Goats should not be called goats. \u00a0Albeit though it may, goat is a four letter word. However the word malady is more appropriate. \u00a0There is always something wrong with at least one of these things. \u00a0Sometimes, I just dread reading a text, email or listening to a phone call. \u00a0It doesn’t matter whose farm or how many, there is always some of the following going on.<\/p>\n
–My goat(s) has coccidia problems. \u00a0Oh really. \u00a0Not unusual.<\/p>\n
–My buck has the buck crud on his underbelly and crotch. \u00a0Hhmm.<\/p>\n
–pick at least one but not more than three at a time: \u00a0limping, coughing, runny nose, aborted, broke a horn, didn’t settle, toxemia, CL, rough hair, kidney stone, swollen knee, hoof problem, quick pneumonia, pizzle pecker rot and the list goes on. \u00a0Oh and sore mouth!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As I sit here during the first of 2018 and review 2017, it becomes apparent\u20262018 MUST be better or I am done with these animals. \u00a0I bet that some of you loyal readers had already figured this out. \u00a02017 was NOT fun.<\/p>\n
–Had sold a bad ass wether on Labor Day 2016. \u00a0I should have kept him but he brought a bunch and went to a good home. \u00a0Kidney stone in January 2017 got him while he was at OSU vet med. \u00a0Luckily for me, her other two goats were good enough to win Woodward and make the OYE premium sale\u2026and they were sired by Kelln bred and sold bucks.<\/p>\n
–Sent a proven older buck to a neighbor to breed a few does. \u00a0While at OYE, I was informed that the buck was dead. \u00a0Who knows why? \u00a0Well, at least I didn’t have to haul him off.<\/span><\/p>\n –Duke and I had hell dealing with wethers for the 2017 show season. \u00a0Nothing seemed to work right. \u00a0The best one was off-feed for weeks. \u00a0Wasn’t sick, no worms, all tests were clear, but he went backwards. \u00a0He just liked to eat prairie grass hay. \u00a0We got him turned around and he ended up 2nd in class behind the grand at OYE but he wasn’t 100%. \u00a0I screwed up a class schedule at OYE with another one. \u00a0And we worked our asses off to get the 3rd one good enough to make premium sales at Woodward and OYE. \u00a0We limped into show season and felt good to make those premium sales. \u00a0It wasn’t fun.<\/p>\n –Sold a $23,000 buck online. \u00a0Then decided that I better buy 1\/2 interest back into this buck. \u00a0I had him for 3 more months, so I decided to self-insure him. \u00a0Then he went to the partners AND as livestock tend to do\u2026he died. \u00a0Not a partner problem, just typical. \u00a0So I paid for that. \u00a0I do have semen on him and a few kids out of him. \u00a0But, that one hurt–financially, mentally and he was\u00a0<\/span>damn good.<\/p>\n –Sold a $3,500 buck online. \u00a0Agreed to deliver him in 2 weeks on a trip to TX. \u00a0Time for trip came and a quick pneumonia had hit him. \u00a0Doctored him, left him at home and headed south. \u00a0Dragon Lady called that evening—dead. \u00a0Didn’t collect that sale. \u00a0Summer before I turned down $2,500 for him as a wether, then fed him for for 9 more months, clipped & photoed–not profitable.<\/p>\n –Sold a $2,100 buck online. \u00a0Buyer picked him up. \u00a0 Everything looked good, he tried to breed does–no go. \u00a0She took him to the vet and had “pizzle rot”. \u00a0What in the hell? \u00a0So, I replaced him with a buck that I had yet to picture and would not have let go for less than $3,500. \u00a0She wasn’t happy even though it was a better buck. \u00a0She wanted the picture. \u00a0Which says a lot about today’s buyers.<\/p>\n –Bought a buck that had the parts and genetics. \u00a0Fed him for 4 months, got him looking and handling wicked, turned down a pile for 1\/2 interest, let a friend use him who then called 48 hours later and said that he was breathing hard. \u00a0Took him to the vet, thought everything was right, brought him home, I paid the vet bill, 2 weeks later\u2026fine that morning, dead that afternoon. \u00a0That bargain turned out to be expensive. \u00a0There has been a doe kid born out of this buck. \u00a0But for some reason, I haven’t been in a hurry to go look at it. \u00a0However, I hear she is good. \u00a0If it had nuts, yeah\u2026..<\/p>\n –Actually paid a sizable amount for a wether in June 2017. \u00a0Kept him at another place for multiple reasons. \u00a0First and foremost, because their care is wicked awesome. \u00a0July 3 started doctoring for some kind of wicked strawberry-type fungus on one hoof, then all four, then on ears, disbudded horn and mouth. \u00a0After talking to numerous vets, breeders, show experts, universities and none of their stuff working, we finally got him cleared up in August. \u00a0Still have him, but he hasn’t been right since. \u00a0Doubt he sees a showring. \u00a0I take that statement back, he might be right by Tulsa.<\/p>\n –Had another buck start shooting blanks while on lease. \u00a0Luckily, I had also sent a young keeper buck that was way better than the lease buck. \u00a0The young buck got worked harder than expected. \u00a0But they will be better off. \u00a0And I got a young buck a new moniker that is fitting. \u00a0Sometimes, you have to take a Detour.<\/p>\n –Didn’t lose hardly any does! \u00a0Which proves that 2017 wasn’t fun. \u00a0I would way rather have the bucks then the does.<\/p>\n Reading this shows three things. \u00a01–I didn’t have to haul off very many of these carcasses as these maladies happened at numerous places. \u00a02—I have numerous reasons to not be happy with these beasts. \u00a03—I took care of ALL problems incurred. \u00a0I was the only one out much.<\/p>\n On the other hand, we sold bucks from California to Maryland. \u00a0Bucks that we have sold in the past sired state fair champions, premium sale goats and banner hangers at majors during 2017. \u00a0Our small herd of genetics are at work in all levels of breeding herds across the country. \u00a0Duke has had past showring success but watching him learn to work from behind, knowing that he is not going to win, has been good. \u00a0Not fun, but good.<\/p>\n And in summary: \u00a0Goats aren’t easy to raise. There is a reason that the good ones cost a pile. \u00a0Sometimes, buying semen seems cheaper than owning bucks. \u00a0I can guarantee you that bigger breeders have more and bigger stories than these. \u00a0But, these are real to me. \u00a0And like Okie State football, there is always next year\u2026.and it is here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Goats should not be called goats. \u00a0Albeit though it may, goat is a four letter word. However the word malady is more appropriate. \u00a0There is always something wrong with at least one of these things. \u00a0Sometimes, I just dread reading a text, email or listening to a phone call. \u00a0It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2045"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2046,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045\/revisions\/2046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}