Growing and Growing!

GOATS:

Almost everyone is finally out to pasture for the year. I am extremely happy to have the majority of my herd all together (and QUIET) in a big field. They love it out there, romping and grazing. The blackberry bushes are a particular favorite this time of year. There is a lot of shade interspersed with sunning spots, and the goats just seem so much happier than locked in a paddock. Poit is the only one still locked up, but she has the biggest paddock and the only one full of grass and weeds (the others are dirt and gravel.) Her triplets are with her, and she will be moved to the field with her doe kid the beginning of September when her bucks need to be weaned off of her. I have both of them up for sale as in tact little fellows. I'm happy with Poit's udder and think they are buck quality. Their legs are perfect, which is what I'm most ecstatic about. They are both blue-eyed, and I know there are a lot of people looking for that in their program, but it is such a pain to sell bucks!

~Poit looking AMAZING!~

I also decided to sell Sherry. I know that I have only had her since this spring...but my main motivation for purchasing her was because of the buck she was bred to. I got what I was hoping for in Fae, a very pretty doeling by Spender. Because I am keeping Fae and adding three BRED does on top of what I have right now, I think making a little room is a good idea. She is eight, but I don't think it is unreasonable to breed her this fall and next as she is in good health and has a history of kidding easily. I will miss that weird old girl licking me in the face.

Angel has warmed up to me considerably. Her and Fae are inseparable buddies, even after turning them out with the adult does. They have definitely come to think of me as the "grain lady" and leap all over me regardless of if I come into the field with a bucket or not. They stick around for scratches after eating (or if I don't have food), so I feel confident they are now my buddies.

~Fae and Angel showing off their length of body.~

And of course I had to get a photo or two of my boy, Odin, all clipped up. My friend helped me take photos and kept taking them angled, so it isn't straight on but it was the best one I got out of the whole shoot. He would get frantic when taking a bottle! He is off the bottle now and even thicker than this photo. Boy is he growing fast!

~Odin exaggerating a stretch..~

And finally, I have my final decision made on the does I am getting from Camanna. Prayer was decided upon a long time ago, but it took awhile to figure out who my second doe would be. I decided to go with a pretty gold and white doe born this year:

~Camanna RP Georgia Peach~

She will hopefully be bred to this guy:

~Urban Acres HB Trumpet Call~

More blue eyes! And out of great lines to boot.

And of course a photo of the buck Latifa is being bred to:

~Because Fireworks is amazing!~

I'm excited about all these does and they should be bred for me within the next couple of months. Won't know a pick-up date until then.

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HORSES:

There are a ton of things happening for me on the horse front as well. I started Calypso last week. So far it has been a breeze. I threw a saddle on her a couple of times before breeding her last summer, but never went further than that. She has been off work for over a year. I haven't even been doing ground work with her, just pampering her through her pregnancy. Her filly is three months old this weekend, so last week I thought I'd pick up where we left off. I was planning on throwing the saddle on and doing a few sessions in the round pen wearing it and reviewing all her ground lessons. She didn't even flinch when I tightened the cinch up. I decided to step up and lean over the saddle and she about fell asleep. I then decided to swing my leg over and she was ridiculously non-chalant about the entire experience. She knows to go when I kiss, and stop with a whoa, so we walked around the round pen for awhile and then out into the field. We worked on some basic turning and stopping and she behaved as if she was ridden every day. I was so very proud of her. Rode her again a couple of days later and we got up into a trot. If she keeps up like this it won't be long until we are out on the trail!

Pandora is getting huge. That girl is going to have some kind of muscle when she is all grown up. She has roaned out so much you can no longer see her color within her spots. If she is like her mom was (and her uncle) she won't roan out quite so bright next year, so you'll actually be able to see her color.

~Pandora~

She has gotten into the trailer with no fuss, and stood very quietly for her first hoof trim. She ties and bathes, so now we need to work on getting used to clippers. She is very brave, and very feisty.

