GOATS
__________________________________
Only a month and a half until we will be seeing some more of our own little bundles of joy here at Firelight Ranch. I have been feeding my kid withdrawals by frequenting the Goat Spot forum and peeking at photos of new arrivals at other farms. It was especially exciting to watch expectant moms trick me into thinking they were about to give birth, and kids be born via webcam. My friends on the forum were also watching, all of us holding our breaths for the outcome. It is always so very exciting! How many kids will there be, what colors will be produced, what genders, will everything go smoothly? One first timer had quadruplets, which was quite surprising and exciting. As my own get closer to birthing I feel the excitement building much more intensely. Although, with my own, the worry about potential complications also arises. My greatest fear is the need for a c-section or a tear or hemorrhage occurring. Knock on wood that none of my girls has to go through that.
My first doe is due the beginning of March, the second of the month if she were to go a perfect 150 days. She is already looking like a house, so I can't imagine how many might be in there! She is now the size she was only a week or so before her last kidding, and she still has six weeks until her little ones arrive. Last go round she produced two large and robust twins. I am betting at least twins, and if they are not simply very big babies I am voting on triplets. I can't wait to see what colors I get out of this cross. Pearl is black and white with a ton of roaning. Her sire and dam were both gold. Tomahawk, the father, is white with chocolate legs and a few black and chocolate spots on his back. His dad was black with blue eyes, and his mother was similar to his color with more chocolate. I believe he can possibly throw blue eyes if he has a recessive gene but I am not an expert on color heredity. A chocolate and white kid with blue eyes would be very neat.
~Pearl on Jan. 11 at about three and a half months. She is carrying very low.~
I also snapped a photo of Pearl's half-sister Dakota. She was staring up at me inside the gate, waiting impatiently for her nightly grain ration.
You can see her bulging belly on the left side (your left, not hers.) She was very thin looking throughout her last pregnancy, up to the very last month at which point she decided to inflate like an immense beach ball. She is due the last week of March, so she her due date is three weeks past her sister's. This photo makes her look smaller than she is. She is nearly the same size as Pearl, and I am shocked because she is such a long bodied doe that she tends to hides babies well. She gave me triplets last year, so perhaps I'll get quads this time around? I am hoping for triplets that are a bit larger than last year's kids. They were awfully tiny, and the buckling I kept from her is maturing more slowly than I like to see. I am thinking that he may simply end up a somewhat small buck. I would really love a doeling out of this girl, and by crossing Tomahawk with her I should get some extraordinary length and depth of body. I am pulling for a little girl that looks like Tomahawk's dam.
Speaking of Dakota's buckling, Gizmo, I have been worried about his growth lately. He is a little over five months old, so I suppose he isn't too small for his age. And I do know they can go through some funky growth spurts. I just know what can happen as far as stunting goes when kids don't get the proper supplementation and nutrition growing up. He gets free choice minerals, clean water, all the high quality hay he can eat and I try to feed him grain. Try is the operative word here, as he isn't much of a fan. I finally have him where he seems excited about the prospect and digs in immediately. However, he only seems to nibble at it vigorously for about a minute before becoming disinterested and wandering off. I don't generally give bucks more than a small handful of grain here and there as a treat, but I feel it is very helpful and important in growing animals. I am moving him over to our new place in a few weeks with Pearl and Dakota. That will give me the ability to spend more time with him. He has nice, dark eyelids and solid poops, so I am not concerned with cocci or worms at this point. I am probably fretting over nothing. He has gained five pounds in a month, so he is definitely growing. I just hate to see the gorgeous little buck I had such high hopes for at two months looking like a frumpy...tick thing. Lol. When winter is over and I have the warmth available to shave him, maybe he will tell me a different story. Right now he looks like little more than a fluff ball. He has even more hair than my manly yearling, Tomahawk. He still has his adorable baby face and his kid voice. I guess I shouldn't wish for him to mature too quickly, as he is still a cute little doll. However, I really want him to be looking good by the beginning of May for the Megbucks show!
