Here are Bonnie and her twins. They got here this afternoon close to suppertime.
Next to Bonnie are Huckleberry Finn (the paint who will be called Huck for short) and Tom Sawyer (just Tom). We will be keeping Huck and selling Tom as a young buck. They're Designer 19 bloodline (their grand daddy) so they're both prime breeding stock.
Bonnie's full sister Milly will be joining us by next Sunday.
MollyD
Another view of the kids
and another
Bonnie is a purebred Boer ( a hint of Nubian in her). Her parents are Lea and Clancy. That's their informal names. They've got pedigree names too.
MollyD
How exciting! How big are they? We have similar goats around here and they are very small.
Bonnie is a doll, cna't wait to see Millie! you sure wokred hard on that fence, glad you are enjoying your new critters...
tf
Catscan ,
Bonnie is considered on the thin side (due to nursing those two boys of hers) and she weighs 90 pounds or so. The kids are only 5 weeks old and the size of a two month old lab puppy.
Thanks tf. Millie looks a lot like Bonnie except she had an accident with a fence and now has a scar under one eye. Personalities are very different. Bonnie loves and craves being petted. Millie is a bit more aloof till she gets to know you. She'll tolerate being petted but she won't look for it the way Bonnie does.
Now I have a question. The seller has a doe with an outstanding pedigree but goat polio has made her blind. She needs a lot of watching. She can be bred but of course would require a lot of help. He wants to give her to me (with papers). I'm thinking it over carefully cause I already have a full plate here. What would you do? Paul says he'll support whatever decision I make which is nice but isn't feedback.
MollyD
Congrats. They look great. The kids are really cute! If it was me personally (keep in mind I have NO goat experience, just a sucker!), I would go for it. Sounds like she might be an excellent option for breeding, and she would have a good home, so you would also be doing a good deed.
i would go for it if she has good blood line she will have good kids and because id want to give her a chance at being a mother
is she COMPLETELY blind? how old is she? has she kidded before?
ho much is the stud fee?
can she pature with the others? do they "know" each other?
ask yourself LOTS of questions, and don't make a quick decision. it's not like someone else is going to show up to take her....
tf
tf as far as I could tell she sees shadows. She could detect my movements near her. She's two years old and has been a mom once. He has her in a pen inside the barn. He says she goes out with the others but I've only seen her in the pen (where she is alone). There are others in pens in the barn (various stages of waiting to kid or just having kidded). He sprang this on me very suddenly when we were packing Bonnie up. I hesitated to give an answer then. Seem to me something to think seriously about. How long do goats live anyway? I've never seen a life expectancy chart anywhere. She has an excellent pedigree. I can't remember if she's a purebred or fullbred. One of those.
No stud fee since we're now locked into buying a buck for the Clancy girls. She's a Clancy daughter too but out of a different doe. In other words a half sister to my two does. They're all from the same herd so yes they do know her.
If you think of other questions I should ask before making a commitment either way please holler.
Thanks for all the input guys.
MollyD
I would think the ideal situation for her would be a very small pasture/lot and shed or stall that have no sharp nails and such sticking out. Once she kids for you keep one of her doelings or castrate a buckling and keep that goat with her always. The other goats would be very rough on her even if they "know" her...that's just a goats way. I wouldn't hesitate to take her but she will need special consideration. BTW your goats are lovely!
Lana
Thank you Lana. I had a bit of an adventure with them this morning. Bonnie follows me everywhere. They love brambles and have already eaten most of what was in their area so I took them for a walk with me. Now that was the easy part LOL. Getting them back was the hard part. Bonnie followed all the way to the door of her area and then didn't want to come inside. So I had to prop the door open. Run for the barn at which point they all ran after me. Once there I opened the barn door. They've been dying of curiosity to see inside. This is a storage barn full of tractors, motorcycles, etc. In other words wasted space. Anyway I locked them in there. Ran back and closed the gate. Then ran back to the barn and the fun began trying to get them to stop exploring and get out of the barn! I finally got one of the babies out. Locked him outside so he started calling for his mom. She then ran out to him once I opened the door. That left one little guy inside who started calling her back of course. With much pushing and pulling I got her to wait for him to come out to her instead of the other way round! I was pooped after all that!.
We've talked about the subject of the blind doe a lot and have finally decided not to do it. We live in an area with very long winters and lots of snow. She'd be confined for very long periods of time. I've got a lot of responsibilities here running our nursery business as well as taking care of the animals so I could not spend a lot of time with her so she could get out of her pen. The only way to make a pen for her would mean separate quarters for her and a companion. Overall she would add tremendously to the work load which is already a lot. Even kidding would be something she'd need extra help with. Sighted does often tread on their kids killing them. I could see her kids having to be bottled fed. This doe is more for the person with no other animals to care for who can give her lots of extra time and attention.
