Roll farms
Spot Master
In June, I entered the barn one morning to find the 5 mo. old Toggenburg buckling curled up asleep with ALL of my adult does in the large general population pen.
What alerted me to trouble was his 2 mo. old roomate (another buckling) screaming his fool head off....I open their door to see what's the matter and the other boy is just *poof* gone...vanish...disappeared.
Uh...oh....?
He'd jumped out of a 4' tall box stall....walked through the milking parlor / feed and hay storage area....then hopped another 4' wall to get in.
Now...June isn't a typical 'does in raging heat' month...but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he would have went to that trouble for no reason...when he'd never left the 'jr bachelor pad' before.
Fast forward.....Penny, my brightest, favorite-est, milkiest doe (black Ob) is being 'milked through' this year because she has such a hard time kidding. She's in her 10th month of lactation and still giving 3/4 of a gallon 1x a day....I cut her back to 1x b/c we didn't need so much milk w/ no kids on the bottle....I was planning to keep this up until kidding starts in January, then give her 9-10 mos. dry / off.
Last month....I start commenting to my husband...."MAN, Penny is FAT." He says things like, "Hey, Wide Load" when he sees her....Obs tend to be on the thin side, especially when 'working'...but I figured since she's on the downward curve of her lactation, she's just putting on a little extra weight....winter fluff...
A couple days ago I notice clear / whitish discharge...sure looked like a doe in heat...so I watch to see which 'man' she favors that day. (There are bucks on both sides of the gen. pop. pen since we're still breeding and it's a great way to find out when they're in heat....they LIVE by the boys and flag and act silly, and the boys talk to them, etc....) I wasn't going to breed her, but I like to 'watch the show' and make sure nobody goes 'over the fence'.
NOTHING. No 'wha wha wha' from a buck, she approaches the breeding pens but only to sniff the does / say hi....so...hmmmm...must not be in heat, eh?
Couple of days later....more white goo....still no action at the fence, though.....
Yesterday I made my "due date / shots due" spreadsheet up and as I'm flipping through the calendar to November, I see where I've written, "If anyone looks due, the Togg boy did it on June 16th".
I'm not sayin' she IS bred....but it sure would explain the weight gain, no signs of heat, and leaky twee.
IF she is, Nov. 13th would be her due date.
ACK....so now she's on every other day milking...if she does ok w/ that (and so far it's not looking good...after 1 skipped day she's already bowlegged....) I'll hopefully be to every 3rd day by her 'due date' and she'll be able to make some colostrum.
I'm going down there now to kick that Tog boy in the rump again.....
(j/k....)
I've never had an 'accident' kidding, with a doe in milk...and as I said she has a bad time kidding (2 single huge kids the last 2 kiddings, that I barely manage to get out) and Toggs tend to be bigger than Obs so I'm just worried that something bad will happen to her / with this whole ordeal.
*frets*
Never have I HOPED so hard a doe WASN'T bred.
Last night I dreamt Doodle, our other fav, had 6 kids this year.
Goats are driving me crazy.
What alerted me to trouble was his 2 mo. old roomate (another buckling) screaming his fool head off....I open their door to see what's the matter and the other boy is just *poof* gone...vanish...disappeared.
Uh...oh....?
He'd jumped out of a 4' tall box stall....walked through the milking parlor / feed and hay storage area....then hopped another 4' wall to get in.
Now...June isn't a typical 'does in raging heat' month...but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he would have went to that trouble for no reason...when he'd never left the 'jr bachelor pad' before.
Fast forward.....Penny, my brightest, favorite-est, milkiest doe (black Ob) is being 'milked through' this year because she has such a hard time kidding. She's in her 10th month of lactation and still giving 3/4 of a gallon 1x a day....I cut her back to 1x b/c we didn't need so much milk w/ no kids on the bottle....I was planning to keep this up until kidding starts in January, then give her 9-10 mos. dry / off.
Last month....I start commenting to my husband...."MAN, Penny is FAT." He says things like, "Hey, Wide Load" when he sees her....Obs tend to be on the thin side, especially when 'working'...but I figured since she's on the downward curve of her lactation, she's just putting on a little extra weight....winter fluff...
A couple days ago I notice clear / whitish discharge...sure looked like a doe in heat...so I watch to see which 'man' she favors that day. (There are bucks on both sides of the gen. pop. pen since we're still breeding and it's a great way to find out when they're in heat....they LIVE by the boys and flag and act silly, and the boys talk to them, etc....) I wasn't going to breed her, but I like to 'watch the show' and make sure nobody goes 'over the fence'.
NOTHING. No 'wha wha wha' from a buck, she approaches the breeding pens but only to sniff the does / say hi....so...hmmmm...must not be in heat, eh?
Couple of days later....more white goo....still no action at the fence, though.....
Yesterday I made my "due date / shots due" spreadsheet up and as I'm flipping through the calendar to November, I see where I've written, "If anyone looks due, the Togg boy did it on June 16th".
I'm not sayin' she IS bred....but it sure would explain the weight gain, no signs of heat, and leaky twee.
IF she is, Nov. 13th would be her due date.
ACK....so now she's on every other day milking...if she does ok w/ that (and so far it's not looking good...after 1 skipped day she's already bowlegged....) I'll hopefully be to every 3rd day by her 'due date' and she'll be able to make some colostrum.
I'm going down there now to kick that Tog boy in the rump again.....
(j/k....)
I've never had an 'accident' kidding, with a doe in milk...and as I said she has a bad time kidding (2 single huge kids the last 2 kiddings, that I barely manage to get out) and Toggs tend to be bigger than Obs so I'm just worried that something bad will happen to her / with this whole ordeal.
*frets*
Never have I HOPED so hard a doe WASN'T bred.
Last night I dreamt Doodle, our other fav, had 6 kids this year.
Goats are driving me crazy.