AND, I successfully found a trade for my gelding. I already miss him. He was so very laid back. You could just jump on him and go wherever you wanted and never have to worry about him spooking or doing a single bad thing. Just didn't have any go whatsoever. The people who have him now have a gorgeous place and very well cared for horses. They needed a bomb proof horse for his wife, who was terrified of the mare he bought a few months back. She is a 15.1hh Arabian/Quarter Horse mix. She looks almost purebred. I rode her on a trail near their house. She feels safe in that she won't buck or completely take off with me. She spooked a little at something but didn't feel like she would go crazy. She has go and a lot of heart, but you can tell she was allowed to do whatever she wanted. She didn't have much of a stop. I got her home and she stopped much better in the arena and backed like a champ. She is just a little bratty and has been allowed to get her way. It didn't take much groundwork to show her who was boss and she quickly started trying really hard for me. She can get a little upset when forced to behave, but the worst thing she has done so far is toss her head and yank on the bit. I think she is a challenge and I am so in love with her! Not only that, but I've always had a dream of breeding Arabians and Half-Arabs and would love to cross her on Rhocky Rhoad someday (a Khemosabi and Padron bred purebred sabino stallion.)

I've also started working cleaning stalls and exercising horses for my old trainer, and am starting up lessons with her again. I didn't last long at my new PT as it was absolute horrible in terms of hours. They gave me crazy full time schedules and it was either my new job or my old job, I couldn't have both PTs since my new one WASN'T turning out to be such. I got a call from Michaels my third week into my new job offering me an actual PT with much better pay, arranging silk flowers. I gave my new job notice and am starting at Michaels on Sunday. So between two PT jobs and a little extra cash at my trainer's barn, I can afford all these animals! People always say, "You are so lucky! How do you afford them?" Work my butt off.

Angel is Home! ..Possible New Mare

I intended to post a new entry sooner, but life has gotten busy. I got a new job, so now I have two part-times and this new one is promising to try and push me to one hour from full-time. Which of course will make it impossible to have two jobs, so I have to figure it out. In any case, we went and picked Angel up on the 10th of July....so exactly a week ago today. She is BEAUTIFUL. I can't stress how amazing she is. I can't get over her diluted apricot color. She is technically a buckskin, but some gene must be working on her color to change the shade. It reminds me of a dun horse. Dun is a gene that works on top of the base color, basically diluting it.

Bellafire DC Angel Face

Her ears are still green from being tattooed. Thought I'd mention that since some people didn't know what it was. She will come to me for a sip from a bottle, and now for handfuls of grain. She still runs from me when I pet her unless latched onto a bottle. I'm sure it won't take much longer for her to get more used to me. I felt bad picking her up, because the breeder and her family loved her so much and would have loved to keep her as a part of their program. If I ever sell her I am to contact them immediately, and they have offered me a free breeding to one of their bucks on the condition that they get a doe back. It will probably be an entire year before I'll breed her, however. I haven't liked the results from breeding eight month old does at this point, but I guess it will depend on her maturity come January (the earliest I would breed her.) I think 10 months is a good number, but that would leaver her kidding in August and I don't like late summer or fall babies if I can help it. I'm not even going to worry about that right now, however. I'm just happy to enjoy her as she is and will probably leave her open so I can show her next spring as a dry yearling and hopefully earn a leg.

I got a few new photos of Jolie. She is doing great! She is growing a mile a minute and has gained a lot of weight back. I'm very glad I didn't decide to sell her and gave her a chance. Now she just needs to keep growing a little taller and start to fill out wider and deeper. Her FF was gorgeous and I'm hoping for nothing but improvement next year.

Tualatin Acres Jolie Rouge

Poit's kids are two weeks old tomorrow and are thriving. Their legs all look good. Sometimes I think I see them toeing out a bit, but their sire toed out a tad, so that very well might be coming from him. But other times their legs look perfect. I have them separated for the first time tonight from mom, so I will have udder photos tomorrow. I will also be taking new photos of Odin and some conformation photos of Angel while taking the bottle.

