Thursday, January 2, 2014

Counting Goats Before They Hatch

My plan this year is to keep a doeling from each of my Lamancha girls, breed them in the fall, and evaluate who I am keeping next spring when they kid. This plan is going to require another buck to breed the girls since Magnum will be their sire. It is also going to require my children's understanding that we are goat herders not goat hoarders. To get the most milk for my effort and the most bang for my buck, some goats are going to have to leave the farm.

Magnum still has Ike to keep him company, but I really, really don't need an Alpine buck no matter how pretty he is. My goodness he is pretty. I hope he doesn't have to end up at the butcher.

Things didn't work out with Westley last year, but his owner said she had several breedings that may interest me. I think my first choice would be a buck from this doe:





Second choice is this dam:




Both are bred to Westley.





And now we pray our plan comes to fruition. Have a lovely (soggy, grey, cold and dreary) day!
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4 comments:

  1. SandraJanuary 2, 2014 at 5:04 PM

    My plan is to cut back to four goats. We will see how that goes.
    Good Luck with your goat plans :)

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  2. KrisJanuary 2, 2014 at 9:02 PM

    Those does are beautiful. And I can't remember what happened to Wesley. I would so love to have more goats. I'll have to see what my 4 does have and IF I want to keep any of their doelings this year. I suppose I should. I just don't have all that much room to keep kids. I need a bigger farm!

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    Replies
    1. KristinJanuary 3, 2014 at 9:28 AM

      He ended up being CAE positive. Such a shame.

      You have all those beautiful sheep and the alpacas! Though you could always sell them to make room for more goats! lol You see what I love.

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    2. KrisJanuary 3, 2014 at 3:57 PM

      Ok, I remeber now. And I do believe I have too many sheep for winter. I was thinking this morning about selling lambs in the fall so I don't have so many going into winter again. I don't have enough sheep for summer though. So this might work out ok.

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