Things are running pretty smoothly at the farm. My goat herd size is easily manageable now. I only kept my favorite goats – Annabelle & kid Pebbles, Sweety & doe Gracie, Molly the Fainting goat, Herman the very little Pygmy wether & Bongo, the Nubian/Boer wether.

Of course Frosty the registered Saanen is the queen (although she doesn’t rule… the littlest one, Sweety – she’s the boss! Frosty continues to give me a quart of milk (2 lbs), twice a day.  Sometimes a little more but that’s fine with me.  I’m still trying to figure out how to use all she’s already giving us!

I get a lot of pleasure from milking her. It’s very relaxing and very rewarding.  I’m still amazed at this “gift” that comes from her.  If things are going smoothly at the barn, she may produce a little more but if things are crazy – like if Sweety is trying to boss her around, she produce a little less milk.  I guess her udder is temperamental!  She’s so different from the Pygmys.. she’s very calm & gentle.  Never acts “starved” like the Pygmys – always comes to her food very nonchalantly – not like, “Finally!  Food!”  I’m very happy with her.  She’s a wonderful addition to the farm.

The horses are getting fat off the pasture.  They’re all very healthy & playful with each other.  However if they see me, they too think, “Yes, food!!!”  What is it with critters?  Is food all they think about?

Summer heat & humidity brought on tons of flies.  One afternoon I noticed how many there was… my poor horses were so covered with them it was like their entire faces were black!  Because they didn’t like the spray (I had to fight them to put it on), and the roll-on was too expensive, I had to find another solution.  Danny at the feed store recommended Python Magnum – these are tags that are attached to cow ears & they repel flies for up to 4 months.  I put one on each side of their harnesses & I am extremely pleased with the results.  Of course they still have flies but I’d be willing to say the tags eliminate 90% of the flies.

The only drawback is that I had to put halters on them – I’ve always been against this practice because anything can happen in the field.. they can get hooked on a fence post, they can hook their rear hoof in the halter while scratching.. any number of things can occur.  And of course something did!

I noticed last night that Daisy June (miniature donkey), had a sore under her chin – who knows how she hurt herself but the halter rubbing against it made it much worse.  She’s penned up now, getting penicillin and ointment & I think she’ll be fine – just needs some meds for a few days along with some TLC & she’ll be okay.  I had to pen up Madigan with her – Madigan worked herself up all night because of this separation – poor thing brayed & pranced all evening!  However, I think Daisy June enjoyed being away from her… Madigan’s the bully & Daisy June is real mellow & quiet.

The 3 llamas Stormy, Major & Big Al are not enjoying the heat either.  I’ve set up 2 large fans inside their shelter.  We turn them off at night and you can be sure that by 10 am the next morning, all three are laying in front of the fans waiting for them to get turned on.  Once the fans are blowing, the llamas stay there until the weather cools down around 4 pm.  Big Al will also stand near the garden hose & wait for someone to come around and hose him down!

Pork Chop & Bacon are enjoying their life…  eating, getting fat, wallowing in the pond – life doesn’t get any better!  Enjoy it porkies… come Autumn, you’ll have to live up to your names!

My 6 Bantam hens have given me over 100 chicks since Spring – however because they’re free roaming, only about 6 of the 100 have made it to adulthood.  Wild animals, hawks, barn rats – all have contributed to the diminishing number of chickens.  I finally decided to have a large fenced in chicken coop added to the barn – hopefully that should be up by the end of summer – it would be up sooner but it’s just too darn hot out there to expect anyone to be working outside!

Right now I’ve got a hen that’s running around with 12 chicks and another hen sitting on 8 eggs.  Hopefully the coop will be built soon enough so we “save” all these cute little guys.  Chicks are so adorable – truly you have to watch their interaction to appreciate them.  They’re not so cute when they’re chickens but it’s nice to be there for the journey from chicks to chickens.

My ducks were prolific this year but not all the ducklings made it.  I really felt sad for this hen… for 30 days she sat on that nest & protected those eggs with her life.  All the while her sons from last years hatchlings stayed nearby & patiently waited for mom to finish her job.  She hatched 9 live ducklings and after keeping them confined for a week they made it to the pond… only to be greeted by a snapping turtle who proceeded to eat (kill) 6 of them before we realized what was going on & set up a trap.  Then mom & one duckling got run over.  The only ducking that survived was adopted by the other hen who was smart enough to stay out of the pond.  All 7 of her ducklings are still happily paddling in the pond!

