From Blind Date to Bliss

Affiliate disclosure- This post contains affiliate links to brands I know and trust. If you purchase from any of my links, I may receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra to purchase.

Another little disclaimer: this post mentions sex 😱don’t read this if you’re my mom, or my kids because you’ll be grossed out. It’s not graphic, but I just wanted to forewarn you.

The dreaded blind date. Your friend said, “he’d be great for you!” Or “He has a fantastic personality!” In your head you’re saying ‘No Way!’ Or ‘Maybe I’m doomed to be single forever’

Well, why not give it a whirl? Yes, it’s a bit out of your comfort zone, and you know it will be awkward at first. But he could be the one! And don’t judge the guy by the one that chose him for you.

Sometimes people in rocky relationships can see clearly what a great one looks like from the outside, but are blind when it comes to picking someone for themselves.

I met my husband of 25 years, 27 years ago. One of my friends fixed us up because he was her boyfriend’s brother. We double dated with them for the first couple of weeks.

Then Mark said, “I don’t need to go out with my brother all of the time.” 😂 We are very unconventional. We hit it off immediately. My kids are shocked by our story, but it doesn’t matter, because it worked for us.

You know when you watch movies or read books like The Notebook or Fifty Shades Trilogy you know it was hot and heavy from the start, and morally wrong on both counts, but it was amazing for them! It worked for them!

Ummm well, our first date (double date) we went skinny dipping in the dark. We were in our underwear, but still… don’t knock it ’til you try it! 🙄 No we didn’t hmm hmm on the first date, in fact it was several dates later!

Anyway, we’re the best of friends, literally! We don’t fight, we talk all of the time and have amazing sex. We may still let life get in the way, but when we do, it’s really really great!

The same person that fixed up Mark and I, fixed up Mark’s sister and a great guy our matchmaker was working with. They’ve been married for a long time as well. They hit it off, and spend tons of time together with their fur babies.

So, I’m no expert, but I just wanted to share this because so many people force love, instead of letting it happen with the one that’s meant for you.

Maybe let your friends fix you up, give it a shot! 🤷🏼‍♀️ Maybe they see something you don’t!

Be a Goat Raising Genius!

My husband and I have been raising goats for over 9 years now. If you’re like us in the beginning, you’re having trouble figuring out what to use and when. Or you’ve been raising goats for awhile, but something you’ve never seen shows up in your herd.

Whether you have one goat, or 300+, or maybe considering getting goats, I’m hoping you find this useful for your supply knowledge.

In our area, we are the first people to raise Boer Goats. We’re also the first and only people to have our goats on the livestock Show and Sale at our County Fair. ‘What!? Did you say you sold a Goat as Livestock at a county fair?’ Yes, and more shocking, we have roasted Goat for people to try! Why not? People eat Lambs. Cute little Lambs, cute little Goats.

While we definitely have the ones we get attached to, we know that some of them are being raised for meat. Believe it or not, goat meat is a rising trend. It’s in high demand for ethnic groups, especially for religious holidays.

On to what you need and why…

*Vitamin B

Anytime your goats aren’t feeling well, or when you need to give them a boost, Vitamin B is your go-to (or should I say Goat-to lol) This can be used orally or under the skin. I have needles and syringes linked below. We use Vitamin B after any stress as well. After transport especially! Vitamin B

*Electrolytes

Just like us when we get sick, goats need Electrolytes. Especially if your goat is having loose stools or just laying around looking lethargic. With goat kids, you need to watch them closely for signs of sickness because they can die in a day, even after you’ve tried to save them.

102-103 degrees Fahrenheit is a normal temperature range for Goats. If it’s elevated, that is a sign of infection.

Digital Thermometer

Duravet Electrolytes

Agrilabs Electrolytes

*Homemade Electrolytes

If you need a lot of Electrolytes, maybe you would like to mix your own. I’ve made this and mixed the milk replacer with it as if this is the water. It works great as a boost for the first week after you bring home a bottle kid.

4 quarts water

1/2 cup Molasses

2 tsp. Baking Soda

2 tsp. Sea Salt

1 cup Apple cider vinegar

*Antibiotics

If you have a great veterinarian, ask them what they advise to have on hand for antibiotics. What we like to keep on hand is injectable Penicillin and La-200 are our most common.

