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Hopefully not! 😬 But I'm more leaning towards the sire. Dam comes from a really reputable herd and I doubt they would knowingly breed animals that had that issue. I'll ask some more questions though. Can it be passed down without being present physically I wonder?

Change of plans and we ended up going to see the bucks today. We dropped two yearling gilts at a new farm where they will be spoiled rotten, then went to the goat farm. The buck I wanted, the son of the super milky doe, ended up being monorchid, or whatever it's called. She didn't know, but I...

Yep, I'd say so!

No pics yet! I'm going to see them on Saturday and pick whether I want the son or grandson so I'll get some pics then. I do have a side pic of the doe's udder though. Not a great foreudder, but she told me the sires of the bucks improved attachments on her daughters, so hopefully her sons will...

I got a deposit on my buck today! Actually on my buck and his wether friend. They're going together to a good home with a bunch of girls and a big pasture. It's funny because I didn't expect to sell my buck first, it's usually harder to sell bucks because the market is so flooded! I'm heading...

Thank you! That was very helpful and has given me a lot to think about. I'm glad after 2 years I'm finally realizing that hay is very important and I need to put more thought into what I buy. 😅 I'll take all that into consideration as I prep for winter.

Thanks for all your input. I will start looking around and probably get a few bales this month and a few next month. I'll see if I can find tested hay. If I store the bales under tarps outside should I take the tarps off after rains to let the moisture evaporate? Or just keep them on full time?

I've had trouble finding good Bahia. It always has weeds in it. The last batch of Bahia I got was full of horse nettle. That's why I'm shopping early this year and looking at storage. I don't want to be stuck with whatever nasty hay is still available midwinter. But even in the fall I haven't...

Man, I wish I could feed straight alfalfa, that would be awesome! But that stuff is like gold here in Texas. I'm probably going to feed coastal Bermuda or a mix of coastal and Bahia, that's the highest quality hay I can afford around here. They will get the gold alfalfa for a month before...

I'm starting to think about getting our hay stocked up for the winter. We go through about 6 round bales for the sheep from November to March every year and 30 square bales for the goats. Since I have more sheep I'll probably want to go with 7 this year. I want to buy hay ahead of time in case...

I have considered the saanens. I really like them and I've heard good things about them. But I'm concerned as to how well they would sell here. In the 2 years I've been looking into goats I've seen absolutely zero people with saanens in my area, or any ads for saanens for sale. Lamanchas are a...

We've been to Jersey girls but there is a dairy closer to us that we like better and were getting our raw milk from before we got goats. It's called Trimble Farms and it's only 10 minutes away vs 30 minutes to Jersey girls. It's a much nicer store too. We do want cows eventually, but I'm looking...

A thing happened yesterday! We put Mocha, Butterfly and Lambs-a-lot in with the flock! They had been on hay for about a week so they were tickled green to be on pasture again. It was funny to watch all of the other 12 sheep following them around and staring at them. They are getting along well...

You really do want to keep me busy! 😆 But those are all great ideas. We don't have enough wild plums on our property to do that, but we do have a million beauty berries. My sister makes amazing jelly out of that. This year we're going to have a bumper crop because of all the rain, so we could...

Thanks for all the tips! I am still debating whether to use reusable containers or glass ones. I'm not saying I won't be careful, I'm just saying I won't always have paperwork. I have sold to friends and church family and a few people needing some pet milk. But thanks for the warnings, I'll...

Thanks for the reminders! Yep, those are all things I've got in mind. I did forget about the fridge part for awhile, but that is now on the list! I will probably have more like 2-3 gallons per day to start, but I will still need a milk fridge. On top of the herd share, I may also do some...

Pictures!! I think her name is going to be Willow. She is not perfect, but she is really good for the price I'm getting her for. @Youngfarmer2019 I'm finally getting a Nubian, even if it's a cross. Thought you'd be happy to know. 😁 And here is her dam's 3 freshening udder. I'm used to the...

Some big changes potentially coming to the homestead soon! We are looking at starting a small dairy with herd shares, and that means more goats. (Are we surprised?😂) I love my Nigerians and their milk, so I'm sticking mainly with them, but adding a mini nubian or two for more production. I have...

I use a 5 joule plugin charger and the fence is always smoking hot, more than 10k volts. Do you have something to measure the volts? I've tried the same charger you are using and never got more than 6k, even with 3 ground rods, and if I touched it I barely felt it. Now if I touch the fence I...

This evening, I put a cute little ram apron on Sir Lambs-a-lot. It took both me and my two sisters to get it on him he was struggling so much. He's a little karate kicker! Anyways, we let him loose, and he ran for the ewes because he was scared. They all went berserk! Ram trying to escape the...