So it’s been a good summer at the farm.  Life is good.  Everyone is healthy & happy & it still brings me so much pleasure to interact with them.  Being around my critters is therapeutic.  It doesn’t matter how much manure or goat poop that I clean – I still enjoy doing this.

I’m looking forward to Autumn, when the weather starts to cool down and that I can stay outside longer without sweating so much!

It’s nice to be at a point where the number of animals that I have is so manageable.  When in a hurry, I can get everyone fed & watered within 30 minutes.  Add an extra 5 minutes to medicate Daisy June & that’s all it takes.  Of course with fewer animals, there’s a lot less clean up required too!  It’s been all good but its even better now!

I feel so blessed that I have been able to do everything that I had dreamed about as a child.  Life has been good, very good & I thank God everyday for loving me as much as he does.

If you want to contact me, please email me at christine@crazygoatlady.com – I might miss your comments if you post them on my site & I hate it when I realize that I have a comment that has not been replied to.

This will most likely be my last post until Autumn – May you all have a safe & blessed summer and thank you for being a faithful “fan” of my website.  A bientôt chėres amis!

A few weeks ago our friend & priest Fr. William visited with some of his cousins from Africa.  They were amazed that I have goats as pets.  The fact that I don’t eat them or milk them was a concept they could not comprehend.  Pet goats?  What da heck for?

Gabriel explained to us that when he lived at home in Kenya, every morning before walking 5 or 6 miles to school, he had to hand milk the entire herd of about 20 goats.  Sometimes other members of the family (or families), would pitch in but it was just another chore.  Gabriel seemed nostalgic as he related that experience…

So here we are standing around watching the goats & Gabriel asked if he could milk Molly.  Her kids had left a few weeks ago & she was still bagged up pretty solid.  We put Molly in the stanchion and within a few seconds, we had a full glass of warm, frothy milk!  It all happened quite quickly.  No hand washing, no udder cleaning… just squeeze, squeeze & there it was… a full glass of creamy, fresh milk! Gabriel & Fr William thoroughly enjoyed their little treat.  I didn’t taste the milk that Molly gave us… I’m not a clean freak but that was a little too “raw” for me.  I’m sure I just imagined it but I thought there were little hairs in the milk & and maybe some dirt specs.

So that got me thinking that maybe we should “harvest” this milk so I started doing a little bit of research.   I’d found several milking systems but all I had was one little goat – I needed something simple!  That’s when I came across the Henry Milker.   This is a nice little hand made device that uses a little pump, some clear tubing, a large syringe & a Mason jar.  It’s really not worth $125 but then again, it does what it advertises & the fellow told me if I wasn’t happy with it, I could send it back for a full refund.

Poor Molly, she didn’t have a good udder to start with. She had had twins April 4th and they grew big & strong very quickly. They put quite a strain on her bag. When Easter & Lilly left for their new home when they were 8 weeks old, little Peppy realized that he could nurse from her (his mom had been sold a week after Molly’s girls had left). He’d grab a teat and hold on while she tried to “stiffly” run away (Molly is a Myotonic Fainting goat).

I first started milking her & was really enjoying the experience. Although Molly had plenty of milk, it just didn’t seem right to continue to milk her with her teats so distended. I was afraid they’d eventually “detach”. So I started shopping for a dairy goat. Research was unanimous. Saanen‘s are the best milk producers of the dairy goats.

Luckily, less than 10 minutes from here is a small dairy farm that raises Saanens. The next day after chatting with Miss Parker, I was picking up Frosty. Miss Parker & I quickly became friends and within a few days, my husband Scott & I were there learning the process of making goat milk cheese. We felt that everyone should know about this & so Scott put together a website for Miss Parker… GoatsGotMilk Although it is up and running, at this time there’s very little content. We’ll have a “For Sale” page with pictures of each doe & her registration documents. More to come on that!

For reasons only Frosty knows, her production is only about half of what she should deliver. Right now I’m getting about 1/4 gallon, twice a day. Even if this is much less that what it should be, its plenty for Scott & I. We’ve never drank so much milk before! Going from 2% cow’s milk to raw goat milk is quite the radical change but we love it!

