The Waiting Game

I will never get used to the waiting game with these pregnant does! My first doe is "up to bat," so to speak, on Wednesday. She isn't progressing as quickly as I would expect for this close to her due date. The only thing making a huge change right now is the rapidly increasing girth of her belly. I usually see this pattern in does in their last several weeks, not days. This makes me wonder about her actual due date. The breeder had told me, after the first ultrasound, that the vet felt she was pregnant but not far enough along to have taken on the breeding date he was given. The breeder didn't feel she went into heat after that, and when I picked Tifa up she was still indicating October 2nd as her breed date. Now I am thinking that she took one heat cycle later, and that may give her another three weeks until the big event.

-Tifa's udder 2/21-

She has a lot more filling to do to come close to the capacious udder she had last year. I don't mind waiting, but when I have to wait several weeks past the expected date it makes me anxious. I want to see those babies! I've been dreaming about what comes out! She does, however, look big enough for triplets. I need two girls and a boy please. Thanks for taking my order God. :)

If I have to wait a whole three weeks more for Tifa's babies, at least my impatience can be satiated by my new doe, Klover. I pick her up next Saturday! I'm so ecstatic about collecting my new girl. Plus, I get to go to Algedi to get her, a farm I've always admired. I've seen their goats at a couple of shows and they are spectacular. They are a ranch I would love to have a kid from someday, but doubt I could ever afford. It will be nice to see their set-up.

Cupcake was successfully covered by Dandy the 21st of February. She is staying there for a few more weeks to make sure she doesn't come back into season. I am to pick her up around the fourteenth of March. I'm not sure I ever posted a photo of Dandy, or his awesome dam, so here they are:

~Camanna LI Moonlight Dandy~

~CH Camanna CS Moonlight Sonata AND her gorgeous udder!~

Just hoping and praying Cupcake gives me a doe. Of course I pray all my girls have does, but Cupcake, Klover and Tifa are does I really am desperate for girls from since they are bred to great outside bucks I won't get a chance to use again. I would love a doe kid from Poit as well for me to keep, but I can always repeat the breeding.

...And It is Official!

..Well, ALMOST. I will be purchasing another bred doe who is due in April. I will be making the down payment tomorrow, which just so happens to be exactly half of the purchase price. My mother and father decided to chip in the rest as an early birthday present. My mother would also like a whether from her if she has any boys. Done!

Introducing KW Farms GM Kens 5LeafKlover

Her name is really a mouthful! I really like her breeding on the top, but am unsure of the bottom...nothing notable or able to be researched. That said, her top side is Little Tots Estate, a fantastic farm from Georgia. It would be so nice to have some top quality lines from outside of our area (Washington, Oregon and Northern California). I love Pholia Farms, Rosasharn, Piddlin Acres and Camanna, but I feel as if I need more varied blood from other proven farms. I know Piddlin Acres is in Texas, and Rosasharn is in MA, but they are very popular lines here on the West Coast.

She is bred to J-Nels SQ Donnie, who is from a an outstanding show farm in North Carolina and is Rosasharn on top, and Caesar's Villa on bottom. CV! I have loved their animals forever, and I believe the herd is no more. I am so fortunate to have kids coming from those lines, and am really crossing my fingers for at least one doe. Klover had triplet does her first freshening (this will be her second), so hopefully she will keep giving and not decide she already met her doe quota for two seasons! She had a gorgeous FF udder and that really attracted me to her. For me, general appearance and conformation, etc. is extremely important, but udders are where its at.

The breeder should be coming down to Algedi in a few weeks, and I will be able to pick up my girl! AND, she has blue eyes! She is long, long, long with a beautiful topline and very strong front end assembly. I love her extension of brisket and her stretchy neck. I think she'll be strong in the show ring for me. The only problem? She has a scur so bad on one side it looks like a full horn. The breeder promised to band it, but I'm not sure if I can take her in the show pen. We shall see....

I do exist!

