Jumping the Moon Dairy - the next chapter

[OneFineAcre]

We offered our barn litter with goat poop to an organic farmer.
He couldn't use our poop because we had used chemical wormers.
I can see why mini's would be a good option for a small dairy.

 

[babsbag]

My minis are staying in milk longer and look great. But if I do this it means getting a different mini buck that isn’t related and that means getting an unrelated nigi to make said buck or finding a mini to buy. I already have does from the two ND bucks that I have. It gets complicated. Plus I have Jumanji’s genetics to factor in too. I know that his daughters are at least A/? for casein and his granddaughters won’t neccassrily carry A at all. It would be nice to find a ND buck that is DNA tested and carries A/A or A/B. Yes. Complicated

 

[Southern by choice]

My minis are staying in milk longer and look great. But if I do this it means getting a different mini buck that isn’t related and that means getting an unrelated nigi to make said buck or finding a mini to buy. I already have does from the two ND bucks that I have. It gets complicated. Plus I have Jumanji’s genetics to factor in too. I know that his daughters are at least A/? for casein and his granddaughters won’t neccassrily carry A at all. It would be nice to find a ND buck that is DNA tested and carries A/A or A/B. Yes. Complicated

The advantage though is lower feed comsumption, less issues with mastitis, generally ND's and Minis have much lower SCC,

If you are looking I can help you find a mini Alpine Buck... lots of the more serious breeders do Milktest with their minis and many are doing Casein testing too.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Then you can get @Southern by choice and/or @Goat Whisperer to fly him out to you and bring me back one of those awesome LGD pups!

 

[babsbag]

Those pups are going to be quite the "little" LGDs. They are 17 days old and have climbed out of the kiddie pool, walking and barking and looking around and even a few growls among litter mates, not at people. They were up on all fours the day after they were born...all muscle. Mia isn't the doting mother that my other dogs were and I wonder if this is going to add to their independence...I don't know if it works that way or not but I think that there is going to be some attitude in this litter.

@Southern by choice I have been very happy with teat size, placement, and production with the 5 does I am milking. My ND buck came from @ragdollcatlady and he has given me some nice does. My mini buck came from a different ND sire but he also came from Ragdollcatlady so I am thinking that she knows her nigis. I don't want to buy yet another ND buck but I did contact a friend here locally that has really nice nigis and I have asked her if she would let me bring a few does over for breeding in hope of getting a buck that isn't related to any of my does. But this is a huge commitment and a major change in plans and I am honestly not sure that I am up to adding any more changes to my already incredibly complicated life. I won't need another mini buck until next year so I have some time to make the final decision; but I do need to decide if I am breeding for minis this year as that is happening NOW!!!!

 

[Wehner Homestead]

I vote to go for it! The goal here is to focus on Mini Manchas!!

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Hey @babsbag …. I see you just mentioned not getting another nigi buck but wanting other genetics... I may be getting out of nigis and my blue eyed, moonspotted buck has a fantastic udder and some stars in his paperwork.... His hocks cow in a bit, but if you have some strong legs in your girls..... I mean.....

And thanks for the compliments... I have spent more time and effort trying to acquire the type and pedigreed nigis that have what I want and I like to think they are improving with every breeding.

 

[babsbag]

Hey, what's one more buck right? Do you have a time line for making this decision? Or can I borrow him for the next few months? If I am going to make another mini buck for next year I would need to use him on a few of my does this year and breeding season is here.

Is he unrelated to the two bucks that I have? I still have Flash, the first one. The second one I got from you is the sire to my mini buck and he is spending the winter with a friend.

 

[Alaskan]

The longer I milk my mini Alpines the more I like them. And they sure do stay in good body condition. Someone please tell me that I shouldn't start the transition to minis...please, please, please convince me otherwise. I would have to keep a whole mess of kids this year.

If you like them better....

I liked my full Saanen way better than my mini-Saanen. .... but that was a sample size of 2.

 

[Mini Horses]

If you like the mini Alpines, go for it!