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HORSES:

I finally got some decent photos of Chief, my gelding. He is actually quite a lot nicer looking, and thicker looking than the photos I snapped. I think his neck is set on a little funny and is too thick..but other than that he is built very nice. Great bone, legs and feet. I am trying to trade him for a faster mare. He is a bit on the slow side and is very laid back. I'd like something I can game on. I have three horses I am really interested in, but haven't heard back from anyone in several days. Its frustrating for me to be patient! Lol.

Chief

I have had tons of offers, but only three mares I have liked. Two require a decently far driving distance, and one belongs to a very busy friend who is having a hard time finding time where our schedules mesh so I can see her. The first mare is a dappled buckskin who is registered with the APHA but is breeding stock (meaning she has no spots.) She is supposedly going very well, but just needs more hours on her to be finished. She is still too much for her kids to handle and they want a laid back beginner's horse they can use in 4-H. They are an hour away, but over a very rough and mountainous road that really eats your gas when pulling a loaded trailer. The second is a bay mare owned by my friend and run on some barrels already. The third is a gorgeous black and white overo mare with good papers. She looks a little thin in her photos, but she is coming from a rescue ranch so I think they may have gotten her half starved. In which case they have done a good job rehabbing her, and she is going well under saddle. I'm most excited about her I think, and I've been able to track down the breeder and get some photos of her as a youngster. Her full sister is very muscular and I think she has a huge ton of potential. I can't wait to hear back from the farm who owns her so I can drive up and take a look, although she is four hours from here. She MIGHT currently be in foal to a grullo tobiano stallion as well. The foal would be registerable. I'm looking for a mare and not a foal. But if she is bred, I wouldn't mind having another baby next spring.

End of the Kidding Season

Poit finally popped! And on July 4th to boot! I obviously left her with the buck for longer than I remembered. This is why I write down breeding dates. I kicked myself the entire time because the suspense was killing me, or at the least making me a very tired person due to the constant late night checks. I believe she went about twenty hours after her ligaments completely disappeared. Most does, in my experience, will go an average of eight to twelve hours after their ligaments are gone. Dakota always went a full twenty-four, however. The first kid was a little stuck. She was coming out breech, but with her rear legs folded beneath her. I had to push her back in and had a little trouble getting my hand through the pelvis, but with patience and some gentle maneuvering I got it done. I had to cup my palm under the hooves and straighten the rears leg so they could slip through properly. I had my hubby shine a flashlight for me and I swear his face turned green. He is fine with gutting a deer, but the sight of birth fluids nearly makes him lose it.

In any case, the second kid came easily, and the third kid was trying to come head-only. He was big, so I brought one foreleg forward and helped pull him out. If they are large, leaving one foreleg back against the body can help them move through the canal. They only need a head and one leg forward when coming out in a normal position. Breech requires both legs to be coming out due to the bulk of a folded hock. I had to help pull with the last, but it wasn't too difficult for her. She gracedme with two bucks and one doe, all very lively! I was so nervous about this birth because of the troubles her breeder had with her. Not only were they all on their feet within minutes of birth, but they all have straight legs! :) After that huge weight was gone, Poit's legs looked much straighter. She still toes out behind, but minimally in comparison to her original leg set. She walks well too. I'm going to try and show her in August and see how we do. Her udder is beautiful, so I'm hopeful she'll do well. She is really a gorgeous doe. Her only caveats are those legs and they have come a long way. I will be retaining her doeling, who is gold with that huge white overlay their daddy gives to most of his kids. One of the bucks is the spitting image of Poit's father from color to spotting. He is gorgeous, and as long as his legs stay nice I'm thinking of keeping him as a buck.

Firelight Ranch Liberty Belle

She has those gold patches on all four legs, which I love. If she is like her dad, she'll have more hidden spots on her top-line under her coat which will finally move to the top as she ages and will be super visible with a clip job.

