Kidding season 2009

[superhoney]

Hey everyone!
Well it has begun, the en-mass birthing of goats.

The first pair to be born is to a sweet goat we call Gretchen. I think they will be named Adam and Eve. 1 down 9 more to go over the next 5 days or so.

Here are the little cuties getting their first meal:



Wish us luck there's still plenty to go!
Superhoney!

[poka-bee]

They are beautiful. Nothing cuter than baby goats bouncing all over.  I bet watching more than 2 together is like watching a box of pingpong balls dropped in a gym!!  Heres thinking good thoughts for healthy problem free birthing season!!  Looking forward to the "group photo"  J

[Cindi]

Oh Superhoney.  How wonderful is that!!!  Babies, spring time, you gotta a whole load of that stuff coming on, good luck, that is gonna be a lot of young uns running and bouncing around, yay!!!  As Jody said, can't wait to see the group hug, have a most wonderful and awesome day, life, health.  Cindi

[superhoney]

Thanks for the kind words! This is my favorite time of year in goat activities.

Update for Friday and Saturday:
I didn't get to post yesterday but we had another couple of births. First on Friday was 'Sugar' who gave birth to 'Sweet' and 'Lowla', a boy and a girl.



And today (Saturday) our goat named 'Girl' gave birth to a boy and a girl named 'Booger Red' and 'G.G.' (Girl's Girl).



More fun coming tomorrow I bet. 3 down, 7 to go. Kid count 3 male 3 female.
Take care,
Superhoney

[Cindi]

SuperHoney, yeah!!!  Getting through the goating-baby-thingy, smiling.  YOu have a lot of babies coming, what on earth do you do with them all?  Do you supply your family with food?  Milk?  Elaborate, I would love to hear more of what is going on at your farm and what you do.   I have never tried goat, but I think it would be good food.  Good luck, keep us posted on the events.  Have that great, most wonderful day, life, health, love our life.  Cindi

[asprince]

Baby goats are so cute. I know very little about goats, are they meat goats, milk goats, or just pets?

Steve

[poka-bee]

Ohhh, so cute!  I like the brown one!  Are they boer or Nubian?  I really can't tell the size from the pic.  What fun you are going to have!  J

[Brian D. Bray]

They look like Boer which would make them priarily a meat got, although they could be a Nubian/Boer cross which is a good dual meat and dairy cross.

[superhoney]

Hello all,

Cindi: Well most of them go to 'market' to be auctioned for food, breeding, etc. The girls that have good characteristics and a good family history of personality, health, momma skills etc. will have a chance to be added to the herd depending on whether we need to increase or decrease our numbers.

The boys usually just go to market because we don't run full bloods or do shows and such that a high percentage matters.

We only let the male (a 100% Boer) out for a few weeks to hit 2 heat cycles so all the babies arrive within a few days of each other usually (as he seems to get them (all the adult does) all in the first few days and rarely misses until the second round of heat 21 days later).

That's how we do it

Oh and we have 7 little does (or yearlings) we kept from 2008's kidding season to be added to the herd to breed later this year giving us 17 breedable does later this year (kidding season 2010 is going to be a madhouse!)

The main reason we have them is for the Ag Tax discount on the property as this small of herd won't make profit vs expense but the tax credit is nice.

asprince and poka-bee: Ours are a high percentage Boer, most of the adult does are 3/4+ Boar/Nubian as I think the line of Spanish blood has died out in the last few years. This makes them decent hardy meat goats for our climate as Brian Bray said. And the brown ones, we have 3 this year and per history that's not happened...ever. But we have 2 good looking brown females this year which I like too. Our typical Boer is brown head, white body which I am ok with but like the unusual colors better.

We have a second herd (of two) Nubian and Nubian Toggenberg which we plan to milk and make cheese. Our Boers are just for meat, not milk.

And pets, hmm...yeah they are in general pets too as we have names for all of them and pet the ones who will let us.

I have pictures of some more babies I'm about to upload from earlier this week so i'll go do that!

Thanks
Superhoney

[Cindi]

Superhoney.  Thanks for the clarification and elaboration, the Boers are meat animals, I get that gist.  Love to hear about life on the farms, it is wonderful and you took me right there in my mind's eye, thanks.  I had two Nubian does about 30 years ago, loved those gals.  Beautiful day in this great life, great health, Cindi

[thomashton]

I got to kidding season early this year. In a two-week span in January we had 7 kids from three does and sold two other pregnant does as well as my buck. I ended up selling all but one doe and her twin female kids. She is my daughter's favorite goat so I had to keep her.

I left in early Feb with the Army for 5 months so I had to sell them off, but my daughter's goat remains. Hopefully they are paying enough attention to the kids so they aren't skiddish.

[asprince]

I got to kidding season early this year. In a two-week span in January we had 7 kids from three does and sold two other pregnant does as well as my buck. I ended up selling all but one doe and her twin female kids. She is my daughter's favorite goat so I had to keep her.

I left in early Feb with the Army for 5 months so I had to sell them off, but my daughter's goat remains. Hopefully they are paying enough attention to the kids so they aren't skiddish.

Are you now deployed?

Steve