Chat
04-21-2022, 11:21 AM
We're gearing up for a busy weekend here at Goat-O-Rama! Skeeter and Sadie are due on Friday, Apr. 22, Mocha and Isabella are due Saturday, Apr. 23, and Snowball is due Sunday, Apr. 24!
So far Mocha and Skeeter are looking the ripest. Skeeter started revving up a huge udder about two weeks ago, but it's subsided a bit in the last few days. I think she may have triplets but of course it's always hard to tell. I hope she's just exaggerating and has twins.
Mocha is also looking quite ready and was feeling a little gooshy in the hindquarters this morning. Guessing twins for this one.
Sadie looks nowhere near ready even though she's technically due tomorrow. As usual, she hardly looks pregnant, but she's such a tall, deep-bodied doe that she conceals her condition very well. I hope she's deceiving me and carrying twins.
Snowball looks like she'll have twins, but she looks like she could hang onto them for another month from the looks of her body and udder. I hope she doesn't take after her mother, Tigerlily, and go a week past her due date! Tigerlily was nearly always overdue and it drove me nuts.
Little Isabella is our sweet child bride. She wasn't supposed to get bred but we had a Romeo and Juliet situation. I'd put Buda in the pen with Mocha and left them together for an hour or so. When I came back, Mocha had beat the snot out of Buda and he'd jumped through the fence to get away. Isabella was out with the herd and I suspected she was in heat, but she was so young her cycles weren't very strong yet. Also, I didn't think our bucks could breed anything when they were out with the herd because my four big wethers were intent on defending their ladies' honor. Well, I guess the two of them managed to elope because Isabella never came back into heat and now she's making a cute little udder. She doesn't look anywhere near due, but she's due the same day as Mocha. I suspect she has just one little kid.
Ziggy will finish out the season on her own. Her kids aren't due until May 11. I think she'll probably have just one, but she may blow up a bit more in the next few weeks and prove me wrong.
I'm impressed with Buda and Pest. These little guys really proved themselves. Buda's first kids hit the ground a week ago. I'd taken him over to breed Zelda, who I sold last fall to a lady in Rye. I told her this was Buda's first time and that it probably wouldn't take because of his small size and inexperience. But she got bred on the first try. When all of my does came into heat at the same time, I put Pest in a pen with Skeeter and Sadie thinking that maybe one of them would get bred if I was lucky. I honestly didn't think he was big enough to reach either of them, but I figured it would be good practice for next time.
Mocha was downright hostile toward Buda. The year before, I'd tried three times to breed her to Scout and she rejected him each time and pined for Sonic. I finally had to put her with Sonic. Mocha was pining for Sonic again this year, but that romance wasn't going anywhere. Mocha immediately beat up Buda and chased him away when I put him in a pen with her, so I naturally expected no kids from that first date. Imagine my shock when she never came back into heat! Buda must've been sneaky, determined, and just plain fast to get the job done on that big, mean girl! He did his job and then beat a hasty retreat and busted down the electric fence to get away. That's when he met Isabella.
Snowball's date was a fiasco. She's also a big, strong girl and I had her with little Pest on a day with very bad weather. I couldn't lock them in a pen together because all the goats needed their shelters. I took the two of them out of their pens but didn't have much hope that magic would happen in that biting cold wind and driving snow. I gave them about five minutes together and I'm not sure how babies got made because first Buda tried from the downhill side and couldn't reach. I turned Snowball around so he could try from the uphill side, and somehow he slipped and fell off part way through. He landed on his back, legs flailing in the air. Snowball turned to look at him, and before I could reposition her, Buda went for it again. But this time Snowball was backed up almost into the electric fence! Buda tried to breed, touched his butt to the hotwire, then leaped off and fell on his back again. There were no more attempts after that, but somehow a miracle occurred because Snowball never came back into heat. Those little bucks must be potent! I was hoping to spread the breedings out like I usually do, but because the boys were a lot more efficient than I realized, we have five does due in one weekend! The only one they didn't get to that week was Ziggy. I was determined that she would get bred on a later cycle because she was so small, and I was sure she would get bred on the first try. I did not expect that more than one or two of the big girls would get bred on the first try!
