Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Saturday, January 4, 2014

Tommy Boy - Nailed It

So remember just the other day I gave a list of goat due dates? Well, let's just scrap that and start all over. Apparently all that driving around I did for Dahli and Debbie didn't amount to a hill of beans. Good thing we got Tommy.

There he is, Tommy Boy. Look at that hair!

Based on the horrific goings-on that occurred yesterday we can assume that neither Debbie nor Dahli were bred by that huge Nubian. For the record, Tommy loves it here. Debbie and Dahli love him. It's all worked out very nicely.

He's short but Debbie likes him.

Going forward the new dates appear to be:

Nibbles 4/17 - 4/19
Debbie 5/28
Dahli 5/28 - 5/30
Daisy 5/27 - 5/31
Darla 5/24 - 5/28

I'm going to be swimmin' in goatie babies. And you know how excited I am to be making..... All. That. Money. Hundred dolla billz, y'all. Ching-ching gettin' paid over here... It's all about the pentiums, baby.. I mean.. benjamins.
[Editor's note: you know who you are, fellow Weird Al fan.]

But what if I don't sell all those babies? Well, if we have some leftovers then we will take all that folding money from our big sales, fence around the pond, and let the remaining goaties continue our clearing project. Then this fall we can fire up the grill, have us some goat chops, and think about how we are reaching our goals by effectively managing our farm.

My favorite, Miss Duck - not a stanky goat.

Back to Debbie and Dahli - what's the deal with them not being bred? I dunno.  It may have to do with the fact that I can't count and might have had the days wrong. But actually I think my friend Vicki had it figured out. She thought that maybe all that riding around in the truck may be throwing the Double D's out of heat.

I thought maybe Vicki was crazy but then the owner of that Nubian buck basically said the same thing about her own doe... well, then it didn't sound so crazy after all. If I think about it, the best success we've had was when Debbie was left with a buck for several weeks or when we had SnaggleHorn here. So that could be it.

Am I now sold on having a buck on staff full time?

No.

We are still gonna have to find a place for him to be in his "off season." And we are going to have to do more fencing. There is also the big concern - what if he gets to the ladies and breeds them before we are ready for that?

And then there is all that stank.

Also, he'll need a friend. I am not his friend. Fortunately for him, he just runs from me. I didn't even have to get the dog. But at some point I'm going to have to pull him out of the goat yard and he will need a buddy.

So we'll hope for all's well that ends well, possibly in a goat barbeque. But let's keep our fingers crossed for two perfect doelings from each momma and a new fenced in area for Tommy Boy.

Happy Saturday, everyone! What do you think about Tommy Boy's hair?


5 comments:

buddeshepherd said...

Have you ever thought of immigrating to Florida. It hardly ever freezes and you can walk outside and pick an orange off a tree. It is better if it is in your yard and the grumpy neighbor doesn't chase you down the street.
You also can't actually understand some people but I've found that the "smile and nod" school of conversation works quite well.
Just my humble opinion.

Unknown said...

Well, we had no luck driving Miss Daisy to her "date" last year. You may be on to something Vicki!

Rapid Falls Farm said...

Tommy is a beautiful boy!! Our buck, named bilbo baggins, is a saneen/ oberhasli mix. He's furry but not that furry!!! I let him run with the girls this fall and I have some estimates on dates but really no idea. It's his first breeding season and he got all nasty and stanky and was obsessed with the girls ... And himself ... But who knows with goats really ? I know I haven't seen the girls show any signs of heat since November. And my Nubian is showing signs of change..... It's torture guessing & waiting! We too plan on selling the girls and frying up the boys! Goat meat = delicious :) I'm so excited to try boer next. We plan on bringing a boer doe home this spring! Good luck on the babies!! Oh, and I live in Maine & we have 16 inches of snow& last night was 12 below with a wind chill making it feel like 45 below. :( so I do hope our goat babies aren't due until this cold snap goes away!

Unknown said...

That's quite the hair! It's nice the ladies lie him, and they all get along. Maybe he could have a retired, menopausal female for a pal? No babies but they could, ya know, be friendly?

Ann from KY said...

also could be a nutritional issue. Here in KY, we are selenium deficient. I had a cow who would not breed back and the vet gave it a shot of vit e and selenium and she started cycling correctly. She went on to have a calf and has ever year since.
I try to keep minerals from Sweetlix in front of my goats all the time.

I agree a buck is not fun to keep but the math works out so much better than stud service. I have a buck here as well.

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