Now for anything respiratory, you’ll need a prescription for this…it’s called Zac-Tran I really hope I spelled that correctly. It’s expensive, around $240 for a 100 cc. Bottle, but for kid goats it’s 1/2 cc dose sub cue. We and the dairy goat farmer we get our kids from swear by this as the best antibiotic by far! We have found it works for scouring kids as well. Dries them right up! This antibiotic is labeled for cattle, but very few drugs are actually labeled for goats.

Supplies you’ll need are:

100 pack of Syringes

20 Gauge needles

(These are 3/4″, 1/2″ is ideal for Subcue injections, but it wouldn’t let me link them)

*Wormer

If the conjunctive area of the eyes, or their gums are pale pink or grey, they are showing signs of anemia. This means you need to deworm. Another sign that they have worms in adult goats is persistent diarrhea and/or weight-loss.

Safeguard is our first choice of an all-around wormer. However, Ivomec or the generic Agri-mectin was something we needed to use for our herd after a fecal on a sick goat showed lots of worms. Our vet said that our herd had possibly built up an immunity (or rather the worms had) to the wormer we were using, which was Safeguard.

When we only had a few goats we used Pelleted Wormer. That is easy with a small group of goats. Especially if you’re not comfortable giving liquid doses. I should mention that Safeguard and Ivomec (or Ivermectin) are given orally. Pine boughs are a great natural dewormer!

Keep in mind that Goats are browsers, not grazers. There is a reason they’re not too keen on eating off the ground. That’s where the worms are! This is their natural instinct to reduce the possibility of getting worms.

Now I don’t have a link for Valbazen, but you can get it at your local farm supply store. This one we discovered after we wormed and our goats were still sick. You can have your vet do a fecal to decide what wormer is best. Valbazen is best for white worms or tapeworms.

*Coccidiosis

This right here took out several of our goats this summer before we finally bought Corrid and added it to their water for 5 days. We cleaned out the stock tanks as we do regularly, and added the correct amount of corrid powder to their water for 5 days. A pack seems expensive, but we treated 150 goats for 5 days with one package.

Now we’ve decided to use this regularly in their water as a preventative. There actually is directions for using this as a preventative right on the package. You can also mix this up and give doses orally if you think your goat isn’t drinking from the stock tank.

*Minerals are very important!

Copper, copper and more copper! Very important! You can even open the adult Bolus capsules and sprinkle on their feed. This is really important to do in the spring because if there are dormant worms in the Goats, copper will help get rid of them.

Also remember that Goats and Sheep are not the same! Size-wise yes, so collars, applicators and other supplies can be used for both. Don’t fall for labels on Mineral blocks that say Sheep and Goat. Remember to look for copper on the label. The goats won’t overdose as they’re wired to lick minerals as they crave them.

Copper Bolus- Adult Goats

Copper Bolus-Kid Goats

Bolus Gun

Manna Pro Minerals

Goat Mineral Block

Cattle Mineral Block

*Probiotics

We actually raise buck kids that we pick up at a dairy goat farm 4 hours away from us. After we stress these little guys out by hauling them 4 hours away from their home, we use several things to give them a boost after we bring them home.

One is a Vitamin B injection under the skin behind the shoulder, another item we give them as we’re unloading them is Probiotic Paste . Another great way to give older goats(once they’re on grain) probiotics is Probiotic Apple Treats!

*Colostrum

Something that’s important for the first few days to a week after a kid is born is Colostrum. If your kid has his mama, he’ll be just fine. However, if you’re bottle feeding you’ll need Kid colostrum

*How to stop Scours

Anyone who’s ever bottle fed will know that kids can get scours/diarrhea from the milk replacer. One of the keys is to start out with small amounts per feeding and work your way up every few days by a half ounce to an ounce at a time.

We had to do fast research for treatments because we were losing babies. They would have diarrhea one day and be dead the next. So pig scour medicine works well. We used Spectoguard directly in the mouth. Several pumps is needed. We’ve even mixed that in their bottle with Electrolytes and replacer.

I buy the larger Spectoguard bottle and refill the small one because the pump is handy. Our vet also recommended Kaopectate, gallon. I started buying the little bottles for humans, and then our vet said she could sell us a gallon for around $8.50. We then found it at a farm store and on Amazon.

*Hoof Trimming Supplies

I’m going to do a blog post just for hoof trimming. It’s very important for their health and posture. I mentioned before how fast they can grow when the hooves get hot. This happens when they overeat, or aren’t feeling well.

