Rhubarb is one of the few (desirable) plants that grow well in our yard. The stalks have a tart, fruity flavor. We use it for pies, especially in combination qwith other fruits such as apples, strawberries, peaches, and apricots – or my personal favorite, all of the above! The leaves of the rhubarb plant are [...]
Posts Tagged ‘animal health’
Coming Into the World the Hard Way
Kelsey, a yearling, was due to give birth to her first kid yesterday. She is the 10th and (probably) last doe of the season (since the other two aren’t looking very pregnant). We’d had very little sleep the night before, between preparing to sell cheese at a 4-day event and getting up early so I [...]
Mystery of the Miserable Goat
Sugar is our #2 goat, a 4-year-old Alpine doe who is normally very active. Sunday we noticed she was limping. We found no injury, but noticed that the tissue above her hoof was soft and inflamed. By yesterday, she was miserable. On the way to the milking room she usually runs to get her grain [...]
Q&A: What Is My Hen Doing?
Q: I have one hen that’s acting weird! She’s outside in the dirt, digging a hole, rubbing in the dirt?? A: It sounds like she’s dust bathing. Chickens love to dust bath – they’ll dig a hole and toss the loose dirt up over their feathers. Sometimes they’ll do this for hours – and sometimes [...]
Cleft Palate Update
Sassy, our little girl with the cleft palate (left), is now over four months old. She is learning to cope with her disability, which prevents her from eating as much as the other goats– even when we give her private snack time. We give her nutritional supplements, too, but she just isn’t growing very fast. [...]
Animal First Aid Resources
Emergencies happen– and rarely during our vet’s business hours. In the photo above, a friend’s goat had broken its leg on a Saturday, so we splinted it for her. Having the resources and some basic knowledge can save money on emergency vet visits, and sometimes save an animal’s life. A reader sent me this link [...]
Independence Day First Aid
It never fails: when something bad happens, it’s on a holiday weekend. We’ve seen this often enough to be prepared for it. Whether it’s a dog getting caught on barbed wire (Pioneer Day, 2007) or gashing herself on a piece of ice (Christmas 2007), or a goat with a torn ear (Colombus Day, 2009), it [...]
Peach Trees Can Be Toxic to Goats
Goats love trees, and we love to give them trees. But as folks around town trim their fruit trees, it’s worth noting that the leaves of stone fruit trees such as peaches, plums, and apricots can be toxic to goats. According to this information sheet by the National Agricultural Library, as the leaves of these [...]
Minnie is finally getting better
Last week, we reported that Minnie was recovering from a uterine infection after giving birth to two beautiful kids. That turned out to be an incorrect diagnosis, as well as optimistic. What followed was four days of life-threateningly high fever, blood in her urine caused by kidney damage as a result of the fever, and [...]
More on Cleft Palate in Goats
Yesterday I spoke at length with Dr. Kim Panter of the USDA Poisonous Plant Research Facility in Logan, Utah, about Sassy’s cleft palate, shown above. Dr. Panter has for years been researching cleft palate in goats, which has resulted not only in better understanding of the condition in goats and other livestock, but also new [...]