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HORSES
_________________________
If you hadn't noticed, I decided to type out two different sections in my blog entries with different headers. I have both goats and horses, and I haven't been giving my ponies due attention. I started this blog mainly from a business perspective. I thought that it would be a more informative and in depth look at how I run things in my goat operation. I figured that prospective buyers or breeders that are interested in developing a relationship with me would like to see deeper into my farm. I feel it is important to have transparency and give associates a chance to get to know how you conduct your business, treat your animals, and get to know your herd better. However, I also love to talk about my horses.
SO, I figured I would header the different sections. If goat only people want to ignore the horse section they can due to the separation. At this point, horses are not a business for me, just a hobby. Finances and space need to be much greater for a successful horse operation of any kind. Eventually, I would love to live on my own piece of property (rather than renting) that has at least ten acres. At that point I could build a barn, set up an arena, and start training services. I would ideally like to buy problem horses, young horses, etc. and train them for re-sell. I love project horses. I love a challenge and the satisfaction of watching my horse progress to new levels. I feel a lot of pride selling those horses to new, suitable homes and knowing that I made that possible for the horse.
My dream has always been to breed horses. Mostly Arabians, Paints and Arab crosses. I have been very interested for some time in breeding Appaloosa and Pinto Arabian crosses. What is neat about the ApHC (Appaloosa Horse Club and the major registry for Apps in the US) is that the Arabian is an accepted out-cross. Therefore, an Arabian bred to an Appaloosa will produce a fully registrable Appaloosa foal as well as a horse that is illegible for Half-Arabian papers. However, breeding horses takes a ridiculous amount of money and time. They are pregnant for an entire eleven to twelve months. Their fertility rates tend to be about sixty percent, much lower than goats. It can cost an arm and a leg just to get them to conceive and to carry a foal to term. Also, birthing emergencies are much more serious due to the ridiculously rapid expulsion of a foal compared to other species. This means the birth is much more violently strong and there is much less room for error. A goat or a cow can labor for a long time and still produce a live baby. A foal will die very quickly if the birthing process lasts very long at all. Not only are they more serious, but paying for a c-section on a horse will likely cost you an arm, and emergency support for failing foals isn't likely to be any less expensive.
As of now, I own three horses. None are registered, although two should be. Romeo and Calypso are half siblings that I traded a little cutting bred AQHA mare for. The mare I had was a grand daughter of Miss Peppy San. Miss Peppy San was a full sister to Peppy San, who was a very famous cutting winner and sire. She was ridiculously short, as cutting bred horses are prone to be. She was also highly sensitive and quick and would have probably made a killer of a cutting horse. By the time I got her, however, she was already fifteen and too old to really get into any circuits besides local open events. I trail rode her, but had several horses including a much bigger mare that fit me better. Mia was very plain and had a poor attitude, but was a blast to ride.
I saw little bay roan filly in a Craigslist ad that I just had to try and own. She was gorgeous and I am a sucker for roans and had never owned one. She was for sale, not trade, but I offered my well broke trail horse (who I had also been teaching to do reining) for the filly. When I arrived at the place, the girl loved my mare. She agreed to the trade, but only if I would take the filly's half-brother as well. So I ended up trailering home two weanlings. I named the filly Calypso, and her red roan brother Romeo. My husband wanted to call him Thor, but it really didn't fit. Calypso is out of a registered mare and a stocky roan Quarter Horse stallion (also registered.) I couldn't get her any papers because the owner didn't have the dam's due to an issue getting them transferred from the previous person. Romeo had the same father, but his dam was a JC Thoroughbred mare. She was also registered, but the owner claimed she was cheated out of her papers. Both Calypso and Romeo should have been able to be registered (Romeo as an Appendix QH). But alas. I am still planning on having them registered with the NHQHA (Half Quarter) although it won't do me much good as it is a pretty back water, small time registry.
~Calypso with my then fiance (now husband) when we brought her home at five months old. I can't believe how time flies!~
~Calypso and her brother Romeo when we got them home. I love his hind stocking. He would make a great dressage horse if he would only get a bit taller.~
Both are now two years old and will be three in only a few short months. I had Romeo gelded at eight months and started him at twenty-seven months. He has had fifteen rides or so, all very light with minimal canter work. They both have had a ton of ground work and desensitization done with them. You can throw tarps over them, ties plastic bags all over their bodies, shake bags full of pop cans, etc. They have been money burning pets for quite awhile, and I am looking forward to the weather clearing up so I can get Romeo out on the trails for the first time!
