The First Moves

The first change I made last week was kicking some of the girls out of the buck room where they were with Xerxes.  The buck room is the nicest facilities for winter, but it’s not huge.

And there were too many goats in there.

Zinnia, LilyAnn, Sidney, Daisy, Xerxes, Margarita, Joy (Ava not pictured)

Especially when you have goats that can’t get along, and, trust me, no goat gets along.

Margarita

I had already swapped Astra back into the main herd after she was in heat and brought Sidney over in her place.

Astra and Perdita (with Wanda in front)

I planned on leaving Zinnia and her daughter Joy with Xerxes to give him company and to let them get bred because they are good moms and I need my milking girls to have kids.  They’ll be able to handle little ones while I’m gone on vacation next summer.

Zinnia peeking into the garage where we’ve been milking

I’d seen everyone else (except Margarita) come into heat, so I decided to move them all back with the main herd on Sunday and Monday before we got stupid cold again.

Ava

I didn’t want to mix goats when it was so cold because I don’t want someone to get pushed around and left outside in the cold. It would not be so crowded and easier for me to haul hay for three goats instead of eight.  And everyone else would just have to wait until it warmed up again. At least that was the plan…