Em Nau Farm BLOG

Since our last jottings – has it really been 2 and a bit months – a lot has been happening at Em Nau Farm.  We now have a few more goat after a road trip to Baan Baa (between Narrabri and Boggabri in NSW) where we brought two anglo-nubian goats – one that is in kid – this brings our goat family to six – three of which we know are in kid – so we could be a lot bigger goat family in a few months.

We also have had a couple of losses over the past few months one being Irene the chook who dropped dead recently and the other Blaise our drought master cow who we sent of (reluctantly) to slaughter.  Blaise had a vaginal pro-lapse in May.  The vet was called and repaired the problem but advised we should not breed from Blaise as if she were to calve the problem was more than likely to reoccur.  The only option we had was to send her to the local sales where she could be sold for slaughter.

We also had a surprise in June when we were heading up to the goat pen – one of the commercial layer chickens we purchased had three chicks in toe, where she hatched them we are still to find but it was the first “official” births we have had since taking over Em Nau.  We decided to leave the chicks with the hen as an experiment but unfortunately all three have vanished (we only ever found one dead).  We may never know what happened to them.  Below is an excerpt from the aussie goat forum blog.

Yesterday as H and I were heading up to the goat pen (in the rain) to survey for the umpteenth time where we were putting the new goat housing and to decide on the design layout H let out a shriek and said we have chicks - one of commercial layers had hatched three chicks and they were having a feed of grain. We ooohed and aahhhed for a few minutes, I ran back to the house to get the camera (and we then went in search of where the chook may have hatched the chicks (we didn't find the spot).

So we have officially had our first births at Em Nau..................

With the impending kidding we have been busy extending the goat pens and enclosures (as mentioned above) as well as drenching the goats - with some hilarious results

It's okay, you can laugh.. In fact, it's really really funny until it happens to you! I would say it's about as funny as leprocy.

But yes, I will laugh too once it stops hurting like a bast@#d. Of course, it was the last one and we only went back for a second go as it seemed she spat/choked most of it out after the first application.....

......Bitten THROUGH the nail on the ring finger on left hand using her rear grinders. Jingz she's strong!

So, as I'm reeling in pain and say, "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, she bit me!", I dare to take a look, and Brett with about as much compassion as an I dunno what says, "Oooh, a bit of blood." It was at that point I was ready to head-but him.

So, all whinging and moaning aside, apart from washing and rinsing it - do I need to panic from any possible infection from the goat, or problem with the drench pulsing through my finger? Will I need to give myself a follow up dose next Saturday to make sure I've killed all worms and eggs?

and

Well, as some of you are aware, we've recently added two does to our goat family, and one of the existing girls is more than likely going to squeeze out a couple of kids in the next week or 2 or several... So, the Brett and I had much serious discussion and made marvellous plans to make full productive use of the June long weekend to:
a. extend the existing goat pen by about 200%; and

b. relocate an old dexter donga to double the existing goat housing.

That's fine - during the week, I'd bought the required extra star pickets, hinge joint wire, fencing wire and other miscellaneous bits of necessary stuff (but curiously no cable ties.. ) Friday night - further discussion of what we'll do, when we'll do it, how long we reckon it'll take etc.. Yeah. Right - good to go..

So, Saturday morning - rainguage shows we received half an inch - by end of the day new fenceline measured out and post & picket spots marked.

Sunday morning - rainguage shows we received another half an inch - by end of the day star pickets and posts planted in pre-determined "spots".

Monday morning - rainguage shows we received another half an inch - AND it pretty much rains all day! - by end of the day posts drilled for straining wire, dexter donga dismantled - and that's it.

End of weekend, what do we have to show for it? Not a helluva lot. Looking at it you'd reckon we were stoofing about and not achieving anything, but by jingz we were busy doing it! Highlights of today would have to be:

a. the house tanks are OVERFLOWING!

b. Brett using 4WD ute to TRY and drag HEAVY roof of dexter donga UP the wet and slippery and VERY steep and grassy slope to new location - Nuh! Won't work. Doesn't work. Result - 4WD ute STILL parked in aforementioned location with dexter donga roof waiting patiently behind - IN THE POURING RAIN!

c. me letting go of 750m roll of wire and then watching it (in slow motion) rolling DOWN the hill gathering speed and bouncing and rolling and busting though barbed wire fence and ending part-way UP slope on neighbours property. Result - Beetle fixing fence while I VERY VERY slowly roll VERY heavy 750m roll of wire BACK UP the wet and slippery and VERY steep and grassy slope. Took about 10 seconds to roll down - and about 25 minutes to push it back up.

d. me getting stuck half way over barbed wire fence - yes, trakky dacks caught on wire. Result - Brett rescuing me with both of us laughing uncontrollably! .

