Thinning the herd.
Well, as I mentioned before I wasn't going to breed my goats this year. I had planned on selling more than half of them, breeding next year, then getting a new billy goat to freshen the gene pool. As I stood and contemplated my goat situation, now that all the does had been bred, I realized that if each doe only had 2 kids I would be left with 9 does, 3 wethers, 1 billy and 18 new kids next spring! (add it up...) That would be at least 31 goats, (that is providing that my does only had 2 kids each). I had to ask myself, "Self, are you equipped to handle that many goats?" The answer was a resounding "NO". So, off to market we went.
Yesterday morning I loaded up 6 goats and took them to auction. I had already given quite a bit of thought to which goats I was going to keep but I still had a hard time making the final decision. It was especially hard for me to decide whether or not to keep Buckwheat, that is, it was hard until he laid me out.
Buckwheat is not an aggressive animal. He just really didn't like me pushing his girls around. He gave me a couple of warning postures, (rearing up on his hind legs and threatening to butt me... you know, like they do in the wildlife films when 2 wild goats are fighting), but I just knocked him on the head and told him to quit it. Usually this does the trick but this time I think it just made matters worse (like Carolyn put it... "ya think!?"). Luckily I was next to an unlocked gate that I was filtering does through. Had that gate been locked I would have been pinned and probably would have ended up with a few broken ribs or worse. As it was, when he slammed into me, it threw me through the gate and out of his reach. I was able to recover quickly and get away with just some injured pride and a huge bruise on my arm, (the point of impact). That seemed to satisfy Buckwheat and after that things went surprisingly smoothly.
By now I had separated the goats I wanted to sell and they were all in the holding pen, including Buckwheat. At one point they had all been in the trailer munching on some grain except for Buckwheat. He was more interested in what was going on than what was in the trailer. After Buckwheat's little temper tantrum all the goats jumped out of the trailer (by now the grain was gone). This was actually probably a good thing for when I tossed some hay into the trailer Buckwheat jumped right in after it. Once he got in the rest of the goats gladly followed. I slammed the doors shut and that, as they say, was that. I kept more goats than I had planned but I am really happy with the ones I kept.
I kept the original does of course, Trixie, Dagnee, and Marcy. I kept two of Dagnee's kids, one doe and one wether who is pretty much a pet. I kept one of Marcy's kids, a pretty spotted doe and one of Girl's kids, a little blonde doe, (you'll remember I sold Girl earlier this year). That leaves me with six does and one wether and the potential of 19 goats in the spring vs the potential of 31 goats. This is a much more manageable situation. I still want to build some kidding sheds before next April and put up the pasture at the side of the house. That will be plenty of room for the goats I have kept and their kids. Then come breeding season I will give all the girls the break they so richly deserve, that I had planned on giving them this year. The following breeding season I will introduce a new buck into the mix.
So there you have it! TTFN :)
Yesterday morning I loaded up 6 goats and took them to auction. I had already given quite a bit of thought to which goats I was going to keep but I still had a hard time making the final decision. It was especially hard for me to decide whether or not to keep Buckwheat, that is, it was hard until he laid me out.
Buckwheat is not an aggressive animal. He just really didn't like me pushing his girls around. He gave me a couple of warning postures, (rearing up on his hind legs and threatening to butt me... you know, like they do in the wildlife films when 2 wild goats are fighting), but I just knocked him on the head and told him to quit it. Usually this does the trick but this time I think it just made matters worse (like Carolyn put it... "ya think!?"). Luckily I was next to an unlocked gate that I was filtering does through. Had that gate been locked I would have been pinned and probably would have ended up with a few broken ribs or worse. As it was, when he slammed into me, it threw me through the gate and out of his reach. I was able to recover quickly and get away with just some injured pride and a huge bruise on my arm, (the point of impact). That seemed to satisfy Buckwheat and after that things went surprisingly smoothly.
By now I had separated the goats I wanted to sell and they were all in the holding pen, including Buckwheat. At one point they had all been in the trailer munching on some grain except for Buckwheat. He was more interested in what was going on than what was in the trailer. After Buckwheat's little temper tantrum all the goats jumped out of the trailer (by now the grain was gone). This was actually probably a good thing for when I tossed some hay into the trailer Buckwheat jumped right in after it. Once he got in the rest of the goats gladly followed. I slammed the doors shut and that, as they say, was that. I kept more goats than I had planned but I am really happy with the ones I kept.
I kept the original does of course, Trixie, Dagnee, and Marcy. I kept two of Dagnee's kids, one doe and one wether who is pretty much a pet. I kept one of Marcy's kids, a pretty spotted doe and one of Girl's kids, a little blonde doe, (you'll remember I sold Girl earlier this year). That leaves me with six does and one wether and the potential of 19 goats in the spring vs the potential of 31 goats. This is a much more manageable situation. I still want to build some kidding sheds before next April and put up the pasture at the side of the house. That will be plenty of room for the goats I have kept and their kids. Then come breeding season I will give all the girls the break they so richly deserve, that I had planned on giving them this year. The following breeding season I will introduce a new buck into the mix.
So there you have it! TTFN :)
posted by Kathleen Hawkins at 12:44 AM
2 Comments:
This would be the hard part of having a farm. I don't know how you let them go. But, I think you made the right decision. Everyone will be happier! I hope your sweet goats went to good homes. Can't wait to see the new babies when they come. Did you read my blog? What do you think about Leo? When are your goats supposed to have their kids?
This is why I didn't know about Bucky hitting you. I read 'Thinning the herd' and stopped there. I am no good with that kind of stuff... It just makes me sad. Sorry he hit you, it is a shame. As far as billies go, he was the best of the best, so if you get a new one, you may have to get rid of him after he breads or change your billy-managing habits.
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