Things Happening Way Too Fast!

Well, that is partially my fault. :) I have gone from two reservations this year to four for starters. I initially had a reservation with Bellafire Farms and one with Cammana. I still have those reservations, but have added two more from Camanna as well. Beyond that, my first choice doe from my initial reservation with her farm is bred to a different buck than in my previous post. She is bred to Dill's D Lucky Image, who can be found two posts back from this one. He is currently one of my favorite bucks being used by the farm along with Monet. I changed my second choices as well, but they are not finalized. My second reservation is a pretty gold and white doe bred to the same buck (Dill):

Camanna CS Ambrosia Gold

TX Twincreeks AB Cresendo x Suagar Pine MW Amaretto Cream

This photo really doesn't do her justice. She is just beautiful, and I love her color. Nabbing a kid that is a carbon copy of her in color and markings would be amazing.

Again, second choices haven't been finalized, but Arabesque is out of the mix. I'm focusing on does bred to Monet, found two posts back on this blog.

I am also possibly purchasing this doe, bred to a black and white buck with tons of moon spots:

Camanna ZH Say Your Prayers

Old Mountain Farm Zagnut Haze x Mountain Quest AE Molasses

The photo of her udder is her first freshening, and I have to say I'm impressed. First time udders are generally much less capacious. She is overall a nice doe and I am excited to potentially purchase her. The buck she would be bred to is Poppy Patch WL Moondoggie, a very long bodied little guy with nice udders behind him. She may be bred soon, but I may have to wait until late summer or early fall. She herself has some moon spots, and I am excited to be able to add more of these neat markings to my herd.

Sherry is definitely pregnant. I felt kicks today and she is starting to form an udder. Still unsure on her due date, although I am not guessing sometime in May. I think she probably has an entire month to go, but it is really difficult to say. I am so very excited that she is indeed expecting! Here is to at least one boy and one girl, because I have decided I will definitely be keeping a doe and a buck kid from her if she provides me with the opportunity.

Pearl kidded in late February with triplet bucks. Unfortunately, one was stillborn. He looked under-developed, with shrunken little eyes. He came first and I am certain he was the kid I felt sitting on her rumen. He was so evident up there that I am feeling he probably got head butted by one of the other does and killed in the womb. Unfortunate. I put her kids on bottles and sold her a couple of weeks after kidding. She was a more coarse type of doe and I was not very impressed with her udder this year. It was rather small while still well shaped. I have one of her daughters who retained all of her good properties while being improved on where her dam had weakness by the sire. One of her buck kids was sold on the bottle, the other succumbed to what I believe was Floppy Kid Syndrome. Both he and his brother were being fed the same exact way, and his brother was just fine. Yet he collapsed one morning. He bounced back with supportive therapy to completely normal behavior to simply crash again and die. The vet out here was absolutely no help. He just shrugged and told me he had no clue how to deal with sick goats. It is so frustrating to be on our own medically! I have enough medicine to start my own pharmacy!

-Poor little Louis about a week before he passed.-

The remaining buck kid is doing great with his new owner and will be coming back to see me in May to get castrated.

Dakota also kidded, the last few days of March with quadruplets. One was so very, very tiny. She couldn't breathe correctly and died quickly after finally managing to latch on to mom and take her first drinks. I think she aspirated the milk. The remaining kids are vibrant and healthy, two does and one buck kid. The buck is already reserved as a wether along with one of the does. I am retaining the littlest girl. She has such a dainty face, she almost looks like a little alien. She is a carbon copy of her sire as far as coloring. I can't see a thing wrong with her, she is just that perfect. I will have to take some new photos of her now that she is completely unfolded and sure on her feet.

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I already sent in her registration forms. Her pending name is Firelight Ranch Lady in the Water.

Her sister is pending as Firelight Ranch Compass Rose.

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I have been calling the little boy Tramp. He would make a great buck, he is looking very handsome but he will also make a great little pet.

And yesterday morning, Jolie kidded as well. She had a very smooth birth with twins. One buck and one doe. I'm really lucking out on does so far, besides the first birth. I really want at least one girl from each of my next two kiddings. Poit is enormous, so hopefully she has enough in there to give me a good chance of girls. I am so nervous about her kids though. I was warned by her breeders that her first kids were unhealthy and died. I am relying on a hunch that she was simply malnourished as were her kids, but I don't know how I will deal with it if she produces a bunch of dead or sickly little kids. Sherry supposedly produces quads every single year, so we shall see how that goes.

Firelight Ranch TH Poppet

Jolie's Doe

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Viking

Jolie's Buck

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It has been so long since I updated this blog that I have had three kiddings! Poit and Sherry are my last two, if Poit is indeed expecting. If not, she is morbidly obese and needs a serious diet. Her tummy is so tight, I can't feel for kids in there at all, and she isn't forming an udder yet. Her pooch is very tiny but looks suspiciously bred. I have never had so much trouble determining pregnancy in a goat, so it is a wait and watch game. My mare is due very soon as well and Mother's Day is the first week of next month (and I'm a florist, it is like D Day) so May should be a sleepless month for me.

I've calculated my doe count for 2012 after I count all my current animals as well as the doeling I retained from Dakota and my reservations. 10. If Sherry and Poit give me girls and I keep one from each I will have 12. Although if Poit gives me crooked legs on hers or sickly babies, she will be sold as a pet, and that will keep me at 10 should I retain a doe from Sherry. With my two bucks plus a potential from Sherry as well that puts me at 12-15 goats! I think I will keep Tomahawk if he does well at the Megabucks show in a few weeks. I plan to take him to one in Red Bluff in May as well and see how he ranks. I should at least see how a couple of his daughter's udders turn out before I decided to sell him. I'm quite impressed with his kid's so far. I have only seen the toeing out on one kid.