Fall tends to be an easier time of year for the goats. No babies to manage, milking is minimal, and the weather's not too bad yet. In past years we've managed pretty well with pens of to breed and not to breed. No question.
Unfortunately this year has been a bit of hassle. We have a new awesome Boer buck and new ober baby buck I got in the spring. Whiskey, the Boer buck has been doing his job admirably. We've been introducing him to does little by little to spread out the kidding season into two bunches. So instead of one week where we're showered with goat babies, we get two such weeks! mid march and mid april. See below for a nice movie of Whiskey flirting with Gaga.
That takes care of one breed. Then for our dairy goats, we put Silver and Claidi together in the do not breed section and put Diamond and Ayrlawn with our pretty ober buck Copper.
A slight issue ensues. Apparently the does scared Copper so much during their non heat time that when they actually liked him for a few hours he was confused and unable to complete his only allotted task.
On Thanksgiving, both Ayrlawn and Diamond came into heat. They tail wagged, rubbed along Copper and talked to him contentedly. After futile attempts by Copper including our assistance with pallets and milking stands, Copper remained a failure. Huge FAIL. He still gets next year.
So the does got hauled up on Black Friday, no shopping for me, to meet a lovely ober buck at Blue Ridge Farm (they have beautiful animals). Thus all the obers were happy except for a frustrated little buck.
You'd think that's the end of the saga, but no. What to do with Mehmen? the little nigerian dwarf buck out of Claidi. He has no one to breed. We placed him in a small pen near the Boers. He escaped. It wasn't until we saw him scramble up the side of a goat house and vault from the house over the fence five feet away that we discovered how agile goats can be. he was very impressive especially since he only comes up to our knees. So he's with Copper now, the fail baby buck of the year.
But breeding season is almost over. thank goodness.