I ended up breeding Calypso this summer. Now I know some people will gasp and call me a cruel, stupid backyard breeder. I really could care less. I was concerned about breeding a two year old, but my vet assured me it was completely safe. I went on to consult a couple of additional vets including a reproduction specialist. They assured me that she was physically mature enough to reproduce, and that people simply tend to humanize horses and compare breeding two year olds to impregnating teenagers. They reminded me that horses are not people and personifying them as such is just a mental thing. I tried to breed the old Paint mare I had the summer before to a gorgeous homozygous Tobiano APHA stud but she just wouldn't take no matter what we did. He is a gorgeous red dun owned by a friend of ours whose full brothers have been taking championships in NCHA competitions. I ended up selling that mare, and this summer the stallion owner let me know he was seriously considering gelding his boy. I decided to take his offer to breed my filly before I lost the chance to use the gorgeous stallion. She will be over three years old when she gives birth and the foal will be registrable with the PtHA because a homozygous stud guarantees spots.
~Some photos of Calypso in July of 2010. She is so stunning.~
~Romeo in July 2010~
We just got a new gelding in November. His name was Ted, which I really didn't like. He now proudly sports the name Chief, and it really fits him. He is large and in charge and is definitely the boss horse around the barn. I haven't gotten the chance to ride him much in the poor weather, but he is very well broke. He has been all over the mountains, packed elk, been used for roping and all manner of things. He is only eight years old and is a pure white Quarter Horse (grey). He has some flea bitten speckles on his face, but I am hoping they stop there. He has a luxuriously thick mane and tail and a huge hip. He is very well built and I think he will be an amazing reining horse and do well in gaming. I can't wait until the weather is good and we can hit the mountains!
~The only photo I have right now.~
I felt my foal kick for the first time tonight when I was feeding Calypso grain. I almost dropped dead of excitement. I am hoping for a roan or a dun Tobiano. I have a huge chance of getting at least one of those colors. I would love a filly, but will be happy with whatever I get as long as it is healthy and happy. I can't wait another five months! It is a good thing I will be having plenty of baby goats to help time go faster!
__________________________________
Only a month and a half until we will be seeing some more of our own little bundles of joy here at Firelight Ranch. I have been feeding my kid withdrawals by frequenting the Goat Spot forum and peeking at photos of new arrivals at other farms. It was especially exciting to watch expectant moms trick me into thinking they were about to give birth, and kids be born via webcam. My friends on the forum were also watching, all of us holding our breaths for the outcome. It is always so very exciting! How many kids will there be, what colors will be produced, what genders, will everything go smoothly? One first timer had quadruplets, which was quite surprising and exciting. As my own get closer to birthing I feel the excitement building much more intensely. Although, with my own, the worry about potential complications also arises. My greatest fear is the need for a c-section or a tear or hemorrhage occurring. Knock on wood that none of my girls has to go through that.
My first doe is due the beginning of March, the second of the month if she were to go a perfect 150 days. She is already looking like a house, so I can't imagine how many might be in there! She is now the size she was only a week or so before her last kidding, and she still has six weeks until her little ones arrive. Last go round she produced two large and robust twins. I am betting at least twins, and if they are not simply very big babies I am voting on triplets. I can't wait to see what colors I get out of this cross. Pearl is black and white with a ton of roaning. Her sire and dam were both gold. Tomahawk, the father, is white with chocolate legs and a few black and chocolate spots on his back. His dad was black with blue eyes, and his mother was similar to his color with more chocolate. I believe he can possibly throw blue eyes if he has a recessive gene but I am not an expert on color heredity. A chocolate and white kid with blue eyes would be very neat.
~Pearl on Jan. 11 at about three and a half months. She is carrying very low.~
I also snapped a photo of Pearl's half-sister Dakota. She was staring up at me inside the gate, waiting impatiently for her nightly grain ration.
