I need to sincerely apologize to anyone (If anyone!) who has been or has read this blog.  I am so far behind the winners have passed me!  I could use the usual 'busy' line and yes, I have been very busy, but, come on!  That busy?  So busy I can't sit down for two minutes and type out a few words?  Geez!  I manage that on Face Book, I can answer email, I can read a book, but I can't get up to date on this page??  Gosh darnit, yes I can!!

Since my last post near the end of May, a few things have happened!  Sweetpea had her babies.  A boy and girl.  Both chocolate brown.  The little boy has more white and the little girl has less white.  I am going to wait and see how their coats turn out before I decide what I will do with them.  Chances are I will keep the little girl, Anchor Baby and I will probably wether Oyster Boy but not until I am sure he does not have a suitable coat of hair.  He is still a purebred Myotonic goat even if he does not get the long silky hair so I might keep him as a buck and see if anyone might like him for a breeder.

Then time decided to FLY and it's almost Christmas time. Deck the halls and all that fun stuff.  Breeding here at the Stables is over.  I think we'll have some nice babies in the spring.  I did not, however, breed very many Myotonic goats this year.  I am seriously thinking of concentrating on my Pocket Goats and my MSFGA registered mini silky goats.

We rebuilt the breeding pens.  Only have two right now but by breeding time next year I hope to be back up to four. 

I don't often add pictures to Blogger because a couple of years ago I had a huge big blog I had been working on for 3 years and Blogger shut it down for no reason that I could determine and I could not even get a hold of anybody to ask why.

Anyway, these are the new pens and they are working out very well.

After breeding is over and everyone has settled down into their usual homes, it gets pretty quiet here.  But winter is coming.  So not looking forward to that!
 

Wow!  They changed this whole interface.  So not impressed.  I hate change.
Well, anyway, again, it's been a while since I last posted.  What's new about that?  You ask.  Haha.  Nothing, I guess.

So as of today we have 25 babies on the ground, Pebbles is about 10 years overdue, Spooky is due in 3 days, no, sorry, 4 days.  Sweetpea is due in June and so is Shadow though I am doubtful that she caught, and Isis is due in July.

At the moment, all the babies are doing very well.  Growing like bad weeds and getting too big for their little kid collars.  Good thing I can tell them apart now! Taming baby goats is one of the easiest things to do in the world.....wait....I think I'm about to give away a very important breeder secret.....Well, it's probably ok as long as you don't tell anybody...

All you need to do is find a blanket, lay on the blanket on the ground and let them jump all over you.  You don't need to manhandle them, force them, or even have treats.  Most of the little wee ones aren't interested in treats yet anyway.

Man!  I am so busy!!  Well, hopefully, my loyal followers, if I have any left, have not stopped visiting this blog. Yes, I know I get stupidly behind, way behind, BUT!!  The good news is kidding season is almost over.  The only doe I have left to kid is Sweetpea.  She is due June 24th.  Maybe she will go a little sooner, she is quite tubby.

Hot weather and dry, dry conditions continue.  Not rain for weeks.  I've been watering the pastures daily just to keep up with the consumption.  Still giving the bucks hay.  Every time the weather report calls for rain it passes us by.  Last year, in May, it rained for 5 weeks straight.

And if that is not enough, today is very hot, very humid and the water pump quit.  Fortunately, we have a great plumber and, knowing there is livestock here, he dropped everything and came right over.  So we're back in business.   Good thing, with this dry, hot weather...

Don't believe everything you read...

Especially if I write it!  I said in an earlier post that I was keeping both of Sprocket's kids.  Well....I might, but I might not.  I haven't really made up my mind.  We have a definite lack of female chromosomes floating around here this year so it's going to be a tough decision to let any of the girls go but...I can't keep them all!

Aahhh well, back to work...

You bet I'm starting a new post already!!

Baby rush!  Tweek had twins, boy and girl.  (YES!! A GIRL!!).  Trixie had twins...2 boys..GRRR, and Nemmie had a big...you guessed it..boy.  Wow, 19 kids, 5 girls, 14 boys.  Gonna have a lot of wethers running around.  

Well, I put Rhea and Jabberwocky out with the herd.  The little devil still comes running to me so that is great.  Sprocket and her two girls are out with the herd and they don't run away either so that is great.  Still several mommies in the barn and some in the pens but cold weather coming.  Want to make sure everybody has warm place to go.