This can cause them to founder, which breaks down their hocks. We had one goat do this. We bought her bred several years ago and didn’t realize she was overeating until she started walking funny.

Her legs were breaking down and she was walking on her hocks. It got to the point where she was clumsily stepping on her babies, causing permanent damage to their legs. We bottle fed her last babies and had to cull her out last year. She was such a sweetheart. I was very attached, but it was cruel to let her continue to hobble around. You have a few different options as far as trimming tools. Electric hoof trimmer, Multi-purpose hand trimmers or what we use…Side Cutters .

*Leads and Show collars

We keep horse Leads around all of the time to move them from pen to pen. We aren’t into big time shows, but if you are you will need a Show collar. We use basic Cattle Neck Chains or Bagged neck chain which we cut to length. To fasten them, we keep Heavy-duty Split Rings (I had a hard time finding that link on Amazon)

If your goats are pets, and you don’t have too many, you may want to use a Large Breed Dog Collar.

*Stock Tanks and Dishes

To start out, you can get nice heavy Rubbermade Stock Tanks or on the less expensive side a Basic Oval 40 Gallon tank. I know up here in Wisconsin, we need to have a few basic Stock Tank Heaters in the winter to keep the water from freezing.

Some other basic things you might need are Salt Block Holders and Flat-Backed Buckets. For Salt blocks, if you have several pens, we have taken a hammer and busted the block so we can put a chunk in their feeders in each pen.

*Fencing and Gates

We find, the best way to keep our goats in is Welded Wire Fence and 1-2 rows of Barbed Wire across the top. You’ll need T-posts that you can get at your local lumber yard, T-post clips to fasten the fence to the posts, and a heavy duty fence post driver.

We have young goats walk through the holes when we use cattle panels, but the moms usually holler at them to come back. They don’t venture too far from mama. Swine panels work as well to make a fast pen and the bottom holes tend to be smaller.

If you want something that’s semi portable, say you decide to use goats for eating brush, I recommend Electric Goat Net Fence and a Super Energizer 5 to control it.

*Record Keeping

We have our own system for record keeping. We use small Yellow Ear Tags to identify our Boer Goats. You’ll need a Tagging Tool to put them in. We use a sharpie or paint marker on them. The numbers we came up with started with the Doe number. She had just a plain original number like 1.

Her Kids’ numbers would use the first number as their mom’s number, the second number would be which Kidding she was out of. Let’s say it’s the second Kidding. The third number is the birth order for that Kidding. So let’s say this one was the second kid born from that mom that time. The kid’s number would be 122. Does number, Kidding, and birth order.

Let’s say the kid is a doe and we keep her for breeding stock. When she’s just over a year old, we breed her. Five months later she has her first kidding. We give her a Doe number, let’s use number 2. She had triplets on the first kidding. So her kids would be numbered 211, 212, and 213.

When we make a new record of that doe, we put her new number on the sheet, her kid number and keep track of Kidding, medicine and vaccines. If we sell her, we can give that sheet to the new owner for their records. Here’s a great Record Keeping Book.

*Birthing Supplies

Clean Bedding is very important! Then as she has her babies, you can put more dry bedding on top and clean her stall later so you aren’t stressing her or her kids out. We started out using straw and then found a wonderful company about 45 minutes from us that makes Excelsior.

The place we go to is American Excelsior. They sell what they call ‘Barn Sorb’ or cattle bedding. It’s a little over $3 for a large bag so I usually get 15 bags or so at a time. What it basically is is fine wood fibers like sawdust. It’s so much easier to clean the stalls! And it’s made out of Popple(Aspen) trees so when you put it in your manure pile, it breaks down wonderfully! You can contact local wood furniture factories or wood manufacturers to see if they sell Excelsior or Sawdust for bedding.

You’ll need Long Nitrile Gloves in case you have to assist with the birthing. ‘What!? I have to put my hand in that poor mama goat?’ Yes, it’s necessary when the kid is backwards or you have one kid’s hoof and the other one’s head coming out. Or she’s young and the kid is large.

Then you’ll need old bath towels from the house or a 6 pack of terry towels that you can use to briskly wipe off the kid. I especially clean their nose and mouth area quickly so they can breathe.

Yes, it’s totally fine if the mom cleans them off, but we sometimes birth in January so we have the right age to take to the fair in July. So, we like to get them dried off and sucking on mom to keep warm.

