as I see how tough it is for her to get around these days. Guess I remember all too well how it felt the last week of my pregnancies!

We spent an afternoon last week planting seeds at friend's house. She has a wonderful low cement wall solar collector which is perfect for the seed trays. The house faces south, and plants grow like crazy over there. I look forward to the day we can start seeds in our own home. Jim was checking various catalogs for the plastic we need to cover our hoop house; we didn't completely take off the plastic last year since we wanted some protection from the elements for our garden tools and made a small shed with it where the plants weren't growing, and the sun weakened the plastic. I think we are looking for a higher grade of plastic that won't be bothered as much by the sun.

Hopefully the next time I post it will be back to the book!

2 comments:

Goodolboy said...

Hi Lynn, See any geese yet? People say they have seen some around here but I have not seen any. Suppose to warm up big time by Sunday. May get some flooding if the temperature gets to where they say. My brother will be out your part of the country next week. Scouting for the Spring turkey hunt. If your goats have cocsiliosis (sp?) try a stuff called Amprol. It is expensive but I am giving it ot my chickens and seems to be helping. There is no natural cure for this parasite. if not treated with antibiotic I have been told you wil loose all your animals. Take care.

Guy

Caroline said...

When my girl Toggle had diarrhea a little while back (only a month or so ago, I think - I'll look it up if you need the info) I gave her Corrid (amprolium - probably the same stuff mentioned in Guy's comment). It is supposed to be added to the water bucket, but Toggle would *not* drink it from the bucket so I had to measure it out in a syringe and give it to her orally. Diarrhea in a goat is VERY, VERY bad, and coccidosis is caused by a parasite - you can't really do much to prevent it, and I don't think you can cure it or save the goat organically or holistically - it's one of those things that needs medication.

I would also check their eyelids to see if they are anemic. Worming would help that - liquid ivermectin (injectable kind) by mouth. Check out Fiasco Farm website - http://fiascofarm.com I think.