Goatgirl47
True BYH Addict
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.
I was astonished with all of the singles (not to mention the extra "dangly bits" that most of them had ), 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.
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:
And now, as a 3 1/2 month old:
View attachment 50456
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!
BFFs!
To be continued.........
For the late 2017/early 2018 kidding season we had 8 does kid, for a total of 1 doeling and 8 (EIGHT!) bucklings.
I was astonished with all of the singles (not to mention the extra "dangly bits" that most of them had ), 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.
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:
And now, as a 3 1/2 month old:
View attachment 50456
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!
To be continued.........
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