I can't wait to see what the stork brings in the next few days! Keeping my fingers crossed for lots of boys!
So far Mocha and Skeeter are looking the ripest. Skeeter started revving up a huge udder about two weeks ago, but it's subsided a bit in the last few days. I think she may have triplets but of course it's always hard to tell. I hope she's just exaggerating and has twins.
Mocha is also looking quite ready and was feeling a little gooshy in the hindquarters this morning. Guessing twins for this one.
Sadie looks nowhere near ready even though she's technically due tomorrow. As usual, she hardly looks pregnant, but she's such a tall, deep-bodied doe that she conceals her condition very well. I hope she's deceiving me and carrying twins.
Snowball looks like she'll have twins, but she looks like she could hang onto them for another month from the looks of her body and udder. I hope she doesn't take after her mother, Tigerlily, and go a week past her due date! Tigerlily was nearly always overdue and it drove me nuts.
Little Isabella is our sweet child bride. She wasn't supposed to get bred but we had a Romeo and Juliet situation. I'd put Buda in the pen with Mocha and left them together for an hour or so. When I came back, Mocha had beat the snot out of Buda and he'd jumped through the fence to get away. Isabella was out with the herd and I suspected she was in heat, but she was so young her cycles weren't very strong yet. Also, I didn't think our bucks could breed anything when they were out with the herd because my four big wethers were intent on defending their ladies' honor. Well, I guess the two of them managed to elope because Isabella never came back into heat and now she's making a cute little udder. She doesn't look anywhere near due, but she's due the same day as Mocha. I suspect she has just one little kid.
Ziggy will finish out the season on her own. Her kids aren't due until May 11. I think she'll probably have just one, but she may blow up a bit more in the next few weeks and prove me wrong.
I'm impressed with Buda and Pest. These little guys really proved themselves. Buda's first kids hit the ground a week ago. I'd taken him over to breed Zelda, who I sold last fall to a lady in Rye. I told her this was Buda's first time and that it probably wouldn't take because of his small size and inexperience. But she got bred on the first try. When all of my does came into heat at the same time, I put Pest in a pen with Skeeter and Sadie thinking that maybe one of them would get bred if I was lucky. I honestly didn't think he was big enough to reach either of them, but I figured it would be good practice for next time.
Mocha was downright hostile toward Buda. The year before, I'd tried three times to breed her to Scout and she rejected him each time and pined for Sonic. I finally had to put her with Sonic. Mocha was pining for Sonic again this year, but that romance wasn't going anywhere. Mocha immediately beat up Buda and chased him away when I put him in a pen with her, so I naturally expected no kids from that first date. Imagine my shock when she never came back into heat! Buda must've been sneaky, determined, and just plain fast to get the job done on that big, mean girl! He did his job and then beat a hasty retreat and busted down the electric fence to get away. That's when he met Isabella.
Snowball's date was a fiasco. She's also a big, strong girl and I had her with little Pest on a day with very bad weather. I couldn't lock them in a pen together because all the goats needed their shelters. I took the two of them out of their pens but didn't have much hope that magic would happen in that biting cold wind and driving snow. I gave them about five minutes together and I'm not sure how babies got made because first Buda tried from the downhill side and couldn't reach. I turned Snowball around so he could try from the uphill side, and somehow he slipped and fell off part way through. He landed on his back, legs flailing in the air. Snowball turned to look at him, and before I could reposition her, Buda went for it again. But this time Snowball was backed up almost into the electric fence! Buda tried to breed, touched his butt to the hotwire, then leaped off and fell on his back again. There were no more attempts after that, but somehow a miracle occurred because Snowball never came back into heat. Those little bucks must be potent! I was hoping to spread the breedings out like I usually do, but because the boys were a lot more efficient than I realized, we have five does due in one weekend! The only one they didn't get to that week was Ziggy. I was determined that she would get bred on a later cycle because she was so small, and I was sure she would get bred on the first try. I did not expect that more than one or two of the big girls would get bred on the first try!
I can't wait to see what the stork brings in the next few days! Keeping my fingers crossed for lots of boys!