SBC/GW's Journal- Spring shows DONE! & Update

[BlessedWithGoats]

Congrats!

 

[OneFineAcre]

Great job

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Love it!! Wonderful news all the way around!! Congratulations!!

Your description of Monster had me cracking up!

 

[Goat Whisperer]

I started calling her Monster at two days old. I looked at SBC and said “we created a monster!”. You could just tell! Sweetest goat, but a monster!

 

[Donna R. Raybon]

@farmerjan we have a lot of cattle folk around us and we have heard so many stories about how "it use to be".
Sometimes I fear all this "improvement" is only for the human eye and not always for the animal.
Showing the goats allows us to see so many really beautiful goats. Within those beautiful goats there really are differences in body style.
I sometimes think the universal scorecard has hurt the individual breeds to some degree. I love the distinct difference of the breeds and now it seems that if you cropped the head out of the picture you wouldn't be able to tell one breed from another.

@CntryBoy777 hmmmm now that's a thought Wonder what it's like for goats to have to pay for themselves

Thank one of the Considine boys for all goats looking alike if they have a bag over their head. Chicken boned goats will not last over the long haul of multiple births and high milk production. Every time I got LA'd the skinny goats got E in DC and fat ones +. Those fat ones poured the milk and looked good doing it while skinny ones were a bag of bones!

 

[Southern by choice]

Thank one of the Considine boys for all goats looking alike if they have a bag over their head. Chicken boned goats will not last over the long haul of multiple births and high milk production. Every time I got LA'd the skinny goats got E in DC and fat ones +. Those fat ones poured the milk and looked good doing it while skinny ones were a bag of bones!

I like the scorecard, but I don't like how breeds are losing their distinct character. The old Lamanchas, the old Toggs were medium sized goats.
I don't like hotdog looking lamanchas, I don't like snippy faces with no jawline, I don't like super tall, I don't want a lamancha the size of a Saanen.
Glad you mention the body condition. Those goats that put it all in the pail but struggle with condition ... ok, those are the ones that scare me.
With no "extra" there is no room for if anything goes wrong.

I am really perplexed about the Nubians - I guess it will take time to figure out their management. I get different lines etc but geesh. They have been raised on the same milk, same feed , same hay, same prevention... 2 1/2 different lines... they IMO are just skinny compared to our lamanchas. I just don't get it. @Donna R. Raybon any ideas? oh, and btw the nubian bucks all seem to grow faster, bigger, and better than their sister littermates. Just strange. DD will show her 2 girls but really, we don't expect that much out of them. They have very nice pedigrees but I am not trying to start a Nubian herd. BUT, I still want to improve and do good things breeding wise because all their kids will be sold so it is the righ thing to do. Open to some ideas.

---------------------------------------------------------
Tonight we had a moment (an hour really) of mayhem. (That commercial is running through my head )

I was inside... GW was out milking.
Apparently while milking she heard a strange goat cry. She turned off the music so she could hear where it was coming from. The dogs are going crazy and she hears this cry.
She leaves the goats on the stands (4) runs down to find Sass trapped under the one and only cattle panel! Yep somehow this thing came down on her- we use this as kind of a gate to get the mowers through to the one field. Of course now all these goats are trampling over her. Pinky the nubian baby is standing over her on the panel as if to say HI watcha doin'?
This is very bad!
DH and GW got Sass from out underneath.
Picture the far front field- this field is for milkers only.
Middle field- dry yearlings and dry does
Middle connects to back-
Back field- baby goats (this years kids)
Front and middle have the barn between. Today we happen to have the gates open so the goats were going back and forth but babies are separate.
Pete & Blue (LGD's) cover those 2 fields.
Chunk (LGD)covers the babies.
Back through the woods bordering the babies are a few bucks with their LGD's. Keep in mind Pete and Blue never really see these dogs.
Chunk being highly dominant and Blue being highly dominant don't always get along so they were separated last year.
AND THE ONE DIVIDER IS DOWN!
GW says we need your help!

Little DD took over the milking!
Thankfully when it came down the mayhem caused the 2 toli/pyrs to run back and somehow Chunk ran all the way to the front. Miracle #1 DH & GW grabbed Chunk and put him in the baby buck pen. Then got ahold of Pete and Blue as they were back in the woods along the fence with Tiggs and Eliza! Chunk knows Tiggs and Eliza... Pete and Blue do not know Tiggs! So both sides just see a perceived threat. Crisis averted as DH and GW pull them up and put them in the bitty baby pen. (this pen is only 5 ft tall though and this is NOT their field and they are NOT happy they are pulled from their field. I was concerned they were going to fly over the fence while we are trying to fix it. They did good I told them a few times it was alright and just stay there.

Dh goes and gets a bunch of heavy T-posts- it is starting to get dark now and we have 3 fields of goats all running around. The big does are like babies, were here now get outta here... babies are running back and forth like oooo this is fun but then they get scared because these are biggggg goats giving the stink eye and they are in heat.
Let's not even talk about the little field that borders part of one of the fields that has Olaf and Tai Pan in it- yeah 2 2YO rutting bucks suddenly with a whole bunch of big does right there in heat!!!!!! Thankfully they are good boys and don't try to go over fences.
As a quick fix he (DH) puts up these t-posts on both sides to wedge it til we can really fix it.
It is now almost dark.
I close the barn gates for the two fields. No goats were in the far front! YAY!
Move all the goats that are in the baby field that are suppose to be in the front two.
Now... still have to move the babies back... then separate milkers, dry does. The only gate is now t-posted shut.
Sooooooooooo. We move chunk to his field. Pete and Blue back to theirs. Take all the baby bucks from their pen/yard and put them in the bitty baby pen.
Now take all the baby goats from the middle field run them through the baby buck pen (two gates... so access! )
One by one get them through and back to the baby field.
Now we have to move the baby bucks back. DONE.
Now we have to get to the front field and separate milkers and dry does.

Can I just say we moved our butts getting that done! Sore, tired, and I swear when they were all running around it looked like a million goats!

It was insane. This is actually what I look like right now --->

Long weekend.

Hope you enjoyed the saga.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Lol, enjoyed the read- but I'm sure it wasn't so humorous when you were dealing with it! Have had a few of those escapades around my house and they usually involve goats, dogs AND pigs- argh!

 

[farmerjan]

Had to laugh, sounds like something that would happen here, only picture 500 lb just weaned calves and 1100 lb cows........holy moly

 

[Baymule]

It's funny after it is all over and you can catch your breath. Glad that there were no dog fights. THAT is a crisis averted!

 

[CntryBoy777]

I know ya are busy getting prepared for what is coming....just want to check on ya and what the local reports are projecting for your area and your plans for staying safe?....our prayers are certainly with ya before, during, and after the mess comes thru.....