AI Class

 

I saw a meme on Facebook this morning. It said, "Do something unusual today." I think we accomplished that this weekend! My husband and I, and our friends from Simply Dutch Farm spent the weekend out of town at a goat Artificial Insemination (AI) class taught by Cam Faircloth. Believe it or not, it was a really fun weekend. 

The class was on Sunday. After some consideration, I decided to bring my buck, Whiskey Baron up to be collected. I have a lot invested in him and my breeding plans would really be altered should anything happen to him. After arranging over the phone for Whiskey's collection, the purchase of a nitrogen tank, and all the equipment I would need to AI, Cam said, "see you on Saturday". 

Whoa, wait a second, the class is Sunday. 

"That's true, but the buck collection is Saturday."

And so we made a weekend of it. 

Whiskey taught some 250 pound Boer goats how it's done. While they were snorting and blubbering, he got right down to business and gave us more than enough swimmers for 50 straws. Then we had to take him to my father-in-law's farm to spend the night. 

Sunday morning, we debated whether to go ahead and get him or swing by and get him on our way home. It was a good thing we got him; we didn't get out of the class until 8:00pm and still had a three hour drive ahead of us!

I sure learned a lot and am excited to try some AI on my own does. Most of my senior does are already bred this year, but I may try to AI Betty Buttercup. I have Whiskey on ice as an insurance policy against anything happening to him. I traded 5 of his straws for 5 straws of another nice buck, and bought two straws of a third buck. 

If anyone is interested in any Whiskey semen, I have 25 I can sell at 5/$150. His dam is #1 on the Elite Doe list and he is one of about 15 lamancha bucks accepted into the Young Sire Development Program this year. His stock will go up once he has some daughters on the ground!