I swear to God she concieved this baby because she was so jealous of the other girls getting to milk. You never saw such a happy goat in your life. Even before she was able to jump up on the stand (sore from surgery) she would still RUN down the hall to the milk stall. Now she also vaults on to the milk stand from halfway across the room. She takes a few minutes off my life every time she does it, but it is like the highlight of her day.
Also, she is giving me just a hair short of a quart a day, approx 2 weeks into lactation. How does she measure up? I was pretty proud of her for giving me that much! No idea what a yearling FF usually would give.
Penny maxed out at 2 quarts a day (nearly overflowing bottles)
I'd love to know what other folks get out of their goats for comparison?
And finally...back to the issue of the superbaby (Truffle's 6# baby that caused an emergency C section) Should I be afraid to breed that buck again to my other two does? They are 5 years old, 3rd or 4th fresheners at least (have to go look it up) and one of them already had a successful batch from that buck but now I am gun shy.
I am going to link a youtube video of Penny's babies by Miyagi. I did not weigh them but maybe you guys can tell if they look big? They are 1 or 2 days old in the video, and for scale Penny is 50# tops, not a big girl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6nCAIdrWNQ&list=UU4k53Aa4_g5Q8XXjkhhNIXA&index=2&feature=plcp
Replies
Deborah, we are on the same page. I already decided never to breed Miyagi to Truffle again. Penny and Annie are both registered so I am trying to decide if I dare breed him to them again.
I do really like Miyagi, but at this point I almost feel like I ought to try and find someone with standards who wants a ND buck to make "mini" babies with him and sell him. I know someone who would just love to have him, but all of their goats are small like mine so frankly I would feel like dumping my same problem on them and that's not ethical.
I have even considered getting 1 standard doe to use Miyagi for since I have more requests for milk than I can accommodate. 1 standard doe would more than cover that, I just really like the NDs and don't want a big one...(I know it's petty but I think Nubians and Lamanchas are so ugly!) Alpines are pretty but hard to come by around here.
I had the idea not to even try to breed Truffle again period unless she breaks 50# and I don't care how many years that takes. I will think it over again when she is 2 yrs...and I do have a new buck who is registered who is on the small side though he's just a baby still....but by the time Truffle is 2, I ought to have a better idea how big the new guy will be.
A quart a day for a goat that is her age and has been through a c-section is really good because she has two strikes against her.
Penny's kids are on the big side, but they still look like NDs, so maybe in the 3-4# range. My strategy would be this -- If you really like Miyagi, I wouldn't use him again until he's 3. They are supposed to have done their growing by then, so you'll know how big he really is. Either he and/or Truffle has some standard goat genetics in their background, and after having a 7# kid, I would be VERY gun shy. You just don't know when those genetics are going to pop up again, and if your does are not registered either, you don't know if they have some big genetics in their background. I would definitely NOT breed Miyagi to Truffle again.