Goatorama kids of 2014

[sydneyjd]

Boy he looks nice, but NASTY!!! Ugg, them things can cover anything in a 6 foot range.

[Nanno]

We're gearing up for the next kidding season and I'm tracking the girls' heat cycles. I was worried I'd have to Lute Lilly. The shameless little hussy marched half a mile down to my neighbor's property three weeks ago in search of love and was teasing their bucks through the fence. I guess she's smart enough to know Pac-Man's embraces are impotent, and since all the other boys are related to her she wants nothing to do with them. I was worried that her little escapade might have resulted in an unwanted pregnancy, so I was very relieved when I heard her bellowing this morning. Lilly is normally a pretty quiet goat. On closer inspection she's definitely in heat, so I put Pac-Man in the girls' pen today to keep her company and keep her from beating the other girls. Lilly gets kind of wicked when she's in heat.

I love having Pac-Man around as a heat-o-meter and as someone to keep peace at times like this. He's such a gentle and kind goat. He's dominant among the girls (except sometimes with Nubbin), but he never beats them, bites them, or harasses them. He also helps settle them down so they don't become intent on going through or over fences when they're in heat.

I'm hoping Pac-Man will also tell me if Jezebel comes back in heat. Without him in the pen it might be hard to tell because if she cycles in again it will be this weekend while Lilly is also in heat, and Lilly so overbearing right now that I don't know if Jezebel will show signs as long as they're penned up together. Pac-Man will keep Lilly in line and will probably be affectionate with Jezebel if she cycles this weekend. I'm hoping she doesn't though. She was the one who teased Finn and then Snickers to the point of barging through the electric fence three weeks ago. They each spent a night with her, so if she comes into heat I'll be worried that there's something wrong with her and she might not be able to conceive. There's no reason why both of those bucklings couldn't have got her pregnant. I wasn't really wanting any of my bucks to breed Jezebel. I was kind of hoping to bring in some totally new blood to my herd that's not related to Lilly, but if Jezebel is pregnant I don't think I'll terminate it. Finn is an exceptionally nice buck and Snickers is very nice too, so a breeding by either one would not be a tragedy. If Finn's babies are as nice as he is then I may end up regretting it if he only bred Nubbin. Wouldn't it be funny if Jezebel had a kid from each sire! Snickers is the most "dairy" type goat in my herd (very like his father, Pac-Man). A doeling from him might do very well at shows, especially with the nice udders in Pac-Man's background. So that will be my wish for 2015--Jezebel will have two kids: a buckling from Finn and a doeling from Snickers.

[Nanno]

Well, Jezebel is in heat. So much for my Snickers doe and my Huck buck! But we may just go ahead and breed her to Finn next cycle anyway. It will be too late to breed to Snickers by then. His wethering appointment is tomorrow morning. Finn and Jezebel will make pretty babies I'm sure. Hopefully she takes next time!

[deschutes dawn]

I just got two of my bucklings "debucked" today. My vet said to keep them away from the does for a couple months at least because they are still packing in the tubes and could still breed for a short while.

[Nanno]

Snickers and Sputnik had their appointment yesterday. They came home feeling sad and sorry for themselves, and Sputnik couldn't stop shivering from the anesthesia. So being the ridiculous sap that I am, I made them a bed next to the wood stove where they spent the afternoon snoozing. Last night I blanketed them and bedded them down deep in the horse trailer so they wouldn't have to get pushed around by the other goats. They were much brighter this morning. In fact, Sputnik seems almost normal and has been running around the yard with Cuzco all day. Although Snickers was the one who came out of anesthesia quicker and was on his feet a lot more yesterday, he's not recovered as much as Sputnik. He's slow and stiff today while Sputnik is bouncing around. Snickers drooled a lot yesterday, and even this morning he wasn't quite interested in food and seemed to be having a hard time chewing and swallowing. He's better this afternoon and was working on some oak leaves last time I looked. Snickers also had a sudden return of his old sinus trouble, but I'm hoping it will pass as he recovers from the surgery. Both the boys have been a lot less vocal since the operation. I wonder if the vet removed more than just their manhood?

[Reckless]

Nanno, I've been wondering, do you potty train your goats or do you clean up after them when inside?

[Nanno]

None of my goats are potty trained (although Cuzco seems to have potty trained himself somehow--he goes to the door and stands there when nature calls). When any of the other goats are in the house I keep an eye on them and try to whisk them out the door if one starts to look restless or makes a pee stance. I only let them in the basement, which has a cement floor, so it's easy to sweep up if one leaves pellets. I don't let them in the house very often though. The girls come in for morning milking, but they aren't in very long and they don't go to the bathroom on the stanchion, which is where they spend all their time.

[Nanno]

Stinky as he is, I can't help but be great friends with this little guy! Much like his mother, he just worships people. All of our goats are pretty good at coming when we call their names, but Finn is in a class by himself.
   

It's a little hard to photograph because he always tilts his head back so I can't get a good full-on shot, but Finn is growing stripes on his horns! The place where they grow out is right where the white blaze meets the black on his head. I guess there's just enough pink skin there that the horns are getting white streaks in the front! It's so cool and I hope they continue to grow out like this!
   

Finn leads the parade!
   

[Taffy]

Finn has turned into a gorgeous young man. I love his markings. I'm looking forward to seeing the markings on his horns. Sounds like he's definitely a keeper!

[Nanno]

Yesterday was festive. It was a beautiful sunshiny day (a bit too windy, but I guess we can't have everything). No girls are in heat right now (three should hopefully be bred), so I was able to let everyone out to play together. All the goats got a little something for Christmas. I bought a bag of overripe bananas and a big box of powdered donuts. The donuts were not a universal hit, but the goats who like them are NUTS over them (*cough* Cuzco *cough*). Their enthusiasm more than makes up for the ones who would rather stick with animal crackers. I almost bought Daisy a box of dog biscuits for Christmas until I remembered that she's as crazy for donuts as Cuzco. Made my shopping easier!

Everyone also got new ID tags for their collars since all the ones that aren't missing are now scuffed beyond legibility, and half the goats never had them at all.

Lilly doesn't care for donuts, but she was happy to take a few animal crackers and pose for the camera.
   

Nubbin did not come back into heat this week, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she's bred. I'll wait another cycle to be sure and then I'll start drying her off. She's still giving almost two quarts of milk each morning and looks great. While Nubbin looks more like her daddy than her mom, I still see Nibbles in the way she carries herself, her spunky take-charge attitude, and the kinked bottle brush tail. I've thought about Nibbles a lot lately because she died a year ago on December 17th. It was so sad to lose her the way we did, but good things grow out of ashes. Because we lost Nibbles, we found an exceptional livestock guardian dog in Daisy; we bought Pac-Man to breed Nubbin and Petunia when we had planned to leave them open; and because of that we have Snickers and Sputnik.
   

The three youngsters all got new leather collars to match Cuzco and Pac-Man. The old nylon ones were at their last stretch and getting tight. These have room to grow!
   

Finn is almost as big as his mother now, but she still beats him up if he gets fresh with her or tries to boss her around.
   

See the white streaks on the front of Finn's horns? They're getting more prominent as his horns grow, and they're not rub spots.