MollyD
I can't see her needing her kids bottle fed as they identify their kids by smell not sight. You would know best what responsibilities you're able to take on. Take a bucket of feed on your walk next time to coax her back with :)
Lana
Lana after today I'm so worn out that walks will be a rare thing :-) I went to get Millie this morning . She's Bonnie's sister. We got here around noon. First thing she and Bonnie got into a fight over turf. Had to break that up cause I didn't want broken horns or hurt babies (inside Millie). Next Millie jumps against the barn door as I was trying to get babies out of the way cracking me on the skull. After that as I was walking away towards the house I hear Paul yelling for me and I see him hanging onto Millie's body. She had tried to jump the fence and come after me. She got one hoof tangled at the top of the fence. I ran for the cutters and we got her out but not before she had cut her leg. Happily not much bleeding so we sprayed it with Bluekote. She was very stressed out and panting all afternoon but eating. I added another level of wood at the top. Now does all this stop her? Nope! She was going to try jumping again!!! I scolded her but good and pushed her off the fence. I am now so worn out that I'm literally hiding in the house cause if they see me they go crazy.
I told Jim that I won't be taking that bllind doe. If anyone would like her please dmail me and I'll give you my #. She's a yearling purebred. Never had kids. The blindness is not congenital so it's not something she would pass onto her young. She's very pretty similar to my Bonnie but with a darker head and a wide blaze. Her sire is 10265426 HPF Hills Place Clancy. I'm not sure who her dam is but Jim would know. She's registered with the American Boer Goat Association. He had her out inside the barn this morning to get some exercise . She went up and down the aisles stopping to butt heads with other goats in pens. She's bit wobbly on her feet and holds her head like she might be seeing shadows out of one eye. If she isn't adopted she goes to the butcher. I'm overwhelmed with what I have to do here so I really can't do the job.
I did manage to save a little buck who was going to market. He's consider to have very bad form. I needed a wether as company for my buck and any other situation where a companion was needed so I suggest to Jim he neuter that one instead of sending him off to be butchered. He's so out of the standard that he couldn't even be sold as a 4H wether. Jim thought it was a great idea. Either way he gets the same amount of money since wethers are sold by the pound.
MollyD
LOL, sounds like you're getting a good dose of the goat world real fast!
I'm not near enough to take the blind doe or I would. :( Sometimes it's best for them to go to slaughter.
Lana
It's too bad you aren't close enough or gas prices aren't low enough. That's where she'll end up if she doesn't find a home that will take care of her. He'd rather place her than kill her but he may not have a choice since he already has so many to take care of.
LOL it's awful when a grown woman has to hide out in her house from her adoring fans! I went in and gave them dinner. Things were a bit calmer this time. Hopefully they'll continue to adjust till I can come and go without a major production ^_^
MollyD
Molly:
So glad to hear you aren't taking the blind doe... although after reading about your adventures maybe you are wishing you had blind goats so they wouldn't be jumping the fence....LOL
Get some Neem oil to keep on hand for cuts of any kind. Neem oil is like a miracle oil. If used it on so many things with animals and I've not found anything it won't cure. I even make a bar of goats milk soap that has it in it. Great for human skin that has problems.
Take a picture of the back side that shows your does udder. I want to see what it looks like. Of course I understand they are a milk goat but a lot can be learned from what the utter looks like which in the dairy side of the house is how we select bucks for our does.
Get a good close up, have your husband hold her head and you go behind and get down on the same level with her, and take 3 or four shots and post them. Then I'll be happy to comment if ya want.
Also glad to hear you are making through the first day of goat ownership...
You should have heard me muttering how much I was going to enjoy eating them LOL. I was so mad at her trying it a second time.
I'll snap some shots of Bonnie's utter asap. She has a normal teat count of 2 (I know that much). They're meat goats btw but they do have a dab of Nubian so they seem to produce a lot of milk. Good thing since they can have up to 4 babies at a time! Millie is on her first pregnancy and hasn't bagged yet. She won't till about August or September.
I had used Neem Oil on my plants but had never heard of it for people or animals!
I felt it was a bad idea to take her if I couldn't provide the care she needed or if the rest had to suffer because I had to spend so much time on her. I sure hope I can help find her the right home so she doesn't go to the butcher.
MollyD
maybe a blind goat would be easier LOL....
soundl ike they are breaking you in!!!
mind if i post pics of our goats udders? it's raining now, maybe i can get a pic tomorrow. i need to decided whether to breed them to purebred dairy bucks, or a boer to produce meat crosses. not till next year though...
tf
tf have fun! I haven't had a chance to even take a picture of Millie or Bonnie's udders. I'm in the middle of planting season and there are about 800 plants waiting for me to put them in the ground. Everyday more arrive and the weeds are getting ahead of me too. I'm stretched pretty thin right now. Running a business and taking care of all these critters is sapping me ^_^ !
Happily today the girls have settled down quite a bit. I was able to get a lot done without them wailing and trying to climb over fences! Just a little normal bleating. Bonnie has firmly established herself as the queen here! At Jim's she was bullied and pushed around. Here she's doing the bullying LOL. It's interesting to see her self esteem climbing.
MollyD
TamaraFaye, might I suggest when you get your udder picture that maybe you should start a new thread, and make sure to post a link on this thread to it..... I don't want to miss out seeing udders...rofl...
I spent two years studing udders and blood lines for my goats before I came into my herd.
MollyD I will say that I love the front picture of your girl. Nice Straight legs. That is so important.
Glad the does are starting to settle down some for ya. I can just see many great evening with your goats down the road for ya gal.
Thanks meadowyck! Her sister and her kids are like that too. I've seen both her parents and they're like that also. The girls get their head color from their dam Lea. Their sire Clancy seems to have influenced their profiles :-)
His grandson Tommy looks a lot like him.
MollyD
