Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Goat Breeding is (Still) Frustrating

Last fall's series of goat dates and buck leasing was enough to make me buy a buck last spring. Magnum, a very nice papered LaMancha from Raven's Haven, was born in February. Then the rain started and never stopped. And he had round after round of illness. Coccidiosis, then worms, then coccidiosis, etc, etc, etc. I had him on  medicated feed, for whatever that's worth (which is apparently not much), 2 or 3 different coccidia treatements, regular worming, and emergency worming.

Now it's breeding time. And Magnum is much smaller than he should be. He's in rut. He likes the yearling Alpines and the Mini-mancha doelings (all of whom he's not allowed to breed), but he's afraid of the senior does. Can't say as I blame him, they're an intimidating lot.


I was planning to add a buck next year anyway, so I thought, "Self, why don't we just add a 2-3 year old buck now (and perhaps a yearling doe)?" Yeah, good thought, except I can't find a good-looking, registered LaMancha buck anywhere in the south east and nobody has written me back about the yearling I was looking at. Seriously folks, if you've sold something you listed online, take the ad down!

I guess I just have to be patient. I'm not feeling patient after all the trouble I had with Kat last year. I want her bred ASAP! I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't get bred again this year. I don't feel like I can keep an animal who eats a lot and is only giving a quart a day for the past year. Did I mention she eats a lot?

If anyone knows of any good quality Lamancha bucks or yearling does (in milk would be nice) in GA or AL, please let me know!

5 comments:

  1. I hope you find a buck! I know that we had to look quite a while to find a Tunis Ram that was in a reasonable distance.
    Good Luck!

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  2. I'm going to have to find a doe in milk for me, it looks like. Sandy is already trying to dry up. I'm still milking Penlope from Feb. She's great. If I could find another doe like her, that would be nice.

    I just sent John Henry up the road for a month to breed my friend's 2 does. Then I will start my breeding when I get him back. I will be looking for a Boer buck for Sandy.

    I hope you find a good buck soon! Wishing you luck. Why are all the bucks for sale all year til breeding season?? Then you can't find a single one.

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    1. I'm sorry to hear that Sandy is drying up. Mine have slowed down a bit but I'm still getting 1.5 gal a day. I've got excellent news on the buck front. I'll post as soon as I get some new pictures of him.

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  3. Good luck finding new goats ☺

    Magnum is a cutie, I hope he gets over his nervousness around the older ladies and gets down to business for ya ☺

    My guy is ready to go but I'm making them wait until Nov./Dec. He stinks up to high heaven this year. I guess the older they get the stinkier they become. I keep telling him the next time it rains he better stand in it and wash some of that funk off!!!

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    Replies
    1. Goats and rain....yeah right. You'll have to lock him out of the barn to make that happen. We have a very mild climate and I'd rather have kids in Feb-March than wait until later.

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