Back to the barn to check on the babies....too busy to sit at the computer for long but I will catch this blog up when I have more time.  Promise...
 

Man, I am so far behind...

So this is about the third time I've started this post over.  Never seen to have time to keep my train of thought on the tracks.  Been derailed too many times by baby goats and lack of sleep.

Anyway, I am way behind posting on this blog as usual.  So, here we go:

Mar 14 12:  Hot Pants finally succumbed to her illness and is put to rest.

Mar 20 12:  Twin babies born to RMT Lexie ten days (at least) early.  Both were under 2 lbs and they are being bottle fed by Faye, down the road.  Both are doing very well.  Lexie is doing better but still not out of the woods.  She is weak and anemic but slowly, ever so slowly, improving.

Mar 25 12:  Twin doelings born to Sprocket.  Lydia is white with black points and has BLUE EYES!!  Juno is black and white and very cute!  I have decided to keep both girls.  Bummer.

Mar 26 12:  Twin boys born to Keebler.  Behemoth was HUGE.  7 lbs 6 ozs.  Poor little Doctor Finklestein came later as an after thought.  Keebler didn't even know she'd had him!

Mar 27 12:  Single buckling born to BJS Rhea.  6 lbs 13 ozs.  First time mom.  BIG baby.  We were there to assist and it was a good thing we were.  She had some trouble delivering that monster.

April 01 12:  Single buckling born to RMT Crystal at 12:45am on April Fools Day.  6 lbs 13 oz.  And damm if he doesn't have BROWN eyes.  Both parents have ice blue eyes.

So, yeah, I'm a little behind but at least I have a good reason.  It's kidding season!!  I've spend the better part of every day in the barn the last week and there is no end in sight.  Well, there is an end but it's a couple of months away.  


I think RMT Magic might be in labour tonight, will be checking her shortly.  Oh yee of little sleep.

Tonight looks to be no different if Magic really is in labour.  Geez!  You'd think they could wait until morning!   And in between birthin babies and feeding the rest of the animals there are constant repairs to the kidding pens cus those bored does just beat the crap out of them.  I'll be so glad when the horns are all gone.  My friend Genevieve was here today and did she give me crap about the horns.  HOLLEE!!  You'da thought I'd banded her head.  Did she give me crap.  But by the time she left she was asking me to come and band the horns on her goats.  Hahaha!  Go figure.


Well, back to the barn...

I am SOOO far behind I'm catching up!

I know, I know, I haven't posted since the end of January.  I know already!!  :)  My excuse is the same as always, busybusybusy...

We've been setting up the breeding pens and trying to decide who goes where.  That's when I discovered I have 12 breeding pens a 13 does all due around the same time....How the heck did I manage that?  Anyway, not all is lost.  I'll make room somehow.  Once the kids start coming won't have time for anything!!

We've got a sick one right now too.  RMT Hot Pants is not doing very well.  She is thin and weak and doesn't want to eat so I've been drenching her with water and molasses and hand feeding her Calf Manna and anything else I can get her to eat.  It's been a tough go and she's still not out of the woods.  Time will tell.

On a brighter note, all the does and the bucks are looking really good since I started giving them protein tubs.  Big round tubs full of molasses and vitamins and minerals.  They lick away at them and get the nutrients they need to keep them healthy all winter.  And, I have finally decided I've had enough of horns.  I've been banding the horns on all the goats, (not done yet), and they will eventually fall off.  No pain, no burning heads.  I still will not disbud little goats and I will not hack off horns as goats horns, unlike deer antlers, have nerves, blood vessels and feeling.  Banding is a very effective and humane way to remove horns.  I am tired of injuries, dead babies, goats caught in the fence, destroyed fences, you name it.  No more.  It'll take a month or more for the horn to fall off but once they do, healing is fast and painless.

Now, back down to the barn to check on Hot Pants...

That'll teach me...

So, just to set the record straight, I would like to publicly apologize to my husband for comparing him to a Pygmy goat in one of my posts.  He does not look like a Pygmy goat at all.  He is much taller and has a lot less hair and no horns.  I also need to apologize for calling his Boxers idiots.  His Boxers are not idiots   They are not that smart.

Never thought he'd actually read this blog!  :)

Having said that I can now get on with my post.

