One Fine Acre - 2023 4H Steer Project Update

[Southern by choice]

Glad to hear back. Will you need to test the milk again or is that just the normal course of treatment?

Glad you shared this, good thing to know and keep watch for on any doe that is drying off as well as a dry doe.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Glad to hear back. Will you need to test the milk again or is that just the normal course of treatment?

Glad you shared this, good thing to know and keep watch for on any doe that is drying off as well as a dry doe.

I don't know

Might not be a bad idea the next time she is milk to test for somatic cell count at intervals.

That would be a good thing about doing DHIR testing, they test for somatic cell count.

 

[babsbag]

She looks like she has recovered just fine and hoping no problems in the future.

 

[babsbag]

@OneFineAcre

Are you doing DHIR testing this year? I chickened out this time, maybe next year when I am milking for the dairy. Right now I am just too busy and don't milk consistently; one big advantage of dam raised kids, they milk when I don't want to. I won't be able to do that when the dairy is done so I might as well go on test. I will have to find a meter though, weighing each doe's milk individually isn't happening.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Haven't updated in a while. Been real busy with the kidding thread.
I thought I would post some pictures of my kidding stalls. We have 4 of the 5 we planned finished.
They're all full.And we have moved 4 out of the stalls.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Very nice looking

 

[OneFineAcre]

So we decided tonight that Cookie and her yearling Mollie are going to a new home
Cookie is 4 yo and one of our first kids
We are going to keep her kid from this year with Fortunato
We think we have a good match for a new home

 

[Hens and Roos]

Hope it goes well , that must be hard seeing she was one of your first but knowing she will go to a good home helps.

 

[OneFineAcre]

@Hens and Roos asked on her kidding thread how do people evaluate young kids to determine which are keepers and which bucklings should be left intact as breeders and which should be wethered and how do you evaluate you milkers

It's hard to judge a really young kid and we tend to keep ours longer because you can tell more about them when they are older.

So, I thought I would share some thoughts. I am by no means an expert on this, but I have learned a little bit over the last few years. There are a lot of things that go into making a good goat. Is she an easy keeper, does she kid easy, does she have an issue with parasites.
But, this is just from a physical standpoint.

And remember one thing. Every goat has flaws, none are perfect. My best goat has a noticeable flaw.

For young goats you are generally looking at what would be classified in a show as general appearance. Feet and legs. First, you like to see a nice level topline or even a goat that's a little uphill. You also like to see a nice curve to the back leg from the pinbone to the hock.

You don't want a goat that's "posty" in that back leg, meaning it's too straight and doesn't have enough curve, because it is going to get staighter as they grow taller. If they start without enough curve it will get too straight and they will walk stiff looking in the back. Plus a doe will not hold up over time carrying and raising kids.

It's kind of the same with a level topline because as a goat ages, has babies and her belly get's naturally bigger and lower you don't want a goat with a swayed back.

You want a level topline on a kid because you want her to look like this when she is 6 and has freshened 6 times. Ginger is a little "posty" in her back legs, but not as bad as it looks in this pic. Another thing about this picture of Ginger.
If she's long and strong, you can't go wrong

Nice curve in from pinbone to hocks.

Like I said, my best goat has a flaw. Zamia has a dip in her chime which is the area along the back between the withers and the loin. I think I'll keep her anyway.

You want to look at how a kids feet look. In these pictures these pictures both of these goats front feet "toe out" as I call it.

You want your goat to have a good base underneath her front legs square. This is a senior but something to look for in kids and juniors too.

More to follow.

 

[OneFineAcre]

On the subject of feet. You want to look at how a goat walks on their hooves. This goat sets back on his pasterns or is "weak" in the pasterns.

This is his daughter. She does too a little bit in this picture. But, she is due tomorrow and sometimes a doe sits back on her pasterns a little bit late in pregnancy because you know how they lose their ligaments? All of their tendons loosen a little bit. We will watch how she looks after she kids and selenium sometimes helps.

This buck is better.

And with kids and Juniors you want to look for a correct shape and space from pins to hocks to have space for an udder. It's good to if they have good teat size at this age.

These are some images from how goats are appraised.

Strength and rump width.
Disregarding Gingers wide belly, from her withers to the outside of her rump she is wider. She also has good rump width. Zamia does too.

Coleus, not as good.

But under dairyness Coleus has a long slender neck that blends well into her shoulder.

Good rump angle

A few more to go.