Hi everyone! I have been a horse person forever, but after watching a couple friends have fun with their goats, I decided I had to get goats too! Right now I have a herd of 6 lovely adga nigerian dwarf does, 3 of which are hopefully bred and will be kidding within the next 1-2 months. I am hoping to get a nice buckling from 2 different does, so I can keep them for my herd sires, other than that, all the babies are getting sold :)
In no particular order, my critters! Not the best photos of the goats, everyone is in their winter woolies lol.
Lupe, shes for sale if anyone is interested
Fae on the left, Poit (hopefully pregnant) on the right
Pepper, Fae's first kid. Shes for sale as well if anyone is interested.
Honey, Lupes mom
Last but not least Ke$ha. Shes my favorite, shes such a little darling.
Ok, I don't know how to upload photos! LOL
Replies
Margaret that sounds like quite the rodeo in the beginning, I am glad to hear that she settled down into it so quickly. We will see how adventurous I am feeling about things, when the does kid in the next couple months Lol. I caught everyone today and handled them some, I can tell they are getting more used to it, so hopefully when the time comes, it won't be too much of hassle for all of us Lol.
Nicholas tonight I am going to make the time to sit down, and write out everyones bloodlines!
Margie Hi! Where in Oregon are you?
Oh and Welcome to the group it such a great place to find info!
What lines do your does come from? They all look pretty nice!
Audrey, I am so sorry about the bad experience! Glad things are ok now! I know what you mean about not really being ready! I actually built a very nice double stanchion out of a couple of pallets and a few scraps of wood I had, last year but still haven't finished the headstall part because I am just not exactly sure how I want to do it. But I could finish it quickly whenever I get ready to. I have simply milked on the ground for what little I have done. Which has only been for a couple of bottles etc.
I have to tell you though that persistence can pay off, quicker than you think sometimes, with those touchy FFs. I have been milking my boar/ mix doe for a week now, once every night to get about 2 ounces of milk that I needed. She is my only horned goat and would try to butt me and simply go crazy kicking the milk out of my hand and everything. She is already like a different goat, in just one week. She is of course a lot bigger than the NDs and we put a leash on her collar and stick it through the bottom of the fence, I jump in her pen with a coffee cup and put a bowl of food on the ground while one of the kids holds the leash tight so she cant really move her head . After wrestling around with different positions etc. to keep her still and hang on to the cup (singing really does help) after only a week she pretty much stands still long enough for me to get the little I need to feed my little Q Tip and I really think now that I will just finish up that stanchion and keep milking her so that she will be use to it and I can practice. I would kind of like to see how she milks and I figure if I keep her supply up, I will have it if I need it again later. BTW Q Tip is a wild cottontail rabbit that I caught my dachshund with Sunday was a week ago! They are suppose to be the hardest furred animal to raise as orphans. I have tried a few times before with no success! I didn't have a goat to get raw milk from then. Q Tip is doing GREAT!
Margaret, I will be milking some, but I don't have a stanchion or anything like that yet. I have 2 that I know will be great for milking without one, when the time comes. I don't do bottle feeding though, so all the milk is for the babies at first anyway. I REALLY want to make cheese! I have not attempted to milk Fae, she has not appreciated the bit of handling I have done of her udder, and without the proper set up, I am not going to teach myself on a FF who clearly doesn't want me messing around back there LOL.
Patty I am sorry to hear that you and your does had a terrible experience too. Its so frustrating to PAY someone to care poorly for your animals and get them sick! Shame on me though, because I had HORRIBLE feelings the entire time, and hounded the girl about if she was taking good care of them, to the point that I felt like she was getting frustrated with me, and then I picked them up way earlier then we had planned on, and low and behold, SICK DOES! I was livid! However, by some miracle, its looking like all 3 might be pregnant!
YAY I figured it out!
This is Ke$ha. Again, I will have to get her registration info and all that. Shes SUCH a doll. The friendliest goat ever, and SO cute! She is super feminine and typey. She would absolutely rock the show ring. She is a FF, and I am REALLY hoping she has a buckling.
Fae, Peppers dam. Shes a FF, and has really become an in your pocket type of goat.
And last but not least, Poit! Annnd for some reason its not uploading this photo LOL!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/audrey-mae/goats/IMG_7445.jpg
Audrey, that's exactly what happened to me! I wasn't going to keep any bucks and just bring my girls to another farm for breeding. It was a terrible experience for me. I decided I would keep two bucks from the two bucks they were bred to, so I didn't have to go through/put my does through that again. I totally get it!
So are you not going to be milking either Audrey? Just breeding and selling the kids, or are you going to be milking them too?
Thank you everyone for your welcomes!
Margaret thank you! I forgot to say, that 2 of my does went with one buck, and one with another, so HOPEFULLY, if the universe really loves me (lol), I will get a buckling by each buck. I DO plan on selling all the kids, I want to keep my herd small. This is all just my hopes and dreams anyway, I will probably get all doelings LOL. Things went REALLY wrong with leaving my 3 does to the buck owners, and I will NEVER ever do that again. I am not saying that I am the only person who can take good care of my does, but really, it was such a bad experience, I simply won't take my does out to be bred ever again. I would like to get into showing them at some point, but for now I just have them to breed and raise and sell the babies.
Patty thank you! Yeah, things will work this way for a while for sure.
Rachel, Howdy neighbor lol. And thank you for putting the photos up for me! I think I only had the 3 that I uploaded lol. I do see the link button, I will do that next time. Thanks!
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