Where to Make June Babies?

With old ladies in need of care, I had to rethink where I was going to put everyone for making June babies.  I’ve already decided it’s been a crazy enough breeding year that I’m not even going to mess with any of last March’s girls.  They’ll get to grow another year before they are put in with a buck.

Moira and Venus

Remember, Zeus has to be in the Greenhouse because he won’t stay anywhere else.

Zeus

I had planned on using Anubis to help make the perfect kid, but Zeus already bred everyone I was going to put with him, so I’ve decided on a different path to the perfect kid.  I don’t really even need to use him now.

Anubis

I decided to put the two of them in the greenhouse with the two remaining girls that I need to be with Zeus, Caroline and Aphrodite.  I’m not keeping kids from them, so it doesn’t matter which one breeds them.

Zeus and Aphrodite

That just leaves Xerxes and Fionn.  Xerxes is the biggest chicken on the farm, and he panics at everything, so he is staying in the buck room.

Xerxes

I was going to put Fionn in the Love Shack, but I have old ladies there.  I decided to move my old ladies from the north pen.  All I had to do was open the gate while I was feeding everyone in the barnyard.  Penny and Bonnie should be okay to join the rest of the herd with just a bit of head butting.  But seriously, they have to butt heads.

Annie, Penny, and Bonnie (back)

I worry about Harley with her back injury, so I decided to put her with Maggie and Cookie in the Love Shack.  We’ll see how that goes.  Again, it just took a bit of food to bribe Harley (and Cookie) into following me.  Chiffon and Marge got carried over to the pen when they were done eating sweet feed in the milk room.

Chiffon, Marge, Cookie, and Harley

Fionn and Joani are up north.  Joani was actually pretty easy. It was that bribing her with corn that worked like a charm.  Ironically, Fionn is the easiest one to move.  I just put a collar on him and led him around.  The only time he didn’t want to come was when he saw the other goats still licking the food pans, but I promised him food when he went in with Joani, and he was happy. He’s such a good boy!

Fionn and Joani

Of all the girls left to be bred, Hilda is the only one I really cared about which buck she was with because I have to have her for making the perfect kid.  She’s my only Minnie descendent on the farm now.  She’s also a crazy brat.

Hilda

I had to bribe her with a peanut to get close enough to grab a horn.  Then we wrestled for a few minutes before I got my collar on her as a safety precaution (I’ve lost her before leading her by the horn, and then there’s no bribing her after that).  She fought, drug her feet, stepped on my feet and was a general brat the whole time I was dragging her across the barnyard.

Hera reenacting the peanut bribe because Hilda would not do it.

Finally, I got her in the buck room, and she and Xerxes are together.  Does she look happy about it?

Let me out!

When it’s time for Antigone to come into heat, I’ll put her in there for a day or two and then let her back in with her maa.

Pistol and Antigone

I swear, this year’s breeding has just been chaos.

The Morning After

Whenever I move goats around the morning after is a bit scary when I go out to see if everyone is where I put them.  It didn’t take me long to get my answer.  When Zinnia came to get milked, she had her little Joy with her.  Surprisingly, Joy wasn’t nursing, so I got my milk!  I also let her come in with her mom, so it might help her keep calming down.  You can’t say I haven’t tried with this one.

Joy and Zinnia

All the little bucks were still shut in.

Chiffon was back snuggled up with Cookie and her twin sister, Marge.

Marge, Chiffon, and Cookie

It looked like Wendy had quit picking on Tink (for now).

Tink, Wendy, and Joani

Then I saw that Socks was back with her maa, Bonnie.

Socks and Bonnie

It was interesting to see that Bonnie’s twin sister, Blaze, has been letting Socks hang with her since Bonnie was up north.  Goats are really amazing with family (sometimes).

Blaze in front; Bonnie and Socks in back

Penny was being nice to let Venus stay with her.  I’m glad since she just lost her maa, Vinnie, and is still recovering.  She and Vulcan had also never been out in the big pasture.

Penny and Venus

In the afternoon, though, I noticed both of my little boys I had shut in the greenhouse had escaped.

Ringo looking for his maa

Dang little bucks.

Improving

I have to say, I’m working hard to get everyone healthy.  It’s definitely a battle, but I’m winning the battle with my two little girls.  Chiffon is really doing well, and Venus is improving too.

Chiffon and Venus

I caught Tony and (with the help of my son) put him in the Love Shack.  He’s had the meds for the ulcers.

Tony

Now I need him to quit pacing and stressing over the girls.

In order to make room for Tony in the Love Shack, I put Fionn back with the rest of the bucks.  He’s doing quite well.

I got the copper capsules in all the goats again. I still had to use the pill pusher for a handful of them. Mary (Mary Quite Contrary) was the last one.

Mary

I’m kind of irritated with myself because I accidentally gave Joani two capsules.  I have a checklist, but you can’t carry it with you because the goats will eat it, and I messed up.

Joani

I think it will be okay, but look at her.  She doesn’t even seem repentant about taking an extra one.  In fact, I’m pretty sure she was looking for a third one last night.