At the end of my rope!

Oh my word!! What a week it's been.

We got the results of the CAE testing and things were not what we expected. Tomi was negative, Febe was positive. That I expected. But the surprise being that Cindi was positive also!! That I was not happy. She was supposed to be from a CAE negative herd! I'm so mad at that that I cannot even talk about it.

I've been giving Febe supplements from Fiasco farm but they aren't working. This morning I actually thought I had to get her put down. She couldn't get up. It was so sad. Her hooves are bad also. We're not sure if the CAE is putting her feet out of line so much that her hooves are curling and causing her pain. Or if the hooves are just bad because they were never well taken care of from the get go and it's making her pain worse. Dunno.

So today I called the vet and we had a long talk. He's going to email me the new findings about CAE so I can email them to the former owners of Cindi Lou. Then I asked him if I could up the dosage on the glucosamine and the MSM. He said I could at least double it. Goats are not like humans and other animals, they sometimes don't absorb the supplements well like regular one stomach creatures, so he said for me to leave the glucosamine dosage the way it is but to up the MSM dosage. I guess MSM is a natural pain killer. It will take up to 3 weeks to take effect but it should work. He said his parents use it and it works wonders. If this doesn't work, then I have to resort to Blaut. I think that's what it's called. It's a horse pain killer, but you cannot drink the milk after. The kids could but humans can't because it would be like drinking milk laced with aspirin, tylenol and advil. Not a good thing. But imagine...my headaches would be totally gone!

The sad thing is that after the signs of CAE become apparent, you can breed her one more time and then it's done. She needs to be retired. That was our original plan in the first place. So we are going to breed her one last time and whatever girls she gets (hopefully twin girls) we're going to keep. I am so sorry I sold Azelle. I contemplated on keeping her, but like Dave said, we wanted a black doe.

But going on to happy news, I was asked back this summer to speak on our farm and why we started in the soap making business to a group of ladies called La Societe Madelaine LeBlanc. So Thursday night, off I went with power point presentation and all my soaps to speak to these ladies. I was nervous as all git out! Yes, I used to be worship leader in church, but this was different. But they even gave me supper! So I gave my speech and they loved it!! They asked questions and everything. Then they swooped down on my soap and bought over 170$ worth of soap in 10 minutes!! Vultures they were. My problem now lies in that I have no more of my best seller! They wiped me out. Usually I'd be super happy about this, don't get me wrong I am happy, but on Thanksgiving weekend (two weeks from now), we were asked to go to a fall craft fair in Digby and it takes over 3 weeks to cure! Ack!! Oh well, I've been making soap this last weekend. Every day! If they buy it, I'll just have to tell them not to use it for a few weeks.

Finished product, just a bit of cleaning up to do.

Have a Blessed Evening

Lisa

And once again, the vet comes to Spring Peeper Farm.

You are getting sleepier....and sleepier...now when I snap my fingers you'll cluck like a chicken.

Ok, I'm pretty sick of seeing the vet. The last time we were at his office I told them that I hoped that I would not have to see them or talk to them for a very long time. Maybe a Christmas card. Maybe.

Febe, my main gal

Well guess what! Febe's joints are starting to creak and crack. I can tell when bad weather is coming. She starts to limp, bad. A few weeks ago we had a couple of days rain. I practically had to carry her to the barn. She was bad. I'm suspecting CAE.

Tundra dying of heat today

We called the vet, again. He said the next time he was down, he'd stop in. Don't forget, he's 1.5 hours away, so unless someone's dying, we wait till he comes down for a mink rancher and we share the mileage. Also, we are now a registered farm, so we will come for us. If we weren't a registered farm, he wouldn't even think of coming. The expense would be too great for us. But anyhow, I digress.

Tomi, the head stud.

He's suspecting CAE also. So he came down to take blood samples of all three to see who has it and who doesn't. Cindi Lou is supposed to be CAE negative. Tomi we don't know.

Oh and before I go any further, CAE stands for Caprine Arthritis Encephilitis. I think I spelled it properly. Rumours abound about CAE, like it's contagious from goat to goat. The only way to stop it from spreading is to take the kid away from the mother before it even hits the ground. Not even let her lick it. They also say to pasteurize the milk before giving it to the kid. Another rumour was that it could pass on through a CAE positive buck.

Well the vet told me the alot of research has been done on CAE these last few years. So here's the truth.

-It's not contagious from goat to goat

-The only way a kid gets it is from the mom's colostrum, not the milk after, not from being licked by the mom etc...

-Bucks cannot transmit it either.

SO, that being said. The vet said that if perchance, Febe comes back positive and Cindi, negative, I should breed Cindi first. Save some of her colostrum and when Febe's kids are born, feed them Cindi's colostrum and throw Febe's colostrum out. Phew! Does that make sense? Clear as mud.

Because we love Febe and if she has a doeling, we want to keep one to replace Marygold.

But, this still doesn't help Febe and her creaking and pain. So I did a little research of my own before the vet even showed up. I found a natural remedy called Arthritis and Joint support on Fiasco Farm. It's been formulated for goats with CAE.

Cindi Lou sniffing out the old trees.

I ordered it (it came quickly considering it's from the States) and I had it when the vet showed up. I didn't give any to the goat until I got the OK from the vet and he said it should work great. He said with the ingredients it's also no milk withdrawal and safe on pregnant does. The stuff he would have given me, he said I wouldn't have ever been able to drink Febe's milk.

So hopefully it works. So far I just spread it on her grain and she eats it, but I'm going to try and make dosage balls to see if she'll take it better.

Well chickens are funny creatures. Because of them, my blueberry patch is pretty bare. Here's why......

I don't have a partridge in a pear tree, I have a chicken in a blueberry bush.

Have a Blessed Day

Lisa