Missy
Loving the herd life
Ok, Little bit of background:
1. We do not have a barn.
2. We have 3 insulated handmade goat huts (all large enough to comfortable house all of our 5 goats in one house.
3.These are not enclosed goat huts, the goats are free to go inside and outside as they please.
4.We have three pens, two are 200 x 200 one is 400 x 400.
5. We have 1 buck and 4 does, all are currently living together in the large pen.
Now the issue. Last year we did not breed all four goats. Only two of them. The two older girls have kidded together in the past. They are the two herd queens (or herd queen and princess??) The other two are FFs. The two older ones have also kidded in the goat huts and we have not had issues. Now, the herd queen(Tippy), although she cares for her kids (well kid as she has kidded twice and only had one each time) Expects her kid to come to her and does not particularly watch her kid very well(although her kid is usually the most rambunctious of all kids and gets around very well and is always healthy and well fed). The herd Princess(Ginger), is absolutely obsessed with her kids and will attack any other goats except Tippy if they go near her kids until they are about two weeks old, then she calms down. Ginger on the other hand does not ever want Tippy's kid near her kids. When separated when Ginger is near kidding, she will scream and scream until Tippy is near her and she worries herself to a tizzy if I separate them. They are due about 2 weeks apart.
Now to the last three goats. One of them is a pygmy buck. 'Nuff said. He is gentle with the girls and gives them their space. The other two are both does. I am not 100% if they are pregnant or not. They are fatter, but not yet developing udders. They were born about 3 days apart, both were bottle babies, one raised by me(I got her at 3 days old) the other I got at 2 months when she was weaned. Since then they have not been separated. The is due the week between Tippy and Ginger. (I saw Tippy, Ginger, and Duecey bred.) I never saw Cami bred, but I have also never saw her come in heat...The buck came in on September 27 or 28th.
Now my question is how would you go about organizing these goats for optimal success with kidding and raising the kids?
1. We do not have a barn.
2. We have 3 insulated handmade goat huts (all large enough to comfortable house all of our 5 goats in one house.
3.These are not enclosed goat huts, the goats are free to go inside and outside as they please.
4.We have three pens, two are 200 x 200 one is 400 x 400.
5. We have 1 buck and 4 does, all are currently living together in the large pen.
Now the issue. Last year we did not breed all four goats. Only two of them. The two older girls have kidded together in the past. They are the two herd queens (or herd queen and princess??) The other two are FFs. The two older ones have also kidded in the goat huts and we have not had issues. Now, the herd queen(Tippy), although she cares for her kids (well kid as she has kidded twice and only had one each time) Expects her kid to come to her and does not particularly watch her kid very well(although her kid is usually the most rambunctious of all kids and gets around very well and is always healthy and well fed). The herd Princess(Ginger), is absolutely obsessed with her kids and will attack any other goats except Tippy if they go near her kids until they are about two weeks old, then she calms down. Ginger on the other hand does not ever want Tippy's kid near her kids. When separated when Ginger is near kidding, she will scream and scream until Tippy is near her and she worries herself to a tizzy if I separate them. They are due about 2 weeks apart.
Now to the last three goats. One of them is a pygmy buck. 'Nuff said. He is gentle with the girls and gives them their space. The other two are both does. I am not 100% if they are pregnant or not. They are fatter, but not yet developing udders. They were born about 3 days apart, both were bottle babies, one raised by me(I got her at 3 days old) the other I got at 2 months when she was weaned. Since then they have not been separated. The is due the week between Tippy and Ginger. (I saw Tippy, Ginger, and Duecey bred.) I never saw Cami bred, but I have also never saw her come in heat...The buck came in on September 27 or 28th.
Now my question is how would you go about organizing these goats for optimal success with kidding and raising the kids?
