MORE....Cant....Stop.....Buying Goats!

Well..... I am picking up a new doe on Sunday (hopefully.) I stumbled across an ad on my local Craigslist for a herd dispersal of double registered Nigerian Dwarfs. So of course I went to the website for the farm and my jaw nearly hit the floor at the deals I saw. So I ended up putting a deposit down for a pregnant doe, due in April. I can easily recoup the purchase price from a single kid whether male or female. These are quality, fresh lines as well. Add the two doelings I am getting from reservations this spring and summer, and I should have a pretty diverse herd. Her name is Roc N Ewe K Sherry, pictured below:



(BRB Kakoakis x Roc N Ewe JM Sugar Shack)

The only drawback is that she is turning eight years old. She has a limited few years in the breeding shed, as I don't like to breed a doe past nine or ten. Nigerians can easily live to be fourteen or fifteen if you don't keep breeding them like goat factories when they are the equivalent of an eighty year old human. I think her worst flaw is lack of brisket, and she could stand to be more level out her rump and more dairy in general. She is a little "old school" in style. However, the buck she is bred to is strong in all of these areas, and Sherry is a long bodied, correct doe with sharp shoulders and good angulation. The owner claims she milks out well and always produces better than herself, making an excellent brood doe. She has also won one championship class as a dry doe. Her owner said that she has produced quads for the past few years and has never required assistance. Yes please!

Since I sold Val this month, I needed a new buckskin anyways. I had someone inquire as to if I had any does for sale. They wanted a 4H project, so I offered them Val, my last grade doe. She should have kids by Tomahawk in May as a first timer. She is missed, but I decided I needed to commit to a fully registered herd. I like to keep a lot of colors and patterns in my animals (although conformation, udders and overall quality are obviously more important) and I have fondness for buckskin. With my luck, however, I'll end up with a ton of buckskins. I want to retain a doe from Sherry, and she is a buckskin crossed on a buckskin, so my chances that all of the kids will be the same color are high (although dad has really fancy white.) My first choice from Bellafire is a buckskin. I am secretly hoping for a doeling that is the sire's neat color from that pairing. And my first choice doe from Camanna is also a buckskin. So I could possibly end up with not one new doe of that color, but four.

In any case, this is the buck that Sherry is bred to:



Little Dipper Big R Spender
PGCH Shooting Stars WS Ransom x ARMCH/CH Castle Rock Rainy Day Fund 2*D

He has two GCH and a RGCH. I love this buck. He is very refined, uphill and he has a great extension in his brisket, something most of my herd needs work on. His dam has a beautiful udder as well and I have seen pictures of his FF daughters that are quite impressive:

Dam's Udder:



I wonder if I shouldn't keep a buck kid from this pairing? I have been having my reservations about Tomahawk due to him toeing out...but decided to wait until I can shave his big furry coat and get him to the Megabucks show...and see how his kids turn out, before deciding whether to replace him or not. And then there is tiny Gizmo. He is so very small! He just doesn't seem to be growing. He has nothing wrong with him. No cocci or worm loads, he gets plenty of minerals and grain, etc. He is interested in ladies finally and is very correct and beautiful, just minuscule. I plan on bringing him up here next week to our new place to see if getting away from Tomahawk helps him prosper any.

We finished a nice roomy pen with two separate paddocks at our new house. Jacob never built me a shelter as promised, but I managed to acquire two massive dog carriers for giant canines and get a roomy kidding pen built with good cover from any elements. I want to bring Pearl, Dakota and Gizmo up Saturday. I will probably bring Sherry directly here as well. Pearl is getting ready to pop. She is due March 1st through the 3rd. Her ligaments are starting to sag and her udder is filling:



I'm not highly impressed this time around, but last year she tripled in size the day before she kidded, so we shall see what the final outcome is in concern to her udder. My bet is triplets, as I can feel and see one sitting on top of her rumen, and can feel one on either side of her rib cage a few inches behind her front legs. Maybe more? EGADS! I need to sell either her or Dakota this year. I'm pretty sure it will be her. I like her, and there are things about her build that I am impressed with, but I think there are more things about Dakota that I really like...besides her wicked personality and her propensity to destroy things. We'll take them both to a few shows and see who does better. That compared with how they both milk this year and how easily they kid will give me my answer (I hope!)

Deposits Paid!

GOATS:

I have my deposits down on my reserved doelings from Camanna and Bellafire. I am beside myself with excitement! I won't be bringing my Camanna kid home until August or October, so I have awhile to wait on that particular bundle of joy. My first choice will not be due until August, and my second choice is due in June. Ideally that will mean that the breeder will hold any doe kids from my second choice until weaning time, when my first choice will give birth and we will know if she is going to give me a little girl. I have some photos to post directly into my blog.

