KatyDaly
Ridin' The Range
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2016
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 11
- Points
- 51
I am a frequent reader/poster on BackyardChickens, and when I found out about the Herds forum I joined as quickly as I could.
Our current "farm" includes 14 hens, 3 roosters, 3 drakes, 5 adult goats and 4 kids a few weeks old. Also have 2 dogs and 2 cats indoors. (The kids were the reason I joined to get some advice. Posted my issue on the Birthing Weaning Young Goats forum yesterday.)
We started our goat herd a few years ago as purebred Saanens. A black mama named Lucille (sable Saanen), her white kid Helen, and a borrowed white buckling named Jack. Lucille was kind enough to feed Jack as her own. Then we bred Lucille and Helen to another Saanen and had 3 kids, Tony, Rose and Rico. We traded Tony for an Oberhasli/Alpine buck named Charlie, who sired 4 kids last year, but we only named the female, Beatrice, and sold the 3 bucklings.
Charlie must have gotten to work early this past summer—the girls delivered in January. We had a buckling first, Ted; and then 2 girls, Rita and Blossom. Then, sadly, Lucille, the most experienced mom of all, delivered a stillborn kid.
We thought we were doing her a favor by buying a young bottle baby, a purebred Nubian named David Bowie. She was truly mourning the loss of her kid, and he was about the same age as hers would have been. Even though she had no trouble accepting Jack in her first year kidding, she wants nothing to do with this little guy. Maybe it's those big floppy ears. ("That's not MY kid!")
Thus my searching for advice and ending up here.
I have found excellent answers to all of my questions on Backyard Chickens, and am pleased to join you folks here to join in the goat discussions. Thanks for being here!
Here's a few pics of the kids...
Our current "farm" includes 14 hens, 3 roosters, 3 drakes, 5 adult goats and 4 kids a few weeks old. Also have 2 dogs and 2 cats indoors. (The kids were the reason I joined to get some advice. Posted my issue on the Birthing Weaning Young Goats forum yesterday.)
We started our goat herd a few years ago as purebred Saanens. A black mama named Lucille (sable Saanen), her white kid Helen, and a borrowed white buckling named Jack. Lucille was kind enough to feed Jack as her own. Then we bred Lucille and Helen to another Saanen and had 3 kids, Tony, Rose and Rico. We traded Tony for an Oberhasli/Alpine buck named Charlie, who sired 4 kids last year, but we only named the female, Beatrice, and sold the 3 bucklings.
Charlie must have gotten to work early this past summer—the girls delivered in January. We had a buckling first, Ted; and then 2 girls, Rita and Blossom. Then, sadly, Lucille, the most experienced mom of all, delivered a stillborn kid.
We thought we were doing her a favor by buying a young bottle baby, a purebred Nubian named David Bowie. She was truly mourning the loss of her kid, and he was about the same age as hers would have been. Even though she had no trouble accepting Jack in her first year kidding, she wants nothing to do with this little guy. Maybe it's those big floppy ears. ("That's not MY kid!")
Thus my searching for advice and ending up here.
I have found excellent answers to all of my questions on Backyard Chickens, and am pleased to join you folks here to join in the goat discussions. Thanks for being here!
Here's a few pics of the kids...