Milking is something that must be done twice daily at a regular time. It’s a chore but one that I’ve come to look forward to. I’ve lived in the “big” city most of my life (Montreal) & I’ve had my little farm for about 3 years; still it is amazing to me to obtain this life-giving produce from one of my animals. This is so much better than raising animals for meat consumption!

Here are a couple of videos of me milking Frosty. Please note that all my jars have been thoroughly cleaned; my towels are washed & rinsed in a mixture of Dawn dish washing detergent with Clorox. The components of the milker are also washed with the same solution and so are Frosty’s teats before & after milking. She makes her own way to the stanchion and often times remains there munching even when I release her.

I empty my jar between teats – reason being is that this procedure works well by creating a vacuum.  When the jar is half full, there is less of a vacuum & it affects the speed at which the milk flows.  Note that sometimes I pronounce “teats”, “tits”… not sure how to say it – seems like everyone around here pronounces it differently.  I made the mistake of calling them “nipples” & I was kindly corrected.  But then again, Miss Parker says “Teats” & my neighbor says “Tits”.. whatever!!!

The entire milking is over within 3 minutes.  It takes me longer to prep everything, clean & put everything away than it does to actually “pull” the milk!  Naturally this video is very “matter of fact” but when it’s just Frosty & I, it’s a very therapeutic time.  For both of us!  Frosty gets her favorite food, gets her ears & chest scratched and receives some tasty “Nicker Bocker” horse treats when we’re done!

The secret to good, fresh tasting goat milk is keeping everything clean & chilling the milk as quickly as possible. I don’t have a fridge in the barn but I bring an icepack cooler with me and immediately put the jars in the cooler so they stay cool until they get to the fridge about 20 minutes later. It also helps if you don’t have a stinky buck in close vicinity! Odor in the air will quickly be absorbed by the milk.

So there you have it! I hope you’ve found this post interesting.. please let me know if you have!

Lets see, Sweety & her doeling Gracie, Annabelle & her doeling Pebbles, Molly the fainting goat, the wethers Bongo & Herman & our stud, Billy… that’s all that’s left as goats!  To think that I had 16 or so kids in the month of April!  Well, I sure am glad the “selling” experience is over!  What a hassle that always is.  I hope I remember this when I think about breeding the girls in November!

The last 6 weeks or so has caused me to think about how things can get expensive when animals start needing veterinary care.  First it was Angel the pound hound that was diagnosed with Diabetes (I can write an entire post on that alone!) $500., then Major the Llama went down (he’s fine now… $295 later), then Gracie the goat & her C-Section $250 & lastly Mandy, the MinPin mix we adopted when my mother-in-law passed, $250….  those bills added real quickly!

One fine day after spending over an hour cleaning up the Pot Bellys Dogloos I got to thinking about how much money was being spent on these 3 animals that I rarely saw!  They’re were always sleeping somewhere & only came out to eat!  Lulu was still totally wild although I’d had her almost 3 years!  Grumpy was okay & so was Ms Piggy but they just kind of hung together & stayed away from people.  Then I quickly started to count feeding costs & realized I had spent at least $1200 on these 3 for the last 2 to 3 years!  WOW.. rude awakening!

So I found all three a good home together and since I had the perfect pig area, I went out and bought 2 “freezer” pigs.  This brother (neutered) & sister pair are a Hampshire mixed breed that apparently are the best for this purpose.   Scott named them Bacon & Pork Chops so that we never forget why we got them!  I found that contrary to the Pot Bellys, these two are excellent swimmers and come out of their pasture via the pond.

I’m still trying to reduce the number of animals but only if I can find excellent homes for them.  For instance, I’d love to find a home for the 3 Llamas but only if they can go together to the same place for the last transition of their life.  Otherwise, they’ll stay here and we’ll continue to care for them & enjoy them as the lawn ornaments they are.

Same thing for Madigan & Daisy June, the miniature donkeys that we got in September ’07 (see picture).  Because miniature donkeys here are almost a dime a dozen, its not easy to determine that a future home will be the last home.  It would kill me to know these girls were separated!  They’ve been together since birth and are almost 3 years old now!  They’re at the perfect age to breed but once again I don’t want to get into babies anymore.   I guess they’ll be here for a long time… I’m just not ready to take a chance that someone wouldn’t be as caring as I am.

