Ragdollcatlady's Just a Little Patch of Weeds Farm journal

[ragdollcatlady]

OFA,

I did sell Jack to a local family, (no one we know). They came to see him and and the bucklings in case they liked one of them better, but the mom really liked Jack. He will be a good fit for their family as he isn't related to local goats through other breeders.

Babs,

Yes Andy has Thunder Heart too. I think alot of the spotted boers are/were pretty inbred to get the spots larger and more entrenched in the genes. There is a breeder in southern cali that has some nice spotted boers and the guy we bought our market wethers from has some killer spotted goats too....not that I need any more boers as I don't actually know if we like to EAT goat yet.....

Both are on the smaller side but Bellini is a little bigger and more filled out. It could be the genes, could be that they were raised like dairy goats without extra grain. I will just have to see how things go. They might give us some nice kids anyhow, or if they throw small kids, I can always use their offspring for meat for my own family. I like Bellini too much to sell her and I really think that her sister will come around too.

Rigatoni didn't want to breed when we tried to introduce her to Andy. It was late in the season anyways since we had to wait to be sure she wasn't bred when she got here, had her horns removed and then had to let her heal from that. She is a hefty tank now and she moves through the herd with more confidence, even if she is still wary of us a bit. She accidentally eats out my hand now and then when I am offering treats to the whole herd. I hope she throws us some square little monster kids. And of course spots would be lovely!

 

[babsbag]

Yes, they were raised like dairy goats... My girls only get grain on the milk stand and no milk, no grain. But then so was Bailey... I too did the line breeding to try and entrench those spots, crazy since Boers are supposed to be big and blocky and for meat. No one should care about the spots.

Goat meat is wonderful. I am keeping 4 alpine/boer wethers this year for my freezer. At least one of them will be entirely ground meat. My DH does amazing things with goat meat.

I do miss chasing the illusive spotted goat. Always wanted a black and white dappled one.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

I also raised Bellini and the other boers as dairy goats since graining individual goats that are shy becomes a challenge but hay is easy to spread around so everyone has an eating station. They seem to grow well into their second year, so we still have some time to get a little more size. I thought my nubians seemed small going into the start of this year, but they are still growing and seem to have added some size in the last few months too.

I would love a black and tan dappled!!! The person I got Andy from had a really nice black and white paint that had dapples too.

They guy we got our market wethers from has some really brown boers with grey dapples. The brown is not as red tinted as most boers. I want one of those as well.....

I should probably wait to get any more until we confirm that we do actually like goat meat.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

I just sold both Ravis girls. and I loved Bullseye so I am sad to let her go. But they get to go together to a family that is starting to build a herd. They will be well loved I am sure! After meeting the goat girls and talking goats for a few minutes, I offered to show them their parents. They wanted to know if I offered breeding services for Andy of course! Seems like Andy could be quite the neighborhood Romeo if I wasn't so paranoid!

Spotted boers out here tend to fetch pretty high prices so they sold quickly at (what I consider) a fair market price for unregistered but nice quality, high percentage boers.

We have graduation for the twins this coming week...my kids are getting old!

DS is planning on working at a salmon plant in Alaska this summer. We are just now securing his travel plans.

It is supposed to hit the hundreds here, if it didn't already today.... and of course the air conditioner is still out of commission.... Me thinks it will be goat money to the rescue!!!! See!!! It is good to have goats to sell when it gets hot....

 

[babsbag]

Yeah on the sales, congratulations. I understand being paranoid about the breeding. I borrow bucks now and then from friends I trust and I let mine leave here to a trusted farm one time, but usually I say no.

Enjoy the graduation...the weddings will be here before you know.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Thanks Babs!

Graduation went well. The setup was terrible though. The stage was in the center of the football field with the kids facing the stage and parents in the bleachers on both sides. Noone could see the speakers but the kids graduating of course, and the professional photographer was so expensive (x2 if we wanted pics cause we had 2 graduating) and the only one to get a good shot of the kids was that guy .... But, DS did make the local online version of the newspaper....for walking his goofy self down the isle with style!!!

A couple weeks ago while milking, Rosies turbo boost went off in her butt and she flew rump over head, over the milking stand bucket and down to earth Noone touched her or anything... but it was hilarious!

We were without internet in the land of the desolate for a week, compliments of who else???.... Why the goats of course! Who gets tangled up in internet cords that are attached to the house while trying to see in the family room windows??? The market kids to be exact. So no interwebs for us.

