ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS > FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE
Baby Goats on the Way!
The15thMember:
Today my sister Haley purchased her last goat for the foreseeable future. She named her Louise after the main character in Arrival, which is my sister's favorite movie. We got Louise from a farm we sold a buckling to earlier in the year, but unfortunately, they had almost all their fencing destroyed in a wind event and are now having to sell all the goats because they can't keep them in until the fencing is replaced. Because of this, Haley got a really good deal on Louise, who has a pretty expensive pedigree, including a grand champion in her lines. :cool: As a result of them having to have all their goats together in the one remaining paddock, Louise is probably bred to the buckling we sold them, even though she is a little too young to be bred, but my sister feels confident she can handle the situation.
We are going to be butchering two wethers and one buck this fall, and we will be butchering Bella, the black doe who threw 3-teated Mr. Moon, next year. That will leave us with 4 does and 3 bucks, plus Mr. Moon who is wethered now, which is what my sister has been working towards for several years. So that will be our herd until our oldest buck Phantom "dies of natural causes", as Haley has been saying. :cheesy: All the kids from here on out will be sold or butchered.
Ben Framed:
Pretty colored goat.....
The15thMember:
Good news, Louise went into heat a few days ago, so she is almost certainly not pregnant! :happy: Haley is very happy, since it would have been rough on her body being so young and still growing, and oftentimes does who are bred too young will reject their kids, so this could have meant bottle feeding a baby too, even assuming everything with the pregnancy and birth went well. This will also make her integration with the older does a lot easier and safer, since there is usually a good deal of beating up on each other before they get their pecking order resettled, and as the newcomer she was likely to take the most hits.
The15thMember:
We're expecting our first kids of the year this week. Prim's due date is tomorrow, and we are expecting very bad weather, rainy and extremely windy. There is some evidence that does try and have their babies during bad weather to protect them from predators, so she'll probably be on time!
Mr. Moon's training as a pack goat has been going extremely well. He now gets in and out of the car on his own without any hesitation, and a few days ago he went up and down stairs for the first time when we took him for a walk over at WCU. Haley commented on how much better he is than a dog to walk, since he doesn't need to be trained not to pull.
BeeMaster2:
Reagan,
We have a cow that was about to drop a calf on one of the coldest nights of the year and it was raining all night. The cows were out in the field, not a barn. I went out to check on the cow in the morning. Sure enough she had had the calf during the night. It was as healthy as can be. I was shocked. A couple of weeks later we had freezing rain with ice on everything. I talked to my buddy who has large herds of cattle and he had three calves born that night and they all survived. I doubt the same would happen with most other farm animals.
Jim Altmiller
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