I almost sold the donkeys a year ago… then all of a sudden I started to wonder if they’d be alright, if the new owner would only keep one and sell the other.. it just broke my heart thinking of it!

We had 2 duck hens hatch several eggs.. Sadly, from the first group, 6 ducklings got eaten by snapping turtles.. (which prompted hubby to acquire a 22 caliber rifle). Only one left in that little family.  As for the other family, this mom is a little smarter & stays closer to home.  She still has 9 beautiful little ducklings following her everywhere!

Our Banty Cochin hens have also been very busy!  We have several families scratching around at the barn.  They’re of different age groups and stay very close to mama hen.  One of the clutches has a mama & a nanny!  These 2 girls couldn’t decide who was going to hatch the clutch so they did it together.  They too are a pleasure to watch!

As for the miniature horses, they continue to be totally adorable.  My guys are all very loving and good horses.  Ol’Blue must be almost 25, Buddy the cremello gelding is about 4 or 5 & then Toffee the baby will be 2 in a few weeks.  They get along great, they’re pretty good with the farrier & they’re beautiful to look at and enjoy.  Scott & I get a lot of pleasure looking into the pasture and seeing Buddy chasing Toffee playfully and nipping at Blue on the way!  The Llamas always look at the horses with an air of superiority!  It’s a beautiful view from our porch!

On a final note I have to add that people are funny… I just recently decided to post a “donate” button on my website because I was spending so much time answering emails & comments from my website.  All proceeds will go to our local animal shelter.. not to me.  In any case, since the appearance of the “donate” button, I’ve had not one single query & I had always had a few every day before that!  Don’t you think people are funny?

Have a good summer everyone & remember to always be kind to animals.. they too are God’s creatures & we’ve been entrusted by Him to always treat them with care & respect.

04/26/10 Sweety (3)

1) Buckling mostly black 1) Buckling mostly white 1) Buckling mostly grey

04/25/10 Cocoa (1)

1) Buckling, gray black & white

04/24/10 PeeWee (1)

1) Buckling black & white

04/23/10 Gracie (1, almost!)

1) Buckling, C-Section.. deceased

04/22/10 Brownie (1)

1) Doeling brown with black trim

04/18/10 Oreo (2)

1) Buckling Black & White (Jethro) 1) Doe all black with tiny white spot on forehead (Twiggy)

04/14/10 Annabelle (Nubian Boer Cross) (1)

1) Doeling almost all white (Pebbles)

04/13/10 Chausette (3)

1) Buckling mostly brown 1) Doe mostly brown 1) Doe mostly white with brown spots

04/11/10 Noel (2)

1) Buckling white with brown spots 1) Buckling brown with black trim

04/04/10 Molly (Myotonic Fainting goat) (2)

1) Doeling tri color (Easter) 1) Doeling, brown & white (Lilly)

Final count… bucklings (live) 9, Doelings 7… not too bad, could have been worse!

I have one doe left, Pepper (Cocoa’s daughter from January ’09) that may be pregnant but wouldn’t be due until September.  Now I have to name all these little stinkers!  Suggestions welcomed.. I’m all out of ideas!  Later this week I’ll get my hubby to help me and we’ll take individual identifying pictures.

Since I’m on the subject of counting, how many goats do I have?  Well, besides these 11 does, I have 1 breeding Pygmy/Nigerian breeding buck Billy, 1 Nubian/Boer cross wether, Bongo & Herman, one teeny, tiny wether Nigerian Dwarf.  Total 14 adult goats & 16 kids!  Geez! No wonder Danny at the feed store loves to see me pull up!

Did I mention that earlier this week & bought a little feeder pig?  I purchased a 6 week old Hamshire/Yorkshire cross sow (Pickles), that we’ll feed & love for about 16 weeks.. then we’ll eat her.  There’s no other way to put it… if it’s anything like eating locally raised beef, these pork chops should be awesome!

“In regards to M-worm prevention almost everyone has either returned to Ivermec as a preventative or moved their Dectomax schedule to 30 days as it was subsequently proven that the Dectomax does NOT work on a 45 day schedule and in fact is not as effective as Ivermec when given in 30 day increments.”

This information was confirmed by the vets a University of Tennessee & contributed by:
Deborah Logan
South East Llama Rescue
SELR Giftshop
Adoption Coordinator AL/GA/TN

Thanks Deborah for the important correction!  Friends,  please be sure to visit Deborah’s website & her virtual gift shop

I know posting about this is going to open up a whole can of worms!

