Breeding Groups

The last few years, it seems like the goats have been on their best behavior for me getting them put into breeding groups.  Not this year.

Xerxes and Joani

On Wednesday, I managed to get all but Antigone where they belonged after a ridiculous amount of work and chasing goats and bribing with food and having some fat wethers and Pretzel constantly in my way. I might have broken numerous fingernails, broke a blood vessel on the palm of my hand and smacked myself in the forehead with a cattle panel. But I got everyone where I wanted them!

Antigone

Moose, Myson, Pretzel, and Casey

Well, I did also adjust where I put Hera because she jumped over the fence somewhere in the process, and I decided she’d be more likely to stay up north.

Hera running from Freddie

I will say Benji and his girls were the easiest.  Benji just followed Freddie into the buck room and stayed there while I led Freddie out and shut the gate.

Benji is so cute!

Then, I just had to drag the little girls across the barnyard, and they aren’t as hard to drag as a big girl.  And Chiffon came in the milk room without me even having to drag her!

Benji, Venus, 2TC, and Chiffon

Anyhow, Thursday I finished the process by getting Antigone where she belongs, so Xerxes has: Antigone, Zinnia, Joy, Hilda, Daisy, Athena, Penelope, Margarita, Ava, Astra, Cutie, and Joani.

Ava, Xerxes, Penelope, Margarita, and Hilda

I also put Caroline in with Xerxes, but she was on my “Do I? Don’t I?” list, so I didn’t give her a shot to bring  her into heat.  I guess I’ll just see if she comes into heat or not.

Caroline

Freddie has: Flora, Aphrodite, Purl, Cupid, Hera, and Bubbles.  I was actually going to put Hilda in with him again, but I was too tired to drag her that much farther across the barnyard.

Freddie, Aphrodite, Purl, and Bubbles

Benji has: Venus, Chiffon, Trace, and 2TC

Benji checking out Trace

And I’m going to go out on a limb and call Bubbles the first one due for spring break kids!  Freddie’s going to have a hard time getting to Purl if she stays up there.

Purl, Aphrodite, Hera, and Bubbles

Hopefully, most of them will come into heat.

Kids

You might have noticed that I didn’t get the kids sold this weekend.  I discovered a food allergy (to my foraged chicken of the woods), and it was not a pleasant day or two.  Anyhow, I’m going to try to get them sold this weekend. We’ve heard that before, haven’t we…

Pongo looking sweet and innocent while he naps.

Thunder

I really do need to get my moms a break from kids.

Joani and Glover

Although, Zinnia still has her girl with her, but she won’t let her nurse.  I’m getting all of that milk!

Zinnia and Ivy

I’m still not sure how I’m going to catch the two older girls.

Bubbles and Missy

If my plan works, they’ll get more relaxed around me since I’m feeding them grain every day.

LilyAnn and Jasmine

That’s the plan, but we’ll see how well that works.

Moving Goats Again

I decided it was time to move goats again.  Sidney and Moira were in the Love Shack, and there really isn’t much shade.  There’s even less green stuff to eat.  They really needed out.

Moira and Sidney in the Love Shack

Hilda and Cupid were in the same situation in the greenhouse, but it is a bit bigger indoor space.  That makes it a little better.

Cupid in the Love Shack

Anyhow, I decided to do some moving and rearranging to give all my  moms plenty of pasture.  I also hoped to keep Tiger from getting stuck in the fence.  I waited until the herd went out to pasture.

in the Back Forty

I started by dividing my barnyard in half with a couple of panels.

The llamas on the north half of the barnyard

Of course, the llamas showed up just as I was getting ready to do my changes.  I put another panel in the barn to divide it.  Then I decided to bribe the llamas to go back to the other side.

Odie

It worked!

Maybeline and Aurora (Odie behind)

Next up was using some feed to bribe my moms in the north paddock to go into that pen I had just created in the barn.  That was also easy peasy.  I shut them in with one of my panels that I had previously had dividing the barnyard.

the moms from up north

Of course, the kids were still hanging out up by the gate, but I decided I’d deal with them later.  I had all the adults out of the way.

Ivy, Jack, Glover, Lemuel, and Sunshine

Then I went to the buck room.

Freddie and Tiger

They were going to move north.  Xerxes and Freddie were easy.  They just followed me right up.

Xerxes and Freddie (Sunshine and Ivy under the tarp)

I had to go back and bring Tiger with me.  Once I got them up there, I shut the gate.

Tiger (Xerxes and Freddie checking out the tarp hut)

About the time I was getting ready to catch the kids and put them in the barnyard where there moms were going to be, some little Perdita girl slid off the top of the quonset hut under the tarp.  I had completely forgotten about her.  I caught her and put her in the barnyard and then went back to catching the five kids.

Perdita and Ivy

Then I let the moms out of the barn to get their kids.  I’m really sure I had already caught Lem.  Oh well. I caught him again and put him back on the sided I wanted him on.

Lemuel looks tiny beside Freddie.

Then the moms decided they were going to go hang out in the barn again.  I guess that was good because I realized I had forgotten to block the openings by the cattle tank.  They could have just walked right out to the Back Forty.  I am not trying to keep track of these eleven kids on forty acres.

To block the cattle tank holes, I had to remove the door from the greenhouse, so that let Hilda and Cupid out.

Zinnia, Glover, Haley, Joani, Cupid, and Tansy

Then I just had to open the Love Shack.  Um.  My panel was kind of sunk into the ground with the grass holding it down. It took a fair amount of work to get it pulled loose.

Then Sidney and Moira were out.

Sidney and Moira

I could not get everyone to come down to the side I wanted them on.  They were all hanging out in the barn, so I finally gave up for a while.

Eventually, when I let Haley into the milk room to change her bandage, everyone else thought they should come beg for food.

Haley’s foot doesn’t slow her down much; Perdita on the bench

I used that opportunity to finish dividing the barnyard in half again.  Pretty soon, everyone else came back up from pasture and tried to figure out what was going on.

Tomorrow, I’ll finish the saga.