Fall is here and the smell of goat romance is in the air. We currently have 3 bucks, and they are all ready and willing to breed those does. I just wish they would use a different cologne!
Our plan this year was to breed our does around the same time, to kid when Jocelyn is home for Spring Break. You know what they say about best laid plans ... Two goats were ready before we were, and only one of them was close enough that we decided to go ahead and breed her. Beatrix will be a little ahead of schedule. Mary Ann and Alanna were cooperative, and Onyx waited until the very last minute. She will be touch and go as to whether or not she makes it before Jocelyn goes back to school. Rebekkah started at the beginning of the month, and she has flirted with the boys daily for the past 2 weeks, but she hasn't been willing to cooperate so far. If she doesn't do it soon, we may wait until January to breed her, so she will kid once school gets out for the summer.
There is a slight possibility Rebekkah could be bred to either Bad Medicine or Crazy About You, but she sure didn't seem to want to cooperate when she was in with them. Time will tell, and possibly some DNA testing if she does turn out to be bred. That would be another new experience for us.
Since Ginger is so thin and has had deficiency issues, we are going to dry her off and let her build herself up. She will either be dry next year or will be bred to kid in the summer. Little Lovey will probably be kept over dry, unless she has a growth spurt and I think she's ready to breed in the spring for summer kids. At least it won't be spread out too much, just a couple of batches if all cooperate.
So far, we haven't bred anyone else's does, although I have had some inquiries. It would be great to get some of their daughters on test in other herds, to see if we can get those B's on our boys. We don't yet have enough does to do it within our herd. The way it keeps growing, it will probably be possible in the not-too-distant future. Goats have a way of multiplying, and before you know it, you went from a couple goats to 15 or 20.
Our plan this year was to breed our does around the same time, to kid when Jocelyn is home for Spring Break. You know what they say about best laid plans ... Two goats were ready before we were, and only one of them was close enough that we decided to go ahead and breed her. Beatrix will be a little ahead of schedule. Mary Ann and Alanna were cooperative, and Onyx waited until the very last minute. She will be touch and go as to whether or not she makes it before Jocelyn goes back to school. Rebekkah started at the beginning of the month, and she has flirted with the boys daily for the past 2 weeks, but she hasn't been willing to cooperate so far. If she doesn't do it soon, we may wait until January to breed her, so she will kid once school gets out for the summer.
There is a slight possibility Rebekkah could be bred to either Bad Medicine or Crazy About You, but she sure didn't seem to want to cooperate when she was in with them. Time will tell, and possibly some DNA testing if she does turn out to be bred. That would be another new experience for us.
Since Ginger is so thin and has had deficiency issues, we are going to dry her off and let her build herself up. She will either be dry next year or will be bred to kid in the summer. Little Lovey will probably be kept over dry, unless she has a growth spurt and I think she's ready to breed in the spring for summer kids. At least it won't be spread out too much, just a couple of batches if all cooperate.
So far, we haven't bred anyone else's does, although I have had some inquiries. It would be great to get some of their daughters on test in other herds, to see if we can get those B's on our boys. We don't yet have enough does to do it within our herd. The way it keeps growing, it will probably be possible in the not-too-distant future. Goats have a way of multiplying, and before you know it, you went from a couple goats to 15 or 20.