Monday, May 27, 2013

A Few Animals Is All It Takes To Start A Farm

Good Day my wonderful friends!

All of you know that I have not been a "farm wife" very long. We decided just a few years ago to start out farm. We started out slow with just a few chickens and a bottle baby goat. We added a few goats as we could. We saved and bought a good billy goat for $150. We added a few does as we could after waiting to find the right price on the right ones. We bought older ones that only have 5 or 6 more kidding's left. They were proven mothers but getting older so the man no longer wanted them. They two older does we bought were already bred and we got them for $100 each. In our eyes that meant we would have babies on the ground shortly. That worked for 1 of the does but the other doe lost her twins about a month before her due date. Luckily we didn't anticipate those babies being money makers but more to grow our heard. The doe who was able to complete her pregnancy gave us one billy and one female. The female was gorgeous in color and we named her Sunday she was born on a Sunday and was a miracle baby as she was born in the mud along with her brother and we didn't think either of them would live). The billy she gave us as a kid was traded for a black headed doe (that we named Jazzy because we traded her for Jasper the little billy that was the first goat ever born on our farm)  that would serve to raise the value of our goats in the traditional black head Boers once she is able to kid herself.  That was back in February. She still isn't old enough to breed yet but it has been wonderful to see her grow. The second doe that had babies, Daisy, had hers premature and we lost both of them. Both were bucks. 

Princess, a winning show goat that we bought from a lady that lived near us, was the next to have babies. She was bred when we bought her for $100. She had two billies. One we have decided to keep. Princess was not a very good mother. She would only feed one of the babies. Luckily, Sallie Mae, a doe we bought for $40 was pregnant and gave birth a week later to twin boys. She was able to take on Princess other baby. We did finally loose him due to the fact he had mites and we didn't realize how bad they were but we have sold both of Sallie's billy babies for $50 each. Her boys will be leaving today.

We traded some tires for another older female named Horns. She is now bred and should be having babies in a few months. Again she is an older goat and may produce only a few kids, if any for us. 

Right now the does that we have pregnant are:

 Rosie, a show winning goat we buckled and bought for $200. She is an all brown goat and adorable, lovely, and friendly. This will be her first kidding. We are sure she will produce beautiful goats with wonderful coloring. We do not know how she will be as a mother but she is a really loving goat and interacts well with the rest of the herd.

Georgia, a massive huge show goat we got for $75 because she kept getting out of the original owners pen. We are not sure if she has kidded before but she has gotten very loving during her pregnancy. She normally doesn't want to be handled or touched. She is a kicker and will get you if you come up behind her. I am interested in seeing how she does as a mother.

Hannah one of the original 4 goats we bought..she gave us Sunday and Jasper in January. She is a wonderful and protective mother that allows her kids to nurse a little too long. However, she has a wonderful personality and stays close to her kids.

Holly, Hannah's sister. She is the one that lost her babies in December. After giving her some time to heal we decided to try her again. We are not sure how she is as a mother yet but she gets really loving during pregnancy. Outside of pregnancy she is one of those you have to watch or she will horn you.

Sarah Beth, an all white show goat that we bought from a dear friend for $125. She has never been bred before so we aren't sure what kind of mother she will be. However, she is one of the most loving of all our goats and loves to be petted. Right now she has a swollen foot and is receiving antibiotics as we aren't sure for certain if we just waited to long to cut her hooves back or if she twisted it and got hurt.

Dorothy, a first place show goat that we bought from another friend for just $100. This will be her second kidding (Princess is her daughter). We have not had her during a kidding so not sure how she is as a mother. She tends to be one of our more unsociable goats, even though she was shown at the fair and won first place. She tends to like to here you talk to her but isn't fond of being touched.

Daisy,  who lost a set of babies in February due to prematurity. It was her first set of babies and she had twins. I believe she was horned by another goat that caused her to go into labor early. She was my second goat ever that I bought. She loves me and doesn't realize she is a goat. I think this came out when she gave birth. She doesn't really care for being a mother..she is more of a baby. Of course, she kidded prematurely and so that may have had a lot to do with why she didn't really care for the first babies. We are hoping a second kidding will kick her motherly instincts in. She does produce a good amount of milk and so we can always milk her and bottle feed if she proves to not be a good mother. 

Sallie, who had her first set of kids in December and took on a 3rd baby to nurse. As a first time mom she did wonderfully and produced enough milk for 3 babies to survive. She never once missed a beat when it came to her babies.

Princess, she had a first kidding this year and had twins. She didn't prove to be a very good mother and didn't have very much milk. This gives us a heads up to breed her when we are breeding others so we have extra milk for her babies.
Although most people have little maintenance of their goats in the summer we do choose to shear ours so they remain cooler and we are better able to control the flies, mites, and lice that they can get. They get nails clipped once a month. as well, which can be a little time consuming. I do know of people who have said that if you have rocks and such for the goats to climb on that their hooves won't need to be clipped. I have not found this to be accurate in my own herd, however. My particular herd just looks at the rocks as if they are merely an a neausance to walk around instead of over.




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