Cats Rule

I just finished reading about Sasha's little Leroy Leo which stirred fond memories of my many cats. My cat population has changed quite a bit throughout the years, but I have always had at least one cat in my life. I remember all of them and really miss the ones who are gone. Most recently missing in action are my crazy Smokey and my beloved Cowboy. I once thought that my neighbor had snatched Smokey because she liked her so much but then Carolyn saw a hawk carrying off Cowboy and I fear Smokey met the same fate. They were both avid hunters and their hunts would take them far out into the fields where they became the prey. I really miss them.

You will remember that once I complained about too many cats but now I am hoping I don't have to part with the 6 cats I have left.
1. Winslow - still loved and worshiped by all the other cats and respected by the dogs.
2. Little Autumn - still very little, very cute and a very happy cat in an air head sort of way.
3. Dizzy Gizzy - my best bud. He is HUGE and doesn't realize it. The other cats don't like to play with him partly because he doesn't know his own strength and partly because he does not recognize limits.
4. Dwezel - tends to keep to herself when it comes to the other cats but she loves to come in for a good cuddle and a nap.
5. Peaches - a big, beautiful, refined young lady who's devotion to Winslow sometimes gets on his last nerve.
6. Little Augie - avoids human contact but does have a wonderful relationship with Winslow, Autumn and Peaches. Like Smokey and Cowboy she is an avid hunter and I am so hoping she doesn't meet the same fate.

I enjoy my cats so much even though they are all so different. Even as I write this blog I have the pleasure of Gizzy's company as he alternates between curling up on my lap and stretching out in front of my computer screen. He loves to be where ever I am. He follows me around outside and stays right with me when I let him inside. All the other cats grace me with their presence from time to time but Gizzy is just a good buddy. But, like I said, I really enjoy all my cats.

Animals provide such an interesting perspective to life. Dogs or cats, goats or horses, chickens or cockatiels, turtles or gold fish... each little spirit has a unique personality which enriches our own human experience. What a blessing it is to be able to have these sweet spirits in our lives.

TTFN :)

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 :)

Love is in the air...

My friend at work was just telling me that her young female, registered golden retriever had gone into heat recently and escaped the yard to, shall we say, visit the dogs in the neighborhood. Well, as unfortunate as this is I have got it beat.

I had not planned on breeding my goats this year. 1)My buck had that chest wound that nearly killed him. 2)I wasn't sure when I was going back up to Alaska. 3)I don't have kidding sheds ready. 4)I had decided that I don't like breeding doelings and wanted to wait for their 2nd year before breeding. And 5)I thought that it would be good for the older girls to take a break. SURPRIZE... the girls shared a different opinion and Buckwheat was all too accomodating.

It started with the girls being all cute and sassy at the fence line and Buckwheat responding by being all tough and showing off by knocking his head into the fence. He finally knocked into the fence enough to dent it so that it curled up at the bottom thus allowing the more persistant girls to crawl underneath and join him in his pen. "Well", I thought, "It is only a couple of does. That won't be too bad come kidding time". I fixed the fence and secured the gate which solved the problem of the girls getting to Bucky. Bucky, however, had gotten used to having company and wasn't at all pleased with my intervention. It took less than one day for him to figure out how to get to the girls. He jumped up on top of his little shed and from there jumped over the 6 ft fence which separated him from the girls. I am so thankful that he didn't get hurt in the process. The potential was certainly there.

He is sure a handsome boy. It seems he has fully recovered from his chest wound and the accompanying debilitating infection. He has begun to gain his weight back as well as regain his strength and endurance. He proudly marches about sweet talking the girls and keeping them in line. The girls are very respectful of Buckwheat and stick close to him even though his duty is done, (so to speak). Even the wethers stay close to him and respect his authority. I am so glad that he is doing so well.

The down side? Come April I will have 9 does due to kid. The 3 older does shouldn't be a problem but the 6 doelings (those who will be 1 yr old when they kid) will likely need a lot of attention. They need supervision, support and often human intervention. The first kidding is often hard for the young does to understand. Some of my does didn't know what to do with their kids until I would pick their first born up and clear the nose and get it to cry. Then motherhood kicked in and they were just fine. Another potential problem is that some of these young does are quite petite and Buckwheat is a big buck who has proven to throw big kids. Last year I had to pull 3 of his kids, 2 from Trixie and 1 from Dagnee. Well, not much I can do to change things now so here is hoping for the best! TTFN :)