Monday, January 30, 2012

Oops!!

I'm sure about everyone has had an "oops" breeding before. Today was mine... Stella had come back into heat, and even after my last "no more breedings" comment, I decided to go ahead with her. She was up on the fence doing all the things a lovely doe will do when she feels she needs a man in her life. So, I let her out and decided to give Rebel a go with her. Well, Stella apparently wasn't impressed with his small (read young) size and wouldn't stand for him for anything. I figured she wasn't in the mood. I took Rebel to put him back in the buck pen and out ran Abe (my Sable). He had lost his collar, and I hadn't put it back on him yet. He's smelly! Also a little bit flighty.. So, I went to grab his collar so I could catch him to put him back in. Stella ( who is a lovely Saanen and Victor daughter) wasn't ready to stand anyways, so I didn't just run after the collar. BAD IDEA! Why yes, she was ready to stand for a buck, I just had the wrong one first I guess! I had collar in hand, and turned to go get Abe and wouldn't ya know... that goofy doe just stood there happy as a clam for him. *Sigh* Goats! So, if she takes on this breeding, pray that her babies come out any color but white! We'll still love the white ones too, it's just easier to register if they come out looking like a Sable! Lol.
I guess it's back to my office work now! Such a beautiful day to be inside doing office work. Who needs Florida or California in winter.. it was 71 today! I had all the windows open... it was just lovely.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Patience and Flexibility

I think mine is missing! I am so anticipating this year's babies and getting out to show! I'm driving myself crazy, and seriously have "goat on the brain". That being said, I was able to breed a couple more does this week. Anything else that comes into heat from now on out, save one doe, will not be bred this year. It's just way too late in the year to be breeding does for my purposes! We should be left with 7 dry does for this year. Two Sables and five Saanens. One of the Saanens isn't a show doe, so not so big of a deal with her. One thing I have learned since expanding our herd... flexibility. You can plan for months, but those does aren't going to follow than plan! You can hold a meeting, try bribery, etc, it doesn't matter. Gotta love animals!
I'm trusting the 2012 breeding season will go much more smoothly. I am considering using CIDR's to get my girls to kid in a much more concise arrangement. This year we have does strung out for 3 months, with several weeks between some kiddings. Can you tell I'm bothered by this? Lol. I guess my lessons in patience and flexibility haven't been ingrained as much as I thought.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Winter Ramblings

So, for anyone who doesn't know the story of how we came to have 40 goats, you can find the story on our website... www.hdiamondfarms.com/aboutus.html.

I was able to breed another doe today. It is taking me forever to get everyone bred this year. The thought of having kids in June is not one I cherish, but such as it is, we'll make the best of it. Were we got the goats later in the year, then had to wait a bit to get things figured out before we started breeding, it's just taking awhile! Hopefully next year, we'll get on a better schedule. One good thing about having kids so late, we sure should have a steady supply of milk until the 2013 does start kidding.

Other than getting Tunes bred today, nothing major really went on. Fed the goats this morning. Spent some time talking on the phone with my Mom, which is always nice! Did some office work today also. I've been trying to figure out an alternative to alfalfa until we get out of this drought and hay prices go back down to something reasonable. I'm considering an alfalfa pellet or chaffhaye/beet pulp/BOSS mix as a replacement for alfalfa. I'd keep everyone on feed hay and give this mix at night. Right now, with hay roughly $275/ton, I can feed the mix cheaper, and that's not considering any bulk price I could hopefully find on alfalfa pellets. I would have to get alfalfa for $216 a ton before it would be cheaper. Another item on the agenda is trying to decide how I'm going set up my kid management system. Whether to separate the kids or keep them all together, what to use for housing, what method to use to feed them... warm milk or chilled, free choice or on a schedule out of a bucket or some type of cooler. Thankfully I have just under 2 months until I have to have everything in place, but it drives me nuts if I don't have things in order, lol. Soon I'm sure.

H Diamond Farms will have an ad in the February issue of United Caprine News. Hopefully this will generate some hits for the website as well as some interest in reserving 2012 kids. Well, I think that's all the ramblings I have for today!