First and formost, we, at BJS, have acquired 4 new goats from a breeder in London, Ont.  They are registered Miniature Silky Fainting Goats and I am really excited about it!!

 This is Riding Mountain Treasures Shadow, registered Foundation doe.  In 2009 I actually brought this doe in from Manitoba and sold her to the breeder that I have bought her back from.  Make sense?  No?  Well, when I sold her I was not thinking about breeding Mini Silky goats but this year I thought about it and it just so happened the breeder had her and 3 other mini silkies for sale.  Shadow is now 2 years old.

 This is San Sujos Poncho, registered buck.  What a sweetheart!  He is very friendly and doesn't smell too bad.  Beautiful coat on him except for the part where another buck was chewing on him.  He comes all the way from BC and he is 2 years old.

 This is Crooked Post Goats Gumdrop, registration pending.  She is a tiny little doeling, born in May of 2011.  Poncho is her sire and her mom is next, Twilight Acres Sweetpea.

 As promised, Twilight acres Sweetpea, registered Foundation doe.  Sweetpea is 4 years old and extremely friendly.

So that is our new babies.  My registered Foundation doe, Esme was already bred to my Nigerian buck, Captain, when I brought these babies home so we'll just have to wait and see if her babies can be registered too!

The rest of the bred does are starting to look the part.  All of them are getting quite round.  Time to get those pens ready, Dear....

My Girls are getting round!

So I'm walking around the goat yard this afternoon looking at my girls.  I have 29 does and all but 12 of them are bred (I hope).  The majority of them are beginning to get very round.  Pygmy does are especially funny that way.  It's almost like the day after they are bred they blow up like balloons and stay that way until the little ones are weaned.  I mean, they look like they all swallowed a spare tire.  And waddle!!  Short little legs, big round belly (sounds like my husband), waddle, waddle waddle.  And if you laugh, they know what you are laughing at and will give you the worst stink eye you ever saw.

The Myotonic does are not showing as much.  Some of them never show much.  Some get huge but it's a more gradual thing with the Myotonics.   More lady like and dignified, as it were...

Pygmy does are like, BLAMMM!!!  BABIES COMING!!!  LOOK OUT BEHIND!!!
Myotonics are more like, hmmm, well, there might be a small change some time in the near future....hmmm....

 I mean look, just LOOK at the belly on this doe and she's not even bred!  Just imagine, if you can, the size of the bellies on the bred does!  It boggles the mind.

Seriously though, kidding season will be upon us soon and it's time to get prepared, well, as prepared as one can be for the arrival of new life.  It is always a wonder to me.  Every spring, the same thing happens.  New babies are born to does who, for the most part, created little lives last year.  BUT, the new little life is always different from the last.  Each one is a wonder upon itself.  A new colour, a new pattern, a new attitude.

Construction will, once again, start in the barn, where we build four kidding pens in each of 3 horse stalls and 2 pens in the small stall at the back of the barn, giving us a total of 14 pens.  Well, I have actually, 17 bred does.  How the heck...ok, so it's going to happen this way.  One doe will be placed in each pen with the exception on the middle stall which will be divided into 3 kidding pens.  One doe will go into each smaller pen and 3 does, younger ones, will be put into the larger kidding pen making room for the extra doe on the first stall.  (I know, confusing).  Anyway, there are still two more does to kid, you say.  Why, yes, there is.  Oh, darn!
Well, it just so happens that I was a forward thinker, for a change.  The last two does are not due to kid until the following month.  Late April or May.  So there will be room in the barn for them.  Ha!! 

But first, I need to convince my wonderful husband that he needs to, once again, put the barn back together.  GEEZ!!  He just took it all apart back in August.  He's not a goat lover, like me. In fact, he pretty much steers clear of all the animals except his two idiot Boxers.  But every now and then, I do require his expertise in some areas, like, say, making kidding pens that won't collapse on the kids.  He's good at that sort of thing.  :)  And since it needs to be completed before the middle of March I better get busy convincing...

MINIATURE SILKY FAINTING GOATS!!!

We just got some great news in the mail today!  Registrations from the Miniature Silky Fainting Goat Association for Esme and Dessie.  They have both been approved for foundation status!!!  We had applied for registration for Zeusy too but his hair isn't long enough.  That's ok, we'll just have to get a really good little buck.  So exciting!!