Back In Business

After much worrying/stressing that I would have to take the entire year off from milking, I am now very much relieved to know that I will be back in business by summer time. :)

Bob is doing his job most thoroughly, and both Ivy and Heidi are bred! Yippee! I'm especially excited to see what I get from Heidi. If I could have my way, I'd want her to have triplets or quadruplets. Two males, and one female, or two of each. This is probably my first year that I have my fingers crossed in hopes that I get males, but I am seriously hoping for twin boys from ma' Heidi girl! Heidi weighs somewhere around 175 lbs. right now, and I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more weight on her. I have no idea what Bob weighs, but he dwarfs Heidi but a sizable amount. Now, you cross those two huge goats and you get....? Draft babies!!! Yeppers, this farm girl is hoping dearly that Heidi will produce some monster sized offspring that will eventually pull their weight on the farm. :) And I'd really like a doeling from this cross to see if she's any improvement over her dam. Heidi has an absolutely beautiful udder; gorgeous medial, lovely attachments, super nice symmetry in rear and fore udder heights... Her downfalls? Itty, bitty teats that you can only milk with three fingers, and the milk tastes awful. And for me to say that goat milk tastes bad, means something! I'm *hoping* that by breeding her to Bob, her daughter/s will have better sized teats, and a better taste. I guess we'll see!

 I'm overall tickled at the thought of Ivy's offspring. Maybe twins would be good... One doeling, and one buckling, and keep both... Hmmm. Pepper still isn't bred, and I doubt she will be. [mutters darkly]. And boy howdy let's not forget Poppet!  The little flirt was in standing heat for 48 solid hours (ask me how I know... Ugh.) and tried her hardest to get into Bob's pen. She just reaches his knee in height. I would have loved to zoom her over to a nearby breeder and get a "drive way" breeding with Poppet, but I can't afford to have that done right now. :( Not with the prices the breeder quoted me! 

 Bob continues to do well over here, and his feet have healed up nicely. He's a very friendly boy... Very friendly... Perhaps a little too friendly... I'm not positive on this, but I think he was a bottle baby, so therefore he doesn't have a lot of respect for humans as the alpha. Sooooo when you mix a temperament like that, with a 200 lb. buck who is feeling rowdy, and a girl who weighs a very good deal less than he does... It ain't pretty. Bob and I had a showdown on Monday night, in which he decided he wanted to walk out of the gate, despite the fact that I was blocking his route. 

Goat rams girl.

Girl falls in mud.

Goat runs off.

Girl is mad.

Girl catches goat. Puts him back in pen.

Goat rams girl again.

Girl falls in mud again.

Girl is now furious.

Goat is pleased.

 Oooooh, I was NOT happy with Bob that night!! We've had a few more skirmishes since then, but I will sheepishly say that I think I've got his respect now. He has been the most annoying pest all day long, and I was fed up with him! No sort of physical discipline works on him because he simply thinks it's a game, and does it right back at you with all 200 lbs. of force. Trust me, I know. So as I stomped past his pen today, I took matters in my own hands, and used a tactic that I figured would catch his attention. He was still there, being a brat, and when he saw me, he only amped up his bad behavior (and I'm not speaking of typical, nasty buck behavior that the does find amusing. I'm talking rough-housing with humans, and potentially hurting someone). I looked down, and saw that I had a full 3 gallon bucket of ice-cold water in my hand. I looked up at Bob. In one fell swoop I overturned the bucket right over his big head and watched the resulting scene.

 He's a drama king. His eyes became as round as saucers as he felt the liquid stream down his face, and when it clicked in his mind that he was now wet (goats despise being wet), he started running around, thrashing to and fro, and being a wimp in general. He cried, whined, and complained about the indignity of the moment, and vigorously tried to shake the offending H2O off of himself. But he got the picture. I am not to be messed with. I will take care of him, and see to it that he lives a pampered life here at GSF (Goat Song Farm), but I will not tolerate his advances. 

I think Bob and I are on the same page now.

Sometimes I do bemoan the fact that bucks are such a vital part to a dairy, but I suppose it can't be helped. I'm sure Bob will throw some absolutely beautiful kids, so that makes up for everything. Bucks = pregnant does = babies = milk = me back in business. 

 I'm dying to start milking again. Heidi and Ivy won't kid until August, but hey, it's better than next spring... I'll take what I can get, and be grateful. :)