Firelight Ranch TH Patriot

This little boy has blue eyes. At first I thought, "Gizmo must have gotten in and somehow bred Poit as well..." I sold Gizmo in June, but he was the same exact color. However, so was Poit's sire. This boy has the same body spot and hints of his grand-sire's ankle spots. I love his build so far, but it is so hard to evaluate an infant kid.

"Rocket"

This guy is a riot, he just bounces off the walls. He will be wethered. He might make a good buck as well, but there are plenty of nice bucks in the world and because I won't be keeping him I don't want to go through the effort of trying to sell him as such. It's much more difficult than selling a doe kid or a wether. I might reconsider once he is older and more developed and I've given mom a good 12 hour fill. Time will tell.

I was supposed to pick Angel up this Sunday, but the breeder's truck broke down. She was going to meet us in Roseburg. We will be at my mother-in-law's all weekend, however, which is only an hour from her farm. I shot her an email to see if swinging by on Sunday and picking her up would be alright instead. Crossing my fingers because it would really save gas to not have to make a separate trip.

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HORSES:

There is a lot going on for me on the horse front right now as well. I've agreed to work with a filly for a friend, who also owns the stallion who is my foal's sire. Granted he shouldn't own a stallion at all. I trained his stallion to hand breed just so I could have a foal by him because he is a beautiful, hugely talented horse that I wanted a copy of (that is being very much wasted at this time, he could be a great performance horse.) This filly I'm working is beautiful! She is a Mustang/Quarter Horse cross and she is a grulla. She has a beautifully thick mane and tail as well. To top that off, she has a very good personality. Honestly, this guy has no clue when it comes to horses. He is lucky that he has three very tolerant horses with great personalities. I watched him attempt to catch her and it took him a good fifteen minutes. There is another mare in a small pen with her. He just chased them for fifteen minutes before roping and removing the older mare. He swore it was the only way to catch the filly. I'm guessing it would take less than five minutes to catch either if you went about it correctly, but I'm not the kind of person to push my views on someone else unless they are endangering someone or something (in other words, I DO nag him about his crappy fences.) He then led her to the round pen. She kept planting her feet and refusing to move, and then plunging right through him. He cringes and acts afraid and his horses have zero respect for him.

I got her in the round pen and did some work with her to establish some ground rules. I then took some time to touch her all over and then started tossing a rope all over her body. She was a little jumpy and did the usual dance and then settled. But when I got to her rear legs she kept panicking like I was murdering her. The owner told me that he had been roping her rear legs to try and teach her not to panic when something tangles around her feet, because his fencing is so bad that the horses can get their feet caught up in it. I nearly shook my head at him but stopped myself. No wonder she is so terrified of a rope around her back feet! He has been roping her hind legs like you would a calf in a rodeo. If he insists on continuing to do things like this to his horses, I don't know how much my working with her will accomplish. He may just go back and undo everything I'm going to be trying for. Also, your fencing shouldn't be dangerous. He needs to fix his fence so that a leg becoming tangled is nowhere near a possibility, but he is lazy and cheap.

Even with the initial panic she displayed, it didn't take me long to convince her that not only was it alright to stand calmly while I threw a rope over every part of her body, but that I was her best friend in the entire world and she should give me her full attention at all times. She has a lot of heart and try and really wants to trust me. She seems to appreciate having a leader and some guidance, I think it makes her feel more confident and at ease. She is very sensitive, quick and athletic and she learns in an instant.

