Eclipse - we will miss you

Part of life on a farm and of having livestock and pets is the hard part of losing one. I have always told my children, and everyone else, that when an animal comes into your life you have to realize that they will probably not live as long as you do so it is your responsibility to give them the best, kindest, most loved life possible while they are with you.

Before we moved to Alvin I boarded my horses with a friend who had her own horses and pgymy goats. That was my first time to be around these inquisitive creatures. In March 2000 a set of twins were born at the barn. My daughter and I were there and after they were born my friend let Marissa name them. One was Star (because of the star on her forehead) and the second one had a half moon on both of her sides so her name became Eclipse. Marissa looked forward to visiting "her" goats when we went out to the barn. When we purchased our place in April 2001 my friend gave us Eclipse and Star as a housewarming gift. Greatest gift ever! Star got sick and we lost her early on but Eclipse has been with us all this time.

I read up on lifespans of goats and it is generally 10 to 12 years and Eclipse had started slowing down about a year ago. She was the boss...she loved to play chase with Marissa and Tyler and anyone else who would push her horns then run! If you tried to walk across the pasture she would get in front of you to make you stop and give her a rub. She was just a fun being to have around. She got hit by one of the bigger goats last week and the hit must have been just too much for her. She seemed to be getter until yesterday. We had to ease her pain because she couldn't get up or move without pain. I also believe although hard our four-legged companions leave it up to us to make hard decisions on their behalf and I could and would not let her suffer needlessly. It was hard but I know she is not in pain any longer. She was surrounded by us and we were with her until the end. We gave her hugs and I kissed her forehead. We were so blessed to have known her from the day she was born until she passed. We love her and will miss her.

That's all for today...come back soon.

Perfectly good feed bucket - now it is

My goats are fed grain in their outside pen twice a day with hay inside the barn. Here is one of the 10 feed buckets that are lined up on a wire panel on the goat's outside pen. (don't know why the picture shows up at this angle but you can get the idea)

I was looking at the goat feed buckets and thinking while watching my OH work on a small banty chicken pen...which my OH hates because my thinking generally means more work for him...and I decided to do this...

with the results being this!

I bet you are wondering why I would go a put holes in a perfectly good feed bucket and it is because of these lovely ladies and their very hard, knee level horns. See how hard they look? Well they are!

I feed the goats on the outside of the fence because they think they are starving at feed time and even though there are 10 buckets they think there is only one bucket with feed so a calm moment of each at their on bucket

can quickly became this!

and it doesn't matter if another goat or a person's knees are in the way of the only perceived bucket of food is in the way. This works great when it is dry outside but when it rains - if it ever will it seems - the water would have be dumped before adding feed. Which means either trying to dump the water from outside the pen (with water ending up on your foot) or going inside the pen (bad move).

So...ta-da...the water drains from the bucket!

I really hate to admit that it has taken me a few years and a bunch of bruises around my knees to fiquire this out but hey...it's done now!

That's all for today...come back soon.

All grown up - well not to me

Today my youngest daughter turns 23 year old! I don't know how that happened since I am still 30 years old! She still lives with us while she is finishing up her business management degree and works a 40 hours a week to pay for her college classes at the University of Houston. We are very proud of her and love her very much. She loves animals almost as much as I do and has her Arabian mare, a couple of show goats, her dog, and cat living with us too! I guess the more the merrier right?

She loves her mare Sly. They have been to shows together and have done quite well but with the college and work schedule there is no time for shows so basically Sly is retired.

A birthday kiss from one of the goats...

Well I just wanted to share what a wonderful daughter I have with you on her birthday! I will let her continue to think she is all grown up but she will always be my baby girl.

Thats all for today...come back soon.

Anna and her girls

On one of my first blogs I had said I was going to write about three of my goats that are out of the breeding business and into being only my pet business. In the picture from left to right is Macy and Anna in the back and Tippi taking up the front.

Anna is the mother of both Macy and Tippi. While my children were showing goats at the local county fair, my friends who showed goats at major shows talked me into raising babies and showing. So along came Anna with another doe and a buck in 2006 and I was in the breeding business. Little did I know how attached I would be to these wonderful creatures. Like any new mom I took alot of pictures of my first set of babies and kinda fell off taking pictures with the later groups. So I have plenty of pictures of Macy and not Tippi.

Anna is a registered fullblood boer (registered name FFB Anna) who was born on 01/08/05 who was bred to FFB Bentley and produced 2CF Macy along with her brother 2CF NOS born on 01/27/07. Bentley was a nice buck and I eventually sold him to Mr. Knape to improve his stock. NOS was my first buck born on the place and I used him for breeding for 1 year then sold him to a gentleman last year.

I took several pictures of Macy and NOS. Macy is goat with the white on her ear. I love my baby goats!

Here is Macy at 6 months...

Now Tippi is one of the last set of babies born on our place on 04/03/09. Her brother went to an FFA kiddo who showed him in a few county fairs (won first at one and 3rd at another) and went to a major show and did well. Tippi got her name because she has a white spot on the tip of her nose and a brown spot on the tip of her tail. Her dad is JRA Agnew's Bullseye who is close to being ennobled which is a big deal in the Boer goat world. I sold Bullseye to the ag farm to improve their stock. He was the most gentle, sweet buck I have ever known.

Last June I was laid off from the shuttle program for NASA and had about 26 breeding stock goats left after selling the babies and had to make a decision. I did not want to keep animals that I would not be able to feed or promote so I thought I would sell all but 5 to keep as pets. I had 3 does that I had retired from breeding, 1 pgymy doe and 1 that should not be bred because of confirmation faults but was real sweet so those were the ones I was going to keep. I sold the 3 wonderful bucks I had and the nice breeding does to places that would take care of them properly and thought...and thought..and thought. I could not get down to 5 because there were 10 ladies I just could not part with. DH said to quit worrying and just keep the 10. Whew...

Anna was always on the 5 list (along with Macy) because although she gives the best kids she has problems kidding and I always had to have the vet deliver because she carried triplets. The last 2 times with the first kid was turned backwards and born dead and the vet delivered the others. They would have all died had the vet not been called in. That was her last kidding because she was retired because of her complications and I did not want her to go to someone who would breed her because of her bloodlines not take her to the vet if it happened again.

Tippi stayed because she has great confirmation and looks just like her dad!

Anyway that's the story of Anna and her girls. I sure miss the babies but I will visit my friend's farms and visit goat blogs to see these beautiful creatures.

Ok...Eclipse says "what about me? I am the oldest". Your story next Eclipse...promise.

That's all for today...come back soon.