Ragdollcatlady's Just a Little Patch of Weeds Farm journal

[ragdollcatlady]

So we haven't settled on a name for sister, but we are trying out a few. Martini was one option since it rhymes with Bellini. We have been dragging her to the milk stand last so she can eat her fill after the milking girls are done. Tonight she was waiting for a few minutes at the gate, but ran when it was actually her turn. We actually had rain too so all the girls were a bit sorry about having to milk in the rain. The boers don't seem nearly as bothered by the rain overall, compared to the dairy girls. They do seek cover in the pouring rain, but less than that and they still come out to eat and wait at the gates. As for her horns, I would worry about them breaking as they seem thin and not very sturdy, but they are so close to her head, I am not too worried about them getting caught yet.

Bailey keeps trying to cut in line to get to the milk stand. She also runs along with DS when he is helping me round up the girls that are supposed to be next in line. She is so big, she usually overshoots the stand and falls off the other side. She did manage to get up normally a couple times, but of course that was when she escaped and there were still a few goats left before her.

I finally named Reeses kid "Rosie". I am going with Briar Rose for her registered name. Little Italys kid is going to be Black Pearl since she is a Captain Jack Sparrow kid. And Spellys kid is my Calico Pony. I ended up keeping Jacks moonspotted kid and decided on Backyard Swagger for him..... it totally fits!

One baby goose is getting all her feathers in. She is a really pretty lavender color! And she is sooo snuggly!

We have our last 4h poultry meeting tomorrow. And the county fair is next month. We didn't sign up to bring very many animals since I am not sure if I will be able to get time off. Little and Jane are going. The market wethers Buddy and AJ, and Hazel, and hopefully the meat chicks will make weight. Then a handful of chickens, and a few pigeons.

My truck is having issues with the gauge again.

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

Sounds like a busy time over at your place! The gosling sounds cute!!

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Been busy lately. I really should cut down to milking just once a day....but I don't wanna! I really enjoy milking. But it means that we eat dinner around 10 and I don't get much sleep. I go to bed around 11:30 and I'm up most days by 5:30... It also means I don't really get much done on saturdays and sundays...I take naps or I am really unproductive!

I advertised the triplets from Ravi. I don't really want to sell Bullseye. But I should. At this point I have 2 spotted boer bucks, 2 paint boer does and 3 spotted boer does. I plan on breeding the 3 big girls this fall.

So I did taste test with Baileys boer milk....and... it tastes like the plain version of nigerian milk. Like someone forgot to add the sugar! I have been drinking nigerian milk for so long that I forgot it does taste sweeter than "regular" milk. I didn't drink much, just a taste cause it was warm and I don't like warm milk .

The Black Pearl is soo working on becoming my favorite goat. She is the biggest, did I say biggest??? pain when I try and milk, but she is so adorable, I can barely get irritated with her. She chews on my clothes, and hair, climbs in my lap, sticks her face in my milk, tries to eat the grain the milking girls are working on and makes them mad in the process, dances on the stand, paws at my hands and backs into my lap to snuggle, only to fall off half the time. She is barely big enough to jump on the stand. She used to put her front hooves on the stand and "walk" her way over to me, with her front feet on the stand the whole time. I should have gotten that on video! I would love to certify her to go visiting at the childrens hospital or nursing homes, but I tried to find out a couple years ago how to go about that, and I hit dead ends.

I added some of the new pics of the goats to my website, but I haven't added all the info yet. I am not enjoying transferring copies of pics to the computer directly from the camera since I runs down the batteries. I broke the port to use the memory card directly in the computer so it is my fault...but it still stinks!

My truck came back from the car doctors....a hose was leaking so hopefully that problem is done, but I need the rotors fixed on my front brakes! I gotta be able to stop!

 

[ragdollcatlady]

We had a really busy day at work... 2 brachycephalic dogs that had to vomit on us after surgical procedures, one of those gave us a serious run for our money by deciding to stop breathing on us for a second (the Dr. got him breathing again so all is well that ends well) but then we had one bulldog come in that was already crashing.... got her some oxygen, breathing, IVs and then once she was feeling a tad bit better, tried to get some x rays and she went all cujo on us and passed out at one point. She was as fine as we could get her by the end of the day and went home with her peeps, but Oh my goodness!!!! What a day!

Pearl has been helping me milk Bailey. Bailey doesn't seem to care as long as she is chowing down, Pearl and I can have as much milk as we can scavenge. But once Bailey is done licking the corn dust out of the bottom of the bowl, she is done.

