The Buck Conundrum

I have a problem with bringing bucks to the farm.  They get sick. They die.

Sam

Seriously, I cannot seem to keep them healthy.

Grover Street (had pneumonia; I sold him and he apparently really bulked up)

For the first however many years, I know now it was copper.

Boeris Van de Yell

That’s why I didn’t get a new buck for several years as I tried to figure out the copper.  Then I finally brought Benji to the farm.

Benji

That didn’t work out well. So I don’t know what to do because I still need new blood.  I have two bucks, but they are both Osboer bucks.

Xerxes is a Fionn baby

One option would be to buy a buck and just sell it after the breeding season.  But I’m not sure I like bringing bucks here and selling them because every new goat I bring comes with the possibility of new health risks.

Frodo is a Fionn grandbaby

The other option is to see if I can keep a Benji buck if I have one that is nice looking because the boys who are born here seem to do just fine.  That’s not totally new blood, but the only Benji baby I’ve kept is Ostara, and Sidney or LilyAnn would be a good option for keeping a Benji buck.

Sidney is bred to Benji

I guess we’ll have to just wait and see what happens with the Benji kids before I have to worry about it.

Moving a Couple of Goats

I have given up on Trace. I’ll just consider her a freemartin since I’ve tried really hard to breed her, and she’s still coming into heat and yelling at the boys.

Trace (Zinnia and Penelope to the right)

Zinnia did not come back into heat last week, so I assume she’s bred for June (we’ll see).

Zinnia

That means, I can move them out of the pen and only have two goats to feed up there. That makes it easier for me.

Frodo and Penelope

Unfortunately, when I tried letting them out Saturday morning, the gate was frozen shut.

So I had to wait until I did chores.  I snagged Trace and Zinnia and put them in with the main herd.  That means fighting.  Seriously.

Zinnia, Bubbles and Trace

They drive me crazy.

At one point Trace picked a fight with Hilda (pictured above), which she soon regretted.

Zinnia, Bubbles and Trace were the last ones fighting by the time I got my camera out there.

I’d really like to let Penelope out too.  And take Antigone out of the buck room.

Antigone

Then I could put Xerxes and Frodo together in the buck room.

Frodo

But if we get cold again, or rainy and icky, I’m a little worried that Frodo wouldn’t go inside because he’s afraid of Xerxes.

Xerxes

It might be wise on his part, but they are coming out of rut and should be able to get along by now. Anyhow, I guess I’ll wait a little longer before putting the two boys back together. Besides, I’ve had enough fighting for a while.

The Kidding Outlook

I might have a record number of kids next year.  I mean, I’ll have to wait to know for sure–especially for Easter weekend kids.  Right now, it looks like there will be a lot of babies.  Poor Xerxes is looking like he won’t have any kids this year.

Poor Xerxes

Freddie seems to have bred all three of his girls for March: Onyx, Purl, and Perdita.

Onyx

Frodo seems to have bred Penelope for spring break.

Penelope is tentatively due March 16th.

Benji was a rock star for March.  I think he bred Athena, Trace, Hilda, Aphrodite, and Ostara.

Trace

Then he got out, and I believe he bred Cutie, Zinnia and LilyAnn.

Cutie

I was also afraid he bred Maisie.  She looks really good, so if he did breed her like I thought he did, she would have kidded, but it looks like she finally came into heat.  That is better.

Maisie is tentatively due March 16th.

The other old girls have had shots to prevent them from kidding.

Dolly with her last kid, Pluto

In all the craziness of trying to get Easter kids, if Benji and Freddie combined managed to breed everyone I saw in heat, that would give me a lot of babies in one weekend.

Frodo and Benji

I saw Joy, Ava, Antigone, Tansy, Rosie, Venus, Bubbles, Flora, Daisy, Caroline, 2TC, Hera, Sidney, and Cupid all in heat.

Ava

That only leaves Pretzel, Chiffon, and Astra that I didn’t see in heat.  I will try Pretzel for June, and we’ll see about the other two.

Pretzel and Frodo have to give me my perfect kid.

They might get a year off.