Well, I love the buck Apollo, but when he is in rut in the fall, he is so hard to put up with.  He urinates all over himself and stinks as bad as a skunk.  But that is a major attractant to the girls, the does.  He also gets very agressive toward me and tries to impale me on his beautiful horns.  Well, Thursday after work, I noticed that some skin on his face is getting a little raw and abraded from the acid in his urine, so I took pity on him and started shearing all of his dirty fleece off of him.  I just wrestled him down, sheared a little, he fought and struggled, but I simply outweigh him and kept at it.  He never did stop trying to escape, but in between his struggles, he looked like he was really appreciating being sheared and felt a lot more comfortable.  When I was pretty much done, I let him up to run out, and I usually have to be really careful to make sure he doesn't try to gore me.  But he just stood there!  He was finally beaten down for a little while, like, "Wow, you're strong, Darc'!"  That was so funny.

Anyway, a sweet friend, Ginger, just bought 7 angora does and wants to rent Apollo to breed her little goats!  I'm so excited that he will get to have a date next weekend.  Poor thing is so miserable when his hormones are acting up like this.

Vivian is getting better!    I brought her into the Hay shed so she could keep inside and warm and dry and have anything she wanted to eat and drink.  I got her and all of them a lot of good minerals. She wedged herself into a warm corner and didn't walk for 48 straight hours and I was sure she was a goner.  I dragged her out to sit in the sun and she has been recuperating ever since.  I understand from Doc English that the bacterial population in the rumen can get out of balance and create a nutrient deficiency.  Then it acts like polio and attacks the nervous system.  I have had a kid die of that before, so I recognized it in Vivian, but she is pulling through!

Least 'Un is getting better, too.  The funny thing about goats is that they act all happy and content even when they are completely sick.  Little Vivian just smiled up at me every time I checked on her and it didn't seem to affect her that she couldn't walk.

Vivian and Least 'Un are sick.  Least 'Un has bottle jaw from having too big of a load of worms.  I think Vivian has a nutrient deficiency.  I gave them meds, but I feel so badly when any animals under my care are sick.  I haven't kept the ditch dug out well enough this year, so when I get too much canal water, it floods the pasture.  No wonder my babies are sick!  It's totally my fault!