Zeb: he is our three year old buck. When we first got Zeb, no one could touch him and no one could catch him. When we had to worm him, we would have to rope him. Honestly, it was that bad!
Then one day Zeb became ill: VERY ill. Of course, it was during the winter and due to his blood lines, we did not want to lose him so we did what anyone would do...we moved him inside next to the wood stove. At this point, he was two. Yes, that means we moved a two year old buck into the living room. We started out with plastic garbage bags down so the hardwood floors would not get ruined...then newspapers...then towels. There was a LOT of maintenance using this method!! We progressed over time to a sheet of plywood with 2 x 6 sides. We put towels under the plywood so the floors would not get scratched. Then, inside the box, we put plastic garbage bags so the wood would stay dry. Then we filled the box with saw dust. Yep, we made a small stall in the house just for Zeb!
This last method worked VERY well! It was low maintenance and smelled nice. And with the saw dust, we were able to "dig" holes for him to lay in so he would not fall over as he was weak. All said and done, Zeb lived in the house for four months. That really is a long time to have a buck in your house!
We knew he was ready to move out when two days in a row, he met my husband in the hall way early in the morning. He did not like the idea much, but we put him out during the day so he could get some sun. After about two weeks of being out in the day and inside at night, we moved him outside. He lived up by the house for about the next six months before we returned him to the buck pen.
During this time of illness, he lost all fear of people and developed love. Right now, we let him graze the upper ten acres during the night and pen him up during the day. Each morning I wake up and feed the chickens and then the cats. Zeb always enjoys nibbling on the chicken food. I then grab his food and I call him just like a dog and he comes running for his breakfast! Honest, he does! And if he is not penned up when I am working around the house, he is right by my side walking and hanging out with me. He loves to have his head petted. If you come for a visit, you will likely see my GP, Joy, standing ON my right foot and Zeb standing to my left. They are great shadows and I am so thankful that Zeb survived his illness. We have many babies thanks to Zeb and well, I have a goat that thinks he is a dog!