We have a lot of animals here and parasite control can become quite the chore.. not to mention quite expensive. We have two office cats, Minou & Sola , three office dogs, Angel, Taz & Mandy, two guard dogs, Diesel & Beulah, and last but not least two house dogs, Mouse & Zipper. These are just our pets… I’ll get to the farm critters later!

We live in the country – on a small mountain, or maybe we can call it the hillside of a small valley – doesn’t matter what it’s called.. we’re surrounded by lots of woods, marshy and/or brushy areas. Our pets need protection… fleas isn’t too big an issue here.. ticks are! If there’s something that drives me nuts is finding a tick, on me!

FLEA & TICK CONTROL – DOGS & CATS

I used to buy Frontline in several different formats. Our dogs range from 4 lbs to 145 lbs so I’d buy this product in each size and enough for monthly treatments for about 9 months a year. Can you imagine the $$$ ? Yikes!   So how do I get around that? Simple, I only buy one format.. the extra large dog size. Then I use a syringe & pull out just what I need for each dog & cat. Only the 100 + lbs dog need one full ampule – for me, one extra ampule is enough for all the other pets.

Frontline dosage is  (0.5 cc per 10 lbs).   Insert a syringe in the ampule & draw the quantity you need depending on your pet’s weight.  Leave the needle in the ampule for your next draw.  Then simply apply deep within the fur on the back of your pet’s neck & draw what you need for the next pet.  If there’s any left in your ampule, store it in a cool, dry place & just be careful not to spill the contents.  Repeat monthly.

HEARTWORM – DOGS

As for heartworm prevention, you can use Ivomec or similar type product. Dosage is simple & so cheap! You need 1/10cc per 10 lbs. Again use a syringe, leave the needle section in the bottle & squirt the product in the back of your dog’s mouth. However, if your dog is a COLLIE, do not use this product.   REPEAT DOSAGE MONTHLY.

INTERNAL PARASITES – DOGS & CATS

To treat for Hookworms (looks like Roundworms with teeth at one end), Roundworms (looks like piece of cooked spaghetti), Tapeworm (looks like rice in feces or around anus) & Whipworm (whip shaped cooked spaghetti) – you can safely use Safe-Guard (10% suspension), yes this is the same product you use on goats.  Safe-Guard is a generic name for FENBENDAZOLE.

Dosage is also very simple… 1 cc per 5 lbs or 5 cc per 25 lbs.  You must repeat for 3 consecutive days.  However, if you’ve seen any kind of worms in your dog’s feces, use for 4 days.  This preventative treatment should be repeated yearly.  I found that this dosage became hard to administer on our 100 lbs + Mastiffs.  For these 2 dogs I used the Safe-Guard paste for horses.  Just use the guidelines on the tube.  Again here it is better to overdose than underdose.  If you have a puppy, it should be wormed every 2 weeks until it is 3 months old.  Especially if you don’t know if the mom was parasite free.

IT IS BEST NOT TO USE IVERMECTIN (OR GENERIC) AT THE SAME TIME AS SAFE-GUARD – BEST TO USE 15 DAYS APART.

I’d like to interrupt this post with a “plug” for all of my local readers that I get all of my pet medications, dewormers, feed, anything animal related from L &J Farm Supply in Spring City (423) 365-4931. They have the best prices not to mention the best customer service anywhere… Danny is number one!!! Now that I’m done with commercials…

INTERNAL PARASITE CONTROL – GOATS & LLAMAS

Parasite control is an ongoing problem on most small farms. The biggest contributing factor is the fact that most farms are hobby farms and thus there are too many animals per acre. A periodic and routine worming program along with good pasture management goes a long way toward reducing the problem and maintaining good herd health.

Please note goats/llamas living in different parts of the country need to be treated for different parasites.  The information I’m sharing with you is basically for goats & llamas living in the east Tennessee area.   Some folks prefer to have fecal analysis done a few times a year and treat for a specific parasite.  I’ve been successful with my method and I see no need to change it.  Like the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

GOATS

I just finished a year’s cycle of Safe-Guard (.6 cc per 25 lbs, orally).  I love this product, it’s easy to use & I believe it is effective.  However, I’ve been using it for about 15 months (once every season, at least), and it is now time to switch to another product.

