::goats having babies::

I know its Halloween.  I promise I will take lots of pictures of the shorties tonight and go on and on about it.  Pinkie swear.  But right now I am thinking goats.  And since Quinny decided he wanted an unheard of second nap before 1, lets talk goats.

We started out with two Nigerian Dwarf wethers (wether = neutered boy goat).  They were good times.  They led to a few super cheap pygmy goats off craigslist.  Some of which I managed to sucker someone into letting her buck breed with.  Leading to our first round of baby goats.  Also good times.  Then I started to fall  in love with the correct conformation that pygmy goats are supposed to have.  Think of taking brand new Play Dough straight out of that full yellow container.  Take some sticks and give it legs to stand on.  That is a pretty close estimate of what an ideal pygmy goat looks like.  Any animal that is supposed to be short and round is meant for me.  But you can't easily find that kind of roundness in the cheap craigslist crew.  After fair a few years ago we sold off the starter herd and invested in some higher quality animals.  By we - I am talking about Josh's exwife Jenni and I.  We are pretty darn friendly with each other and want Emma and Jenni's boyfriend daughter Shealynn to have some quality goaties to show.  (Did you follow any of that?  I will draw you a chart if needed.)

Now this year we invested in a nice buck to breed to all the does we have collected.  All our stock now is registered.  This year we will be taking the does in to make sure they are bred.  They actually get a real ultrasound from the vet.  This will be my first time to get an ultrasound for a goat.  They go in about two weeks.  I will update after that, I am so curious.  

At this point we have a nice little herd here.

We have Grandma Willow - a retired from breeding former beauty queen.  She and I both struggle with our weight.  You turn your back on her and she looks like she is having quads.  I was shocked that when the girls showed her this year she was the old pro of the group.  Lily ended up showing her in the costume class.  She was given to me by a friend and we hope she lives out her old age here with us.  She is the boss of the doe herd. 

Nelly - This is the goat that I had to give CPR to when she was born.  She is a super tame little baby doll.  Very friendly.  We hope she is bred and due at this end of January.  This will be her first baby.  If she is bred I bet she is only having one. 
 

Betty- Twin of Bo and granddaughter of Willow.  She is very light in color and by far the shy girl of our ladies.  She can be a little difficult to handle since she basically hates all humans.  If she is bred this will be her first kidding.  I vote twins for her.   

Emme -  We bought her bred last year.  She had a single baby buck, but he did not survive delivery.  We hope for better luck this round.  She usually have triplets.  Fingers crossed.

Blake - This is Emme's adult daughter.  She is so sweet.  She is the friendliest goat I have ever met, and was triplet.  We hope she is bred but my instinct says she's not.  If she is not bred we will try again with her latter this winter.  

Bo - He is the twin of Betty.  A nice wether.  I have him keep company with our buck.  He is very friendly and sweet.

Madden - This is a buck that we bought a few months ago.  This is my first round with bucks.  You can tell he was not handled much as a baby.  He acts very wild.  I have to tackle him to trim his feet.  But he makes nice babies.  I think we will keep him for a year or two.  If he had a good personality I might love him more, but I can't stand animals that are not very much fun.  BUT he is so handsome.