The girl below is Camanna CS Sweet Harmony, aka Glenda. She is my first choice from Camanna



She is of the type I really like and would like to incorporate more of into my herd. She is very refined and elegant with dainty bone. She is uphill with great length of body and perfect teats on a beautiful udder. I love her neck and her overall angularity and dairy character, just look at how sharp she is over her withers.

She is not being bred to the buck she was scheduled to when I chose her. I really loved that buck and was a little disappointed when I saw the change, but when I saw photos and bloodlines on her new date I was just as thrilled. He is just as stunning and comes from star studded Rosasharn lines. He is so very angular, dairy, uphill, level, refined and has stunning legs. There is nothing I can see in him that I don't love, and his family is chock full of amazing milkers! I also love that he is gold and white. I am bound to get some flashy kids from this cross. He can be seen below:



Rosasharn SP Monet
(ARMCH Rosasharn SW Soporro *S x ARMCH Rosasharn Tom's Bit-A-Lilly 4*D 2*M)

My second choice, Camanna TC Arabesque is here:



And she chose to cross her on Dill, who I loved and was going to be crossed on Harmony. So basically, either doe is bred to a ridiculously exceptional buck! I might see how my finances stack up in a few months and see how my bucks do this show season (and see if Gizmo grows anymore or shows any additional interest in girls), and I may just get a buckling from one of these girls!

Dill's D Lucky's Image:



The girls from Bellafire are due much sooner, so I am greatly anticipating their kiddings. My first choice is due May 2nd, Pholia Farm HB Macy Marie. She was sonogrammed with triplets the end of January. Her photo is below:



My second choice, Poppy Patch Peggy Sue (sonagrammed with three) is due the end of April to the beginning of May.



I really love both of these girls and their bloodlines, so I don't care which one I get a kid from. They are both bred to the same buck, and that is one of the reasons I want a kid from one of them as well. He is an amazing, incredible buck:



Rosasharn S Decoroso

With animals like this coming into my herd, I may start to stand a chance in the show pen! Pearl is due in about four weeks now give or take a few days and she is getting absolutely enormous. I still haven't gotten a goat pen set up at our new place, or a goat shelter or kidding pen built. I am planning to set up the pen on Friday, but I am relying on my best friend to build the shelter and kidding pen and he hasn't taken a single step towards building either. I might have to try and construct something myself or see if my father will give it a go. I have all the supplies ready and waiting.

Gizmo finally seems to be growing a bit. I am positive he is worm and cocci free (as free as a goat can be.) I have been dosing him with some vitamin gel and have finally convinced him to love grain over the last few weeks, so with the additional nutrients I hope he will catch up to the height he should be at. He still isn't interested in girls beyond sniffing rear ends and curling his upper lip, but that is a bit more of an interest than he took last month and he is still only six months old. I think that if I get him away from Tomahawk he might gain some confidence. I plan to bring him up here and let him hang with the pregnant girls until they give birth and then give him a pen where he can see the girls and feel like he has his own, undisputed harem. I feel like Tomahawk is pretty superior and might have let Gizmo know that all of the girls are his and little Gizmo accepts that.
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HORSES:

I took Romeo on his first trail ride! I started him in August I believe, and put ten or so rides on him from then until October. I hadn't ridden him since. I took him out to the trail area, longed him for only five minutes or so and did some ground work to check his responsiveness and attitude and hopped on. He didn't spook or flinch at a thing. He didn't even mind the giant fire helicopter practicing dumping water over the wild life area. The only thing he stared at warily was a downed tree, which he then walked around quietly. We even waded through a knee deep, wide puddle. I am very proud of my boy! Now he just needs to finish growing and fill out. He is going through another growth spurt and is super gangly.



~Romeo out on his first trail ride right before I mounted up.~

And FINALLY, photos of my new gelding, whom I received in November. I present Chief, in all his furry winter glory.



~His hip looks smaller than it is because it is angled away from the camera. He has an enormous hip! My best friend, Jacob is riding and is 6 foot 3 so he dwarfs Chief who is about 14.3 hh. That is Jacob's Greyhound/German Shepard mix.~

Chief was super calm. Not a thing bothered him and he was a pro about everything. He was great for Jacob and will be great for my new friend who I am going riding with next Wednesday and who is a complete beginner. He was a solid, confident presence for Romeo to go on a ride with as a youngster. I really love him and can't wait to see if he can run, slide and turn so I can use him to do some fun events with such as reining and team penning. The only problem I had with Romeo on this trip was getting him OUT of the horse trailer. It was his first time in a straight load, which he jumped right into both times. He didn't want to back out because of the drop and the inability to see behind him and it took some serious convincing, but he didn't lose his head. :) AND, I can really feel Calypso's foal doing crazy somersaults. She is expanding like crazy! I can barely keep up with her feed increases!