I switched to Noromectin which is a generic for Ivermectin (therefore cheaper to buy).  The dosage is also simple – the complicated part is weighing your goats!  I normally use a “goat tape” but it had been a while since I’d actually weighed my girls.  This time I brought my bathroom scale to the barn, protected it with a Walmart bag and weighed myself with each goat.  It was easy with the < 50lbs ones but I nearly took my back out with the >50 lbs!  Thankfully my scale goes high enough!

Again use a syringe & leave the needle part in the bottle after every “draw”.   If you’re not using a stanchion, straddle your goat between your knees with just her head sticking out.  Slightly pull her head back, lift her upper lip on the side of the mouth, insert the syringe as far back as you can and “squirt”!  Keep her head up until she swallows.  Less than half a minute per goat!

Ivermectin dosage: 50 lbs or less – 1 cc, 51 lbs to 100 – 2 cc, 101 lbs & up, 2.5 cc : A little more is better than not enough but don’t over do it too much!

LLAMAS

Again this depends on your geographical location but here’s what I use.

Safeguard (number 1 choice)

This wormer is safe and effective on almost all worms including the Monezia type of tape worm. It is the medication of choice for treating a confirmed case of meningeal worm. The dosage for routine worming in llamas is 2cc per 20 pounds (10cc per 100 pounds). I use the one sold for horses & triple the dose. Example, if your llama is 150 lbs, set the dial on the syringe for 450 lbs.

Ivermectin or a generic

Ivermectin is effective for most worms including preventing meningeal but not for tape worms. The recommended dosage for injection in llamas is 1cc per 66 pounds which is one and a half times the cattle dose. Note that administered subcutaneously, effects last longer then if administered orally.

Dectomax

Dectomax is a newer medication that is similar to Ivomectin. However, it is less painful for the llama as an injection and lasts a full 45 days. This is the injection of choice for the prevention of meningeal worm. Dectomax is not effective for tape worms. The recommended dosage for injection in llamas is 1cc per 66 pounds which is one and a half times the cattle dose (same as Ivermectin).

Valbazen

Valbazen is a very effective broad scope oral llama wormer including tape worms. This and Synanthic are the only two medications proven effective for tape worms in llamas. A word of caution however, we have learned from experience not to use it with bred females in the first 3 months or last 3 months of pregnancy. The oral dosage is the labeled cattle dose which is 4cc per 100 pounds.

Synanthic

This is another broad scope oral wormer that is one of the two along with Valbazen that is effective for tape worms in llamas. We have found this wormer to be very effective in difficult llama worm cases. Synanthic is also not recommended for use the last 3 months of pregnancy. The dosage is the labeled cattle dose which is 2.5cc per 110 pounds.

WORMING YOUR PIGS

This is an easy one.. the hard part is to figure out how much the little ham weighs!  Use Ivermectin or Safe-Guard Paste for Horses, double the dose (if pig weighs 100 lbs, use 200 lbs marker on syringe), inject in a Twinkie or some other tasty cake, toss to piggy & BINGO!  Job is done for 6 months!  Here also it is better to over dose than under dose.

So, that’s how parasites are handled here at my farm!

I had let them explore the barn and they checked everything out – sniffing chickens, looking at the goats looking at them… just looking out at “freedom”

I had even walked them around on a lead and let them nibble on grass & clover… yes, there’s still some beautiful greens out there.  Stuff my goats would NEVER eat!  Spoiled goats… all they want is hay & their morning grain!  Note here to anyone thinking of getting goats to keep their grass trimmed – it doesn’t work.. goats will only eat grass if they have absolutely nothing else!

In any case.. I got my peewees settled in a new pen.  One that opens directly to the barn yard.  I removed the goats that I thought could be a problem (now those goats hate me), left behind Annabelle, Bongo, Herman, PeeWee  & Boo (they’re not interested in the horsies), and of course Ms Piggy.  Their new pen is again filled with fresh hay for bedding (and snacking) and is large enough to accommodate them long term.

As soon as they saw the gate opened & the view of the barnyard, they just trotted out and made it to the nearest clover patch.  I stayed close by  – on the lookout for the dreaded “clover-slobber” but they didn’t react to it so I left them to do what horses do best… browse.

