Who says Dairy goats are just for milking?

I hate driving. Lets be truly honest about this, I just hate driving some place and especially for only one reason. So when given the opportunity I always try to batch trips together. So when we made plans to take Azalea (Jan 2010 Saanen kid) over to the breeder in the mountains we thought we would leave her for a few hours and go hiking while she hung out with the buck and we bred her again in a few hours. Well... things have a funny way of working out. The buck we wanted to use refused to service her so we changed our plans (after a certain twinge of disappointment) and used a younger buck instead. Now at this point it just seemed silly to leave her there as she was coming out of heat and rebreeding her in a few hours wasn't going to accomplish much. Since we didn't really want to give up the hike we just took her with us!

She spent a lot of the time back behind us whining about the walk. Especially on the up-hill portion. Really Azalea! You have 2 extra legs to keep up with!

"There is NO WAY you are making me cross this creek!!!" of course once she realized she could drink the water and stop panting, there was a little less complaining. Even though she still wouldn't cross the creek.

Sorry, the picture was a little blurry, but I love the fact that I caught her nibbling as we walked along. I wish I could take the goats out more. They are so fun to have along on the hike. I think it helps them bond to us, since we are the portion of their herd present. Maybe we will take this trail again but with one or two more of them in tow.

Breeding season frenzy

So this week, assuming that the week starts Sunday and finishes Saturday, we bred 12 does. Yes you read that right. 12. . .

On first thought you are thinking "OMG what is wrong with these people" but let's take it from a rational point of view (and of course with a list - I really like lists in case you couldn't tell from earlier posts).
1. We still have at least 7 does to breed who need to be bred later anyway
2. If you kid a lot of does at once then if you need to foster kids (triplets and singles) it is much easier plus you use up a whole weekend and then are not sitting around every weekend wondering when they will kid.
3. At least 1 of those does was a first attempted at AI which means OF COURSE she won't take (contrary to both does last year who took on the first try) and chances are a few other one will come back into heat.
4. Sr kids do better then jr kids (proven by all 3 kids who got their jr leg this year were sr kids)
5. We only have the togg buck for a limited time and we would hate to wait on any of the togg does and then have them re-cycle once he is gone.
6. And most importantly we are a little bit crazy.

So... who's up for a party at my house in 5 months?

Weeding

So picture this scenario - your landlord tells you you have too many weeds. You of course don't own a mower so what to you do? Obviously you get your goats to work for you! The whole pasture emptied! (see the small side yard on the left side of the house? That's where they all hiding) We even let the little girls out! Boy were they excited.

Everyone really munched and devoured the weeds. I will post an after picture at some point but it was completely barren by the time they finished. Talking about using your resources!

Kaylinn comes to the goat show!

Kaylinn showing Arizona! How cool is that!