Goat Brushing, As Inspired By a Cat
My goats aren’t for show, and Pasqualina has always kept herself clean and pretty on her own, so I never even thought about getting a brush — until we rescued a long-haired cat not too long ago:
That’s Giordano, and he is one big furball. Along with kitty kibble, a brush is one of the first things I bought after he came to live with us. And while I was there at the pet store, I picked up another brush to try out on the goaties.
Whoa. If you want to hold a goat hostage, brushing is the way to go.
I’m pretty sure the girls would stand there every day of the week and twice on Sunday for me to run the brush over their new! improved! shinier! happier! coats! Unfortunately for them, the temps have been ridiculously hot over the past couple weeks, so I can’t brush for very long before the sweat literally starts dripping all over us. Gross, I know.
Needless to say, I didn’t feel you’d exactly *want* photographic evidence of the sweat scene, so here’s a Pasqualina picture I played with in iPhoto instead:
Do your goaties love a good brushing too?
Hoegger Supply Company Gift Certificate Giveaway
One of my favorite places to graze is Millie Ann Saanen’s A Goat’s View of Eden Hills. Millie tells it like it is from a Saanen perspective — and she doesn’t mince words. Hah!
She is, however, rather generous as you can see in this contest announcement:
I’m giving one lucky person (or goat, horse, etc.) a $20 gift certificate to Hoegger Supply Company. They are the ultimate in goat suppliers. Don’t think you have to have a goat companion to want this. They also have books, cards, clothing, and all kinds of great goatie things. It’s where the human got her favorite mug.
I came across Hoegger Supply Company on the Internet over Christmas last year when I was in the U.S. and immediately requested one of their catalogs via snail mail so I’d have it for the plane ride home. I’ve been making a wishlist ever since. LOVE.
If you haven’t heard of Hoegger’s, you must have a look around — and be sure to head over to Millie’s Eden Hills and leave her a comment so you’re entered to win the giveaway. Ends July 15th.
Best of luck!
Reader Question: Double or Y-Shaped Teats
Questions? by Valerie Everett on Flickr
I got an email yesterday from a reader who has recently agreed to take on two kids (male and female) with the hopes of perhaps getting into small scale cheesemaking and soapmaking someday.
The rub is that they just discovered the little doe has Y-shaped teats. As there isn’t a whole lot of useful information out there on the Internet about this situation, I was wondering whether any of you with more goatie experience has some advice or info to share? The reader really wants to know whether it would still be a good idea to keep the little ones — perhaps pros and cons?
Any and all responses welcome! Thaaaaaaaanks!
Also, if you have a goatie question they’d like to post to Goat Berries readers, please feel free to contact me!
Goats and Nicknames
I don’t know if everyone does this, but I can’t stop myself from turning perfectly good names into a variety of nicknames for any and all animals in my life. I’ve written about this before at Bleeding Espresso in my intro to a post about where Italian boys’ nicknames come from, but now it’s time to talk about Pinta for she has become the following:
Pinters
Pintaruccia (PintaROOcha)
Ruccia (ROOcha)
Roochers
The Rooch
And my personal favorite…
Pinters Magooch.
“I got your Pinters Magooch right here,” bleats The Rooch.
Do you do this with your goaties’ names? Other animals’ names? People’s names?
Please tell me I’m not alone.
Goat Veterinarians, Herbal Wormers, and Anti-Parasitic Washes
A question I get a lot is whether there are veterinarians in this rural part of southern Italy; there definitely are, and clients probably use their services just as much if not more for goats, sheep, and horses as for cats and dogs. In that sense, we’re probably luckier than many in, say, America, who may have a more difficult time finding an experienced goat vet.
Indeed, our veterinarian regularly makes house calls, even for dogs and cats. We prefer that our animals live rather naturally with as many herbal/holistic remedies and as few doctor’s visits as possible, but our goats suddenly developed an issue with pidocchi (lice) and Pinta had a bit of a cough that I thought may have been related to lungworms, so the doc came the other day and gave them each an Ivomec shot, which should take care of all their internal and external parasite issues.
Indeed the girls seemed brighter-eyed and more playful just an hour or so after the meds, so hopefully that means they were working. Or, you know, they got high. Hey, happy goats are a good thing!
Anyway, I really would much prefer to try herbal wormers, but I haven’t found any in Italy; if you happen to know of any, please let me know.
Also, the vet recommended a spray-on anti-parasitic treatment for cleaning the pen, but it sounds pretty chemically powerful. I’m wondering if any of you have suggestions on more natural methods so we can keep our goaties from doing a lot of this in the future?
What types of wormers and anti-parasitics do you use?
The Real Goats of USA Soccer
For those of you not following the World Cup, the United States has a big game today against Algeria.
Yes, I live in Italy and am an Italian/American dual citizen, so I also root for the fighting Azzurri of Italia. But you know what they say: you can take a girl out of the USA (OO-sah as it’s pronounced in Italy), but you can’t take the USA out of the girl.
Apparently, my divided loyalties have rubbed off on my goats, because they can’t wait to get their hooves, well, teeth on any and all things red, white, and blue — and these girls really aren’t usually clothes nibblers, honestly!
You can’t see it from the photos, but my t-shirt has on something like this:
And so USA soccer/calcio/football fans, the next time you need a goat, we have your goats right here. You know, I’m thinking there’s a great marketing opportunity in there somewhere…aha!
The Real Goats of USA Soccer.
Bravo? Call me.
Let’s bleat.
Sponsor the Old Goats of Apifera!
GoatSpotting!
Goats that readers have spotted out and about. Send your photos to michelle(at)goatberries(dot)com!
