mylittleruminant

[mylittleruminant]

sunflowerfarmcreamery on ig

#i love sunflower farm

[mylittleruminant]

But keep in mind, I've had exotics since I could remember, and I work with animals professionally! I have since I was 17!! I've cared for horses, dogs, cats, birds, ferrets, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, insects, arachnids, ponds, freshwater fish, marine fish, coral tanks, the list goes on!! I'm NOT A BEGINNER! Knowing what I do now, I can usually diagnose and treat most of their issues myself without a vet. I save the vet for emergencies. But if I wasn't already a professional?? I don't think I could do it! The skills I've learned in working with animals professionally come in handy every single day! It helps me with identifying problems before they worsen, and it allows me to keep the herd healthy as a whole. Without these skills there's no way my herd would be healthy.

I hear people call goats "hardy" animals.. and..

Well, once they're full adults they're usually fairly hardy. But honestly I find their nutritional needs more finicky than that of horses or other animals I've had. And the babies?? Good lord, every baby I've ever had has tried to die on me at least once. And don't get me started on parasites..

if you know what you're doing they're pretty hardy, but they are NOT beginner friendly.

#goatblr #op #original post #goat #goats #petblr #animal health #livestock #farming

[mylittleruminant]

And there is SO MUCH misinformation online. I thought that I'd done enough research! I was experienced in animal husbandry!! I'd cared for livestock! I'd worked at the goat yard at the zoo! But then I got goats and realized that I knew nothing at all! It took years to realize that

MOST of the information online is ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT!

When you use Google and online forums, you just come across bloggers and fellow beginners. NONE OF THEM KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING!!

That means all the research I'd done was USELESS! And it made me think I knew what I was doing. What actually helped me was talking to FARMERS and VETS. And when I say vets, I mean GOAT VETS. Most large animal vets don't know much about goats!!!! I got a goat specialist and it was like magic.. she solved several issues that we'd spent years trying to solve with other vets. And, of course, farmers often follow outdated traditions, such as routine deworming, so you need to be careful in taking their advice as well.

Honestly, the ONLY useful online resource that I've found so far is, shockingly, Facebook groups. Most of them are awful, but I found 2 that are.. less awful. Those are Goats Tips & Tricks, and Goat Emergency Team. And even in those groups, there is a lot of misinformation, so take everything with a grain of salt.

When I started finding these resources... Suddenly my goats stopped having mysterious illnesses. I got a better mineral supplement, cause signs of illness earlier, and improved their husbandry... And now my goats are, indeed, "hardy".

I hear people call goats "hardy" animals.. and..

Well, once they're full adults they're usually fairly hardy. But honestly I find their nutritional needs more finicky than that of horses or other animals I've had. And the babies?? Good lord, every baby I've ever had has tried to die on me at least once. And don't get me started on parasites..

if you know what you're doing they're pretty hardy, but they are NOT beginner friendly.

[mylittleruminant]

I hear people call goats "hardy" animals.. and..

Well, once they're full adults they're usually fairly hardy. But honestly I find their nutritional needs more finicky than that of horses or other animals I've had. And the babies?? Good lord, every baby I've ever had has tried to die on me at least once. And don't get me started on parasites..

if you know what you're doing they're pretty hardy, but they are NOT beginner friendly.

#goatblr #op #original post #goat #goats #petblr

[mylittleruminant]

We got a surprise baby last month. The other day she laid in my mom's lap for over an hour while my mom took a well-deserved nap. She's the most personable baby I've ever had; she LOVES people!

#note: goats do not belong indoors!! My mom was watching the kid so the dam could have some pasture time #It was a very hot day and my mom really needed a nap so she brought the kid inside #After an hour I brought the kid back outside and reunited her with her dam #All of our goats live outside! #i do not condone indoor goats #nigerian dwarf goat #goatblr #op #original post #goat #goats #ndg #petblr #my goats #cute goat #goat kid #baby goat #baby animals

[mylittleruminant]

MY POOR BOY

poor lil guy

#ive seen my goats do this but not directly in the back of one so young #i hope he didnt hurt him

[mylittleruminant]

The record for highest temperature in our area has been broken 3 days in a row. Today's high is 117F.. our animals aren't used to it and they're struggling, but we're doing our best to keep them cool with shade, cool water, frozen treats, and keeping their area wet. The goats with especially long hair have been clipped.