Of course when the sun went down they weren’t anywhere near being ready to come in but I didn’t want to leave them out.  They need to be safe in their pen.  I caught Blondie (oh yeah, they wouldn’t just come to me, I had to catch them), and lead her in with Bogart following close behind.

I got them settled in with a cup of Junior Equine formula and they were blissfully happy to be locked in again!  Fresh Bermuda grass, grain, clear fresh water… what more could they ask for?

I took a few pics.. enjoy & feel free to comment.  I love to read what my fans have to say!

Val has also been kind enough to show me how to trim my minis.  She was as patient with me as she was with the horses!  She’s owned horses for many years and I certainly consider her a horse expert.  She may not know it but she’s on my emergency contact list… our vet is about an hour away (we use the same vet, Dr. Maben Thompson from Upper Cumberland Veterinary Hospital in Crossville).

The day after Bogart & Blondie arrived I called her and arranged to have her come and take care of their first trim.  I emailed her some links from Janell Jensens website.  I wanted Val to have an idea of what needed to be done.

When Val saw my cuties I think she was taken back by their small stature and the strange way their hooves were growing.  Dr Thompson was here at the same time to evaluate my little ones & he also agreed that Bogart needed some heavy duty trimming to slowly correct the direction of the hoof growth.  Val and I agreed that she’d do a bit more research before putting a knife to their hooves.

However, she just couldn’t resist and after doing an awesome job on Blondie, she got to work on Bogart.  She just filed and “sanded” but did a great job.  The horses resisted a little to start with but when they realized that Val wasn’t about to give up, they gave in!

My husband who just recently got a Droid cell phone (has tons of awesome features), shot some video with it that streamed directly while he was shooting.

The quality of these videos is pretty good considering these videos were taken with a cell phone and were streamed live.. meaning that while the farrier was working on Blondie, anyone could have logged on to Scott’s Qik site and watched while Val was working!  I’d say these videos are pretty awesome!  I’ll try to get Scott to do some more when Bogart & Blondie are walking on pavement so you can see their little feet in action.

The video below will turn… you don’t have to adjust your monitor! 

Dr. Thompson was amazed when he saw my little ones!  An avid horseman and farm veterinarian, he’d never seen Dwarfs before.  He gave them a thorough check up… all is well.  Their lungs sound fine, teeth are good, eyes bright & shiny.. the only thing that bothered him was their feet and because he had no experience with Dwarfs he was at a loss to help me.  He and Val agreed to a line of action and Val will look into the option of fitting little magic shoes.  He gave them both their 5-way shot and gave me their Potomac Horse Fever  shots to administer next week.

They also had quite a bit of debris deep within their fur.  Doc thought it was rain rot.  My donkeys had rain rot on a few areas last year & their fur had fallen out.  These little ones are pretty furry.. no loss of fur there but it just feels like chunks of crud well attached to the fur here & there.  He also suggested that if they stay furry into next summer, I should consider clipping them.

Of course, wouldn’t you know it, the doc hadn’t been gone 30 minutes and all of a sudden Blondie started to have green snot drip from one of her nostrils!  After speaking to him today he instructed me to give them 2cc of Penicillin once a day for 3 days.  He wasn’t really concerned about it unless she stopped eating.  If the vet isn’t worried, then I’m not!

Here are a few shots I took after all was said and done!  I’m glad to report that both my babies behaved very well considering they’d never had their feet even lifted off the ground.

By the way, you’ll notice that we used my goat stand to work on them!  It still was a little low but Val managed to make it work.  I’m sure I’ll be seeing Val quite a bit in the next few months!

When I returned Friday with Scott, I found 2 little dwarf minis stalled together.  I allowed myself to enter their pen and examine them as best as I could with the little amount of knowledge that I have on these little guys.  Their legs were not bent, their hooves were relatively normal & the stallion had a slight under bite.  Oh but how cute they were!

Regardless of his small stature, the little stallion was so “studly” that he would answer to the whinny’s of the larger size horses!   He’d lift his head and practically lift his front feet off the ground the return the calls!  It was so cute (only because he’s so small).

Against my better judgment because I have at least a little knowledge of the negative aspects of owning dwarfs, I found the seller & begged him to sell me these 2 babies bypassing the auction process.   To no avail.  He had heard of a “freak” scout that was looking to purchase unusual looking animals for his traveling “circus” and like many people, dollar signs were all that mattered.

