Baby Goats on the Way!

[Ben Framed]

Thanks Reagan, I understood the registry would not accept this trait.  I was not questioning the registry rules. My question was meant in simple terms, concerning the goat itself such as physical 'disadvantages' or 'health problems' associated with goats which have this trait?  Thanks for your answer..

Phillip

[The15thMember]

My sister has decided to just keep Mr. Moon for now.  He is freakishly friendly, he follows us around like a little puppy, and it can be handy to have a wether around in case a goat needs to be separated from the herd for some reason, since goats can't be alone.  She is contemplating getting rid of Bella, since she doesn't want this to happen again, and Bella has been having some trouble getting along with the other goats lately, being extra bossy and butting them aggressively and not letting them in the barn when it's raining, so my sister is kind of feeling like this might be the last straw.

[Ben Framed]

Mr Moon reminds me of a goat on a Car type video channel, "Sleeperdude" which features a nice family from Texas who is 'sort of homesteading' and reminds me of your family Reagan from what you post. The goat is 'ALWAYS' right in the thick of things. He seems to think he is one of the family! (and seems to be accepted as such)     lol 

Phillip

[The15thMember]

Mr Moon reminds me of a goat on a Car type video channel, "Sleeperdude" which features a nice family from Texas who is 'sort of homesteading' and reminds me of your family Reagan from what you post. The goat is 'ALWAYS' right in the thick of things. He seems to think he is one of the family! (and seems to be accepted as such)     lol 

Phillip

  My sister brings all the babies in the house to get their coccidia prevention, but she has brought little Moonie in just for fun, since he always cries at the gate when she leaves.  But your description fits my others sister's favorite chicken better.  My younger sister has a chicken named Beaky who will come in the house and just hang out with the little kids while they are doing their chores or watching TV.  My sister even made her a special nest box so she can lay eggs in the house, and now Beaky always asks to come inside to lay eggs instead of laying them in the barn. 

[The15thMember]

Since my sister doesn't want to keep any goats just as pets, she's decided to train Mr. Moon as a pack goat, so he has a job that will contribute to the homestead.  He seems like he'd really enjoy packing, since he loves following people, and she's already got him on a leash.  She's been doing a lot of research and we're going to start taking him in the car with us when we go somewhere close by so he gets used to it.  We aren't serious hikers by any means, but we do hike a good bit when the weather is nice, since there are so many trails around us.

Our last doe, Murphy, is due this week.  It's her first pregnancy and she's my sister's favorite, so my sister is a little nervous.  Murphy is the first doe we had born on our homestead.  She's the baby in the first and third pictures on reply #2.  Now she's all grown up and having babies of her own!

[Kathyp]

Will your sister have to notify those who bought this line for breeding?  That really could throw a wrench in profits.  Are these any good for meat at least for you guys?

[The15thMember]

Will your sister have to notify those who bought this line for breeding?  That really could throw a wrench in profits.

She did, and offered them a discount, which they took.  It's the kind of thing that it may never show up again, but you just don't know.  The buyers are new goat owners, so they were okay with the risk. 

Are these any good for meat at least for you guys?

Absolutely, the kinders are a dual purpose breed, but we already have two wethers earmarked for the freezer, and just didn't really need a third.  On top of that, my sister just loves the way he looks and his disposition, which is why she was really hoping he could be a breeding buck.  And since she can't pair Bella and Phantom again, she may never have another baby who is this gorgeous.  His coloration is pretty rare, and after her initial expectations for him, she wasn't keen on making him a freezer wether, especially when we don't really need one.  She could of course have sold him as a wether, but she doesn't have any buyers needing any at the moment, and like I said, it can be handy to have a wether around.  And as much as she doesn't want to just keep him because she likes him, she really, really likes him.       

