It’s That Time

Today, as you are reading this post, I should be giving girls shots to bring them into heat and sorting them and the bucks into their proper breeding groups.

Astra is looking good.

Over the weekend, I decided to put Frodo in with his sister because she was not happy by herself.  She did immediately perk up and start nibbling.  That was a good thing.

Rosie and Frodo

While I was at it, I caught Lemuel and put him in there too.  After all, that’s why I had prepped the pen so it could hold goats again.  I needed the two boys in there for this week.

Lemuel

Anyhow, some of the girls are messing with my plans.  Sidney and LilyAnn were both in heat over the weekend, so they won’t come back into heat so soon even with a shot. They will be June mamas or not at all this year.

Xerxes and LilyAnn

And as of prepping this post over the weekend, I still haven’t decided what to do with a couple of girls.  Bubbles is on the edge for weight and Onyx is just so little.  She seems to have inherited her grandmaa Coffee’s mini-genes.

Onyx

Of course, my old ladies and skinny Tansy were easy to know.

Reva

I just don’t know what to do with her.  I’ll update you as soon as I get everything decided and done.

Never Weaned

Since I put Frodo up north, I decided I had to let Perdita out.  She’s already going to have to have a shot to make sure Chunky Boy didn’t breed her before I sold him.

Perdita

As soon as she came out, she and Purl had to have a little fight.  After all, they are goats.

Purl and Perdita

At least this one wasn’t too serious.

It didn’t take her long to see her maa, Astra.

Astra (Hera behind) and Perdita

You can pretty much guess what that means.

I swear this girl does not get the idea of being weaned.  That is why I had to have her shut up north for sooooo long.

Basically, this means I’m done milking Astra (she was really getting dried up anyhow).  I might see if I can get her to come in and bring Perdita for a bit of training too.

She looks pretty happy about it.

I am still filling my freezer; it is getting almost full.

I’m also freezing some pint bags for my use over the winter.

Since I’m still freezing and I had just weaned some other girls, guess who I invited in to see if she’d let me milk–Cupid!

Cupid

She was perfect.  I wouldn’t have even had to use the collar.  I’ll milk her for a while, just for training.  As you can see, she was already weaning her boy and cutting back her production, but it never hurts to have them trained and willing to let me milk them.

Lemuel, Glover, and a Plan

Lemuel is still up north where he can’t get stuck; he’s also doing quite well after being wormed and getting some copper.

Lemuel Goodberry

Glover has always been good, and looking at how bulky he is, it’s easy to see why I didn’t think I was ever going to get him out of Joani.

Glover Osboer right before he left the farm.

I don’t think I’ve ever shared where these two names come from.  They are family names.  In fact, I just had a cousin give me some old family photos, and it included this one of my second great-grandparents.  His dad was Lemuel, and his dad was Glover.  That Glover was named after his step-father.  Seriously.

Glover Perin (1839 – 1914) and Jane Barbee Perin (1838 – 1922)

Anyhow, with the boys having family names and receiving these pictures, and driving past the farm where my grandpa grew up with the detour to the sale barn,

and a blogging friend who stopped in to visit moving to a town where my mother’s family came from, mom and I really became nostalgic for the good old days of taking genealogy trips.

John and Patty (Books, Cooks, and Looks) with Myson

That means, we are planning a road trip for next summer.  I have to rethink my kidding and milking plans to accommodate the trip and con people into helping take care of the animals, but I really hope we can make it happen.  I’ve been back to doing research on the Internet, and I found a cemetery that I’m related to most of the residents going back to 1658.  I’m excited!