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A Day on a California Pygora Ranch - January 2005

AS a child growing up around cattle ranches, come branding and sorting days, our friends would come out of the woods to help with the gathering, sorting, branding, shots and castrating. Yet, as a goat rancher, I tend to have to do it all myself or drag family members out to the pens with me- until recently. I came up with a plan. And I thought I would try it out with the worst, the billys, the bucks the stinking job of doing maintenance on those billys and see if I could get outside help.
My plan was to ask some friends, those living in town and those in the country to come out and help with my goat maintenance and if they would come out I would wine and cheese them. And it WORKED! It was wonderful. I had enough hands and bodies to carry the gear from pen to pen, load the needles, do the hoofs and remind me what still needed to be done along with a photographer to take pictures of the fun day. And afterwards our rewards - different types of wine, and cheeses. We had 8 types of cheeses with some real stinky ones. We also had greek olives, crusty bread, oysters, fresh pears and sliced apples. Yum! And the funny part was that one of those stinky cheeses covered up the musky aroma of those rank bucks... no one knew that they were now stinkers too!
We had such a great time that we have another day planned for the does 4 month gestation shots, wormer, hoofs and what not. This could become a annual thing... give it a try...
from a day on a pygora ranch in California - Hollyhock Hollow Pygoras - Jill Gallagher
Photos by Cheri Roe
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A Day on a California Pygora Ranch - February 2005
15 Pygora does are one month away from giving birth, therefore I had another reason for having a party. New owners of Pygora goats contact me often to ask me to help them learn to give their goats shots or how to trim their hoofs, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to teach them and have a fun day at the same time.

My pens are set up so that I can run all the goats, in this case the pregnant does, into a large holding pen - then I take a few at a time into a alleyway and can easily catch them to do what needs to be done. I don't know about your goats, but the moment I show up with wormer and shots they turn and run for the hills. That is why as tame as they are, I still work them in this alley pen, there is no chasing or running or stressing them or me out.

Here on my ranch, I give booster shots of CD & T, and BoSE to all the does to make sure that the kids when born have a good immune system. Then I wormed with Safeguard paste, trimmed the hoofs and do my de-lice thing. I also check to make sure their weight is looking good and check their fleece - then make a note of when to shear them. Knowing when to shear is the tuffest part about raising Pygoras. I never want to shear when the weather temp is freezing, but if the daytime temp is in the 60's or 70's, the goats get itchy and hot and rub on the fences and then their coat felts or mats. This year January started out very cold, and for us that is nights of 29 degrees and daytimes of 50, but the last half of January was warmer and February, as of this day is still holding the warmer temps of 38 degrees and 70 daytime. So I need to shear in the next week and then hope that the temperature doesn't go back down. I have been collecting wool sweaters to duck tape on them any way after I shear. Thrift stores have them at great cheap prices and various sizes - the hard part is that some of those sweaters look so good, I might have to fight the goatees for their sweater. But they need them more then me as the change from long fleeces to no fleece on your back is a big change on their systems.

Well I had about 11 people that showed up. Most were Alpaca breeders and we did have fun comparing what a goat breeder does, vs what a alpaca breeder does. Of course they were most impressed by my well behaved goats. After the work we again had wine and cheeses, wonderful barbecued Greek marinated lamb, Basque soup and white beans. A perfect end to another California day.
A Day on a California Pygora Ranch - March 2005
The kids are coming this month!

It is always exciting this month as we get ready for the arrival of the new babies. The does are getting very big as they wattle around their yard. I try to make sure they get some exercise and yet not over do it. Most are following my directions well, except for Leah. I think Leah is going to have a small mouse and not a goat baby at all. She isn't very big and she likes to jump up on her 4 ft. tall house and look around. I told her to not even think about delivering kids on the goat house roof!

I like to be around during the birthing of the kids. I realize that they can have their kids just fine without me, but I feel that part of my reasonability as a rancher towards my animals is to be there during the good times as well as the trying. Therefore I set things up as follows.
Since I sell my goats to people that would like to handle them with out having the goat get scared, I light to work with them right from the start. My husband, Jim and I set up birthing pens to place the mother goat and her kids into right after she kids. Yes, she could stay out in the large pens, but I have found that placing them in individual pens I can alleviate a number of problems at the start. Problems such as them running from me and learning we can get away. In a small pen, I can work with them with out chasing them. After a few days of the small pens, I take them out to the large "play pen". And the first day that every one get out into this pen, is quite fun. The kids hop around and the moms try to remember what there kid looks and smells like. After a day of this fun, the moms can't wait to get their kids back into an individual pen and rest. However, the days to follow, the moms leave the kids for longer times, and the kids go off on there own to play.

I lose a lot of time in this pen watching them play! Oh, did I tell you we had 24 kids this year, 2005 - 12 girls and 12 boys, just perfect.
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The Puppy - Katie

"Thou shall not make a pet of the puppy!"
When one picks up the puppy, how do you bring her home without petting or loving her?
yep, we got a new puppy, a 3/4 great pyraness female that is white with cream ears and black button eyes - how cute can that be..
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