# newbie with new to me Pygmys



## patrickkomar (Sep 7, 2010)

So I've had my doe and weather in my pasture since Monday and last night the paint was dry on there shelter so we put in with them and right away they got in it and checked it all out but when it rained last night the goof balls stayed out in and got wet. I don't have any straw on the floor of it yet, but I figured they would still use it to stay dry even if the floor was bare. Where am I going wrong here?


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

First off welcome.... :thumb: 

Did you paint inside ...can the paint be smelled?

Maybe setup a hay feeder inside... so they start going in and when it rains....put feed in there and they should go in.... with no problems..... a little encouragement sometimes helps.... they may be a little afraid of it.... as to why... they are not staying inside..... :wink:


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

you just have silly goats -- some goats dont mind the rain, though mine think they will be killed by it


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## bbredmom (Sep 30, 2008)

MY goats fight over who will sleep under our 1981 Dodge Van and will ignore the lovely new barn.

Goats are goofy.


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## Polarhug (Jul 1, 2010)

Goats ARE silly. I guess just keep feeding them in there and they will get used to it?

We put wood chips in our shelter and they wouldn't lay down in there at all till I cleaned it out. Preferred the hard bare floor or with moldy hay to lay on. *shrug*

Not sure about the wet paint... painted the goatie house last weekend and they kept trying to eat it, then layed up against the wet walls... aacckk!


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## patrickkomar (Sep 7, 2010)

I only painted just the very entrance of the goat house( think over sized dog house ) to the weather from beating it up to badly. I'm not haying them right now be cause there pasture is a rather large ex horse coral. That hasn't had a horse in it for 3 years now and has become rather over grow so there's plenty of forage for them to eat. They have free choice of water and a purina(sp) goat block. The previous owner had these goats tied out in a ravine behind his house with no shelter at all for the last two months and knew very little about them other then they did a great job cleaning up his over grown property. What shots and other vet care should I worried about right away?


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

They may not be used to having shelter and are still a bit shy over their new house.
Regardless of the amount of forage available...all goats need the long dry fiber that hay provides for a healthy rumen.
If you have a Tractor Supply in your area they carry the vaccine most commonly used for goats as well as the syringes and needles if you want to give them yourself. The vac is CD/T and is labled by Bar-Vac or Goat Vac
A vet would be helpful in doing a fecal to see what and if your are dealing with internal parasites.


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## citylights (Jul 3, 2009)

Definitely a good start! SInce I'm in southern California, I have to feed hay, but htere are lots on here who can advise you with feed....


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## patrickkomar (Sep 7, 2010)

I do have a tractor supply in the area and a IFA right up the street. Is there a link to a thread about giving goats there vaccinations your self? I'm fairly confident I can do it, but would like to make sure I do it right! Oddly enough I just got the number to a gentleman who sells hay so I'll be giving him a call right after I finish this. How much hay should I give them a day when they have plenty to forage on? And how much should I give them when the snow flys and there is nothing to forage on? I will try and get some pics up of my new goats tonight as I have a question about my does ears as they look to me as if the very tips of them have been cropped off :shrug:


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Giving the CD/T is 2cc sub q, I tent the skin over the shoulder and insert the needle being careful to not poke through the other side.

As far as 2 pygmies and hay...1 flake is good, give half in the morning and half at bedtime. Winter I tend to over hay...with 9 pygmy/nd crosses and nigerian dwarfs I go through a bale a day....4 flakes a day for the boys and the rest to the does...of course separated into AM and PM feedings.

Her ears were likely frost bitten as a baby, the dead tissue falls off.


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## patrickkomar (Sep 7, 2010)

Sounds just like giving them to my hounds :leap: that i can handle!
This is Sthil our doe!


















I can't seem to get a pic of our weather alone so here is both of them! Sthil is the darker of the two and Poulin is the lighter!


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Pretty colored pair! They look to be crosses of NigerianDwarf and Pygmy, your doe looks similar in color to my Angel's mom.

Just a heads up...I had problems with using the cattle panels like you have with my goats, they would get their heads through the larger squares and not be able to get them back through because their horns got stuck....not a good situation as any predator can attack them while they are "stuck".


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## patrickkomar (Sep 7, 2010)

Thanks! The hog wire is only going to be there till next spring when we finish fencing off the other old horse coral and turn these guys loose on the full acre and half!( I might need a few more goats to keep it all under control  ) That and I live in town on horse property so predators are all but nill but still having stuck goats doesn't sound good ether....... I have some lighter duty rolled fencing around maybe I ought to string some over it in the mean time! 

Is there a thread here on hoof trimming? Where I got these guys from was rather rocky in spots so I'm imaging that kept them in check but if there any thing like my hounds the switch form having a back yard with a large concrete area that they had to use to come in the house to our new yard were its all grass and deck there nails now have to be trimmed regulary.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

I agree with the others. And I do believe there are some good hoof trimming threads on here...try the search. Also, I think StaceyRoop has a page on her thread with a hoof trimming demonstration photo thing....really neat. (I think it was on Stacey's website?...not positive though)


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