With three horses I don't need another, but my sincere hope is that eventually I can talk the owner into selling her to me. He wants mares to cross on his stallion, but his group of riders has convinced him that small horses are a bad thing to have. His stallion is probably 15 hands, and this filly is only about 14.2...So he won't breed her to him, and wants some tall mares. Yet he is holding onto her because he is convinced that she is worth a ton of money just because of her color. He was also suckered into believing she was a registered Quarter Horse because they gave him some papers from some bogus organization I have never even heard of. Yet the papers state the sire is an AQHA stallion and the dam is listed simply as "mustang." He got her as a stunted, starving yearling for $800. He is set on finding an Andalusion stallion to breed her to. I almost face-palmed at that. I think he'll give up on the whole thing as he isn't going to find one around here and won't be willing to spend the money to transport semen or haul her any great distance. He also doesn't understand the way a professional breeding farm operates and he wouldn't be into all the vet fees, board fees, booking fees, mare care, ultrasounds, etc. that the farm might require. I'm sure he'll want more than she is worth, and by the time I have her going well a lot of the value will be due to my own unpaid efforts.....but I'm willing to make payments on her if I can haggle him down, and maybe work with his other mare or stallion if he'd do a part-trade. I have the money to care for another horse, but not the space. So my big gelding would have to go, but that would be easy considering how child and beginner appropriate he is. We will see how it pans out...At least I get to work with her.

Now to my own horses. My mother decided not to trade her flashy overo gelding for my own because she paid too much for him. Also, she is buying a really ugly little pony to ride. Luckily my mom five foot nothing and as small as a pixie. She has been using him to trail ride on and he is very trust-worthy and she is simply tired of being frightened. So Chief stays, unless I buy this grulla filly. I have been working with him when I can get in some saddle time between my responsibilities and the scorching hours of the day. He is so heavy on the forehand and stiff (and slow), but he is coming along. Unfortunately he is built in such a manner that I can only do so much for his carriage and athleticism, but he is a very reliable guy. I'd love to do some reining and gaming with him, but I have a feeling he is better suited for something a little less demanding.

I gave Pandora her first bath a few days ago. She had some diarrhea for a single day, but it cleared right up after leaving her poor little behind a mess. She didn't fret very much over the water and we got to practice tying on a line with a lot of give. She was a champ. :) Here are some new photos of her at six weeks old:

She is getting so big! And look at that little muscle-butt! There is no doubt in my mind at this point that she is a roan. That makes me extremely happy. :)

Please POP

STILL no kids from Poit. Her ligaments are very soft this evening and her udder feels tight, although not as tight as possible. She has had wax on her teats for a week and looks miserable. I swore I put her in with the buck on the 17th of January and left her for a week. The only thing I can think is that I got the date wrong or left her for more than a week. Both are very possible. I really dropped the ball on this one in terms of keeping records! I'm being extremely vigilant, however, and she gets checked several times a night. So I have no doubts that I will be there if she needs assistance. She hasn't shown any signs of impending labor, but as soon as those ligs are totally gone I will be staying home until I see babies. I am very happy with her udder at this point, and I think it has plenty of filling left to do before it is properly strutted. The teats point out somewhat, but not excessively, and they are a nice size. The udder itself is very balanced with a great medial. We will see how nice the attachments are once she fills up top.

I should have some posed photos of my buck kid in the next few days. I want to clip him tomorrow and get a friend of mine to snap some pictures while I give him a bottle. He is such a loving little cutie. I just saw some photos of a friend of mine's buck she took recently. I'm really stunned by him. He is so gorgeous! I'm trying to convince her to stud him out to me on a few does, but she wants to see how he scores on his LA first. That and we live quite a distance from one another, so I'm not sure how the whole thing would work, especially if a doe didn't take the first cover and we had to try again. Maybe I can "board" my does there for cost of care, but that always a risk to her goats and mine as far as getting ill goes. The stress, the different environments, and the different types of bacterias they are exposed to. But a show environment is just as risky, and we both show. I dunno. I know a lot of farms use outside bucks, I just don't know how they go about doing it. With a horse I know the ropes. If live cover you can bring your mare up when she is in heat and hand breed her for several days, but that only works if you are close. OR, you leave your mare for as long as it takes to cover her and pay mare care per day. You generally leave her for two weeks after the cover to get an ultrasound to confirm pregnancy. For me, its just a wait and see with the goats as I don't ultrasound.