#goats #goatblr #nigerian dwarf goat #op #original post #goat #ndg #heat #climate #weather

[mylittleruminant]

You know what, I could understand why someone would ask this if they aren't really thinking about it or just don't understand the body. Because obviously they're losing a lot of water in their milk. But urine serves a vital purpose (excreting waste from the kidneys which filter your blood). Which means that animals in milk need to drink a LOT of water!

😬

#dairy #animal health

[mylittleruminant]

Current favourite quote from notes:

"Unlike other farm species, goats are not stoical. They need careful nursing otherwise they may just give up."

Same goat, same

[mylittleruminant]

Hey!! This is exactly how I felt. This ended up being longer than I expected but I'm just gonna give you my experience and let you know how it's going.

The main issue you'll likely face is low income and stress. Most animal jobs are very low paying and very demanding. Even veterinarians are not paid well when you factor in the cost of their education and how demanding their job is, but they do pay better than most animal-related jobs.

I always wanted to be a vet. Then in high school I started volunteering at a horse stable and I realized I loved the work. It occurred to me that I'd planned to go to college for 10+ years.. and I had no way of knowing whether or not I would actually like the job. An incredibly demanding job, with decent pay only if you ignore the tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of dollars of debt. I had felt so certain the job was for me, but I hadn't even considered the idea that there were other animal-related jobs. This was the summer before my senior year of high school, and I had never once in my life considered having any other job; it was daunting. But, after I graduated I immediately started working full time with horses.

Now 5 years later I'm working with goats, horses, and other livestock full-time. It's hard work but SO rewarding. Don't let the manual labor scare you! I was never athletic as a teen and I hated exercise with a passion, but somehow I loved my new physically demanding job. Within 2 years I'd lost 50 pounds and I discovered that exercise is sooooo much more tolerable when you're already in shape. And guess what? Working with livestock means doing a lot of medical care yourself.. so 5 years after I'd given up my dream of becoming a vet, suddenly I find myself doing extraordinary amounts of research and training for medical care, and I've realized that I'm naturally drawn to veterinary science and now I may go back to school to become a technician or even a full vet. Life is strange like that.

There are other animal jobs of course. You just have to find them. I never would have considered working with livestock.. that just didn't seem like the kind of work for me. But over time I've realized that being a good farmer takes a lot more skill & knowledge about animals than I'd assumed. The care is far more personal than I think vet care would be; I see these animals every day and they see me as a friend.

It's not all good. I'm poorly paid and overworked. I'm on call 24/7 for my animals because I'm the one knows how to handle emergencies. To survive I have to have a second job an outside barn. I work at my barn every single morning and every single night with no exceptions, no holidays or vacations. No spending the night at my boyfriend's house. It's a dangerous and physically demanding job, and if I get sick or injured I can't do my second job so I lose money, and I have to pay someone to cover my main job.

But God, I don't know what else I'd rather do. I'll eventually make enough money to quit my second job and focus on my farm. It's truly my dream job.

i love animals and would love to work with them, but i honestly don't think being a vet is the right fit for me. are there other career paths that you might recommend for someone who likes working with animals but won't ever be a trained medical expert?

I think it’s really great that you are open to alternatives to being a veterinarian. Many people love animals and force themselves into vet med when they would likely be happier doing something else with animals.

I will say that there are lots of career paths you can pursue as a veterinarian that don’t involve what you typically think of as “veterinary” jobs. You can work in academia, get a job with a pharmaceutical company, become a pathologist, be a lab animal vet, forensics, and lots more.

Non-veterinary degree related jobs that work with animals are plentiful and I honestly don’t even know what all is out there. Research jobs, academia, conservation, zoo keeping, forestry, working with rescue groups, insurance companies, there is so much out there. I think it will help if you can find what specifically about animals interests you to help narrow it down. Is there a specific animal or habitat you find interesting? Do you want to be out in the field or are you more of an indoor person? Do you want to actually handle animals or is just working on something related to them enough? If possible maybe pursue a few different things in school and volunteer at different places and make connections. There may be a job out there you don’t even know exists that you would really enjoy.

