As a goat owner, things constantly change.  Sometimes its acts we put in place..other times its Gods will.  Lately I've had a bit of both.  It started with the first week of July when our beloved herd sire Chics Crave Me went to his new home at West Bay Marina Owner Walter Covington in Azle TX.  It was a bittersweet day, but I couldnt have asked for a more perfect home.  You see, Walter is the man who gave me my first bottle baby which resulted in what is now Pima Ranch.  I couldnt have selected a better home if I tried.  Walter still has his original 3 wethers who are now 14 years old!  AMAZING!

I also welcomed a new buck this week.  Bred by Show Me Boers in Neosho MO, Expert Marksman came to us and is adjusting quite nicely and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does in the show ring and in the breeding pens this fall!  He has an amazing hip and chest front and a ton of bone.

The heat has been another challenge to deal with.  With that has been a lack of pasture, changes in feeding and challenges to keep animals cool and not stressed.  This week I lost one of my sweet does, Liberty Bell - an AK-47 daughter who I had the pleasure of having long enough to have a great set of kids with and one wonderful show where she was Reserve Grand Overall doe both days.  It started with her being reluctant to stand.  I immediately loaded her as soon as she tried to lay down again after wanting to lay down again when I was dispensing breakfast for everyone.  By the time we got to the vets office, she didnt want to load and I was afraid that she was going to crash quickly.  I immediately asked the vet for thiamine as I feared it could be goat polio.  However, the drooling disturbed me.  I brought it up to the vet who didnt know if it was muscular or neurological.  On the way home, I called my friend Lori Peterson at Show Me Boers and she diagnosed Listeriosis and told me to get 20 ccs of Pennicillin in her immediately.  I tried to make her comfortable and wait to see if the thiamine or Pennicillin did anything.  When she began to crash harder, I contacted OSU vet hospital and to see if there was anything beyond the treatment already administered, but there wasnt.  She was dead within 20 minutes of contacting their goat expert.    It was a cruel death and I truly miss my beloved LB. Im just incredibly grateful that I have an amazing daughter who is a deadringer for her mother.

I'm having to sell off some of my veteran girls here to be able to control numbers so that I can feed everyone this winter as hay is expxected to be scarce.  Let's all pray for rain and good health for our animals.