*Keeping Kids Warm

Speaking of keeping kids warm, if the kid is limp or unresponsive, the first thing I do is stick my finger in their mouth. If it’s obviously cold, then you need to get that kid warm! Taking their temperature rectally can help you determine that too.

I’ve hauled them in the house in an 18 Gallon tote to put near the wood furnace, I’ve used a garbage bag to keep the kid dry while submerging his body in warm water. And I’ve used a Heating Pad under them in the tote to help them get warm. The best way to warm them or allow them to get warm is heat lamps.

There are 2 main types you can use. Simple Clamp Heat Lamps and Bulbs or if you want the safest one, there is a great Safe Heat Lamp you can put up. The kids can go under that as needed and if it gets bumped, they won’t get burned. We need a lot of lamps so we use the cheaper ones.

We mount them higher so the kids can’t reach it, and make a creep area that the moms can’t get to. Other things we’ve used to at least keep the barn above 32 when it’s below zero out are a Garage wall mounted Heater and an Infrared Heater. Keep in mind you want to have a place to put the infrared Heater that is aimed at the pen so it heats the goats directly.

*Disbudding

Disbudding is nice if you don’t want them getting their heads stuck or being aggressive towards other goats. Yes, you’ll still have pecking order, but we have found, the Does with horns are downright mean to each other.

We have banded horns at the base for some of them. The bands will eventually cut in and the horns will fall off. Be prepared for blood. With our own babies, we like to disbud when they’re about a week or two old. You want them sticking up a little, but if you wait too long you will have large skirs later.

There are a couple different options for Disbudding. You can use a Basic Calf Dehorner (check Valley Vet or Jeffers Livestock Supply for an attachment for Goats) Or you can get one Specifically for Goats. You will also need a reliable Basic Stopwatch.

Now this job is not for the faint of heart. I used to time my husband while he did this, and say ‘awe’ all the way through it! He said that it bothered him enough without me doing that. It takes 8 full seconds to get the nice golden cap that you can knock off when you are done. They scream while you’re doing it, but are under their mama drinking within seconds. Some people hire someone to do this for them.

*Castrating

Another necessity is castrating. This is just putting a band around the base of the testicles. We have disbudded and castrated at the same time. This gets the stress over in one fell swoop.

They’re over it rather quickly and the Testicles will lose feeling, shrivel up and fall off in a few weeks. Two things you’ll need are Castration Bands and Banding tool.

*Wound Care

Veterycin Plus is great stuff for your animals. However, I found an Amazing product I love~~the *Original Skin Repair No. 1* from Ranch Life Naturals. This is made for humans and animals. She is a personal friend of mine, and I endorse her amazing products because I love them! I was a tester for a couple of her products when she was developing them, and am a returning customer! Read some amazing testimonials at Ranch Life Naturals-fans

*Helpful Sources

Raising Goats for Dummies and Goat Medicine and Surgery

The Goat Spot App

Goat Vet Corner on Facebook (be very careful only to ask vet related questions on there)

Message me anytime and I’ll help to the best of my knowledge.

*This article contains affiliate links. If you click on the links, you will be redirected to the product on Amazon. I earn a small commission if you purchase through my link. Thank you! Also, I am not a Veterinarian! We do a lot of our own treating from what we’ve researched because the Veterinarians around us are not knowledgeable about goats. In fact we’ve helped our vet learn about goats.

Be Your Husband’s Girlfriend!

* Be the person they fell in love with!  

Remember that new fling feeling?  Capture that!  You don’t need to be a giggling teenager all of the time, but try and remember how awesome you were when you first met!

I know you may not have that body anymore, don’t dwell on the superficial things.  You can be sexy at any size.  It’s all attitude!  Great Amy Schumer Movie!

Even though life gets in the way, try not to forget how much fun you had together.  Keep that feeling alive!

*Don’t turn into their mother!  

Yes, sometimes your spouse or partner needs to be nurtured, or reminded to please pick up their socks.  However, you do not need to nag and complain about how many times you had to bend over to pick them up, even though the hamper is right there!  😉

Try and let those things go!  They don’t want to listen to it, and most of the time it goes in one ear and out the other.  You can usually see a wall go up in their eyes when they are sick of hearing something.  That wall is tuning you out!

*Show Gratitude!  

Don’t forget to thank them for everything they do.  Look at all of the little things they do for you or your family.  Be grateful every moment that they work hard, cook dinner, pick up the kids, do a load of laundry, do the dishes etc…

Don’t bring up the nagging facts that can eat away at you.  The silly petty things like the vegetable peeler in the wrong drawer, the white sock in the load of darks, the towels that aren’t folded the way you do it etc…

Be thankful that they are taking care of things to lighten your load.

