Yesterday some folks came and picked up their baby goats. Tomorrow two more are scheduled to be collected. I will be down to one baby goat, from an original eight. The only unsold baby goat is Django's doeling, who is kind of runty and not really very cute. For a baby goat. I think she will probably end up as meat. That's her in Paloma's arms, on the left. Shhh.
Django and Iris each have one kid left, and they were used to feeding triplets. So they need to be milked twice daily. This morning was the first milking, and they each gave me about a quart. After the last babies are gone, that will go up. Time to start making some cheese!
Flopsy, on the other hand... sigh. She still has one baby on her too, and apparently that's all she can feed, because she never has more than a cup or so for me. I am leaning more and more strongly towards selling her as an in-milk doe as soon as her babies are gone. I am torn - she's one of my healthiest goats, she doesn't have the parasite problems that Iris and Django do, and she throws the most incredibly beautiful kids! However, she is Storm Cloud's mother and so he shouldn't breed her and I am committed to using him as my buck for at least one year. Also, Flopsy had mastitis as a first freshener, and although she made a full recovery and has had no reoccurrence so far this year, it does tend to recur in the same animals over and over.
Maybe I'll advertise her - disclosing the history of mastitis of course - and see is anyone bites.
Meanwhile, we have a whole year to go before more baby goats!!
3 comments:
I think you and your life is beautifully serene.
oh my, thanks, but it's just hilarious that you wrote that today, one of the most chaotic and complicated days I've had yet this year!
awww. they are cute. I am sure everyone around your place is sad to see the babies go. We have debated selling our large goats and just can't seem to be able to part with them.
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