Over Easter

Easter was a weekend of much drama. We purchased two new goats and the girls received very little ceremony upon arrival here at Em Nau Farm. While on the way home from picking them up from the breeder on Saturday afternoon, H received a call from one of our son's mates saying he was at the Emergency dept at a hospital (in Brissie) and Guido (No. 1 son 19 years old) had been admitted and one of the Emergency people needed to speak to me urgently. Was there a history of heart problems on either side of the family? Had anyone on either side of the family ever just "dropped dead"? What the?? Apparently Guido's heart rate was racing at about 260 beats per minute and they couldn't control it..... Anyway - cut a long story short - Guido is now OK, but admitted to the coronary care unit of the leading heart hospital in Qld - they're trying to work out what caused it, and then how to prevent it occurring again. Guido's only concern is there's nothing to do but lie there and wait for the next Dr to come and take a look. (Darbs - 18 yo No. 2 son - posted a photo of Guido on facebook on Saturday afternoon - Guido complete with drips, heart monitors, breathing tubes and all the machines that go beep behind him - Guido most chuffed about the million "likes" and "comments" and the speed at which they were posted on Facebook! Yeah - good onya!

So - I'm on the way home from picking up the girls - get the call from the hospital telling me we need to get there VERY soon - me telling the hospital it would be another 2 hours before we could get there - I had 2 goats on the back of the ute - Brett was in the goat pen fixing the fence and wouldn't hear the phone from the house (need to get an outside bell or something) - so I rang the neighbour to get him to drive over to get Beetle to call me on the mobile (hoping I would still have signal) so I could warn him out to be ready to unload the goats & crate off the back of the ute as soon as I got home, then jump in the ute and fly back to the hospital! Pphew!

So this all happens when I get home - the 2 new girls are saying something along the lines of "WHAT THE ..........?????????" as they're getting pushed/pulled off crate into pen - the chooks are running about everywhere saying something along the lines of "WHO THE ...............??????????" - the cows are looking somewhat bewildered and looking at the new arrivals thinking something along the lines of "WHY ALL THE NOISE...............????????????? - and then we're flying back up the hill for a one hour drive to the hospital.

Five hours later we arrive home - hoping like hell the foxes hadn't taken all the chooks and wondering if the goats hadn't done a runner back to the place from whence they came - and ALSO hoping like hell Beaudette as well as the 2 new girls didn't have udders terribly engorged as they hadn't been milked as they should have. Well, all was quiet - we grabbed torches, and there were the 2 new girls standing by the door of the cable tie chookpen asking ever so politely "Ah, excuse me, so where are we supposed to sleep, and by the way, where the hell have you been?" (Seems that gap between the new gate and post might be a tad wide...)

Anyway - chooks and goats now all installed and intact - all good. Guido still in hospital (and likely to be for several more days) but relatively OK - as OK as you can be in the coronary care unit of a hospital.

Me and He - bit overwhelmed and plum tuckered, but we're ok.

ADDENDUM - For those of you who may be interested....

In my recent post regarding the acquisition and arrival of our first 2 goats, I may have digressed slightly and mentioned that our 19 yo No. 1 son, Guido, suffered something along the lines of a heart attack on Easter Saturday.

Well - the MRI today pointed out what the particular problem is - something to do with the electricity in his heart - something something... Well, they've now got him on medication to slow down his heart rate and keep him in a constant state of "yeah mate, she's good" until his surgery which is scheduled for about 6 to 8 weeks when they go through his femoral artery, get to his heart, and burn the bit that's causing the problem, then he'll be ticketyboo!

From my paragraph above, I am sure you will be clearly convinced I am very familiar with all things medico-speak!! However I am also sure you get the drift.

Penultimate bottom line is - Guido is fine now - albeit in a prescription drug controlled state!

Bottom line is – he has had his operation and all is well!

Finally for this post H has been whipping up a storm making soap.  We have about five or six batched on the go at the moment.  I will let you know how it all goes in the next post