Hanging With the Goats

Hanging with the goats is one of the best ways to keep track of their health and decide who has settled for kids and who hasn’t.  Two girls in particular were on my must be bred list–2TC and Trace.  They will both be three this year, and neither one has had a kid.

2TC (I think is bred)

Part of that is the odd breeding last year, and Benji was young the first time I tried breeding them. So I get it.

Trace

But Trace came back into heat again.  I will give her one more chance to get bred for this June, and I don’t know what I’ll do with her if she doesn’t get bred.  I’m not against goats who are strictly pets, but she is not easy to maintain.  She’s always one of the last ones to get caught for copper and hooves.  If they are going to be a pet, I want to be able to touch them.

Pluto was in love with her.

I really haven’t seen many others come back into heat from the ones bred for March, but I’ll find out this week who settled for April.

Flora I think is due for March

We’ll see if Tansy settled for Easter.

LilyAnn seems to have settled when Benji busted out.

Pretty sure Onyx will be one of the last girls to give me Freddie babies.

It’s looking like there will be plenty of spring babies.

Just a Few Pictures

Well, I will say the time change makes it hard to get out and enjoy taking pictures in the evenings.  These are actually leftovers from last weekend.

Sky

Odie

Zora

Onyx

Sky and Bob

Myson

Miss Goose

Wanda

sunset over the corn field

Heidi

Jeanie

Hopefully, we’ll have good weather this weekend and I’ll have a chance to get out.

Bratty and Nice

I’ve never decided what makes a goat bratty or nice.  I’m kind of sure there’s some genetics to it because of the large number of babies from Xerxes who are absolutely terrified and certain I’m going to kill them. Luckily, not all of them are that way, but there are a lot of them.

Onyx is one of the nice ones.

But, some are not afraid of me, but they choose not to let me touch them.  Like Ostara.  If I catch her in the right mood, oh, she loves to have her but scratched.  But most times, she bounces away and won’t let me near her.

Ostara getting butt scrubbies (Myson licking the salt block)

Her big sister Tansy is even worse.  I can’t ever touch her, but she’s thrilled to come into the milk room and eat sweet feed.  When she’s in there, I can pet her, milk her, trim her hooves.  She doesn’t care.

Tansy at the cattle tank

And Trace.  She used to take bottles from me and like to be petted when she was a baby.  Now, I can’t hardly catch her to do basic care with her.  For some reason, the other day when I opened the milk room after milking, she was there and decided to come on in.  She let me pet her and trim her hooves.

Trace

Then there’s Daisy.  She is just like her maa, Bambi was.  Most days I can’t touch her.  Some days she’s fine with it.  And her girl, Zora won’t let me touch her, but she’s awfully bouncy and thinks it’s fun to stay away from me.

Daisy and Zora

I really need fewer bratty goats.

Heidi

Pretzel

Victoria

Give me the sweet ones.

sweet Maybeline and snooty Odie

I might have a similar situation with the llamas.