I had hoped for mothers day I would have my first Bent Penny Acres bred kids! Nope! Hubby said, Mon. or Tues. and we decide it was time to watch close. For some reason he always knows these things!
So we couldn't handle the thought of leaving her a whole 100 or so feet from us, as usual. Well after dark Sun. we proceeded to slap a few pallets together on the porch and put her right by us. She has screamed every since, half the time! Come out here! Don't leave me! What are ya'll doing inside? Who knows?
So we watched close and checked for signs and were rarely both gone or asleep at the same time. As soon as I returned from the dr. w/ 2 children (allergies) this morning, Daddy and I look at her and each other and conclude that she is not only pushing, but pushing hard!
I step in the door for a 1o second change of clothes and a hand scrubbing while the 12 yr. old son grabs a bag of possible needs and Daddy keeps watch. We stood...watched...he couldn't stand the pressure...goes in to sit by her and soothe her...she seemed to really like that...I pray and promise God I will be happy with a single buck as long as she can get him out ok and they do fine...that's all I won't...(even though that isn't really what I won't...Not lying to God...but willing to sacrifice my true desires) I sit on feed bag... goop now...KNOW I am going to get splattered any second!
oops, I see 2 tiny hoof tips and a nose...Praise The Lord! After a couple pushes, she gives a really good long one and pushes really hard, but he did not just pop out, (had forelegs and face out by now) so I took his little legs and gave a little tug to help, and out he popped! I laid him down by her and and she immediately took to cleaning and doing all those mama goat things! I wiped up his face a few times and although they were both still laying down, he started nosing around her within 10 minutes obviously ready to nurse. I squeezed a drop on his tongue and he liked it. He wobbled to his feet several times within 30 minutes. I had only been home, maybe an hour! He was born at 11:29 according to the 12 yr. old and by 12: dad had picked him up and that caused mom to finally decide to stand after a few minutes of searching he found what he was after so he was able to nurse by himself within 20-30 minutes!
Afterbirth was an hour and 30-45 mins. later! He seems to have a back leg that don't co operate perfectly, but daddy said to give him a chance that he is only an hour old! Guess he is right! I still am kinda surprised that it was not twins! I am having my doubts about these scales because they say 4 lbs. and Penny was like 2lbs. 4 ozs. He doesn't look that much bigger. He is a nice size and she is real little, bit I think she did fantastic. I was never afraid that he wouldn't come out she did really good. Guess I didn't feed her TOO much! Will get better pics later! These are awful! He really is adorable!
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Stupid? No! Excited? Very, very, very. <g> Congrats!!!
Margaret Langley said:
Congratulations on milking! They are usually quite good if you start the day they kid. It's amazing what those hormones do to them!
As for selling bucks out of first fresheners, I understand what you're saying, and it makes sense. The more of a milking history that you have behind a doe, the better. But your plan sounds logical. You just never know what you're going to learn next month or even next year. For example, I have one doe that had me more excited than any goat I've ever had born here. She milked really well as a first freshener, and this year her udder just kind of fell apart. All these years I've been saying that production is the most important thing to me ... well, now I'm faced with a great producer who doesn't have a "pretty" udder. I had planned to keep a buck out of her, but now I'm having second thoughts. But if no one in your area has any good quality goats, then your goats might not be a bad deal. When I was totally new and clueless I kept a buck my very first year, and he went on to sire an ARMCH! But now that I have a lot more goats, very few boys around here get to keep their testicles. In my case, there is no point is keeping a buck out of an unknown when I have more than enough good does with proven track records.
Thank You Deborah, and I will! I haven't had any geese in 19 years and I am so excited about this pair!
So, I just have to share the milking experience from tonight. I can not believe that I just milked a goat and got more than I ever have sooooo easy! I actually think that it may be going to be easier for me to milk these little goats. I was afraid I would have to fight with Daddy for the chance to milk, but I guess being tired from work made it easier for him to sacrifice the job. And yes, he gets home at midnight every night so this was a midnight milking, but remember these goaties have been keeping these hours for over a year. They love to see their Daddy at midnight.
So, I got my little bucket and sat on an empty feed bag, we sang, alternately and together, I milked while she ate and only twice did she snatch up her leg and both times Daddy had decided to quack at the ducks (I realized on the second time and made him stop), otherwise she did great, I did pretty good too. She milks easy, and apparently has good orifices because the milk streamed out very nicely. I strained it and Daddy laughed at me because he said it wasn't going to fit in that container! Of course I could see that it wouldn't fit in a 6oz. freezer container. I used 2 containers. We had 11ozs. at 36 hours fresh and my guess is that if I had emptied her, it would have been approximately twice that much! No kidding. I was shocked. I have always had to fight a goat and struggle to not have every drop spilled and still have a few spoons to a few ounces when I was done. I was so happy, I could have milked more goats, from the shear excitement. This was totally awesome. I just can't believe it! If she gave me that much colostrum at 36 hours fresh, surely when her milk comes in she will give a nice amount of milk! 11ozs. is pretty good isn't it? Considering I don't really know how to milk? My son that use to milk my Nubians for me will be very proud of me! I just can't wait to see how she does!