And then the fair came and went.... It was a crazy busy fair, but a good one.

Dog showmanship: DD took third, DS...(I can't remember, have to ask him and get back to you!!!!)
Dog Obedience on leash: DD took second wit Beaux Jangles, DS2 took third with Sir Leaks-a-lot
Dog Obedience off leash: DD and Beaux took second
Dog Agility on leash: DD and Beaux took 1st, DS and Leaky took second
Agility off leash: DD and Beaux took second

Poultry showmanship: DS2 took first, DD took third, and our friend took second. DS2 then won first in small animal round robin.

Dairy goats showmanship: DD took third.

Market goat showmanship: DS3 took third and DD took fourth. This was their first time showing a market goat and they improved just after that round by listening to the judges critiques.

The kids signed me up for the adult showmanship that was judged by the kids on the junior fair board.... I didn't even place in goats (they had market goats, dairy goats and pygmys all showing together...they all show way differently) but I won a first in poultry! One of my first year 4Hers was giving me pointers on showing my silkie and when I went to go into the ring, he shouted at me to "remember all that I taught you!!!" I did! When I came out, my own kids congratulated me and my DS2 bought us dinner, my choice, since that is what we do when you win a first in showmanship! I usually pay or bribe for firsts in showmanship since that proves what you know and how hard you have worked at your project. I don't discount though if someone takes a second (or third or fourth if applicable) to a sibling since there were times when all 4 were competing in the same age groups. I mean if one sibling gets it, noone else can.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

This is DD with her market wether AJ (104 lbs) and DS with his wether Buddy-Buddy (89 lbs)

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Thanks!

I am a little sad as that could be the last fair I have with my kids...only one left in highschool so we might be out of the 4H stuff. I will still be our poultry leader for our club as I still have a couple kids in it, chicken kids, that I can't leave hanging just because my own kids are old!

Finally got the AC fixed and it has been over 100...I think they said 108 last week...it is downright cool 98 at the moment, now that the sun went down!!!

The dryer broke before the fair but we finally got one dryer working so yeah for clean clothes!!!! We don't actually need the dryer to dry with this heat, but I NEED the dryer to remove all the CAT HAIR!!!!! This is the main reason I own a dryer of course as any other long haired cat lover will understand completely! An iron gets wrinkles out but does not remove cat hair....and of course the iron just happened to break last week too. Because I don't have enough broken things around here or something....

I bought a premade picket gate to try and replace the metal baby gate from the kitchen to the rest of the house. That one has been broken for like ever. I trip on it multiple times every day, compliments of my bull in the china shop tendencies to knock things over and an ample backside that sorely objects to such a small opening when the doorway itself is quite a normal size. It has become a "quality of life" thing!!!!! Food is in the kitchen, so I want to go in the kitchen. I do not want dogs perpetually in the living area because they lick my hand (can not stand that!!!) and generally get in the way and stink up the furniture and sometimes "leak" on the carpet when they forget their manners/where the door is. Now I just have to install, adjust to fit the actual doorway, paint and figure out a latching mechanism...... wish me luck!

I forgot that we are actually expecting a baby goat any second... Might be all the broken stuff distracting me or the mountains of laundry??? Katastrophe Jane was bred to Jack just before he left so this will be the last Jack kid. I am not sure if I want a girl to keep or if I want to hope for a boy since I have a few people waiting for wethers....

 

[ragdollcatlady]

We have new babies!!! My son called me at work this afternoon, just after I got back from lunch to say that Katastrophe Jane delivered 2 kids all on her own. He helped dry them off and they were doing good. We have 2 boys. One black with white frosting on nose and ears, and a chamoisee with white.

Of course it is a billion degrees outside so I bring the kids in to find the AC is broken again! When I called the AC company, they were like (totally monotone) "oh, that's not good, well it is peak season right now and we are soooo booked, we could get out tomorrow....would that be OK?.... No not really, I paid $700 plus only a month ago and I bought the service plan, you know, the 24/7 VIP customer service one? and I have newborn baby goats I need to cool to livable temp! The on call guy was here within the hour. Another $150 for parts down the drain! But it also has a 5 year parts warranty as long as I keep up the service plan. The $500 part they fixed last time does too. I wish I lived somewhere that wasn't a desert......

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Katastrohes kids