Brand new here...

Í just discovered this site today and signed right up! My husband and I have a small acreage in the eastern part of Iowa. Our "livestock" consists of rabbits, chickens, two goats, a little heifer calf, two cats (strictly outdoor), a wiener dog and three kids heavily involved in 4-H.
Right now the weather is wet wet wet! In fact many communities around us are experiencing some pretty major flooding right now. We have had quite a bit of flash flooding from the small creek that borders our property, but no major damage. I am concerned for our critters though. The rabbitsand chickens are no problem, but I'm having a lot of difficulty keeping the goats dry, and our poor little calf is SO jittery from all the recent storms. I sure would appreciate any advice or even words of encouragement.
I'll be treading water in the meantime. :)

welcome to Dav'es Garden!

you have a wonderful brood of critters and kids, can't wait to get to know the. mcmaden is also in Iowa. sorry to hear of the tornadoes and flooding up there. i wish i could tell you what to do. can you sew? blankets are available for animals. some just waterproof, others keep them warm.. if you have old beeding you could make something for him. if i had a heifer calf, i wouldn't want to risk it getting sick. maybe you have a tool shed or someplace close to the house where it could stay warm and dry for a few days, and you could keep a close eye on her? sorry, never had a cow before...

hang in there! sorry you have a mess on your hands, but i am so glad to hear another person from Iowa, such a nice midwestern area...

Hi Heidi,

No experience with calves but I have 5 goats. We have a three sided shelter that is quite deep. Aside from a hurricane blowing from the north no rain gets in there.
Do you have anyway to put a tarp over part of the entrance to their shelter? That might give them some protection from rain.

What kind of shelter does your calf have?

MollyD

sure hope you aren't near the Miss river, & you arwe OK

btw, love your username! reminds me of Tim the Tool Man's neighbor...

hi and welcome hope you find everything u need on the site :)

try singing to the calf and petting him. that should calm him down
and welcome

Welcome Heidillyho! This is the nicest group of people - you will love them!

We've been having some flooding here, too, but nowhere near as much as Iowa.

Hope things dry up for you soon! I have 5 Angora goats, but they can go in and out of the barn on their own when it rains - sounds like your critters can do the same with their shelter.

My horses don't care if they get wet. The dogs LOVE to get wet.

Welcome!

Welcome. Glad you are o.k. and hopefully stay that way. There has been some really nasty stuff up that way. I remember a few summers ago when we had rain, nothing but rain, rain, rain. It gets old really fast so I feel for ya.

Thanks for the welcome everyone!
We are situated nicely between the the Maquoketa River and the Cedar River (two of the main rivers in Iowa which are causing a great deal of trouble around here). We live a fair enough distance from the flood plains of both rivers that we aren't threatened by the flood waters. My husband works in Cedar Rapids though and his business is under about 12 feet of water right now...so that's kind of a bummer. Oh well...this too shall pass.

Tonight is going to be our first dry night since...well since a long time now. We got a nasty NASTY storm through here last night again and everything is SOAKED. We spent most of today rebedding all the animals. The calf is in a smaller pole shed and under normal circumstances would be well protected, but with some of the high winds it's blown straight into her shelter. :(
We spent a lot of time petting and loving on her again. It seems to help if we give her an extra, slightly diluted bottle of milk replacer.
All the goat bedding was soaked because the rain blew in under the eaves of their shed. So we cleaned all that out and gave them fresh dry bedding (it smells SO good in there now-cedar shavings!)

So sorry about you DH's work. I thought Cedar Rapids might avoid flooding, but I guess the crest was just a lot higher than they expected. Good job with the calf--she is lucky to have you!

Heidi you should read this http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/guineapigs/a/woodshavings.htm

MollyD

Don't worry Molly D..we only use the shavings in the goat shed mixed with straw..not with the rabbits. But thanks for thinking about us!