We had another leak in one of the pipes outside so our electric bill has been climbing. DH tried to fix it for me tonight so I am crossing my fingers. We couldn't afford to waste the water if we wanted to, and I can't afford to pay higher electric bills to pump the water that I can't waste either!

 

[babsbag]

I really understand the water thing. People think we have it made since we are on a well...I see $$$$ every time I hear it come on. Fortunately the well is near the house so I hear it come on; I call it my leak detector.

Glad that Bailey is helping out with the feedings; I am really happy that I was able to give her to you. I can't wait to see her kids someday from Rocky (I hope).

Flash is doing well, but he isn't sure about all these pushy does but I bet that will change this fall. I just need to keep him away from my LaMancha doelings as they get older, I don't want any mini Manachas, Alpines yes, but the LM does I want to breed with a standard buck and keep any LM does they have for my dairy. Hope he remembers that.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

I am glad Flash is doing well....hope he comes around to be a bit friendlier. He was shyer than most of the kids but would still creep up to check me out if I sat still long enough. He should lengthen out and stretch into a really handsome boy. His siblings are already stretching out and I can't wait to see how they end up. Jack had a little bit of arrogance about him...just enough to come off as very confident! It shows in the way they carry themselves.

Rocky already adds his beautiful voice to the yelling squad when it is time to eat! Andy has had a bad influence on him already. I try and tell them that noone with eyes will believe they are starving, but they still try!!!! Rocky is sooo friendly! I like him alot!

Sister freaks out when we try and separate her to eat, so I stopped trying that, but she has plenty of hay to eat and is usually one of the last 3-4 girls still eating when the rest call it a night and start tucking in. I think she will come around Ok. She just seems very nervous about being handled, but not mean or obnoxious.

I don't have a really good pic of her whole body, but Rigatoni is finally on the chunky side! I think I put a pic of her chubby face on her section on my website.

I still can't get over how big Bailey is! She is lean right now, but still a very large goat. I happen to notice the thickness of her back legs, since I see them while milking and those are just some solid bones this girl is made of! I think she is in the same ballpark as Ravi and Rigatoni but maybe just a smidgen taller. And I don't milk them. I am just tickled that she lets me milk her and that she lets Pearl eat too. Pearl is so small, she walks right under her without even ears rubbing her belly! And I can walk her without bending over!!! LOL! I got Nigerians because they were smaller on purpose....but these big kids are pretty fun too. Except when they push me out of the way and do what they want to. Sometimes Bailey or Ravi just decide to cut in line and shove their way out of the gate....

 

[babsbag]

Ravi's dam was from the same herd as Bailey's. No idea if they were related since I didn't have papers on either of them. And in looking at my records Rigatoni and Bailey are actually sisters. Bailey was 2012 and Rigatoni 2013. Did I give you papers on Rigatoni?

I wish my friend has not taken my mean rotten black doe to auction. I would have liked to see her in a breeding program somewhere, she was a beautiful doe and had some awesome kids and when bred to my spotted buck threw some neat colors. Granted she had an attitude but I never really had any problems with her; I guess she just didn't like her new herd. But that ship has sailed.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

You did give me papers on Rigatoni. They have her sires pedigree info (Rolling Thunder), but they only list her mother as "*boer".

Ravis papers have the same thing. If I remember correctly, Ravis mom was a black headed boer named Diamond.... does that maybe sound right? She had a cute brother too with spots on his ears. It is a really good thing I didn't come all the way to your place. I might have brought home more goats than I had planned. Oh wait...I tend to do that anyhow! LOL!

Baileys has "*other" listed for her dam.

The twins have Prydelands Tequila listed as mom.

 

[OneFineAcre]

I just saw you did sell Captain Jack Sparrow.
Anybody we know?

 

[babsbag]

Yes, then Rigatoni and Bailey are sisters, their mother was Secret Spot, the only unregistered doe I owned other than Diamond. Diamond I sold shortly after she weaned Ravi's brother. Did Rigatoni get bred yet? If so, did you get any spots?

I seem to recall too that Andy has Thunder Heart ELR in his background as does Rolling Thunder (aka Spot). If that is the case I would certainly breed the twins to Rocky and not Andy; I think you need that out cross. I wonder if they are small because I line bred their dam...I do it with Alpines all the time but I still have to wonder. New genes never hurt.