I sold Westley and Gizmo in the same day. The family who bought Gizmo are very happy with him and have joined the GoatSpot forum per my recommendation. It sounds like they are planning on breeding him to one of their girls in the very near future. I can't wait to see pictures of his kids! He is such a friendly, spoiled buck and I was very sad to see him go. But I think I'm doing the right thing by my herd. He is nice, but I'm not sure how the mammary systems will be on his doe kids and I'd have to wait a long time to figure that out, breeding him at least another year in the process. I decided to keep his half-sister by the same buck in any case (Jolie) and it will be nice to have another buck that isn't related to any of my current does. I want to add as much diversity as possible.

HORSES:

So I haven't said anything about the horses lately. My mare foaled in May, and little Pandora is now about six weeks old. I should have posted the news and the photos here, but I often forget that I decided this isn't simply a goat blog. I have found myself calling her Panda for short, at least when she is being nice. She is a little spitfire! She has kicked me twice so far. Both times she got a quick, harsh reminder that its not alright. She is leading well and is very brave. You can touch her anywhere you like. I can't get over how beautiful she is, and her conformation is to die for. She is a red dun tobiano, and I'm convinced she is also a roan on top of that. So her colored body parts will be much lighter than her head. The dun will make her much more "pink" than a normal chestnut and she has dark tips on her ears and a nearly black streak in her tail. She also has a black muzzle coming in and black around her eyes. I'm going to take a few photos of her tomorrow, but here are some as a newborn, still wobbly and skeletal looking.

She is super muscular now. She has a perfect shoulder and hip angle. Her hip is just gorgeous! I think her only conformational flaw is that her neck may tie in a bit too low, but I don't think it is enough to make her heavy on the forehand. Her eye is strange, however. She was born with a defect. The vet said it isn't genetic, and that it's just a fluke in which skin cells grow on the eyeball.

She is a little jumpy on that side and nearly runs into stuff once in awhile because of it. But she seems to have adapted quickly and manages to run about just fine without hurting herself. He says she can see, but its impeding her field of vision. He thinks he can easily remove it without hurting the eye itself when she is a weanling. I have to start saving as I'm sure it will be spendy.

I may be trading Chief for my mom's very flashy overo gelding. He is too much horse for her, but he is very well trained and just needs a firm hand. He is gorgeous!

I really hope she decides to go through with the trade, but we'll see.

Just Kid Already!

Well, Poit still hasn't kidded. She was in with the buck for a week, but I'm thinking now that I put her in with him around the 16th, so she would be right on time to be due this week. I unfortunately forgot to write down her second breeding dates, so am trying to go off of memory. I've been checking her several times a day. Her udder has been large for over a week but still no progress with her ligaments. They seemed pretty soft last night for the first time, so it was the first night of getting up and doing checks. I'm prepared for several sleepless nights, and then no more kids this year. I'm glad. I will have Poit's kids to play with and will still have Fae, who I need to spend more time gentling. She has come a long ways. She doesn't mind me petting her while she is eating and equates me with grain, but if it isn't food time she still tries to run. I'd like to show her at the county fair next month, so I have a lot of work to do to calm her down enough.

I brought my new boy home last weekend. He is so very adorable and he looks like he will be a very strong buck for me. I'm most excited about the beautiful udders behind him and I really adore his sire. Introducing Camanna LI Odins Eclipse.

This is the best "confo" picture I could get of him. He would much rather be in my lap than keep his distance and have his picture taken. He has better rear leg angulation than this, but he is lacking a bit in that department. But Anna told me that before I purchased him. She is very honest and knowledgeable. He is already long and uphill and quite thick for his age. I love his extension of brisket. Thats a big deal for me as I see so many goats in the show ring lacking in that area.

I love his colors and his spotting as well. He is a buckskin, with the traditional cape and brown back end with the black points on his rear legs. Yet his front end is a really dark chocolate with gold markings instead of a normal buckskin shade. It is quite neat. He takes a bottle really well and I plan to keep supplementing him with goat's milk until the end of this month.

