Inside the Mind of the Celtic Savage

This weekend Steph traded some goats for some pigs. We are down to 9 goats 2 sheep however, we now have 12 little 70 lb piggies. The idea is that goat is nice and all but they only kid out once a year and 2 per goat is pretty much the max so for a time to $ investment ratio goats are a pretty poor performer.

Hogs on the other hand have between 8-12 piglets twice a year with the average finished hog fetching between $150-250 a head it makes the $90-125 we were getting for the goats seem like a loosing deal. If this does not work out well then there is always sweet sweet bacon, and ham, and pork chops.

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It would appear that we have received our Yule miracle. Steph went out to feed the last 2 bottle babies and found them suffering of Hypothermia. She brought them into the house were we worked at a feverish pace to get their body temp’s up and get some milk in to them. After an hour of trying and one close call we were able to get their temps up and now we have 3 fat happy little patients in the house.

Patient one is a chicken that got attacked by a cat who had a rough night last eve but is making remarkable progress.
Patients 2 and 3 are the last 2 bottle baby goats who are in their respective boxes in the bathroom that has its own independent base board heat so that they can be kept at 90* for their little boddies don’t have to use that much energy to keep their body temp at 104. We are also feeding them less but more frequently swapping a warm water/electrolyte solution inbetween formula bottles to keep them hydrated in the elevated heat of their temporary surroundings.
So here I sit with a fire in the freshly swept wood stove with a chicken pecking gently next to me Yule pizza in the oven and a fat happy content farmer Carl.

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We raise boer goats and are in the process of increasing our breeding stock for healthy correct goats for the commercial market. Just like any other endeavor things always seem to go haywire at the worst possible time. At this counting there are 3 goats that all went into labor and delivered a total of 4 does and 3 buck’s. All of the girls we are bottle raising to have a known clean herd of high percentage breeding stock.

We have a sick calf and that calf requires an inordinate amount of care. The last post gave you an idea of what is going on with him but needless to say there are a bunch of hungry baby critters bouncing about. But Ill keep yall informed on what happens over the next couple days as the kids are hungry.

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