You can see her bulging belly on the left side (your left, not hers.) She was very thin looking throughout her last pregnancy, up to the very last month at which point she decided to inflate like an immense beach ball. She is due the last week of March, so she her due date is three weeks past her sister's. This photo makes her look smaller than she is. She is nearly the same size as Pearl, and I am shocked because she is such a long bodied doe that she tends to hides babies well. She gave me triplets last year, so perhaps I'll get quads this time around? I am hoping for triplets that are a bit larger than last year's kids. They were awfully tiny, and the buckling I kept from her is maturing more slowly than I like to see. I am thinking that he may simply end up a somewhat small buck. I would really love a doeling out of this girl, and by crossing Tomahawk with her I should get some extraordinary length and depth of body. I am pulling for a little girl that looks like Tomahawk's dam.
Speaking of Dakota's buckling, Gizmo, I have been worried about his growth lately. He is a little over five months old, so I suppose he isn't too small for his age. And I do know they can go through some funky growth spurts. I just know what can happen as far as stunting goes when kids don't get the proper supplementation and nutrition growing up. He gets free choice minerals, clean water, all the high quality hay he can eat and I try to feed him grain. Try is the operative word here, as he isn't much of a fan. I finally have him where he seems excited about the prospect and digs in immediately. However, he only seems to nibble at it vigorously for about a minute before becoming disinterested and wandering off. I don't generally give bucks more than a small handful of grain here and there as a treat, but I feel it is very helpful and important in growing animals. I am moving him over to our new place in a few weeks with Pearl and Dakota. That will give me the ability to spend more time with him. He has nice, dark eyelids and solid poops, so I am not concerned with cocci or worms at this point. I am probably fretting over nothing. He has gained five pounds in a month, so he is definitely growing. I just hate to see the gorgeous little buck I had such high hopes for at two months looking like a frumpy...tick thing. Lol. When winter is over and I have the warmth available to shave him, maybe he will tell me a different story. Right now he looks like little more than a fluff ball. He has even more hair than my manly yearling, Tomahawk. He still has his adorable baby face and his kid voice. I guess I shouldn't wish for him to mature too quickly, as he is still a cute little doll. However, I really want him to be looking good by the beginning of May for the Megbucks show!
________________________
HORSES
_________________________
If you hadn't noticed, I decided to type out two different sections in my blog entries with different headers. I have both goats and horses, and I haven't been giving my ponies due attention. I started this blog mainly from a business perspective. I thought that it would be a more informative and in depth look at how I run things in my goat operation. I figured that prospective buyers or breeders that are interested in developing a relationship with me would like to see deeper into my farm. I feel it is important to have transparency and give associates a chance to get to know how you conduct your business, treat your animals, and get to know your herd better. However, I also love to talk about my horses.
SO, I figured I would header the different sections. If goat only people want to ignore the horse section they can due to the separation. At this point, horses are not a business for me, just a hobby. Finances and space need to be much greater for a successful horse operation of any kind. Eventually, I would love to live on my own piece of property (rather than renting) that has at least ten acres. At that point I could build a barn, set up an arena, and start training services. I would ideally like to buy problem horses, young horses, etc. and train them for re-sell. I love project horses. I love a challenge and the satisfaction of watching my horse progress to new levels. I feel a lot of pride selling those horses to new, suitable homes and knowing that I made that possible for the horse.
My dream has always been to breed horses. Mostly Arabians, Paints and Arab crosses. I have been very interested for some time in breeding Appaloosa and Pinto Arabian crosses. What is neat about the ApHC (Appaloosa Horse Club and the major registry for Apps in the US) is that the Arabian is an accepted out-cross. Therefore, an Arabian bred to an Appaloosa will produce a fully registrable Appaloosa foal as well as a horse that is illegible for Half-Arabian papers. However, breeding horses takes a ridiculous amount of money and time. They are pregnant for an entire eleven to twelve months. Their fertility rates tend to be about sixty percent, much lower than goats. It can cost an arm and a leg just to get them to conceive and to carry a foal to term. Also, birthing emergencies are much more serious due to the ridiculously rapid expulsion of a foal compared to other species. This means the birth is much more violently strong and there is much less room for error. A goat or a cow can labor for a long time and still produce a live baby. A foal will die very quickly if the birthing process lasts very long at all. Not only are they more serious, but paying for a c-section on a horse will likely cost you an arm, and emergency support for failing foals isn't likely to be any less expensive.
