Deworming

On Friday, September 15, 2017, we went to the farm and dewormed the goats. Safeguard is a dewormer. A dewormer is a drug that rids animals of parasites such as roundworm, flukes, and tapeworm. In SafeGuard, the dewormer we used for the goats, the main active ingredient is Fendbendazole. The most harmful worm that is most harmful for goats are Barber Poles. They cause anemia. A way to identify if a goat has anemia is by looking at the eye lid. If the eyelid is more white, there are pesticides which indicate Anemia. If the eyelid is more pinkish, then the goat does not have Anemia. We dewormed Walter, Wolfgang, Estelle, and Betsy. First, we stuck our thumb in the corner of the goat's mouth so we can easily put the syringe inside. Goats do not have any teeth in that particular corner of their mouth so it was easy to deworm them. Betsy got around 2.3 mL to 2.9 mL of SafeGuard. Walter, Wolfgang, and Betsy got around 1.2 mL to 1.7 mL of Safeguard.

Rest in Peace Jersey Giant

September 15, 2017

        One of the chickens at our farm, Home Winds passed away on Friday. This Jersey Giant chicken had severe trauma to her head from being pecked to death. She stayed alive for a few days after having to be put in a separate crate. While in that crate trying to recover from life threatening cranial trauma, a case of myiasis, also known as "flystrike" caused the chicken to pass away. Myiasis is the process of flies entering and laying eggs into the brain, which then maggots live and feed on the living matter in the chicken's head. A major important step of taking care of chickens is maintaining the overall health of the flock and inspecting for signs of myiasis.

Myiasis in the lower region (Chicken)

Why Do We Weigh Goats with a Tape Measure?

       On September 8th the class went to Home winds to measure the goats. We ended up measuring a total of six goats. Two were still baby goats and the other four were full grown goats. What we found interesting was that when we went to weigh all the goats we didn't use what most people would have expected, we used a tape measure instead of a scale. When we got back we researched why goats should be measured with measuring tape."The girth measurement is taken by placing a tape or thin piece of material around the animal's girth. The tape encircles the animal just behind the withers on top and just behind the elbows on the bottom." We discovered that its important that we do so because it allows us to know how much medication to give, how much they should be feed, and when its time to sell them.

Vaccinating the Goats

Vaccinating the Goats

On Thursday, September 14th, we vaccinated the three goats against tetanus. There are four types of injections: intramuscular, intravenous, intradermal, and subcutaneous. Intramuscular injections are inserted deep into the muscle, usually at a 90 degree angle. Intravenous injections are given in the vein. Intradermal injections are inserted into the dermis, a thick layer of living tissue just below the epidermis. Lastly, in a subcutaneous injection, the angle at which the vaccine is given allows it to be received in the subcutaneous tissue under the skin. This is the type of injection we used to vaccinate the goats.

We gave the goats a tetanus clostridium pefringens vaccine (CDT). This is meant to prevent infections caused by clostridium tetani bacteria (most frequently found in soil), which can easily kill a goat; if they have a wound (most likely a puncture wound), the bacteria can enter the area and cause a clostridial infection, such as tetanus or exterotoxemia. CDT is given to adult goats once annually, and is given to pregnant goats about one month before they give birth. Kids are vaccinated first when they are 5-6 weeks old, and are given a booster 3-4 weeks later. The subcutaneous injection is done using a one inch needle, and both adults and kids are given 2 ml of CDT. It is important to have epinephrine on hand in case a goat goes into anaphylactic shock due to the vaccine.

The way we gave the Tetanus vaccination to the goats is we began by…

1. Breaking the seal in the syringes and drawing in 2 mL of the vaccination.
2. Although it isn’t as important to release all of the air bubbles as it is when giving an intravenous vaccine, it is still necessary to flick the syringe while upside down to release all of the air to the top.
3. We pulled out the skin on their necks (check out video) and inserted the needle and vaccine. We use the neck for meat goats because that is the area that is least used in processing and not in demand
4. After we injected them we massaged the area and set the goat free.

New Additions at the Farm

While everyone was away for the summer, the farm was running extremely well. Mr. Rabel added many different breeds to Home Winds. After the class of 2017 graduated, 9 Jacob sheep were delivered (4 ewes, 3 ram lambs, and 2 ewe lambs), 1 Cormo ram, and 1 Blue Andalusian rooster. Also a new favorite additions to the farm is Rory, a now 6 month old Border Collie. She came to the farm during June at 3 months old. The Jacob sheep and Cormo ram are used for meat and breeding. Rory's main reason to be at the farm is to keep the animals safe from predators.


The Cormo ram is in the back of the photo


Four out of the nine Jacob sheep