It has been too long since we last posted here.
A lot of things have been going on over the last couple months with our farm.
We found out that 2 of our does are pregnant, set a couple of the juniors up on dates, have been making plans for the new location of the farm, dealing with winter, and have been in search of a Livestock Guardian Dog.
The two does that were confirmed pregnant are Onyx and Lady.
Onyx has started to change into a sweeter, more personable doe. Even though she is still a little skittish, she seems to fight against that feeling, to creep nearer to me in the barn. Yesterday, she came over by my side, scaring one of the juniors away from me, and while she was there I took the opportunity to pick her up in my arms and gently set her into my lap. She remained there for a while just enjoying the soft stroking. Then she decided to nuzzle up under my chin, like a doeling does with it's mother. I encouraged her loving behavior by making soft little mommy goat grunts, and reciprocating her gentle nosing/nuzzling.
Lady seems to have some fairly decent hormonal changes going on. She is having false heats every couple of weeks, and she has started blowing her coat. Hopefully this does not signify that she is carrying 1 or 2 buck kids in there. Time will tell. She is due sometime between the end of this month and the end of March.
It is always funny when you put juniors in the breeding pen for the first time.
Manni was the first in the breeding pen, paired with Archar. Archar was his typical bucky self. He blubbered, snorted, flapped his gums, and pawwaed at Manni. Poor Manni had no clue what was going on, or why Archar had suddenly "lost his mind" & decided it would be fun to scare her so. We decided to help them both accomplish their task by leash breeding them instead of pen breeding.
Grace was next into the breeding pen, paired with Phoenix. This time the roles were reversed. Grace would stand there waiting and waiting, and Phoenix would just blubber and flap his gums at her. Grace would get annoyed and start walking away. Then Phoenix would decide it was time. It was quite the game of cat & mouse between them.
You may be wondering, "Wait, new location? What are you talking about?".
Well, we have decided to move a little over 2 hrs south to the property we own in southern New Hampshire. The property we will be moving back to is south facing, and wonderful for gardening. First things to be done as soon as the ground is soft enough are: installing the new fence lines, building the goat barn(s) and chicken coop(s), and tilling up & planting the garden areas. It is going to be a nice change. Our current location is too rocky for gardening, and it faces north which is also problematic.
Winter held off for a while, only giving us a dusting here and there. And then there came Winter Storm Nemo. It brought along 16 inches for our current farm, and 26 inches for our new location. We got about a 24 hr break, then got another couple inches of snow. Forecast is showing that it will continue like this at least through the weekend.
You wouldn't think it would be so difficult to find a Livestock Guardian Dog for the farm. However, finding one that is free to cheap is what we have found difficult. We were directed to one by a dear farm friend, and we are waiting to hear back from the farm that has him. Please pray over this with us, that this dog would be the perfect fit for herd.
A lot of things have been going on over the last couple months with our farm.
We found out that 2 of our does are pregnant, set a couple of the juniors up on dates, have been making plans for the new location of the farm, dealing with winter, and have been in search of a Livestock Guardian Dog.
The two does that were confirmed pregnant are Onyx and Lady.
Onyx has started to change into a sweeter, more personable doe. Even though she is still a little skittish, she seems to fight against that feeling, to creep nearer to me in the barn. Yesterday, she came over by my side, scaring one of the juniors away from me, and while she was there I took the opportunity to pick her up in my arms and gently set her into my lap. She remained there for a while just enjoying the soft stroking. Then she decided to nuzzle up under my chin, like a doeling does with it's mother. I encouraged her loving behavior by making soft little mommy goat grunts, and reciprocating her gentle nosing/nuzzling.
Lady seems to have some fairly decent hormonal changes going on. She is having false heats every couple of weeks, and she has started blowing her coat. Hopefully this does not signify that she is carrying 1 or 2 buck kids in there. Time will tell. She is due sometime between the end of this month and the end of March.
It is always funny when you put juniors in the breeding pen for the first time.
Manni was the first in the breeding pen, paired with Archar. Archar was his typical bucky self. He blubbered, snorted, flapped his gums, and pawwaed at Manni. Poor Manni had no clue what was going on, or why Archar had suddenly "lost his mind" & decided it would be fun to scare her so. We decided to help them both accomplish their task by leash breeding them instead of pen breeding.
Grace was next into the breeding pen, paired with Phoenix. This time the roles were reversed. Grace would stand there waiting and waiting, and Phoenix would just blubber and flap his gums at her. Grace would get annoyed and start walking away. Then Phoenix would decide it was time. It was quite the game of cat & mouse between them.
You may be wondering, "Wait, new location? What are you talking about?".
Well, we have decided to move a little over 2 hrs south to the property we own in southern New Hampshire. The property we will be moving back to is south facing, and wonderful for gardening. First things to be done as soon as the ground is soft enough are: installing the new fence lines, building the goat barn(s) and chicken coop(s), and tilling up & planting the garden areas. It is going to be a nice change. Our current location is too rocky for gardening, and it faces north which is also problematic.
Winter held off for a while, only giving us a dusting here and there. And then there came Winter Storm Nemo. It brought along 16 inches for our current farm, and 26 inches for our new location. We got about a 24 hr break, then got another couple inches of snow. Forecast is showing that it will continue like this at least through the weekend.
You wouldn't think it would be so difficult to find a Livestock Guardian Dog for the farm. However, finding one that is free to cheap is what we have found difficult. We were directed to one by a dear farm friend, and we are waiting to hear back from the farm that has him. Please pray over this with us, that this dog would be the perfect fit for herd.