Breeding season 2010

[noobiechickenlady]

*snicker* You?? Sneak a goat in?? Why would you ever do that!

It looks like Umbra will also be able to be bred this year, at least, later on. She hit a growth spurt last week, ate everything I would give her and came back yelling for more. She's put on a good few pounds & inches and I think she had a heat the other day. I can't be sure, cause she yells a bit more than her mom anyways and I wasn't home to check for discharge or anything. She'd calmed down by the time I got home. DH called me & said "Your goat is going nuts... What can I do to shut her up?" I told him he didn't want to know. I don't think he got it

BTW, Free, I couldn't tell that you had a distinct accent when we did the class calls. I mean, you sounded a bit "northern" but nothing too overt, even to my deep south ears. Oh, and yes guys, free can talk with the best of southeners. I mean that in a good way!

 

[freemotion]

Noobie....living practically in CT, I have a neutral accent most of the time. But within minutes of talking with someone from the Boston area, and that comes right back to me.....or the franglais accent, and that comes back, too.

Yep, I sure can talk! My CE class (that you were a guinea pig for) is officially two classes of 8 hours each, and I'm thinking of adding a Part III...... Building the website now!

 

[Denim Deb]

If you get him, can I borrow him?

 

[Blackbird]

I'm back home for a visit, until after Turkey day. (must be why I'm dreaming of goats) I can't believe how much the girls have grown since I last seen them! The two bucklings too.. Today they somehow got out of their half of the buck shed and were in with Micket and Heathcliff getting beat up on. Poor whiny babies. I can't wait until those two are sold.
Deb.. Want one of my PB Nubian bucklings?? One is spotted!

It's been about two months and everyone still remembered me.. I was a little worried they had forgotten about me!

 

[Denim Deb]

I can't get a buck. Technically, I'm not even supposed to have the girls or the chickens, but the neighbors don't mind them so I get away w/it. However, if I were to add a buck or a rooster......

 

[freemotion]

Yeah, don't push it. Wish I were closer, BB, I'd take that splashy buckling off your hands....But I can get my girls all bred for $50 and a few bales of hay, so....

 

[lwheelr]

Hadta laugh at the start of this thread...

Our neighbor loaned us his buck when one of our does came in heat last week. He's 8 months old (the buck, not the neighbor), and like a teenager on his first date, this little overenthusiastic buck who hardly looks old enough to know his business. But Pixie was bawling for two days, and shut right up after his visit - I guess she got what she wanted and stopped bawling.

He had a go at Cocoa today. Shes a cantankerous old bully, bashes the other goats around so bad that we have to keep her in a separate pen. She chased and slammed him around, and he hid behind her shelter, popping out now and again to see if she'd changed her mind. Finally she let him have his way with her, then drove him off again. We'll hope that takes!

The other goat that we have was pregnant when we got her - she's a Boer Nubian cross, bred to a Saanen. I am hoping for a buck and a doe out of her (I know, you rarely get what you hope for), because then we'd have a buck that would be unrelated to the other two does.

We have no idea when she's due. Got them from a lady who said that Cocoa was her favorite of the bunch, and she did not much like Bonnie (the Boer Nubian). Funny, because Cocoa is not a well behaved animal (even for a goat), and Bonnie is just a good animal.

Speaking of which, I'd better go milk - teaching my 14 year old son to milk Pixie.

Laura
Mom to Eight, Web Designer, Milker of Goats, Feeder of Chickens

 

[TanksHill]

Laura

That Cocoa sounds scary!!

g

 

[Blackbird]

Laura, if you go to your profile, under 'Personality' you can add your signature line there so you don't have to type it each time.

 

[lwheelr]

She doesn't bully us. Just the other goats. Slamming them against the side of the garage, shed, etc. She's brutal enough that we felt that she was endangering the kids in the pregnant one, and when we separated those two, she started in on the other one. I've seen them do the normal dominance stuff, but this is pretty far beyond that, and it doesn't seem to stop. If she wasn't a good milker, she'd be gone - I just don't put up with stuff here from animals that are a danger to other ones.

She milks well. More cantankerous than the other goats, tries to run away with Alex when he is leading her (he's kind of skinny and lacks normal strength due to Crohn's). She has learned to stand still when we milk her, she's just not generally well-behaved like the others. I think that the previous owner just let her be a bully, and indulged her bad behaviors instead of curbing them.

We need the milk badly enough right now though, that we just isolated her. She bawled for the first two days, and we told her "tough!". We'll probably sell her bred next fall, to someone who is fully informed, once we have another milker to replace her.

We've just got the three, and Pixie only gives a cup each milking. Cocoa is still giving 2+ cups per milking. We bought them after the owner had started drying them up. They've come back up some, but not completely. Both of them give way more than that at peak.

I need the milk badly enough that we will deal with an imperfect herd for now. I have Crohn's, so do two of my kids. If we drink lactose free organic cow's milk, we don't get sick, but we don't get well either. I was taking a handful of supplements every morning and every evening. After we got the goats, that dropped to about three pills only at night. I don't take B-12 at all now, and I was severely deficient before, in spite of taking supplements.

The goats cost us about $200 per month in feed. They save us $300 per month in milk, and $150 per month in supplements. A solidly good investment. Will be better when all three are milking and I can make cheese, and save the cost of THAT.

Laura
Mom to Eight, Web Designer, Milker of Goats, Feeder of Chickens