I am very excited to say that we purchased two new does this month. Apothecary Farms Poit and Apothecary Farms Banshee Wail. Poit is by Pholia Farm KM Goliath *B, who is a stunning buck. I absolutely adore him. Both of her grand-dams have their milking stars, and both of her grand-sires are +B. Her dam's sire is AGS Rosasharn SS Aquarius, who is another drool worthy buck that I greatly admire. Besides Pholia Farms and Rosasharn stock, she also has Kaapio Acres in her immediate pedigree.
Unfortunately, something went wrong with her as a kid. She seems to have some sort of deficiency (my thoughts are selenium or Vit. E). She is severely cow-hocked and lost her first kid with Apothecary Farm to white muscle disease. I have heard of deficiencies happen in an otherwise healthy and well managed herd. Sometimes things that happen with goats are a complete mystery. The breeder's vet advised them not to allow her to produce kids again. However, he also told them to worm with Safeguard, which I personally believe (as do many other breeders) has serious resistance issues and is non-effective. Many experienced breeders have suggested several therapies to bring her up to breeding shape and to reverse some of the structural issues in her legs. Looking at her parents, grand-parents and overall pedigree, they all agree that her legs are either a fluke or a result of management issues (I am not saying Apothecary Farms is at fault. Not at all! They take great care of their animals. Things simply happen sometimes.) I doubt I can straighten them out enough to show her, she is two years old and they have been that crooked since she was only a kid. However, if I am correct, she shouldn't pass the fault on to her kids. I just have to make sure her babies don't succumb to a selenium deficiency.
*Click to see a larger image.*
She has great rear angulaton despite her issues. She is a little pot-bellied. I am going to start exercising her this week to cut back on that extra fat and help strengthen her legs. I don't want to cut out the grain I have started her on, as I feel she is nutritionally unbalanced and it can go a long way to help her with that. She has amazing length of body (she would appear longer if she wasn't so chubby.) I also wormed her with Ivermectin because I don't believe in the effectiveness of Safeguard nor herbal de-wormers (which they also used.) I am worming her with Valbazen tomorrow to make sure I catch any tapeworms, and am going to repeat the treatment for two more cycles to get any unhatched eggs. She has amazing width and capacity, an upright stance with sharp shoulders and a beautiful neck. If she wasn't curling her tail you could see how level she is out her rump. She was starting at the dogs on the other side of the fence. She isn't a fan.
Banshee Wail:
*Click for larger image*
Banshee has the most adorable face. We ended up with both of these girls because I contacted Jillian (from Apothecary Inn), and asked if she had any doelings for sale that were related to Narf. We really wanted a replacement with similar genetics. We ended up with two new girls, and Banshee is a near clone of her half-sister. She is out of a different dam, and by the same sire. It seems to me like he stamps all his kids with the same small stature and identical little faces. She also has an identical personality. It made me tear up a little, remembering poor little Narf, but I am also extremely happy for it. She seems a little stunted for a nearly 9 month old doeling. Her front end is especially short and shrunken compared to her rear end. Granted that her sire's line is very slow maturing, but I think she also may have some deficiencies. It makes me wonder about the soil and hay in the area where she came from. There are so many variables out of a breeder's control.
I am hoping she will bloom for me. I put her on Purina Goat Chow and am giving her monthly doses of Vit A/E/D/B12 gel (along with Poit), to ensure she is getting the proper nutrition for her growth. She also seemed like she was turning in a little behind as well, but her feet were quite over-grown. After a good trim she was standing very straight. If her front end catches up with her hind end, and she gains some length, she should make a nice little doe. I am particularly excited about her milking abilities. Her lines are great milking lines, and I definitely need to focus a little more on udders. I have been focusing more on general appearance and conformation. I think crossing her on my extremely correct and long Gizmo in the future should give me some excellent kids. I also have Purina Goat Minerals available free choice for all of them. I have seen everyone but Banshee using them, so I sprinkle some on her grain to ensure she is getting enough. I don't worry about her eating too much, because if she gets enough on her grain she won't consume the free choice. I also have a cattle salt mineral lick available with added selenium that the goats use a little bit.
In other news, I sold Gomer as a wether to a woman who was building up a mini farm and was very excited. She had an older milking doe to keep him company. Dutch was just spoken for by Liz of North Fork Nigerians, the farm I purchased Tomahawk from. I am very excited about his new home. I am glad to know he will get to be used on some very nice animals. I am hoping some of his kids will end up in the show pen! I know North Fork sells quite a few kids to showing homes. I haul him up to Sutherlin next Friday.
Dakota and Pearl are both bred for March kids. Dakota was bred on October 3 (as mentioned in my previous entry), and I had Tomahawk cover Pearl a couple of days later. I will be using him on Jolie next month for April kids. I know that she will only be six months old. Most people wait until seven or eight months at the least. However, Jolie is enormous. I believe that the most important is physical maturity, not age. She is plenty large enough to be bred and carry kids. She will be nearly a year old when her kids are born, and I expect her to be the size of her dam by then. I am nervous that she is going to go over-height and I won't be able to show her. Which would be a shame, because I think she could do fantastic in the show pen.
I won't be breeding Poit until late December, that way she has two full months to bring up her nutrition. I will be giving her some selenium gel a couple of weeks before breeding as well. I probably won't breed Banshee until February or March considering her size. I also don't think Gizmo will be ready to cover any does until then, and I really would like to use him on her and my one grade doe, Val (who I would be breeding at the same time.) So as the plan stands, I will be having two does due in March, one in April, one in May and two in July or August. At least that spaces things out for me a bit. It means I can't show Banshee's kids and it will be awhile before I can breed them should I retain any. However, I plan to show Banshee as a dry yearling in the early stages of her pregnancy.
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