#personal #long post #me #Jen rambles

[mylittleruminant]

I’ll understand if you can’t answer this question, since it concerns fish illness and death, but I wanted to ask anyway. I work in the aquarium section of a pet retailer, and sometimes fish will get sick because our tanks aren’t really built for long-term husbandry. My question is about the ones who are clearly going to die from their illness, but it’s happening very slowly. Is there a point where it becomes cruel to keep them alive, such as when they no longer are able to swim at all and just float? And... is there a humane way of ‘euthanising’ them? I’m struggling to believe what my boss taught me is actually the most humane method.

vet-and-wild here.

As with any animal, quality of life can become a concern with a sick fish. We just don’t understand fish behavior enough to always be able to identify it. When I think about QOL for other species, what I look at is:

1. Is the animal still able to enjoy their favorite things?

2. Is the animal in pain?

3. Is the animal able to urinate/defecate with dignity?

4. Is the animal eating?

5. Is the animal mobile?

6. Are the humans involved mentally and/or physically able to continue to provide care?

Obviously some of these don’t translate to fish, but others do! When an animal cannot perform natural behaviors, has unmanageable pain, loses their appetite, and/or spends all day basically in one place, those are all signs that QOL needs to be considered. It would be no different for fish. Animals don’t understand the concept of “maybe tomorrow will be better”. If they are suffering, that’s all they know. Fish can be humanely euthanized with a drug called MS-222. There’s been some studies showing that clove oil can be humane and effective as well.

#urinate and defecate with dignity #animal death cw #this is definitely a serious topic that every pet owner and animal professional should know about #personally the seems strange to me since I dont think animals really care about dignity #its such a hard topic though #we have a goat that I think may be crossing that line #where it may be time to put her dosn #but then we have this other goat #who is very lame #but he is young #and full of life #and he fucking loves to be alive and play with the others #he seems so happy #and he demonstrates all his natural behaviorz #so some amount of pain doesnt necessary immediately mean a poor QOL #and btw #we recently started him on a new treatment #and he is suddenly almost sound again #and you can tell he's feeling good #because he's getting more and more playful every day #im so damn happy for him #hes only 2.5 years old #so even though he still had a good QOL #he probably would have crossed the QOL line before he was even 5 #that would have REALLY fucking sucked #its terrible when any animal is in pain and has to be put down #but it REALLY sucks when its a young one

[mylittleruminant]

[mylittleruminant]

Having seen some births now i can say that dog birth is amazing cos they just slip n slide out one after the other like a little conveyor belt. And theyre so little and unformed. And then UNGULATE BIRTHS ... are amazing for the opposite reason which is that 10mins after being born they are filing their taxes. Unless they are goats, in which case they are committing tax fraud instead

[mylittleruminant]

It's so weird to talk about goat husbandry with someone who isn't an animal person. If I use typical terminology I have to give a vocabulary lesson every other sentence, if I use lay terms then I end up sounding awkward and have to pause constantly to reword everything in my brain

#goatblr #personal #mine #op #original post

[mylittleruminant]

@dalethesnail-blog-blog

I will have you know that there are dozens of groups for goats, but the Goat Emergency Team is by far the BEST. They have tons of posters that have helped me save a few goats lives. Their team is phenomenal.

i cant stop laughing

[mylittleruminant]

Our goat Han is gay.

The first kid born on the property, Han is the most peculiar goat I've ever met and I love him, and now as he's maturing it's become quite clear that he's gay.

He chases the wethers constantly. When a doe goes in heat he gets excited and sniffs their butt, but then a wether will walk past and he'll get even more excited and mount them instead. He'll drink the wethers pee, too, then pee all over himself. There's one wether he loves more than the others, but he'll chase and mount any of them.

Most bucklings will begin mounting their mom very early on. Not Han. I've seen him mount her maybe once. Early on, he did mount a couple girls here and there, but as soon as he discovered that he could mount the boys too, he lost all interest in does.

He is also the prettiest goat on the property, a beautiful light buckskin. Here's a picture of him with his mom the day after he was born

#goat #goatblr #ag #agriculture #goats #nigerian dwarf #baby goat #baby animals #goat kid #baby goat kid #cute animals #gay animal #gay goat #queer goat #queer animals #my goats #han #animals #happy animals #op #original post #petblr #cute goat #mine

[mylittleruminant]

If I ever get engaged I 100% want my fiance to give my parents some goats to add to our herd. Not as a trade for my hand in marriage, just as a joke (and, I suppose, a peace offering)