Where goats do roam

Today’s story is a story about a goat.

Part of the reason: it is too hot to be doing anything outside. So, I shall craft the life story of one Ziggy, son of Kruispad Cecil and Ewe X, brother to Cecil X.

The other part is that a friend of a friend reached out to me. She heard I had bravely swopped the world of financial management for full time farming and wanted goating advice. Well, my advice takes the form of much of my blog – experimental outcomes. And, I still have my day job.

The three Boerbok sons were born on 28 August 2020. Cecil X sometime during the night before, Ziggy in the exceedingly early morning hours, and last born at around 7am.

To appreciate our great excitement, you must understand that we had only taken ownership of these goats a mere 5 (plus a bit) months before.

Cecil X comes with papers, and was my xth (….) birthday gift.

DeMille (his first lady friend) arrived 3 days later, and Little Millertjie 4 months later. You may be able to work it out, but Millertjie has not yet. We have not told her that Cecil is not her dad.

Here is a hint to the naming convention of this first family pack – You win a prize if you figure it out. The prize is, yep, you guessed, goat pie.

We have been told that goats often abandon their babies. Well, in the case of our goats, I think you will find it hard to find better mothers. Mommy number 1 was very protective and watched us very carefully as we bottle fed her middle kid. Unfortunately, last born did not make it. Mommy’s milk factory had only one outlet, and we did not know enough then, to take charge sooner.

Things went well, and we relocated the family to the stone kraal, for safe keeping. Mom was fed with feed, and delicacies such as Camel Thorn pods and Soutbos (one of the few tree names that translates correctly directly “saltbush”).

Soutbos (Full name: Oumansoutbos, or Atriplex Nummularia) is a firm favourite with Cattle (Daisy comes to fetch hers), sheep and goats. Of course, also with Kudu, who spend a few minutes on it, before tackling my butternut! It is a drought resistant plant and does very well on the run-off from the kitchen sink.

Ziggy’s first feed was about 300ml of box milk, with an egg. The egg is important as that first milk from mommy (called Colostrum, or colloquially – beestings) has critical starting nutrients for baby. Google says it can be frozen, but what did we know at the time.

You can continue using box milk, it is just awfully expensive. We bought some powered cow milk, and Ziggy loves it. The trick is less volume, more often. Apparently 10% of body weight, maybe 4 or 5 times a day. But they will let you know when they are hungry!

Ziggy’s progress was terribly slow. His brother, Cecil X, flourished, and while mommy was very attentive, she simply could not produce enough milk for both. More ewes delivered their kids, and it was becoming crowded in the pen. I use the word loosely. The kraal is large. But why I say crowded, I do believe that someone stepped on Ziggy, because two weekends later, he was dragging his feet, and not jumping around like the other kids. I was very worried.

We tried all manner of injections, from Swamycin (local equivalent of Terramycin). We tried an injection (which only the State Vet can prescribe, and there is only one such State Vet in Windhoek, who does not necessarily work on a Friday).

Lucky for Uncle Willem. I found him on Facebook. Or rather, he found my cries for advice on the Internet, and now I am part of the WhatsApp group that only deals with goat problems. It is highly informative, but I worry about what we are going to do if Uncle Willem is not around. If only I had the skills and attention to detail, to document each of his carefully considered symptom analysis questions, related advice, and final outcomes, I could write an app that could stand in for Uncle Willem. UW for President!

Yes, Disprin (although only ¼ Blue Disprin) is good for pain relief for Ziggy. And the only other advice was to be patient. If indeed it was an injury by a dominant other mother, it needed time to heal.

We eventually moved Ziggy closer to home, and now, we have our very own Jack Russel.

He is now one week short of 3 months old. Becoming as handsome as his father. And I dare say, his legs will catch up with his brother’s soon enough, although his horns seem to be taking it slow.

Abbie, I am dying to hear how your goat start up is doing. Let us know!

Now, I shall take a dip in our water storage system. Good and productive week all!