GOATS:
Jack, is our castrated boy,he came to us in 2005 aged about 5. He was in an awful state when he arrived, very thin and bald with mange. The vet was so horrified at the state he was in he reported him to the SSPCA, but because he had been removed from his previous owner, they could do nothing.
We had to take him out on a lead for 15mins at a time to begin with to avoid any tummy upsets, as that could have killed him, he was in such a poor condition. I also had to wear a yellow boilersuit to avoid catching mange and Mike said I looked like a big banana!
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Primrose; is a lovely little girl, when we got her she had a very sore patch on her kneck from having been tethered with a bit of rope. Other than that she was a happy, healthy goat we bought as company for our other goats. She arrived in 2003 aged about 2.
Pepper; came with Primrose, and at the time appeared well. However, she became very lame and we even thought she might have to be put to sleep. After many treatments, we decided to get her x-rayed, no easy task with a goat. It is quite dangerous, because goats regurgitate, and this means they can choke while under the anaesthetic. It turned out she had arthritis in both back legs, we can only guess she had a crushing accident in her youth which caused so much damage. She is quite a character, when she arrived if threatening to butt you didn't work, she would just collapse in a heap. She's not the cuddliest of goats, but very curious and bright. She was about 5 when we got her.
Bluebell; was being rehomed because of her owners moving, in 2005 and was about 4, when we answered the advert, only one other person was interested. They owned a guest house in Aberdeen and thought it would be nice to have a goat in the garden! Bluebell is built like a tank and can jump like a kangaroo, when I think about it I still have visions of her trotting down Union Street had she gone to the other people. She is totally devoted to Jack, and never leaves his side.
Copper; is a lovely golden guernsey, with a very sad story. We were asked to take her, along with Waffle, Conker, Walnut and Heidi, by an animal sanctuary in 2006. They had been taken from a man, who had been banned in 2001 from keeping animals after starving a flock of sheep to death. He was then caught in a "compromising " position with a goat, he got off with a warning because there was no forensic evidence! In 2006 he was caught again, with these goats, sheep, a pony and cattle. Out of 8 calves taken 3 had to be put to sleep as they were too thin and weak to be saved. Again he got off with a warning! Our goats were in poor condition, but more importantly were terrified, especially of men. They are much better now and we are on the verge of introducing them to the other goats.
Waffle (centre) & Heidi (Right)
Conker; (Left) & Walnut; (Right) enjoying that much loved pastime, hay!
Copper, Conker, Waffle, Walnut and Heidi are all Available for sponsorship.
Charlie; is a castrated male pygmy goat. We got him at the rare breed sale in 2007, he had been withdrawn from the sale because of the poor condition he was in and we took him. He had diarrhoea and was lame on one back foot and a front foot. Charlie, a friend of ours (who is also our vet) had a quick look at him and thought he would be OK with a bit of tlc. We decided to name the goat after him as a thank you. We had him wormed and gave him antibiotics for his feet, after trimming them. After a worm test it turned out he needed another type of wormer and the diarrhoea cleared up. Good we thought, but a few weeks later the front foot developed an abscess, we tubbed his feet twice a day in salty water and gave him more antibiotics, in all he suffered from 3 abscesses before his feet finally got better. His hair started to fall out, we think this was because of the worm burden and the condition he was in, but thankfully it all grew in again. He lost the dead look in his eyes and started to perk up, especially when we introduced him to Indy, sadly Indy died so he was introduced to Heidi.
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Violet, arrived in spring of 2008, we were told she was about 7 but suspect she is actually 10 or 11 if not older. Her owners were struggling with her as she had lost her friend and they didn't want to get a replacement, and nobody wanted Violet. When we took her home we discovered she was lame and one of her front feet had a funny 'line' on one of the cloves. The vet thought it had been an untreated abscess, which had then damaged the coronet band. She has been lame every since, we had hoped that regular trimming would help, but suspect arthritis has developed in her leg now. She did become very thin over the winter but she is now fed twice daily and is also on danilon to help with the arthrits. She is still cripple, but the vet thinks this is not pain now, but mechanical damage and that she can no longer straighten her leg properly. We don't really know how long Violet has left with us as she is quite frail. She lives indoors on her own, but is with the flock outside and seems to be well integrated now, so we think at the moment she is happy.