As of now, I own three horses. None are registered, although two should be. Romeo and Calypso are half siblings that I traded a little cutting bred AQHA mare for. The mare I had was a grand daughter of Miss Peppy San. Miss Peppy San was a full sister to Peppy San, who was a very famous cutting winner and sire. She was ridiculously short, as cutting bred horses are prone to be. She was also highly sensitive and quick and would have probably made a killer of a cutting horse. By the time I got her, however, she was already fifteen and too old to really get into any circuits besides local open events. I trail rode her, but had several horses including a much bigger mare that fit me better. Mia was very plain and had a poor attitude, but was a blast to ride.
I saw little bay roan filly in a Craigslist ad that I just had to try and own. She was gorgeous and I am a sucker for roans and had never owned one. She was for sale, not trade, but I offered my well broke trail horse (who I had also been teaching to do reining) for the filly. When I arrived at the place, the girl loved my mare. She agreed to the trade, but only if I would take the filly's half-brother as well. So I ended up trailering home two weanlings. I named the filly Calypso, and her red roan brother Romeo. My husband wanted to call him Thor, but it really didn't fit. Calypso is out of a registered mare and a stocky roan Quarter Horse stallion (also registered.) I couldn't get her any papers because the owner didn't have the dam's due to an issue getting them transferred from the previous person. Romeo had the same father, but his dam was a JC Thoroughbred mare. She was also registered, but the owner claimed she was cheated out of her papers. Both Calypso and Romeo should have been able to be registered (Romeo as an Appendix QH). But alas. I am still planning on having them registered with the NHQHA (Half Quarter) although it won't do me much good as it is a pretty back water, small time registry.
~Calypso with my then fiance (now husband) when we brought her home at five months old. I can't believe how time flies!~
~Calypso and her brother Romeo when we got them home. I love his hind stocking. He would make a great dressage horse if he would only get a bit taller.~
Both are now two years old and will be three in only a few short months. I had Romeo gelded at eight months and started him at twenty-seven months. He has had fifteen rides or so, all very light with minimal canter work. They both have had a ton of ground work and desensitization done with them. You can throw tarps over them, ties plastic bags all over their bodies, shake bags full of pop cans, etc. They have been money burning pets for quite awhile, and I am looking forward to the weather clearing up so I can get Romeo out on the trails for the first time!
I ended up breeding Calypso this summer. Now I know some people will gasp and call me a cruel, stupid backyard breeder. I really could care less. I was concerned about breeding a two year old, but my vet assured me it was completely safe. I went on to consult a couple of additional vets including a reproduction specialist. They assured me that she was physically mature enough to reproduce, and that people simply tend to humanize horses and compare breeding two year olds to impregnating teenagers. They reminded me that horses are not people and personifying them as such is just a mental thing. I tried to breed the old Paint mare I had the summer before to a gorgeous homozygous Tobiano APHA stud but she just wouldn't take no matter what we did. He is a gorgeous red dun owned by a friend of ours whose full brothers have been taking championships in NCHA competitions. I ended up selling that mare, and this summer the stallion owner let me know he was seriously considering gelding his boy. I decided to take his offer to breed my filly before I lost the chance to use the gorgeous stallion. She will be over three years old when she gives birth and the foal will be registrable with the PtHA because a homozygous stud guarantees spots.
~Some photos of Calypso in July of 2010. She is so stunning.~
~Romeo in July 2010~
We just got a new gelding in November. His name was Ted, which I really didn't like. He now proudly sports the name Chief, and it really fits him. He is large and in charge and is definitely the boss horse around the barn. I haven't gotten the chance to ride him much in the poor weather, but he is very well broke. He has been all over the mountains, packed elk, been used for roping and all manner of things. He is only eight years old and is a pure white Quarter Horse (grey). He has some flea bitten speckles on his face, but I am hoping they stop there. He has a luxuriously thick mane and tail and a huge hip. He is very well built and I think he will be an amazing reining horse and do well in gaming. I can't wait until the weather is good and we can hit the mountains!
~The only photo I have right now.~
I felt my foal kick for the first time tonight when I was feeding Calypso grain. I almost dropped dead of excitement. I am hoping for a roan or a dun Tobiano. I have a huge chance of getting at least one of those colors. I would love a filly, but will be happy with whatever I get as long as it is healthy and happy. I can't wait another five months! It is a good thing I will be having plenty of baby goats to help time go faster!