So the reason you avoid a buck out of a FF is because you want to see how the mom milks out right? Well when do you know the answer to that anyway, at the end of her first lactation, after you know not only how much she milks but also for how long she milks, if not, then when? I ask because I do after all have 9FFs to get through and I know that if anyone around here will be looking for a buck and won't drive far or pay to ship, then they probably won't get one at all and especially not with the milk behind them that mine have. I do not know of a herd closer than 3 hours away and some people really will not go that far for them (or pay those prices) when they are starting out and don't realize how little that drive means to get good quality. Therefore, I should have a little bit of a market for them. But I would be honest, and will keep barn records for my own benefit as well as prospective buyers! I plan to have them evaluated also. So I am just wondering at what point will I know if the moms are good enough to sell their bucks as bucks? I know if it were me and I was starting out with just a couple of them around here, with no more access than we have to them, I would be very happy with a buck like these as long as mom was milking good and I could see he milk records and her udder along with the pedigrees they will have. A lot of these folks down here simply are not going to go to the extent that we would to get quality and if I don't offer mine for sale there is no telling what they may go get at a sale barn. I would like to help promote them here and educate as I learn so that we will have nice stock available and the NDs will be considered desirable and will make a good impression. I just can't help but feel that some of mine will be the best that some people can afford to start with in this area. Does any of that make since?
Good luck with the PC problems, and congrats on the geese! Take lots of pictures -- they grow up fast!
While I am able to be on here with my pc screwing up like it is and am doing the birth announcement stuff, I just have to share something with ya'll real quick! haha, quick, me! Yep! I made a pic today of my Mothers Day babies from William! They hatched Monday and I picked them up at the USPS office this morning. I was suppose to get 2 pair, but the hatch was to low, so I received 1 pair! I can't complain though, since we were actually on a 2 year wait list for them. So hopefully when that 2 years is up we will have hatched more ourselves! This is Stanley (left) and Stella (right), our Pilgrim Geese! They are on the critical list, so we are blessed to have gotten even the pair! Aren't they just awesome? I just LOVE them!
I HAVE MAJOR PC PROBLEMS! Can't believe I finally managed to get on here! So, just wanted to tell you guys that in case I can't get back on for a while. I am going to take it to the computer shop tomorrow to see what I can find out!
Now then! Yes Deborah, in fact since this particular goat is still a little skiddish and does a little better with her daddy than me (especially when it comes to her udder being touched) I told him last week that he might need to start her out for me until she became use to it. And I also explained that we would need to make sure she stayed even since she had a singleton. So he milked out an ounce or so a couple of times today before work and gave it to our pups! We are actually going to milk her tonight when he gets home, so we can store some colostrum for emergencies. And from the way she looks, I don't think there will be any problem at all with us being able to get a good amount of milk from her and Theodore having plenty also!
I had just picked up my tickets to the Theodore High School graduation yesterday and was making last minute plans to go. I graduated from there and have 2 freshmen there now. If my William had stayed for graduation instead of leaving early for the army he would have graduated yesterday with them. So I thought I would go see his friends! That's when she went into labor, and so I didn't go of course! After he was born I told Hubby I thought I would name him Theodore. He said I guess next you will want to name some Simon and Alvin! I told him that wasn't what I had in mind. I thought it would be cute to name him Bent Penny Class of 2013 and call him Theodore! I kinda thought it made his name sound important! Most people are big into all that Class of stuff!
So honestly, ya'll tell me, does that sound stupid?
What a cutie pie! And the nice thing about a single is that you can start milking in a few days, which I think you were itching to get started with anyway, right?
Thank You! I got a decent pic to post considering it was with my phone which makes awful pics! He is 7 hrs. old in this one. I haven't really noticed the leg thing anymore so he must have just took a while to get control of it! I hope!
Congratulations!!
Yes, she was only a year old in August, the youngest of those 9 little tiny ones I shipped in from Prairie Wood! Only weights about 50 pounds! Very short and stout built. Seemed to have no problem really, except I think she may have a little tear! But, I swear he don't look no 4 pounds! I weighted him on a hanging milk scale. I would have guessed him at maybe 3 lbs.
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