Zinnia and her twin doelings.
Zuri is the next doe in line to kid. Her day 150 is next Friday. Her udder is just starting to form. I was beginning to worry, until the last few days when it seems to be taking shape. She is handling her first pregnancy with ease. No where near as awkward and lumbering as Rose and Zinnia. We are guessing she will have a single kid. If she has a doeling we will definitely keep her. We lost Zuri's dam a couple summers ago, and she was our strongest all around doe. So Zuri has been an orphan and has no mom, sibling or daughter in the herd. I have missed Zuri. Between milking the milkers and caring for kids, sometimes the adolescents get neglected, or just not handled enough. I am looking forward to milking, and therefor handling Zuri more this year. For her sake, I hope she has a daughter in there.
New doeling meet new but older by a few days buckling, your half uncle.
One of the twin doelings. Their coloring is different than any kids we've had yet. They are more of a brown and white than black and white.
Currently Rose and her kids are in one stall and Zinnia and her kids in the other. We are letting them out for a couple short closely monitored play sessions in the afternoon. The kids are playful but still pretty fragile. If the does get a chance they will butt and pummel the kids that are not theirs, into the ground. Zuri is spending the night in her own indoor stall. Xan and her daughter are free to come in and go out as they please, for now. Soon, Zuri will move into the kidding stall where we can keep track of her on the goat cam. I'm guessing she will kid during the conference next week. I've been meaning to mention the Sustainable Agricultural Conference is taking place next week at the Princess Hotel. There is a pre-conference day on goat care and cheesemaking. Other topics range from raising chickens and building chicken tractors, storing root crops, growing fruits and berries in the interior, and various other garden farm related topics. I'm registered for all three days. I am most looking forward to the goat day and cheesemaking workshop. Hopefully one goat kidding next week won't wreak complete havoc on my conference attendance.
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11 comments:
Emily, they are all so cute! I can't wait to meet them all.
That conference sounds really neat! I don't think I'm up to it this year as far as starting a garden, but if the job situation works out and it looks like we'll end up staying here for more than a year or two, I need to get going on having a more sustainable garden and yard.
It was easy in the northwest, but the AK interior is a whole different ballgame. I'm just going to container garden for the most part this year.
The babies are really growing. I see you have done some disbudding also. I sympathize. Sounds like a great conference coming up. I hope you share what you learn. Happy first day of spring.
Miranda, I've wanted to go to the conference the last couple years, but wasn't there as far as leaving my kids with someone for the whole day- just wasn't happening. Container gardening is a good start. I still put peppers, eggplant and a few herbs in pots. It is nice to be able to move them around, indoors in the fall to keep eating off of.
Michaele, I've been thinking of doing a post on disbudding- but as I dread it so, and would rather think of it as little as possible...This is my first year doing it on my own. I do hate it- but it feels good to be able to do it myself.
Emily, I wish I was going to the conference. It sounds very interesting and informative. I got engaged to Joshua yesterday! I will be moving to AK in a about a year and would like more info about your goats. Where did you get them? How much milk do you get from your best milker? How much do you sell your kids for? I am very much interested in La Manchas and am looking in to getting two does from Fir Meadows or you. Hope we can be friends. Keren
Hi Emily, They sure are cute, thanks for sharing them. I'm looking forward to watching them as they grow.
Can you share about the way you are naming you goats? I noticed, the Z's, A's and now B's that you are using as the beginning letter in your goat names. Is this just something you decided to do on your own? Just curious.
Thanks, Jewel
I did a post on our experience this year, but didn't go into detail on "how" to do it. Just one thing I learned not to do. lol
Emily, So I looked up on your goats section and was able to find the answer to my question. I can see that you're naming the goats by the alphabet, why? You shared in a post a year ago, that the ADGA (American Dairy Goat Assoc) talks about doing it that way to easily remember the goats birth year. That's a great idea.
I'm learning so much about goats, when my 3 milk goats come in mid June I'm going to know a lot just from reading your informative posts. Especially about challenging births, and to not be too timid about helping when it's needed.
Hope you're Spring comes soon, ours has finally started down here in western WA.
Jewel
Keren, I recently learned that goats can not be driven up through Canada at this time- so that will be a deciding factor in whether you bring your goats up or not. Look into it. This year I am selling doelings for 325, registered bucks for 375. Milkers will vary per goat- around 400 range. I flew our goats up from Rockin CB and Lucky Star- both in Washington. You can check out my website if you haven't already, wildrootsfarm.com Rose was milking seven and a half pounds per milking last summer- her third freshening that is as good as we've gotten. The other girls varied anywhere from three to six pounds, depending on the time of year. Lets keep in touch.
Michaele, I'll have to check out your post.
Jewel, I'm following along with the American Dairy Goat Associations naming letter of the year. It goes alphabetically, not everyone follows it, but most big dairy goat farms and show people do. It makes it easier when looking at peoples goats what year they were born, I know the Z's are two years old now, as mine are. So this year is letter B. When I first got my goats they all had family naming patterns that they had to follow. I'm not so strict, but I've kept up a couple. Rose's family had to be plant related names. Xanadu's family was literature place names- or something like that. It makes naming fun and creative.
Emily, the kids are so adorable!
I wish we were further along in our homestead so I could come bring some of them home to live with us! Hopefully next year :)
Nice kids! And some chocolate doelings - I really like the chocolate goats! I have a little girl who is kind of chocolate colored with caramel colored trim. She's very pretty. :-)
We've disbudded our own since the start, and hubby is good at it! You're right, it's better to know how to do it on your own, and yes, it's tough. We've found it helps a lot to shave around their horn buds so we can really see what we're doing and so the hair doesn't insulate the head where you need to burn. Thank goodness they forget quickly!!!
How was the conference, I heard about it too late to get off of work. I enjoy reading about your goats. I'm dreaming of having some myself, but so far have not convinced DH. It DOES sound like a lot of work. I know you don't do goat shares, but do you know of anyone who does in Fairbanks?
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