I sold Dakota and Lady yesterday. I feel a little sad because I'd become quite used to Dakota. However, I think she went to a really nice home with a woman who is very interested in learning all she can about the breed and about conformation. She might even get into showing them. Lady bit me before she went to her new home! She was sucking on my finger and then worked into it her back teeth and clamped down like there is no tomorrow. She absolutely refused to let go. My finger is still half numb and she cracked through the top of my fingernail and made it bleed. The little brat! Maybe she knew that in only a few minutes I would be tattooing her for her new owner. The person who reserved Westley, my last remaining wether, decided not to buy him. I have someone coming to see him this afternoon who is very set on taking him home with her. I also have someone coming from California to look at Gizmo. I certainly am doing a complete overhaul of my herd! Once Jolie has grown enough to come out of her weird stage and sell, I will only have Poit and Banshee left from my original herd! I still have Sherry whom I bought this spring and will have Fae. I have Angel coming from Bellafire in July. Then I have Latifa, Prayer and one other bred doe coming home hopefully in September or October. So I will be back up to eight does and will be retaining some doe kids from the pregnant girls along with a buck kid as well.

Shows, Sunshine and Sales

After raining non-stop for a couple of weeks, the sun decided to come out for the show in Salem. The show was certainly stressful for me. The goats, on the other hand, were perfectly fine with hanging out. There were way more Nigerians than I expected, and of very high quality. I believe there was a total of thirty-seven senior does. They all seemed overly tall and large to me, and after wandering around and looking at the competition, I realized I had no chance. I wished then that I had taken the advice of a friend of mine and went to watch rather than to show. Dakota's udder ended up looking great, but she couldn't measure up to any of the other animals in terms of body capacity and size. Many barely came in under the maximum height.

I brought Jolie to simply help me decide if I want to wait for her to mature further or sell her as a nice family milker. The decision was cemented for me quite easily at the show. I don't think Jolie will ever have an udder large enough to compete, and that comes from her dam. It is a beautiful udder, and larger than her dam's but I don't think she will ever rise to that level. Of course I am looking at a very high level of competition. She should do well at county fairs, but she needs to grow some more. I won't be offering her for sale until she has put on some additional weight. I pulled her kids and sold one, and am letting her dry up. Without her kids draining her energy she should start looking better.

I was very pleased with how well Dakota behaved, however. She walked like a champ and set up immediately and held her stance. She might not be able to win in such a large, tough competition with goats that have went top ten at nationals....but I think she should be able to hold her own well at smaller shows. Beyond that, she is a great mom, kids easily, and gives me a lot of milk. She crosses very well on bucks who are very sturdy with a lot of body capacity. I decided that if she isn't going to place well at large shows, then I am going to sell her. I have three bred does coming in this year, all of whom I plan to retain a kid from (hopefully a buck from one as well), a very nice doeling, and a buck kid that I am picking up tomorrow. I could definitely use the additional space. I will also be selling the doeling from Dakota I was planning on retaining and my buck out of her.

I suppose when you improve your herd by adding better animals, you have to "cull" those who no longer meet the quality of the rest of your herd. All of the animals I am selling are nice, but the ones I am buying are better. Poit is due anytime. I'm still worried her kids will have crooked legs, and if not, that her udder isn't nice enough for a brood doe due to her (so far) smallish teats. However, I don't think I could ever sell her. There are some animals that have permanent homes here no matter what.

-Poit looking very pregnant yesterday.-

The show wasn't a complete bust, however. Banshee did very well, and I was very proud of her behavior in the ring. She placed 6th and 9th in two rings out of a very large class of dry yearlings (I believe 17-20.) I was ecstatic, especially seeing as she is so very small.

