Long time no see!

Goatgirl47

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It's been a long while since the last time I was legitimately on here! Our herd has changed dramatically over the last 2 years, I don't know if y'all remember but in my kidding threads from 2016 I just had 2 Myotonics, 1 Mini-Lamancha and 1 Alpine. Plus the Mini-Lamancha buck and everyone's new kids....

For the late 2017/early 2018 kidding season we had 8 does kid, for a total of 1 doeling and 8 (EIGHT!) bucklings. :th
I was astonished with all of the singles (not to mention the extra "dangly bits" that most of them had :mad:), even though 5 out of the 8 does were FFs. Someone on another forum mentioned iodine deficiency, so we got a cobalt block, and I've since seen some obvious improvements in a couple does and also, hopefully we'll have a better buckling/doeling ratio next year. AND more twins or triplets, I hate having so many singles because then it's difficult to make sure the does are being emptied properly (so as to prevent lopsided udders) and also, I just like the kids to have sibling buddies, especially if the kiddings are super spread out...

April was a very hard month for us concerning the goats. We lost two amazing ones, a doe and buck, within 3 weeks of each other and still are not quite sure what happened/why they died but we think it had something to do with plant poisoning, because they were both on new pasture and were exploring farther than ever before. The doe was a FF Lamancha, and she left behind her nursing 5 week old doeling. I am SO thankful that out of all of the does to have a doeling, my beloved Verity did, so we still have a piece of her left. The buck was a Nubian (the yearling son of Matilda) and he was the sweetest, gentlest boy in the world. I never knew one could get so attached to a buck. :(

Anyway, so below are the goats we currently have. We're been culling hard this spring/summer, mostly because school is coming up and I'd like more time to study and less time worrying about my goaties. :) I brush and look over closely every single goat each day, because now I'm just paranoid of losing another.

Remember Matilda? She's the purebred registered Nubian we bought a little over a year ago, the one that was 5 days fresh and that got very sick a couple days after arriving home. It took her the better part of 3 months to fully recover, and now she is very healthy and looks great! She kidded again in January and raised another monster of a buckling (sold in May) and is now the (very unwilling) foster mama to Serendipity, Verity's orphan.
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Serendipity or "Dipity" is growing very well and I am pretty pleased with how my little homebred doe is turning out. :) Her mama had a beautiful udder and was a great milker, so it will be exciting to see how she'll look when her time comes.
Here's a "baby picture" of her, before she shed all of her baby fluff and shortly after her mama died:
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And now, as a 3 1/2 month old:
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This is Semi Sweet, she is a purebred registered Nubian from the same herd as Matilda (they are besties - never apart), but different bloodlines. She was bred when we got her (last November), and had previously had 1 buckling in April, and then had been bred again 3 months later, the following July. It was a little hard on her I think, and she lost some weight and not until her kid was weaned, at 4 months old, did she start looking better.
She is a very petite doe (80-90 pounds) but a decent milker, giving almost 3/4 a gallon OAD at peak - right now she's dropped to a little less than 1/2 gallon because of this heat. Among other things, she doesn't have a very nice udder, but I got a buckling that I think will be a perfect match for her. He has some amazing udder genetics behind him, and I can't wait to see his kids, though it'll be a while!
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BFFs!
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To be continued.........
 
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Goatgirl47

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Last December I placed a deposit on a heavily Saada-bred Nubian buckling, but somehow, when the time came to pick him up soon after he was born, we came back with not one, but THREE Nubian bucklings! Not sure how exactly that happened. o_O I mean really, we only have 2 Nubian does right now. :idunno

These pictures are a month old, but they're all I've got for now.

This is a son of *B Lakeshore Status Blue Boy. I CANNOT WAIT to breed him to Semi Sweet and see their kids. He is not the one I was originally going to get BTW. :oops: Here he is at 2 months old:
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This is Israel, a buckling out of Saada Faith of Grace. He IS the one I placed the deposit on way back in December. He is super sweet and playful, full of energy with his buddies, but with us he's very laid back. When he was born he was half the size of the other two, so he's a little smaller than them but he's catching up pretty well.
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He was the cutest baby!
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And last but not least, Shadrack. He is currently for sale, and we'll be keeping the other two a little while longer until we can decide which one we like best.
Shadrack isn't very photogenic and is never still! He is also a half brother to Israel.
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Southern by choice

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They all look great! So good to hear from you. I am not on much anymore either. Just too busy in my life right now.
Love the mini mancha. What is her %?

The first buckling would be my choice from looking at the pics. His topline is really nice
 

Goatgirl47

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And here are the Kikos. :) When we got them last February, Saffron was in pretty good weight but badly needed some minerals. Her coat is finally starting to look better, months later.
Now we are looking for a Kiko buck, but pickings are so slim! I have my eye on one in Missouri, but I doubt anything will come of it. Side note: It is VERY difficult to find someone who routinely tests their meat herd for CAE (much less Johnes and/or CL)! That has probably been the hardest part of getting started with Kikos.

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Saffron now (that stubborn tail still hasn't grown a decent amount of hair on it!!):
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I need to get more recent pictures of Mazil - the doeling - but when I weighed her a month ago, she was pushing 60 pounds at 5 months old. They're just on pasture/forage right now, no grain.
 

Goatgirl47

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They all look great! So good to hear from you. I am not on much anymore either. Just too busy in my life right now.
Love the mini mancha. What is her %?

The first buckling would be my choice from looking at the pics. His topline is really nice

Thank you! The Mini-Mancha is 5/8 Lamancha, 3/8 Nigerian Dwarf (her dam was purebred Lamancha, and her sire was 3/4 ND, 1/4 Lamancha, so I think I got that right, LOL!). First generation. Her dam was registered but her sire was not. I really wish I could register her, she's turning out nicer than I thought she would!

I'm kind of leaning towards the first buckling as well, but luckily I won't have to really decide until maybe next spring? We'll see. :) It's going to be such a hard decision!
 
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