Introducing our herd

[DustyBoot]

Realized it's been a while and thought I might pop back in to update this. We did buy the buckling as planned, although he seemed awfully small. Brought him home and after making sure he was healthy we put him in with the does. Nothing. They pushed him around, and he meekly accepted it. Any masculine behavior (peeing on himself, etc.) stopped after the first few days. We gave him a couple of months and decided it wasn't working out, so he left for freezer camp this week. It's possible the meat will taste bucky, I suppose, but he certainly didn't act or smell in a way that would incline me to be concerned about it.
We found a quality Kiko buckling a little older from a fairly local breeder. More money, of course, but the difference between him and our first attempt is night and day and I think his progeny will reflect that. I guess sometimes you just don't take shortcuts. Based on the new guy's attitude and behavior, I'm feeling pretty confident we'll have kids in about 5 months. And given the does' interest in him and vice versa, it seems pretty clear that the first buckling didn't do the job. Not sure what the problem was, but I guess we've got it worked out now.
We named the first buckling Curry when we brought him home, since we never intended to keep him longer than a couple of months. He was a sweet little guy, and if we were just in this for pets I'd have kept him around. But I'm looking forward to trying goat burgers and other goat recipes. Also, he had the softest hair -- felt more like petting a cat than a goat. So I asked the butcher to save his skin for us, and I'm in the process of tanning it. Never done that before so I'm not sure how it'll work out, but so far so good.

 

[Baymule]

Take pictures and tell us how you are tanning the hide! It sucks that the first buck couldn't do what you bought him for, but at least you realized that and did what needed to be done. Goat burgers sound good!

 

[Latestarter]

Hind sight but might have been worthwhile to keep that first buck and wether him to be a companion for the new buck so he doesn't get lonely when you separate him from the does. Good to hear the second boy is doing the deed for you.

 

[DustyBoot]

We did think about wethering Curry, especially since everyone was fond of him, but we're five months out from needing to separate the buck from the does and I think it's likely we'll buy a second buckling, maybe younger, rather than keeping a wether. It's not unlikely we'll want to keep some doelings from the new buck, so having a second buck by the time they're of breeding age would be a good idea.

I haven't taken any pictures yet of the hide tanning, but I'll see what I can do. Generally my hands are pretty full and not exactly in a state to be handling the camera. But this is the method I'm using, after a lot of Googling and YouTubeing: http://www.earthskills.net/hairOn.htm It came back from the butcher pretty bloody so it took a lot of rinsing, but otherwise seemed to be in good shape. It's been in the solution for about 30 hours now. I got a start at fleshing it this morning -- I was going to wait two days, but the forecast for tomorrow is ugly. It still needs a little work, but it'll be much quicker than what I did this morning. Aside from finishing that, it's just a matter of stirring it a few times a day then working it while it dries. Not completely sure it'll work, but it's not an expensive or terribly difficult process so it seems worth a shot.

 

[Baymule]

Sounds interesting. I've done deer hide chair bottoms with green hides and let them dry and draw up.

 

[goats&moregoats]

Welcome & good luck with your herd. Sounds like your off to a good start. I definitely would like to see pictures of the hide when you are done. Goats a beautiful by the way.