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| Last update 4-27-08 |
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| Mz Precious Column |
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| Advice Column: Ask Mz. Precious |
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| Dear Zeke, Those cute little fleshly skin appendages are nothing to worry about. They are called 'waddles' ~ sometimes spelled 'wattles'. They have no purpose other than adornment. They are sometimes lovingly referred to as "Goat Jewelry" by some humans. It has been speculated that waddles may possibly be a last remnant of gills~ a tie to a water bound ancestor long since vanished. ~Mz. Precious ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Dear Mz. Precious, Baaaa, my name is Zeke, I'm a Nigerian Dwarf Goat. I have something that nobody else in my herd has. On either side of my neck I have some dangling pieces of skin. They don't cause me any pain and I happen to think they are quite handsome on me and tend to make me special. But I'm not really sure what they are and does it mean that I have something wrong with me? I've enclosed a picture with arrows pointing at them. ~a little concerned. |
| Dear Mz. Precious, Why do alot of humans think that goats are evil? This really hurts my feeling because we are such loving creatures and we would really like to know why we get such a bad rap. ~wondering Dear Wondering, There have been many strange beliefs about goats amongst the humans. One of which, is that the devil was believed to be able to transform into a goat at will. He (the devil) has long been portrayed by humans in paintings and folklore to have cloven hoofs and horns - much like a goat. In taking this form he supposedly was able to move freely. Goats were thought to meet regularly with the Devil and in rural parts were thought to have daily meeings. At times when a goat could not be found it was thought to be serving darker forces. 2..Goats, and especially our more perfect kids, were a sacrificial animal and used as a sin-offering (scapegoat). 3..The he-goat is is supposed to be human lust personified and a goat with a human head is supposed to depict depravity. 4..Some humans are spooked our eyes. The iris (the black part) of our eyes are elliptical where a human iris is round. Unforltunately what humans don't understand, they tend to label as evil. If they could see more of us and get to know us, they would surely love us and forget about all these silly rumors. I'm hopeful,, Mz. Precious. ------------------------------------------------ |
| Dear Mz. Precious, My owner brought home a goat that has horns and she is making the rest of us miserable. We try to play with her but her horns are long and sharp and they give her an unfair advantage. It hurts a lot to get poked with them. Everyone in my herd is afraid of her now. I'm afraid someone is going to get hurt seriuosly if something doesn't get done. Is there anything my owner can do to help us? ~wanting a fair fight Dear Wanting a Fair Fight, Your owner can safely remove the horns of an older goat by placing elastrator bands on them. These are the same bands used for castration. The bands will cut off the blood suppy and cause the horns to fall off. The bands need to be placed as close to the skull as possible and secured with some duct tape. Then, you will be able to play more fairly with your friend. Here is a good link for more information: Elastrator Dehorning of Goats -- be sure to check out the pictures too. (Use your back button on your browser tool bar to return here) I hope this helps, Mz. Precious. ------------------------------------------------ |
| Dear Mz. Precious, We have a wether in our herd that is acting crazy like he thinks he's a buck or somethin! I saw him get banded when he was a youngin knee high to a grasshopper. He doesn't smell bucky and he doesn't have the handsome beard that most bucks have but ohmygosh does he ever cause us pretty young does around here a lot of grief! None of the other wethers chase us around to the extent that this one does. What in the world is wrong with him?! ~Tired of Running Dear Tired of Running, It's possible that when this misbehaving young buck was banded that only one testicle was caught. The other testicle most likely got pushed up into his body cavity. Those testicles can be slippery little devils sometimes. Have your owner flip him over onto his back and feel down around the crotch area for a testicle. If there is one there, he will have to be taken to the vet to have it removed. It's unlikely that any of his Tom-Foolery will have caused any pregnancies because the heat of the body cavity should render any sperm unuseable. --Mz. Precious. |
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| Dear Mz. Precious, I'm getting really tired of all my friends jumping in the feeders and pooping where I eat. Is there anything my owner can do to keep them out of the feeders? ~Bad Taste in Mouth Dear Bad Taste, Here is a nifty idea.....(easy and cheap too)... Your owner can split a large PVC pipe, nail it to a board, and put it on the outside of a large-squared fence. The goats can only stick their head through to get to the trough ~ Ta Da! Clean feed! :) Mz. Precious |