It was a long day… I returned at least 100 times to their stall to just look at them and pray that they’d find a good home.  I didn’t return Saturday for the auction…  I knew that I’d go head to head with anyone bidding on them and that’s not a good thing.  Auctions can be dangerous & I’m well aware how quickly bids can rise.   I knew I’d end up spending way more than I wanted to and way more than the value of the dwarfs.

To make an already long story short, Saturday the seller called me and offered me the dwarfs.  He was unhappy with the bidding & let me have them both for $1500.  He expected to make more than $1000 each but the auctioning held at about $1200.  He was “kind” enough to deliver them to me.  I was so happy, I cried!

This gentlemen (from Kentucky), currently has about 50 miniature horses on his farm and he claims he has between 1 & 3 dwarfs a year.   His breeding schedule should be examined to stop breeding the animals that are producing the dwarfs.  My little ones are of different mares but the same stallion… that should tell him something.  But then again, maybe the dwarfs are his cash cow.. so sad.

Bogart & Blondie arrived early Saturday evening and were lead to their new stall.  They were very skittish & not very friendly.  They are 3 & 4 months old and have probably not received too much socialization.  That’s okay… I know that within a week, they will be following me like puppies (I hope!).  I left them with a flake of fresh hay, a bucket of fresh water and quick kisses…

When I saw her tied with a 3 foot long wire to a post in a very dirty environment I just had to take her… even if it meant to try to find her another home later on. The fellow who had temporarily adopted her meant well but obviously regards little creatures as nothing more than something cute with which he can make a quick buck!

I brought her home to the house and introduced her to Mouse. Mouse loved her immediately (I’m not sure the feeling was mutual…)

Ms Piggy didn’t seem to be concerned with this 7 lbs fluff of white fur jumping all over the place – I think all Ms Piggy wanted was FOOD!!!

We quickly realized that Ms Piggy would have to accept being a barn animal – she probably would have made a good house pet except that Mouse couldn’t resist rolling in pig poop! That wouldn’t do! They definitely could not share Poopoo/Weewee pads!

I brought Ms Piggy to the barn where she quickly established her little routine – she loves being out and rooting and making a mess of things! The goats don’t know what to make of her and Lulu (big sow), doesn’t want her anywhere near her! As for Grumpy, I don’t think he’s even aware of a relative in his proximity!

She follows me around and loves to have her belly scratched! When you start petting/scratching her, she just falls on her side, closes her eyes and grunts happily!

I’ll try to make sure this one doesn’t follow in Lulu’s footsteps to become one mean, old, overweight, unfriendly, miserable sow!

I recently acquired a used pony carousel & had it “cut to size” – it was built for larger horses.  Every day (that it’s not too hot out), I work the minis on it along with Madigan, the miniature donkey.  She loves to be ridden and most kids are excited about riding a donkey!

The important thing I learned is to train a “lead” pony – one that will take control and will drive the wheel for the others to just follow.  I think Buddy will make a great lead pony and I’m working with him every day.

I might be set up at the Rhea County Fair on September 7th & 11.  If I do set up, I’ll have a special treat for the kids.  This morning I bathed Coquette – who probably had never been washed in her life!  She did very well and I managed to keep her under control providing I had treats to occupy her mind.

It’s amazing how white & soft she turned out to be!  As a special effect, I dyed her tail pink!  I planned on doing her mane also but the weather didn’t cooperate.

Later on I bathed Buddy – he gave me a little bit of a harder time but we managed to get him nice and shiny.

Just as I was getting finished, we got hit by a huge storm!  In seconds I was wetter than Buddy!  We ran to the tool shed and stayed under cover for a bit – the rain didn’t bother Buddy at all… it was bothering me!

I managed to get his mane & tail untangled and nicely combed – he looks like a different horse!

All this time Old Blue was hanging around looking at me as if asking, “Am I next?”  I get around to her tomorrow!

Once I have every one shiny clean (it doesn’t last… Coquette rolled in the dirt before I had the gate locked behind her), we’ll work on the carousel!

I think bathing horses is a weekly chore if you want to show clean animals!

While on the subject of my mini horses, I’ve decided to try and sell Toffee & Buttons.  If Buttons sells first, I may end up keeping Toffee – she still has a good 18 months before I can use her as a carousel pony but I think she may turn out to be a good driving pony.  We’ll see what happens!