Ragdollcatlady's Just a Little Patch of Weeds Farm journal

[ragdollcatlady]

We had a 4H meat goat meeting. We need to find kids born between nov/dec. Apparently there is a bit of a shortage of show wethers available in California this year. Several breeders are sold out, but we found a pair and put our deposit down. Our kids are already 46 and 54 lbs! One is red and one is red with a few spots. This breeders goats are beautiful!! The adult girls he has are really wide across the hips, nice and short, stocky. 2 of his bucks are from out of state. And his breeding stock is full of spots! Can't wait to see how our wethers turn out!

We butchered 2 more of our male muscovies.... duck tacos were yummy!

I just sold 2 more roosters for $10 each, one buff silkie (hatchery quality) and one silkie/salmon mix.

I just got word that a little doe we sold last year and then bred for the new owners, just gave birth! We get to pick out our baby tomorrow I think. Not sure if they are boys or girls yet....

I am thinking of selling Captain Jack Sparrow, nigerian buck....not completely committed yet, but I am really leaning towards it. He is my Rosasharn guy. I like his looks and the milk behind him, but he is not as easy going as Spartagus but "GusGus" is my favorite.

Spellbound is due on the 14th.... or any day now. She looks ready to pop..... I guess I should start a kidding thread... I just rebred Katastrophe Jane, she clearly came back into heat so I bred her to Jack. I don't think Georgia settled and I haven't been able to get Rigatoni to accept Andy yet. I think I will wait to breed the nubians til fall.

My stove was sparking, literally had flames coming out of the back panel, but my boys missed answering the door for the repair guy, so I have to wait til tomorrow to see about fixing that.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Ahhhh if I wasn't so far from you, I'd take Capt Jack Sparrow off your hands. Why are you thinking about selling him? Not sure what kind of kids he's given you, but he is quite handsome.

 

[babsbag]

@Goat Whisperer suggested that I get a nigi buck and breed some mini alpines...do I want to do that? Hmmm.

That's the thing about a dairy; gotta have kids to get milk so I am looking at 30-40 kids a year going through here.

 

[OneFineAcre]

@Goat Whisperer suggested that I get a nigi buck and breed some mini alpines...do I want to do that? Hmmm.

That's the thing about a dairy; gotta have kids to get milk so I am looking at 30-40 kids a year going through here.

We recently went to a program on DHIR testing and the presenter was the vice chairman of the ADGA performance committee and a long time LaMancha breeder. A lot of breeders don't keep kids from a first freshener(after all, you can't keep them all). Found out she breeds all of her first fresheners to Nigi bucks. She's not necessarily interested in mini's herself, but she said there was a market for them and that's why she did it.
She has been doing DHIR for years, I bet they are some awesome mini dairy goats.

 

[babsbag]

Yes, the is what Goat Whisperer was trying to sell me on, that there is a market for the minis.

Why do breeders not keep FF kids' ? Is is just that the doe is unproven so they don't want to keep a kid from an unknown doe?

 

[OneFineAcre]

Yes, the is what Goat Whisperer was trying to sell me on, that there is a market for the minis.

Why do breeders not keep FF kids' ? Is is just that the doe is unproven so they don't want to keep a kid from an unknown doe?

Yes
Can't really see true potential FF and you sure can't keep all of them
We know an alpine breeder that breeds FF to boers so they have a meat goat

 

[babsbag]

Yes
Can't really see true potential FF and you sure can't keep all of them
We know an alpine breeder that breeds FF to boers so they have a meat goat

That really does make sense. Most of my goats are related to older does I own so I just look at the grand dam or aunt and base some of my decisions on that. So far it has been ok. I had a 2 year old FF last year that had this teeny little udder, and she is from a well known Alpine line. I bred her daughter this year as a 1 year old and her udder is better than her dams. Sometimes I get lucky

As a build up my herd I will need fewer and fewer of the kids so I am really considering a ND. My Alpine buck needs a buddy anyways. But life can sure get complicated when there is more than one buck on the ranch. I had a boer here for a few years and this year I have 5 alpine/boer cross kids to prove it .

 

[ragdollcatlady]

I like Jack. He was my bottle baby and I paid a pretty penny for him knowing he had good milking lines behind him....but I had to take him out of Andys pen when rut started this last year cause Andy was beating the tar out of him and at 3 times his size, poor Jack was left chillin in the goat house all the time..... But in with the 2 smaller guys, Jack is bossy towards them. Gus came to us shy and a bit timid towards people, but he is pretty sweet and I feel bad that Jack takes all the attention and cuts in line for snacks. I tried to breed Jack for a few keeper kids this year. He gave me quads with Georgia the year before last and the trips that were just born, were out of one of those kids. I had originally kept Mac (mom of the new kids)for myself, but sold her to buy the nubians. Spell is due any day now from him and then I bred him to Little Italy and Katastrophe Jane. I wasn't too impressed with him in full fuzzy coat that first year but once I shaved him, I was much happier. Much better looking all shaved up! I love the chocolate buckskin pattern too. Since I will be getting a full sized buck(ling) soon that will be able to keep Andy company, I was planning on leaving Jack in with the other nigi boys.....that is where him being bossy is making me rethink holding on to him.

Since Mac is no longer mine, I won't know how she will be milkwise as a FF, but her mom (Georgia, copper Penny lines) is my best milker anyhow. Glad we are getting a kid back from their lines....with the addition of the Castle Rock and Captain Morgan line, from Casanova..... Should be a winning combo! If you missed it before, Captain Morgan belonged to a local breeder. When I went to buy Casanova, every goat I pointed out, just curious to know more about, was out of Captain Morgan, a buck I had already been admiring...Just something about his style totally caught my fancy....well, after deciding to definitely take Casanova, she had offered to let me use another one of her bucks to breed for additional diversity, but when I got super excited and pointed at the little guy in the back, she started cracking up....turns out it was Gus and he is line bred on Morgan! I love the morgan line apparently!

Babsbag, If you want Jack, we could totally figure something out! That would make my decision so much easier! Just let me know!

As for minis, I am considering doing that with the Nubians....but my first choice to breed them to in that case, would be GusGus! If I don't find a killer Nubian or mini nubian buck this fall, I might do first gen minis with the nigi bucks I have.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

@Goat Whisperer suggested that I get a nigi buck and breed some mini alpines...do I want to do that? Hmmm.

That's the thing about a dairy; gotta have kids to get milk so I am looking at 30-40 kids a year going through here.

Messaged you.

He is a very nice boy

 

[babsbag]

I am thinking this through and just don't know. I will have more kids next year than I know what to do with and I think the minis might be easier to sell; at least the doelings, not sure about the bucklings. I can't keep any of the does as milkers down the road as I have no mini or ND buck to breed them to unless I breed back to their sire and I know I can't breed them to my standard Alpine buck.

I don't show my goats at all so I can't sell me standard Alpines as having any kind of proven record so there again the minis might be easier to sell, just because they are minis.

But if I am not keeping does from Jack then I wouldn't reap the benefit of him having the great milking lines behind him so while I might make a good sales pitch I am not sure I can afford him.

Too many decisions for this old brain. I am still thinking.
I would love to have some milkers in my dairy that give me the higher butterfat but I don't want to move to all minis as I am limited to the number of goats I can legally have on my land so I need the high volume goats.