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| Design: Lap Lander with a licker license. I had a Jack Russell Terrier that was crazy about licking me in the face. My friend Larry said - "Hey, does she have a licker license?" Next thing you know, he added the lap lander because she's such a silly ole lap dog. We figured lots of other people probably have kissy dogs too, so we made this design. This design is available for all dog breeds. |
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| Be sure to browse our design stores for goat or dog related T-shirts and other clothing. We also have magnets, buttons, home & office and other stuff. (We have expanded our store to include many other categories too ... such as sports, people, holidays and MORE!) |
| Special Designs to Fit Any Dog Breed |
| My Dog is a LAP LANDER with a LICKER LICENSE! Pick YOUR breed: -AKC - DESIGNER HYBRID - GENERIC |
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| Love Me? Love My Dog! Pick YOUR breed: -AKC - DESIGNER HYBRID - GENERIC -MINIATURES/TOYS/STANDARDS/GIANTS -MUTTS |
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| Dear Mz Precious, Thank you for your site. I used so much of your information for my 4H goat poster. We will be heading to the fair today at 2pm with buddies, Nelson and Nellie. We had to compete in petpals becaus our tiny county doesn't have much in goat divisions here.(we are competing with hamsters and goldfish!). I get to wear my new goata shirt today too for the judges. Anyway, my question is, we just got a miniature mule and he doesn't care for us. He thinks he's a big horse and doens't realize he's about the same size as the resident St. Bernard! Any advice on how to make friends with our "new friend". The new horse doesn't like us either. We are nice to them but the new horse is now the new herd boss. The horses are going through a heirarchy change and we get to sit and watch. I still get to spend time with my good friend Gala, the blind horse though. ~ From Nelson and Nellie |
| Dear Nelson and Nellie, Try to give the situation with the new miniature mule some time. Right now, if he is asserting dominance, his mind is on the bigger animals. Once a 'pecking order' has been established, he will probably friendly up to the smaller goats. Is he gelded or a 'fully functioning' male? Is he being mean to the goats or just ignoring them? Our female mule acts like the goats are her babies - and is very protective of them. If you didn't know it, and just by looking, sometime you might think she didn't like them because she chases them, herds them and nags and sclods them. It depends on the context of what's going on. One time she couldn't find the goats and started braying like crazy ( they had gotten in the garage and were eating all the grain). The lead male (Barlow) came running out to her and said something in goat/mule language to her. Molly(the mule) immediately calmed down and Barlow went back in the garage with the others. It looked like Barlow had just told her - 'hey everyone is in the garage - it's ok'. Also, another time - the human was working - trying to fix the lawn mower and all the goats were bothering him. Molly could see that the human was getting flustered so she ran over and herded all the goats away -- just to keep the peace. So, I would say, just keep an eye on them and see if you can figure out what is going on. If anyone is getting hurt, separate them, if not then let them have a little time to work things out. Knowing Nelson, he is so friendly that it is proably hurting his feelings. The new mini-mule probably just doesn't know what Nelson is or what to think of him. Thanks for writing and for the picture. Keep my posted. Good luck at the fair! :) Mz Precious. |
| Mz. Precious, Well, we had to move Stitch (mule) to the goat pasture which is fenced in near the barn. I think its more of the new gelding horse that is our problem. Since we have separated the mule from the horse, he's doing what your mule does. He is castrated but the vet says he has a lot of herding testosterone in him....even double checked to make sure he was fixed. It's more the gelding though.... he HATES the goats. It's going better but for now, they get supervised time together until we are comfortable to leave the goats out complely with him. He's a cute little stinker....we got him to stay with the goats anyway...he doesn't need to be out there with the big horses. We won a blue ribbon at the fair! Nelson & Nellie |
| Dear Nelson & Nellie, A Blue Ribbon!?! Congratulations!! That's wonderful! Sounds like you sure have your hand full with goats/mini-mule/gelding/mares/&fairs...I'm glad that separating the mule out calmed him down a little. Hopefully the gelding will come around and accept the goats too. But, you were wise to separate him out. Thanks for writing, Mz. Precious |
| Mz. Precious, Update....the gelding has figured out that the goats are nice.... the mini mule can take them for about and hour then he starts chasing them like crazy. Nelson & Nellie |
