Faye, Faye, Faye... I thought it would be good to take a break. If you talk too much about a problem that's not life-threatening, it seems to eventually annoy people, and they think you are making a big deal out of nothing. I always try to head that off at the pass. I had planned not to even mention this hoof trimming until it was over, in case I fail. The song is appropriate, because Everybody is likely to end up Hurting a little, at least somewhere, after today. This goat has psyched me out. I'm afraid to take charge and he senses it. He's strong, but he doesn't bite, so I don't know what I'm so afraid of. Broken bones? One time I tripped and fell trying to catch one of them and broke my wrist.
January 6, 2020 The Good News Stopped at Tractor Supply and bought a candy apple green collar. I was able to get Rusty locked in the barn on the first try! Before he would always be the last goat you could get into the barn. But I guess in a way you could say he was the last goat today too. Decided to try @Yvonne Smith's merry-go-round method first. His behavior was surprising, to me. Put the collar and a short rope with a slip knot loop in my pockets. Started walking rounds---not slow, not fast, just ... determined. It took 28 rounds. I counted. Might could have stopped sooner but was taking no chances. For the first few rounds Rusty stays on the opposite side of the circle keeping pace, as I expected. Then he heads to a corner occasionally, so I follow him and he continues on. Later on he decides to go in the opposite direction for a couple of rounds. I keep going. We would pass and say, Hi! Goodbye! The he began stopping right in front of me, so I whipped out the grooming brush, brushed his rump a little, and nudged him on. Each round I would sneak the brushing closer to his head. On the last few rounds I pull out the rope. As well as brushing his head I dangle the rope in front of his nose and on his ears. Round 28 First time he stops I simply slip the rope slowly over his head. GOTCHA! Total time about 15 minutes. Piece of cake... This part went unbelievably well. It was because I was prepared with backup Plans B, C, and D. It wasn't all good news after that. More later. Enough for now. . . .
I am not feeling like a good friend now Nancy, because I forgot to give you the secret of dealing with goats with airplane ears. You see goats with perky ears like Alpine or floppy ears like Nubians, don't suffer AES. Goats with AES like Rusty love having their ears pulled up and down. Feed him ginger snaps and stand beside him with your hand above his head and directly above the ears. With your thumb on the base of one ear and ring finger on the other ear, you pull their ears up and down gently and they love it. Airplane ear goats are the only ones that love this. Get Rusty used to this and you can halter him anytime. Here is the only AES goat I had and she loved the ear massage. The motion is like a bird's wings flapping.
But @Faye Fox .... you have to get close enough to touch his ears to do that. Therein lies the problem. He always tries to stay just out of reach. I'm happy to invest 15 minutes circling to catch him every time if that's what it takes. It's a bargain and good exercise. More entertaining than walking around the mall. Instead of using the brush when he stops, I'll try the ear flap next time. Edited to add... I missed the picture of your goat first time. She is pretty. I like that coloring. This is Dixie. Similar coloring. . Would you call those airplane ears? Not sure what she was. Alpine? Or just a mix?
A mix is my guess. Looks more Toggenburg than Alpine. Google goat breeds. It is amazing all the breeds. I know about dairy breeds and Angoras.
Nancy, I am wondering if maybe you only catch Rusty when you want to do something with him that he probably does not enjoy, so he does not have a good attitude about being caught ? My goats would follow me around like big dogs, and loved the attention of being caught and petted, and I think that you can (with a little effort) start Rusty to enjoy being caught, too. There is a cubed/bar feed that has hay and grain and is easy to carry in your pockets. If you get a bag of that, and fill your pocket with some of the cubes, Rusty will smell them , and probably follow you around. If he comes up to you, give him a cube, or toss one on the ground in front of him so he can eat it. Maybe feed some to him through the fence like you did the ginger snaps, so he feels safe and learns to enjoy the taste and smell of the cubes. Once he decides that it is safe to be around you and he gets treats, he should start enjoying the companionship, and be easy to catch because he will never know for sure if you are going to do something or just going to feed him, and he will smell the feed cubes. When I had horses, part of what I did each day , was to go out and give them some of the range cubes and pet them a little bit, even when I had no intention of catching or riding them. They always looked forward to seeing me come out in the pasture, so when i actually did need to catch them and go riding or whatever, they were almost always easy to catch.
Yvonne, I've never treated Rusty and his sister any differently than any of the other goats. If anything, I was extra careful with them, because I kept hoping they would settle down and be friendly like the other goats. My mother couldn't catch them either, and all she ever did was feed them, and spend hours and hours with them, every day for 11 years. There are people who are difficult and never change. I think there can be goats like that also. Just my opinion. Those look a lot like alfalfa pellets---alfalfa hay ground down and molded into cubes. Rusty's main diet in the winter is alfalfa pellets.
January 6, 2020 (continued) .c Just a few (brief) comments... When Rusty is tied up he always pulls his head down to the floor. This time I tried tying his head up just at normal height. He pull down on the collar, collapsing his legs and using his full body weight. I couldn't get him to stand up straight. I believe he would have done that until he passed out, so I gave up on that. The hoof trimming part didn't last long anyway. The first cut I made was off the very tip of one toe on a back foot, less than a 1/4", and it drew blood. I've never seen that happen before. So all I could take off was about 1/8 " on the other toes without drawing blood. (Front hooves looked fine) 1/8 inch is practically nothing So the bad news is...this will take several rounds of gradual trimming, and waiting in between for the hooves to harden. I suspect we may never get there, because as I trim off the toes, he will keep wearing the heels down to match. Afterwards I put a pile of that dried kudzu I saved this summer onto a sheet and hauled it down to the barn like Santa Claus carrying a bag of toys. He liked it. Put more in the feeder just before I left.
Snow this morning. Big wet flakes. We didn't get any snow last winter, and only a few flakes one day the year before, which didn't stick, so this was a large deal here. It was pretty. The house is a duplex across the street. (best viewed full screen on YouTube)
Von, every spring, and after long rainy periods, both my mowers clog up like that, and it doesn't take 2' tall grass---8" will do it. I took off the discharge cover long ago, but it blows grass in your face if you are downwind, and the opening still clogs up. Someone gave me an old angle grinder. Hmmm....