-Banshee posing and looking quite grumpy about it.-

Also, just watching everyone show was fun. Maybe not for my husband, but for me. I kept noticing one white doe who had faint grey spotting on her coat. I thought it was quiet neat, and she ended up winning a GCH. She is one of Camanna's doe, and I came home and immediately reserved a buck kid out of her. I am picking him up tomorrow at the show in Roseburg. He is by Dill's D Lucky's Image, who is an outstanding buck. I'm very excited about him! He will definitely have a date with Banshee and Fae this winter. I will get some photos of him when we get him home tomorrow.

Comings & Goings

All of the kids are starting to go to their new homes. It is always a bittersweet time of year. Two of Dakota's kids went to their new family together a couple of days ago. I'm very happy when siblings can go to new homes together. I know they are not human and probably don't think anywhere near like we do, but its nice that they can stay with one another. The family is new to goats, but they are very willing to learn and have been doing their research. Plus I sent them home with a packet I spent hours working on for people who buy any of my goats and contact info for my veterinarian. They haven't called me yet with questions, so I assume all is going well. They sent me photos of their kids sitting in a wagon with the pair yesterday. I think the doe kid will turn out very nicely for them if she ends up anything like her dam.

I am keeping her third, and smallest kid from this year and she is a little gr

umpy having to spend her nights with her half-siblings out of Jolie. I put her back with mom during the day because I figured the extra milk will help with her growth, so she is content with that arrangement, and she is helping me stimulate Dakota to keep producing since I can't always keep an exact 12 hour interval milking schedule.

Firelight Ranch LadyNThe Water

I shaved her last week and set her up. I'm disappointed in her lack of a brisket, but aside from that I think she is shaping up to be a nice little girl, especially for the awkward growth stage she is going through. As a quadruplet she is very small for her age, but in the past couple of weeks she seems to be attempting to overcome that and start shooting up. Hopefully she'll end up a normal size, she will definitely have the nutritionally help to get there.

I sold Tomahawk today to a girl from up state. She is going to use him to cross on Nubian does and breed some Mini-Nubians. I'm actually a little jealous as I'd really love to breed some of them in the future, but I'm perfectly happy with my Nigerians. I'm glad to be able to keep a daughter of his, and hopefully I'll have one more to retain when Poit kids next month. With all the sales in the last few days, I have enough money to completely pay for Latifa and a big chunk to go towards my bred Camanna girls.

Those are all of the photos I have for now. I clipped both Dakota and Banshee today. I didn't have time to take pictures, but I should have some time on Wednesday. I had to be extra careful with their clip jobs as I have no time to allow their coats to grow out any mess ups. I had to wait SO late before the show to clip because of this weird weather, but it's definitely warming up this week. I'm so very impressed with Dakota. She looks awesome and her udder is beautiful. I can't wait to see how she does in Salem next weekend! It will be my first doe show and I'm nervous about doing things correctly. I'm also nervous about both Banshee and Jolie doing well. I've been having some reservations about Jolie, but I also feel they may be due to her going through a growth spurt. Her kids really brought her down at first, but she has put on a lot more weight and grown a bit more in the past month. Yet her rump keeps shooting up as soon as her front end catches up to it, so she still looks awkward. Her udder is very, very nice however. Banshee is so tiny and really straight in the rear legs, not enough angulation there....but she is a really nice doe otherwise so we'll see. Her problem is keeping her feet still.

I'm uber pumped for this weekend trip! Not only is it a show, but it is going to be a mini vacation for my husband and I at the same time. It is a two day show, so when I'm not in the ring or waiting on a class we can do some relaxing and sight seeing. :) I'm also bringing the last doe kid I currently have for sale. I have one woman interested and supposedly driving a whole seven hours down from Washington to the show for her, but we'll see. There is another girl who is very interested who will be at the show from the forum I frequent, but she isn't necessarily set on her and if the woman from Washington is really going to come all the way down she will have first right of refusal. She is a doll, so hopefully she finds a new home there.

I'll have another post with clipped photos of the girls soon, and show photos as well although I'll probably feel too fat to not clip myself out. Lol.