[The15thMember]

Murphy had her babies overnight last night and we missed it!  Thankfully my sister put her in the kidding stall last night, just because the other goats were beating up on her a little bit, and when Mom went into the barn this morning, the babies were out and dry!  She came running in the house shouting, "Murphy had her babies!!"    They hadn't nursed yet, since Murphy didn't really know they needed to, being a first time mom, and babies often need help getting latched the first time, but my sister and I got them drinking quickly, and they are no worse for the wear.  The brown baby is a boy, and the grey one is a girl, and they are our first babies with wattles!  We were hoping they'd have them, since their father, Arthur, has wattles.  My sister named them Duncan and Tessa after the characters from the Highlander TV show, which we are watching right now.  My sister has been thinking about replacing one of her original bucks, so she is going to keep Duncan, and Tessa will be for sale. 
 

[BeeMaster2]

Congratulations Reagan. Very cute.
Jim Altmiller

[The15thMember]

Moonie went on his first car ride today.  We had to run to the post office and one of the local farm stores, so we brought him along.  He did so well, he wasn't stressed at all in the car.  My sister had him on her lap, since he's still little and he feels comfortable on laps.  At the post office, our postwoman came outside to see him, and she said he was the most handsome thing she'd seen all day, and she'd seen her husband that morning!    Mr. Moon let her pet him and acted just like he would have if we were at the barn.  He did very well at the farm store too, although the dog who lives there did scare him a little bit, even though Cash is very friendly and polite.         

[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.    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.    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!    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

[The15thMember]

Well the bad weather came last night and so did the baby!  We had a buckling born at 1:48 AM, and we waited until 4:00 thinking she must have another one in there based on how big she looked, but the placenta came and nothing seem off, so that was that.  It's the first time Prim has had a single.     

[The15thMember]

Here's some pictures of the little dude.  We named him Asher.  Since he's a single and can't even begin to drink all the milk Prim is producing, Haley started milking right away.  This afternoon she milked out a bunch of colostrum to freeze in case of emergencies.

[The15thMember]

Murphy was our next doe to kid this year, and somehow we missed the birth again!  Since we missed it last year, Haley was checking on Murphy every several hours Wednesday, and even overnight Wednesday, and on Thursday she was checking every hour.  Haley checked on her after milking Prim at like 8:15 PM, and there were no signs of labor.  Murphy was just standing in the kidding stall eating hay.   Then we watched an hour of TV, and Haley went out to check again at 9:30, and there were 3 babies on the ground, the last one of which had just been born!  Haley said next year, she's just going to have to live in the barn for 48 hours if she wants to see the birth.    Once again Murphy did a great job by herself, and the babies who were born first were quite dry.   

Murphy had a girl who looks just like her who Haley named Arwen, like from Lord of the Rings, because someone on her goat forum desperately wanted Murphy's name to be Arwen, so much so that this person still calls Murphy "Arwen".    She also had 2 bucklings, a white one who we named Peter Lake, after the main character in Winter's Tale, and a caramel one who a repeat buyer of ours has a tentative reservation on, and Haley likes the names she chooses, so we're going to let her pick his registered name.  We are just calling him "Caramel" for now.  The boys, particularly Peter, were having some trouble drinking consistently on their own for the first 24 hours, but they finally got the hang of it last evening after Haley milked Murphy a little bit to relieve some pressure on her udder.  Here's some pictures of them.  You can also see Nova, one of our LGDs, in one picture.  Her and her brother Mason always park themselves at the barn when there are new babies, because they feel they need extra protection.     

[Occam]

How are the little ones doing?

My three ewes are bed and we should be lambing I think late March

[The15thMember]

How are the little ones doing?

So good, thanks for asking!    Asher is SO HUGE since he has no competition for milk, so we are doing an experiment where he isn't going to get any grain, just milk until his mom decides to wean him and hay.  He's going to be a meat wether.  Haley is also really happy because he is the first buckling she has successfully disbudded.  Murphy's babies are all for sale and our repeat buyer will be taking the brown buckling, who she named Abraham.  Peter and Arwen have yet to be reserved.  All her babies are drinking well now and growing fast, just not as fast as Asher!     

My three ewes are bed and we should be lambing I think late March

Yay!  Post pictures when they arrive!