One Fine Acre - 2023 4H Steer Project Update

[Latestarter]

Well, when you consider the status of your "brand" I'd have to say that most if not all of the "work" involved has definitely paid dividends. and as you say, there are enjoyable times amongst all that work. I hope you have a great show. and maybe even a chance to relax just a little.

 

[Baymule]

I had to smile when I read "not sure why we do this"
Then I broke into a wide grin when I read;

Maurine has a habit of not saying "no"
I have a habit of not saying "no" to Maurine

and then this;

And I do like my girls to be Happy


I believe that is called love.

 

[OneFineAcre]

A shout out to some BYH friends for helping to ease the cart out of the ditch today
@Goat Whisperer
And @Southern by choice husband a DD Little Bit really helped us today
Configure our pens, loaned us a couple of tarps and unload goats
Thanks

 

[dejavoodoo114]

Don't forget lots of pics from the show! And maybe some explanations for new to showing goat people...

 

[Southern by choice]

Dh said you all took 36 goats!
D&T took 31or 32!

DH said OFA took more goats than I think we own.... I asked him"Do you know how many goats we own?" He said he didn't need to know and could do without knowing!

It sounds like it will be so much fun. Sorry I am missing it.
I know GW and Little Bit will help if you need it. We didn't take but a few.

Hoping someone updates with pics and stuff. HINT HINT

 

[OneFineAcre]

Dh said you all took 36 goats!
D&T took 31or 32!

DH said OFA took more goats than I think we own.... I asked him"Do you know how many goats we own?" He said he didn't need to know and could do without knowing!

It sounds like it will be so much fun. Sorry I am missing it.
I know GW and Little Bit will help if you need it. We didn't take but a few.

Hoping someone updates with pics and stuff. HINT HINT

We have a lot of babies we aren't showing
We had to bring them to feed them
And maybe make a sale or 2

 

[OneFineAcre]

@Southern by choice
Tell your DH to quit exaggerating
We only have 35 goats
I counted twice
17 kids we aren't showing that just came along for the ride

 

[babsbag]

DH said OFA took more goats than I think we own.... I asked him"Do you know how many goats we own?" He said he didn't need to know and could do without knowing!

I KNOW how many goats you own and I can just see your DH trying not to know. And he is probably right, better that he doesn't.

 

[greybeard]

In the cattle world, there is actually some data on the bulls as to the daughters teat placement and all. They bred for smaller teats for years as the old "hand milking" size teat was a problem for some of the milking machine claws. Now there are cows with such small teats that the machine won't stay on and they are nearly impossible to milk by hand with a thumb and forefinger. I understand that they don't want a huge teat but it went so far the other way that I actually hear some farmers wishing that the teats weren't so small. And they wanted them closer together, a little different problem than goats because there were some that stuck out sideways. That was as much from the poor center ligament support as anything. Now there are cows on almost every dairy that the teats are so close together and point "in" that they have trouble getting the teat cups to fit to stay on and they squeak because they don't have enough room to hang properly.

Talking about the size of the goats and the standards they should be. In the 50's the angus and herefords were bred so short that their backs wouldn't come up to many guys belt buckles. Then in the 80's & 90's the angus were bred so tall that they were as tall as Chianina's. I had all I could do to breed some of them A I and I'm about 5'7". The same thing happened with holsteins, they got so big and tall because the thinking at the time was the bigger animal had more depth and girth and feed capacity so they could produce more milk. But it got to extreme because it took so much more to just keep up her body that she actually wasn't an efficient producer. More input than output. The angus and holsteins have both gotten back down to a more sensible size although there are still alot of breeders that like the big animal.

Not to mention the penchant for lighter/small calf trait selection has in some breeds, begun to cause breeding age heifers to be so small they are having problems calving. We always seem to take things too far...
Single trait selection is always a bad thing to focus on.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Not to mention the penchant for lighter/small calf trait selection has in some breeds, begun to cause breeding age heifers to be so small they are having problems calving. We always seem to take things too far...
Single trait selection is always a bad thing to focus on.

When Nigerian Dwarfs were recognized as a dairy goat many of the breeders focused on huge udders
And there are lines out there that look like Pygmy goats with huge udders
We built our herd first on feet, legs, general appearance with a huge emphasis on dairy strength
And now our udders are coming along quite nicely
And I have to admit we have been very successful