Goat Care and Little Goat Discipline

GOAT CARE:
A week after the goats came home, the 3 boys were due for vaccines. My mom came over to lend a hand, and asked if I had an orange to practice on... How hard could it be? There's resistance, and then it gives, and then you empty the syringe right? So I filled my syringe, and my mom taught me how to tap out the air bubbles and "squirt" to make sure they were all out...just like on tv..
I grabbed Apollo first because he was the smallest, (Youngest goes first!! My sister used to yell when we were kids...) and tried pinching the back of his hip to create a "tent" to insert the needle. Well he wasn't in the mood...so my mom had to WWF his little goat butt...and I was impressed. She got on her knees, grabbed the stuffed my little pony, and yelled, "Go!" Oh shit... So I grabbed his skin and pushed the needle in. He started to scream as I emptied the syringe. I was actually alright...wasn't too emotional...and apologized to him, wishing I had a little treasure box for him like they do at the dentist's office. Instead, I gave him a little grain.
Next was Dante...I did one, so I felt I was a pro by the second one. TAP TAP TAP for the airbubbles, and a small squirt, you guessed it, just like on tv... I got my mom knee pads to make her more comfortable, and she tackled Dante to the floor. "Go!" she yelled. So I pulled the skin out on his back leg and stuck the needle in. He screamed and jumped and knocked the needle out of his back leg. I had to stick him 3 times to give him his full injection. I had bad visions of accidently stabbing myself, or even worse, giving my mom a tetanus shot. I gave Dante his grain, and apologized 3 times since I had to stab him that many times.
My mom offered to do Mr. Fibbs, and I let her. She was definitely a lot more professional looking with the tapping and squirting...like a real MD compared to a first time soon to be junky. Mr. Fibbs went real quick, and he got his grain. I'm thankful every day that injections only come once a year!!! Would practicing on an orange have helped? Only if I was in the back of a jeep going 4 wheeling down a road full of potholes going 40 miles an hour!
Several times the boys have ended up with hay and straw in their eyes....like WAY back in their eyeball. Shortly after I brought them home, Apollo got something in his eye...and I tried and tried to get it with no luck. It looked like a small piece of wheat, and the wheat was facing the direction I needed to pull...not good.
So mom and super steve came over one night and provided a few extra pairs of hands while I got it out of his eye. He sat in Steve's lap and was totally calm like he was watching the latest Twilight movie...just needed a little goat popcorn. ANYWAY, my mom held open his eye, and I pulled the straw out. It was over an inch long, and barely an 1/8 of an inch had been showing!!! I put some Eye ointment on him, from my super duper goat first aid kit I made, and he was good as new.
Scours...Scours is the same as goat diarreah. You can tell anything about a goat by their poop. If they are healthy and happy, they poop little berries. If their poop is anything but berries, something isn't right. So every day, I check their poops. Well about a week ago, I noticed Dante was shooting split pea soup...not good. So I gave him some Probios, which is good bacteria to help digestion in goat tummies. For 3 days I would go down to the barn, and the back of his legs were covered with poop...I literally had to cut the hair on the back of his legs to get it off. That, and LOTS of baby wipes. So, let me tell you WHY he was crapping his little brains out...(Because he doesn't want to talk about it right now.) Dante learned to suck the nipples on Lucy's bucket, and was butting her out of the way and drinking her milk. ANY sudden change in a goat's diet will make them extremely sick. Since then, he has managed to wipe his ass on everyone, so everyone is getting summer haircuts this weekend...
But back to Dante, which brings me to Little Goat Discipline...
He is the naughtiest of all naughty little goats. When I first caught him in Lucy's bucket, I clapped my hands at him and said NO! I think he laughed at me. So I went to the internet, and looked up naughty goats...and what to do. Well, mother goats head butt their children when they do something not acceptable, and I certainly wasn't going to do that!!! (I know some of you thought that's where I was going with this...) Anyway, I read to pull their tail, or ear, or punt them in the chest..(with your hand, NOT like a football...) So I tried that...every time I saw him go to the bucket, I pulled his tail. He turned around and stomped at me with this goofy grin he always has on his face, and I stomped back. Mind you....this goat comes to my knees with the top of his head...And we're stomping at each other like a bunch of two year olds...Then he went back to the bucket. So I got a squirt bottle. And he does NOT like that. Goats do not like to get wet. So the second he would go for the bucket, I would squirt him in the face. Again, he would stomp at me...but then he would walk away. BUT he would watch me for the second I turned my back, and he would be back at the bucket. Goats are extremely smart. So, in the mean time, for the safety of his stomach, Lucy only gets her bucket while I am down there...I let her drink as much as she can, and then remove it. The first time I did it...he stomped at me.