SBC/GW's Journal- Spring shows DONE! & Update

Southern by choice said:

Colors sure can be fun! They are more important in the pet market though. Seriously, you could have a dud of a goat, meaning terrible conformation, incorrect in every way lol but if it is flashy people will want it. Oh, and if it has blue eyes people go gaga. I love brown eyes so it works out for us.

Really nothing wrong with it but people that are breeding to improve and keep good genetics care less about color, eye color etc.
Some really look for polled goats because less disbudding. We search for polled years ago. Now, I don't want polled at all but I get why people do.

Colors are fun though and at one time I thought wow... I have a lot of black goats, I don't want a whole herd of black goats... but I ended up with a whole herd of black goats and LOVE the black goats. Still, color is fun fun fun!

Are your baby boys all similar in color? I know Alpines have a lot of pattern/colors. I think Alpines are very beautiful goats.

Click to expand...

Half of my goats look a lot alike. But all of thos have subtle differences. The two big ones that look a lot alike p, Butch Cassidy and Rusty Nails have their defining mark on their spine. Butch Cassidy has a small stripe of white down the center of his dark stripe. Rusty doesn’t. Junior, Ringo Star, and Elvis look quite a bit alike. Actually Elvis looks a whole lot like Butch and rusty except he’s probably 2-3 pounds lighter than the other two. The best way to tell Elvis apart from Junior is Elvis’s patches around his eyes are grey, but Elvis’s are a crisp black. Ringo is different from the other two by his eye markings. He has a half moon over his eyes and not a round/oval patch. All three look quite a bit alike size wise and their body coloring. But, if I’m tired I can’t tell these five apart from their doppelgänger. That why they have name tags and their names are on their own bottle. So I can be sure they have all had their bottle. And Billy the Kid, Tanner, Jack Frost all look quite different. The second picture is of Billy. He has the markings, the wattles, and stature of the “perfect/ideal” goat in my eyes. If I were to have left any of them intact it would have been him.

While I’m not a person who is interested in breeding up to improve the qualities of a breed, I truly can appreciate the people who put a lot of thought, time, energy to keep the breed ideal and to keep it from becoming extinct. I’ve looked at a bunch of sites that have an overwhelming number of different breeds. It’s a real shame that some of those very beautiful breeds no longer exist.

Southern by choice said:

Colors sure can be fun! They are more important in the pet market though. Seriously, you could have a dud of a goat, meaning terrible conformation, incorrect in every way lol but if it is flashy people will want it. Oh, and if it has blue eyes people go gaga. I love brown eyes so it works out for us.

Really nothing wrong with it but people that are breeding to improve and keep good genetics care less about color, eye color etc.
Some really look for polled goats because less disbudding. We search for polled years ago. Now, I don't want polled at all but I get why people do.

Colors are fun though and at one time I thought wow... I have a lot of black goats, I don't want a whole herd of black goats... but I ended up with a whole herd of black goats and LOVE the black goats. Still, color is fun fun fun!

Are your baby boys all similar in color? I know Alpines have a lot of pattern/colors. I think Alpines are very beautiful goats.

Click to expand...

This would be my husband. Badger is bigger than my husband but he'd try anyway. No kidding. He adores his beloved Badger.

That dog makes your husband look really tiny. That’s a really fun video. Thank for sharing it.

I would like to know how he got the dog up there.

Mike CHS said:

I would like to know how he got the dog up there.

Click to expand...

Peanut butter dog cookies !

Carla D said:

That dog makes your husband look really tiny. That’s a really fun video. Thank for sharing it.

Click to expand...

That isn't my husband it was just on my FB feed. But my husband would do this if his baby didn't want to walk. LOL Badger is too big too carry.

Mike CHS said:

I would like to know how he got the dog up there.

Click to expand...

Me too. I can picture the pyr going... hmmm, I don't want to walk.

Mike- Badger has my husband so wrapped it is embarrassing. He plays my DH something awful. I just give him the look... Badger knows "momma" doesn't play games.

Southern by choice said:

Mike- Badger has my husband so wrapped it is embarrassing. He plays my DH something awful. I just give him the look... Badger knows "momma" doesn't play games.

Click to expand...

They know how to get to you. Maisy is still young but if I thought she would prefer living in the house, she would be there instantly. She loves her sheep so that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Thanksgiving was super special.
All the fam was there except my oldest daughter.
We also had two friends of the family over.
At one point I turned around when all the boys were standing behind me and all "being boys". It was one of those moments where it strikes you that they are all grown up, these huge men were all my babies. Each one brings such joy. It is funny though because when we all sit down it is still... mom... can you get me "such and such", mom... I need more "such and such".... mom..... Some things still are special. When my 24 year old son fell asleep I naturally grabbed a blanket and covered him up. Where did the time go? Wasn't he little just a few years ago?
Not my girls, my girls don't do that. My girls are so "I got this" attitude! I love it! Of course the chess board was brought out. No darts this year as I finally fixed all the holes in the wall and didn't want to do that again.
A 5 hour game of Risk had everyone up til 3:30am. Little DD is cut throat! She took over the world. Everyone spent the night. Uh oh... lol we were wall to wall people.
One of our guest is just simply one of the most amazing people I have ever met. We had so many hours of great conversation. So blessed.
I was also quite encouraged by some of our discussions. It was a wonderful time.


The loss of Pete is so heavy. I am thankful for those that called and allowed me just to cry and chat and of course once on the subject of goats the grief floated away for a bit.
One of Pete's (and Blue and silver and so on) littermate's will be coming for a visit this week. I am so excited to see him.

I have cut back on my volunteer work and am no longer working with the county extension services for dairy goats. I really am too busy. Doing far less in the way of phone consults with both goats and dogs.
I realized I was investing more time into too many that quite frankly were not ever going to put in the time to actually learn anything. Some people become draining and really just want to whine about their animals but not manage their animals. Some will never learn anything but when they have an emergency they somehow think it is now MY emergency. Ummmm, no.
What's the saying "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". That is what it seems like is the norm now. You can give all the tools but some people just can't apply anything.
Tired of repeating myself.
Friends are a whole different story. Thankfully!

The "pet world" of goats will destroy goats. The ads for goats are appalling. People that can't even spell their supposed goat breed. Don't know the difference between a polled goat and a horned goat. Swearing that the goat is a purebred such and such and you take one look and go not a chance! None of these people have a clue yet are breeding whatever and no education to who they sell to because they are clueless. The difference is even 5 years ago people wanted to learn something, not anymore. Just a new kind of puppy mill.

Coming to a close on many of the goats on milktest. What a year.
No idea why but Raina and Tiffany have decided oh, I want to make a bunch of milk ok.....

We have a few more does to breed. YAY!

Now, if only the rains would stop.

It sounds like you had a fantastic Thanksgiving with your family. It is always a time of family and fun.

I see the ridiculous ads on Craiglist that brag about BLUE EYED goats like it is all about the eyes. Then they want big money because of the eye color.

Have you ever seen ads for Jesus donkeys? People call the stripe on the donkey's shoulders the sign of the Cross. Call 'em Jesus donkeys and sell them for hundreds of dollars. I know Jesus loved animals, but I liken these charlatans to money changers in the Temple and we know what Jesus did to them! LOL

I'm happy that you got some great family time. That makes some of the less than good more tolerable.