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| Mz. Precious, Horns or no horns? Which is best? I like the way horns look - it makes a goat rather handsome. ~Billy |
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| Billy, Your horns ARE very attractive, I do certainly agree. But, since you are a domestic animal, you will find yourself getting caught up in fences a lot. This can be very dangerous to you and expensive for your owner too. I would suggest that your babies be dehorned while they are less than two weeks old so they won't have this problem when they get older. Don't worry, they will still be very handsome, and they play better with others. ~Mz. Precious |
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| Mz. Precious, What is FAMACHA? My owner went to a workshop and then came home and started pulling down the lower lid of our eyes. She would worm a few of us after looking and saying hmmm that looks a little too pale. ~Remi |
| Dear Remi, Your owner went to a workshop sponsored by Purdue to educate her to detect anemias caused by the barber pole worm. She checks for anemia by looking at your lower eye lid and comparing it to a chart that they gave her. If your lower lid is a C3, C4, or C5, she will adminstrate a wormer. The barber pole has a tendency to develop resistance to wormers if all the worms in an animal aren't killed. The FAMACHA method worms only the animals that show anemia. If there are any resistant strains that develop - those resistant worms will mate with the non resistant worms for the un-wormed group and makde the resistant worms more resistant to wormers. I've only given you a short condensed answer - be sure to read the 3 links below the FAMACHA eye chart to learn more about FAMACHA. It would be great if your owner could attend a workshop and be trained properly. |
| Goat to Goat ~A goat's perspective: Questions and answers from the mouth of an old momma goat. |
| Does your goat have a question for MZ Precious? She would love to share her wisdom. She also likes getting pictures too (hint, hint) |
| Dear Jenny, I consulted Bella's previous owner who has participated in fairs as a judge. She said "the vet is right to be concerned about the double teat. In a dairy goat, anything more than the 2 normal working teats is bad. Depending on how big that extra teat is, she could be disqualified in a show. It also depends on how big the show is and how familiar the judge is with Nigerians. In a small county fair, the judges are commonly unfamiliar with our tiny little breed. At a State Fair, a Nigerian with a double teat wouldn't have a chance, as these judges are usually professionals. In meat goats, extra teats are quite common. I would not show or breed this goat for registered babies. It is not improving the breed standards by reproducing goats with problems, and the extra teat is definitely a problem. Since the Nigerian is a dairy breed, and meant to be milked, that extra teat can get in the way. It makes milking harder, and can be painful for the goat. Also goats with extra teats can have problems nursing their own kids. The kids may latch on to the "wrong" teat and never recieve milk. Over all, goats with extra teats can still make great pets. " I hope this helps Thanks for writing. Mz. Precious |
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| Dear Mz. Precious This site's design store has a cool shirt on it for sale that says 'Proud to be a Capriculturist!' -- but, I'm not really sure what that a CAPRICULTURIST is.. Can you explain? ~clueless Dear Friend, CAPRICULTURIST is a fancy pants word that humans use that means 'one who looks after or cares for goats. It's a new word coined recently. Pretty cool word, huh? Mz. Precious Check out more GOAT designs at the store. AND if YOU have a design idea - contact the site administrator and tell her! |
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| dear Mz. Precious my name is jenny and im a nigerian dwarf goat. my owner bought me hoping that she could show me. I was very happy to hear that I would get to go to the big animal fair with my sister, but one day my mommy took me to the vet and said that I have an extra teat(whatever that is). my mommy said that the judge would disqualify me but the vet said to take a chance because my extra teat is very small. now my mommy is very confused and she doesn't know what to do. |
| Mz. Precious, My name is Drago. My owner's banded me weeks ago, and my testicles have yet to slough off. They have shriveled and are hard now. However. they do not seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. My owners resarched around and found out that the process should have only taken 2 weeks. Now, they are worried. Please help! |
| Dear Drago, Don't worry - the process is underway. If they are shriveled and hard, it won't be long before they slough off. Two weeks is a best guess-timate and not 'written in stone'. To 'each his own' as they say - every one has their own time. Give it just a little more time. If there is no sign of infection...i.e. redness, swelling, pain - then no need to worry...imho (in my humble opinion). BUT If you can't help but worry, seek the advice of a [human]veterinarian thanks for writing :) Mz Precious. |