I'm still around! I just haven't had the time to update my blog..well, at all! I am the one and only floral designer at our local Michael's Arts & Crafts store. Holidays are extremely hectic for everyone working there, and my quotas were nothing to laugh at. My hours have been cut back and it is more mellow in that regard, but my hands have been full training my project mare (that I did find) while attempting to market and sell a friend's horse. This week was Valentine's Day. Although I gave up my own floral business this year, I did work temporarily for a local shop. It has been chaos, but as of five this afternoon it was over! Ginny (my project horse) is at a stage where I am not having to kick her butt and work too hard with her. She is just about where I want her. And I found a buyer for my friend's horse. Now I can relax a little? Not likely. I have a little time to breathe, but hope to find a new job very soon. I'm just not getting the hours I need, or was promised.

But enough about all of that non-farm related news. The count down is on to the first kids of the year. Tifa is due February 29th. We are fifteen days away from the big event if she were to play by the numbers and go an exact one fifty. She has been steadily expanding, but has really plumped out this week alone. I know she is carrying at least twins, but I'm really crossing my fingers for triplets. If I could custom order her babies, I would want two does and one buck. One of the does and one of the bucks needs either blue eyes or moon spots! I will, of course, be happy with anything I get as long as they are healthy.Sherry is 100% bred and due the end of March. I fully expect multiples this time around, and would not be shocked with triplets or quadruplets. I can feel them tumbling around, she is getting massive, and she started an udder a week or so ago.

I'm REALLY crossing my fingers that Banshee is finally bred. Odin just was not getting the hang of covering the girls. He wasn't extending. He got ahead of himself in his excitement and would jump on, go to town without "prepping", and exhaust himself. It finally clicked for him the very end of January, which just happened to coincide with a growth spurt and a definite increase in bucky odor. I held Banshee for him and witnessed successful covers on two separate days with the characteristic hunching up of the doe. If she isn't bred, she'll come back in within the week. I went ahead and allowed him to breed Angel as well and he did a great job. I witnessed a couple of successful covers between him and Fae yesterday evening (she has been in with him.)

Poit aborted her kids by Final Stand awhile back. She has cycled twice since then and I put her in with Odin last time around. I doubt he caught her last month, so I'm waiting for her to come back in so I can put him on his breeding stand. She is just a very tall doe, barely under the height limit and he is still not done growing. So if Odin is not firing blanks and everyone is fertile, I should have six does bred for 2012 thus far. One in February, one in March, and four in July.

I am also picking this girl up soon:

Not the best photo I know, but I'm very excited about this girl. Her bloodlines are awesome, and she is selling bred to a great buckling from Camanna. Her name is Gladdie Acres BV Cupcake, who is Pholia Farms on one side and Piddlin Acres on the other. Her entire pedigree is crammed with milking stars and champions. The buck she is going to be bred to is Camanna LI Moonlight Dandy, who is by the same sire as my little Odin and out of one of my absolute favorite Camanna does. Her name is Camanna CS Moonlight Sonata. She is a finished champion who is just stunning. Would love her bloodlines in my herd. She is being bred now, whenever she decides to come into heat, and will be confirmed by a blood test before I pick her up.

I've got another doe I'm talking to a farm about, bred for April kids, but I don't know if I could afford her right now. I would love to buy her, but it will likely only work out if I can talk someone like my husband or family members into giving me some cash to put towards her as an early birthday present. I'll keep working on it. She has blue eyes and is bred to a buck with Caesar Villa lines I've always wanted to have.

And my new mare!

She is a grade pinto mare, probably 12-14 years old based on her teeth. I believe she is half Arabian. She is for sale if anyone is interested! Lol. She DOES have a tail, I just have it wrapped to keep it mud and tangle free and encourage it to be gorgeous and long. It is to her pasterns. She was underweight when I bought her and out of shape with a poor neck. We've worked on collection and flexing to the point her entire neck structure has changed. She is super quiet and a great trail horse. Jumped right in the river for me. She does a western pleasure jog, does haunch turns and forehand turns, side-passes, backs, etc, etc. She generally picks up the right leads. All I want to get done with her now before I start marketing her hard is a more collected lope with consistent leads and side-passing poles, backing obstacles, and other things for a trail course. Asking $1200 now, but will ask $1500 when all of that is going well.

Postponed Charry's breeding until next spring because we are hopefully moving to Idaho come summer!