*Keep it Steamy!

My husband and I are in awe of our sex life!  We are still very happy in this area, even after 24 years!  Oh yes, when the kids were little, I believe there were times that I was totally exhausted and fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

Don’t get me wrong, you will have some of those times.  Buy something sexy to wear, put on a love song playlist, or light some candles.  No, not every time, but definitely once in awhile to spice it up.  A hot oil massage works wonders!

Make it a priority to take care of their needs! (Psst, and he will want to take care of yours)

*Find Time For a Date!  

Guilty as charged!  My husband and I haven’t been on a date in awhile.  I’m definitely feeling the effects of this.  Even a shopping trip and lunch counts as a date if it’s just the two of you.

Spend some time talking to each other in the car and just enjoy each other’s company.  One on one time without interruptions is so important for maintaining a healthy relationship.

Talk!  and Listen!!

Talk about your day, your concerns about the kids, the house, bills, your feelings or anything you want, just talk!  Don’t forget to listen too!  Actually listen!!

Sometimes when they are droning on about that one coworker that does everything wrong, you find yourself tuning out, stop doing that!!  Listen!  It’s important to them so try and have some empathy for what they go through on a daily basis.

The more you talk and in turn, listen, the closer you become!

*Unplug!  

Another thing I have been guilty of!  I have really been focusing on making sure I set down my phone when my husband approaches.  He’s coming to me for whatever reason, I need to stop and make sure I am focusing on him, not my phone.

I’m definitely getting better at this one.  I know we are all guilty of this in society!  It’s really sad that we are so focused on something silly on our devices, that we ignore the flesh and blood people that are important to us!

*Help with Their Workload!  

You know how you have this ‘Honey-Do’ list?  Well guess what?  You can actually help them with that project!  Pick up a hammer and smash that, I mean help fix that window!

Help haul a load of firewood, help build that back step, help build that dog kennel, or in my case, fence in that goat pen!  Let them know that you are in this together!  Show them you are a team!

Be grateful for everything they do!  Not so you can get help in return, just because!  This is part of showing love!

*Encourage, Not Criticize!  

Focus on your partner’s strengths!  Don’t make fun of them or call them names!  I know many young relationships that fail because they think they are just joking around, and their words are actually hurting their partner!

I remember having a short-lived relationship in high school like this.  In retrospect, I realized that we acted like siblings most of the time!  When you are constantly picking on each other, it gets old real fast!

Nothing wrong with joking around!  It was one of the things my husband loved about me from the beginning, but you need to make sure it’s the right kind of joking around.

*Send Love Notes!  

I know this falls into the keep it steamy category, but I felt this needed to be said.  Use that cell phone during the day as a prelude of what you might do this evening.  Call it sexting, or whatever you want, but you are in a grown-up relationship and you can handle it!

Let them know you are thinking about them.  Tell them what you love about them.  Or what you want to do to them.  Sometimes it seems corny to say these things out loud, so use that technology to your advantage.

A wonderful relationship strengthening book, The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman

A couple of amazing steamy romances to read are Fighting Temptation by KC Lynn and Because You’re Mine by K Langston

*This article contains affiliate links. If you click on the links, you will be redirected to the product on Amazon. I earn a small commission if you purchase through my link. Thank you! Also, I am not a relationship expert! Unless you consider the 27 years I have been with the same wonderful man!

Crafty, Curvy and Country

There are many things my husband and I do ourselves! We’ve built some nice furniture pieces for friends and for ourselves. I just started an Etsy to start selling some of those projects. We’ve tackled many of our own building and remodeling projects too! Time to start showing others how to DIY as well!  I will be demonstrating some distressing techniques on Saturday. I can’t wait to show you! I always say that my hubby builds things and I beat the heck out of them! I like the slightly distressed look rather than pure primitive. Thank you for reading my first blog posts! Have a wonderful day!

Excited to Begin

I’m so excited to finally start my blog! I’ve been wanting to do this for over a year now. I’m done talking and planning. Time to just dive in! I plan to blog about our Boer goat farm, crafts I love to make, and distressing furniture techniques. Of course, whatever strikes me to share with you as well!  Eventually there will be some links to products I like to use as well as a link to my Etsy. I hope you will join me on this adventure!