Happy New Year!

All of the Christmas babies are thriving and with the nice weather we have been having, they are out playing in the pasture on the playground we have constructed for them.  All 6 are little boys.  I may keep Jolly or Rudolph as a breeding buck.  They both have ice blue eyes and are polled.  I don't expect the next round of kidding until mid February and then it will be pretty steady until June.

I am tossing around the idea of writing a goat care book.  I have had to learn on my own or by talking to vets or other breeders over the last 15 years and think that there might be a need for a book of all the tips that I have picked up on raising goats.   I could then give my book to all of my customers to get them started off on the right foot in their goat operations.  Some of my customers are experienced but a lot are first time goat purchasers and this could help them and their goat to be happier.

Christmas babies

I bred some of my fainting does to kid while I was on Christmas break from work.  Fudge gave me twin boys 2 days before Christmas and Curley Sue and Boots both decided they wanted to deliver Christmas Day!  I delivered twin boys before breakfast and then after we had our Christmas dinner, I delivered another set of twin boys.  I was a little disappointed that they were all boys but they are cute and healthy so that is good.  They will make wonderful pets or breeders for someone. New Year's Day I had to dehorn Jingle and Blitzen. 

Happy New Year!

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted anything on my blog.  My only excuse is that I am so busy with work and chores around the farm that time has just gotten away from me.  I hate the time change and now I seem to feed in the dark morning and night.  The only time I really get to see my goats are on the weekend.  Kidding has started with one little girl born back in November.  She has the best personality you could ask for.  I would love to keep her but she is leaving to go to her new home in East TN. tomorrow.  I will miss her because she is my buddy and follows me around while I do the feeding.  I dressed her up for Christmas and she loved her coat. ha

Some people really have the nerve!

I heard from a customer of mine last week that another breeder who is in Paducah and is a VET sold her a sick buckling and refused to let her bring him in to check him over even after she had called her 3 times to tell her that he wasn't acting right.  Her response each time was that it was his laid back personality.  She told her that she had bought 2 doelings from me and they were playful and frisky and he just didn't act that way.  This other breeder told her that it was because my goats weren't as TAME as hers because I had too many goats to take care of.  First of all, she has never been to my farm nor have I talked to her so she has no idea how many goats I have nor does she know that I spend a minimum of 2 hours playing and taking care of my animals a day besides working full time.  Sometimes when I am in the middle of kidding season, I spend 4 or 5 hours in the barn with them.  Anyways back to the story, finally my customer called a different vet who told her to bring in a stool sample and the buckling had a massive load of coccidia so she was given medicine but unfortunately he died before she could get home to start the medicine.  She called the BREEDER to tell her what he had and that he had died and she had the nerve to tell her that MY goats must have contaminated hers.  My goats were never sick but I guess that is besides the point.  I just want to let anyone who reads this know that I treat my kids every 2 weeks for coccidia until they leave for their new homes so they will not be sick when the new owner gets them.  Now they can pick it up from the soil if their new home has a coccidia problem but as long as you follow my protocol on treatment, you shouldn't have any problems.  Oh did I mention that this breeder charged $300 for this sick buckling and then never offered to refund the money or replace him?  Pretty shoddy practice if you ask me.

Last of the babies have gone to their new home.

I just delivered the last of this year's babies.  Mocha and her twin boys are going to live at Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville.  Hopefully the park will be reopened next year so if you ever happen to be there, look for them.

The Goat Show

We went to the Lebanon TN MGR show today.  I took Blue Moon who I am proud of because he is moonspotted and blue eyed and he thinks he is a puppy.  I gave him a bath yesterday and he looked beautiful in my opinion.  The rules online said to not shave your goat so he went in his fuzzy little baby coat.  We got there and over 3/4 of the goats were SHAVED of all winter hair.  We had 3 hours before our class so we tried to walk around and look at the other goats but Blue Moon would cry the minute I got out of his sight.  We finally just took him with us and even though he had never had a collar or leash on before he took it all in stride and we let him munch clover and dandelions periodically.  He laid down and slept at our feet while we watched the show.  When it was our turn he was a little gentleman and walked on the lead and didn't scream and cry like the others in our class.  He was the youngest and the smallest of the bucklings but he is also a triplet.  Anyways the judge called him too frail and we didn't win a ribbon.  I watched two of the other competitors who are teenagers and do this all the time jerk and yank their screaming goats around the ring.  I considered it total abuse but the judge placed them 1st and 2nd.  The rule book said that the "respectful treatment of the animals in and out of the show ring" was to be observed but I didn't see that at all.  I feel sorry for those goats who are never loved and petted and were obviously yanked out of the pasture and taken to a show where they were dragged until they looked like they were going to drop from heat exhaustion.  I feel sure that they are being fattened and then will be sold for slaughter when the time comes.   Blue Moon may not have won a ribbon but he has won my heart and he is a loved cherished pet to us and will live out his entire life on our farm as our future breeding buck.

         I made a sign for his pen.  Too bad he didn't stay in it more than 5 minutes!

                                        I think I am a puppy, aren't I??

We are in the middle and look how sweet he is being!

That is a blue ribbon baby if I have ever seen one.

And Yet Another Busy Weekend

Last weekend I had people out looking at goats and during this Calamity Jane decided to go into labor.  I had looked at her that morning and thought that she sure looked close.  Anyways Shannon and her daughter got to watch twins being born and were excited about watching them take their first steps.

This weekend I was busy delivering some babies to Beaver Dam and having people to the house to look at or to pick up their goats.  My friend Patty was there to get her 2 that she is going to bottle raise when Ringo decided to kid so she got to watch that and was thrilled about it.  Luckily my goats are not bothered by an audience or by me helping to pull the babies out and clean them off for them.  I guess when I retire I can apply to be a midwife! ha