Poor Mr. Tumnus!

First we iced and soaked his leg.
1. To reduce swelling
2. To be sure his leg was clean before wrapping

Mr. Tumnus is our new little buckling. We got him a few weeks ago and he is only 3 months old. He will eventually be the buck for the next group of does that we are currently raising. Most of our does are around 6 months of age, which is almost completely grown, so they are bigger than Mr. Tumnus (for now). Most of our young does bully Mr. Tumnus, but he is probably safer with them then the full grown bucks, and once he is full grown he will be living with the other male goats.

Our first aid supplies for this task. 

Suzy has been his stall-mate at night and that has been working out great. But the other evening Hazel got put in with Suzy and Mr. Tumnus by accident.

Now, before you start hating Hazel, bullying and butting is very common with goats. They seem to find a buddy or one of them tries to become boss . . . it just is the way things are with goats. So anyway, need less to say, Mr. Tumnus must have been butted in the night or early morning and when we found him he seemed to have a broken leg.

How did I know it was broken? He was walking on it . . . but it was in the wrong direction. I wish I had thought of the camera to show you before pics, but I was more concerned with Mr. Tumnus. I tried not to freak out and I could have quickly called our veterinarian. But when your a homesteader you try to do as much yourself as possible. I have many books on goats and there is always the internet. Let's give it a try!

Rubbing liniment gel on the injured leg.

It is actually very common for goats to break legs from jumping off of things or from fighting with another goat and they seem to heal very quickly. I have splinted chickens in the past (don't ask) and have cared for one of my other does bad sprain. Here are the pics of what I did and I will keep a close eye and if I need to call Dr. Dennis (my vet) I certainly will do so!

The first thing I had my son do while I was still milking the other goats was to hold an ice pack on it. We also let Mr. Tumnus eat during that time so as not to upset his usual routine too much. After all our other chores were done we got Mr. Tumnus nice and comfy with my daughter while soaking his leg. That gave us some time to get our supplies gathered. My other son made small splints out of some scrap wood we had and covered them with duck tape so they would be more comfortable.

Supplies used were: frozen gel pack, epsom salt with cold water, 4 wooden splints, cotton gauze wrap, liniment gel, vet wrap, medical tape and a plastic juice cap, and duck tape.

Wrapping his leg with cotton gauze.

I made sure his leg was completely dry and then I rubbed Mr. Tumnus's leg with liniment gel. This will help aid healing and also numb it a little for the pain. I have since learned you can make a poultice out of comfrey leaves. I will probably do that if there is another time, but this liniment gel is great to have around. Goats are always bumping and bruising themselves.

Next, I wrapped his leg with cotton rolled gauze for cushion. I taped it off withe the medical tape to make sure it held. I also started higher than the actual break to make sure it had complete support.

Positioning the splints.

Many hands in this case make the job easier!

His buddy Suzy checks out his new cast
while our dog Giuseppe watches.

Remember my daughter was still holding him and keeping him calm. He was such a good patient, we treated him to little sips of molasses water. But for the next part I needed more hands. Positioning the splints and wrapping them with vet wrap (it can be found at Tractor Supply in the horse section. You can also find it at Walmart listed as sports wrap for humans but it is more expensive. If you have goats you should have this on hand. It comes in all colors we have blue camo for our boy goats and pink for our does.

We ended by adding a plastic juice bottle cap on the bottom. This would be to keep dirt out of the homemade cast and make it even for standing. We covered that in duck tape and added a little duck tape on the top for added closure. It came out pretty good (if I don't say so myself) and seems to be holding up still on day 2.

He was back to grazing in the pasture with the others right away! Hopefully he recovers quickly.

Do you have goats? Please comment if you found this post useful.