• About Advanta
• Investors
• News
• Contact

• Seed Brand Partners
• Ricky's Ramblings

• Bioenergy
• Grain Sorghum
• Forage Sorghum
• Forage Sudangrass
• Sunflowers

• Dairy
• Beef

• Research & Development
• Production Q & A

• Calendar

Ricky's Ramblings

Precious the Pygmy Goat

Last time I told ya’ll I was going to tell you about Little Darlin’s pygmy goat “Precious”. Well let me tell you she ain’t no ordinary goat, no sir-y-bob! She was the last-born and the smallest of triplets and her mother abandoned her. Now, as luck would have it, Little Darlin’ found her, poor baby was near dead. Little Darlin’ grabbed her up, brought her in the house, cleaned her up, wrapped her in a blanket and then called me at the office insisting I make an emergency run to find some milk replacer and the smallest bottle I could get.

Now, I did not like the idea of sharing the bathroom with a baby goat, but figured it would only be about a month or so, therefore I did not complain too much when I had to do the early morning feeding, then move Precious, her box with straw (which she rarely stayed in) and an assortment of stuffed toys (Little Darlin’ didn’t want her to be lonely) out of the tub every morning so I could shower. Let me tell you first hand, that is one real smart goat, she learned real quick not to jump onto the toilet (I have a bad habit of leaving the lid up) and Little Darlin’ will be the first to tell you that goat was a lot easier to train than I am. Now, as I was saying, I figured it would only be for a short time, boy was I wrong. Little Darlin’ said it was too cold to leave that little baby outside and until the nights warmed up she would take Precious out and put her with the goats during the day so she wouldn’t forget that she was a goat, then bring her back in about dark. It didn’t work. If you don’t believe me, ask Ernest Weaver or Marvin Yoder. When they were out at our place, Precious (who has never met anyone she doesn’t pester) untied Marvin’s shoe and swiped Ernest’s gum out his shirt pocket when he was down petting her.

Then came the day our two llamas, Dolly and Tony (they’re in charge of goat security) were looking over the fence into my BMR field. Little Darlin’ was sure that there was a coyote out there, cuz she had seen one in the yard a few days earlier and was worried to death about her babies. It was only Precious, she had gone through the fence and out into the BMR that was about as tall as she was. Little Darlin’ asked if we should cut the BMR so as not to tempt Precious to keep getting out. I told her no, we would do it when I got back from my trip. You guessed it, I got back and heard about all the times Precious had escaped and sure enough she was out again. This time the only way we could tell where she was at was the BMR moving as she ran through it. Good thing she comes when Little Darlin’ calls her name or I would have been in a lot more trouble. Besides being in hot water for not getting the hay cut earlier, I knew I had messed up because at that height it took a long time to dry and wasn’t as good a quality as if I had done it earlier.

The moral to this story is that whether you use a pygmy goat or a measuring stick, make sure you watch the height on the BMR closely. It can grow 3 inches a day when conditions are right and needs to be cut when it is about 42 inches tall. This will allow faster dry down and good quality.

Well that’s all for now. Next time I will tell ya’ll about our bull, Belvedere.

P.S. Don’t worry about Little Darlin’s rooster, Mr.Chubbs, he came out of the meeting with Joe Ed’s dawg fine and the dawg’s nose will heal in time.

<<Back to Ricky's Ramblings