Updated 9/20/06
We have a much smaller herd of Boer goats now that we downsized. We decided to sell Sissy, Bethany, Petunia, Robin, and El Toro in addition to Sunny, Violet, Nox, and Meat.
We now have a small herd of six Boer goats and one Boer/Nubian cross. We kept Lazarus (buck), Hawk (buckling on loan to a friend), Nena (doe), Jackie (doe), Peppy (doeling), Emma (doeling), and Divinity (Boer/Nubian doeling).
Lazarus is now sharing a pasture with Nena, Jackie, Ashelin (Nubian), and Leila (Nubian). We hope to see some goat kids arrive around February.
Updated 8/15/06
We are downsizing our small herd of Boer goats. Sunny, Violet, Nox, and meat are for sale. Nox is the bottle kid we purchased from an outside source to use as a breeding buck. After he tested negative for CAE and CL we discovered that he has parrot mouth. Since Christi does not want to breed that fault into our herd he has to go.
Updated 6/27/06
Darlene had a buckling on 6/18. We went to my Dad's house for Father's Day and when we returned home we had a healthy dry buckling on the ground. Jim gets to name this buckling so he doesn't have a name yet.
Bethany had a doeling on 6/19. Christi and I were present during the birth and everything went smoothly. Christi gets to name this doeling and she doesn't have a name yet.
We are not sure if Adelaide was bred. If she was bred, she could have kids up until the first of August. Leila does not look like she was bred at all.
Updated 5/09/06
Ashelin's doe kid has been named Divinity since she is white like the candy and Jackie's doe kid has been named Peppy because she is extremely energetic.
The following does are expecting kids on the dates posted:
- Cameron (Nubian x Nubian) on June 14th
- Leila (Nubian x Boer) on June 16th
- Darlene (Nubian x Boer) on June 16th or 20th
- Bethany (Boer x Boer) on June 21st
- Adelaide (Nubian x Boer) on June 23rd
We do not know if Sunny, Petunia, or Violet were bred because we did not see them in heat and we did not see them get bred.
Updated 3/23/06
Jackie Brown gave us a single doeling on 3/22. When Christi & I went out to do our chores we noticed Jackie was in the buck pen and her udder had grown a lot overnight. We brought her in the kidding pen and noticed she was in the first stage of labor.
Christi & I watched her progress until she had her single doeling around 12:30 p.m. The doeling weighed 6-3/4 lbs. and has been doing nicely.
Sissy is now nursing Meat along with Robin. We noticed Meat was an opportunist and saw him nursing off of Sissy every time he could, until she became aware of him and kicked him off. Christi & I quit supplementing him with bottles and watched to make sure he was not starving. After three days of only getting Sissy's milk she accepted him and started nursing both of them.
Updated 3/17/06
Meat has fully recovered after spending four days in the house standing, falling, and walking sideways. He was doing so much better yesterday that we took him outside to hang out with the rest of the goat kids. For the last two days we have been holding Sissy so she will allow Meat to nurse from her.
Meat was unable to get up when he was born. By evening he was able to get up but would fall over immediately. The second day he would get up and stand for a few seconds and then again fall over. The third day he was able to stand for longer periods of time and then he would fall over. When he would get his balance, he would start walking, appear to be dizzy, and fall over. He was doing much better by the evening and even attempted to jump on the couch. The fourth day I didn't see him lose his balance, and he was actually jumping and playing just like the other kids.
Meat and Nox, our purchased bottle baby, stayed outside with Ashelin's kid and Robin for the first time last night. Robin and Ashelin's kid have been sleeping in a 2'x2' box that was placed in one of the 4'x4' shelters. We took the dog kennel that we kept in the house for Nox and Meat, and placed it next to the 2'x2' box. When I went outside this morning, Ashelin's kid was nursing, Nox was pestering me for a bottle, and Meat and Robin were snuggled together inside the kennel.
I don't know when more goat kids are expected, but I will let you know when they arrive.
Updated 3/12/06
Nina and Hawk were returned to the herd when Hawk was a month old. He plays with, okay harasses, the yearling Dairy Goats by butting them with his shoulder. They must enjoy playing with him too because they are very gentle with him. On 3/05, Hawk weighed 30 lbs. at 41 days of age. I call him my little "beefalo". He is the first goat that we have had that has been dam raised. Since Christi has handled and cuddled him daily since birth, he is just as friendly and tame as our bottle babies.
We bought a 3 day old buckling from a breeder that had triplets and only wanted to keep two of them. This buckling was born on 2/23 and weighed 9 lbs. at birth. He only nursed off his mom and had never seen a bottle. The first day we brought him home he wanted nothing to do with the bottle. My daughter would give him a bottle and he would not suckle. He would swallow when enough dripped into his mouth and that was it. The next morning I was getting anxious for him to suckle and he still wouldn't. I told Christi to tube him but she refused saying that he would drink when he was hungry enough. I allowed her to wait because this buckling was strong enough that we had to fight him to get the nipple in his mouth. By noon he started suckling and hasn't stopped since.
Ashelin, our Nubian Dairy Goat, had our first Nubian/Boer doe kid on 3/07. She was scheduled to give birth on 3/07 as well as 3/31. Christi checked on her in the afternoon and didn't see any sign of labor. We both assumed she wouldn't give birth until the 31st.
When Christi went out to feed, later than usual, (8:30 pm) she discovered a dry white kid in the shelter. She brought the kid in and got me so she could go look and see if there were anymore. Since there were not anymore, we moved Ashelin and her kid to the "kidding pen". We weighed the doeling and she was 9 lbs. Christi checked on Ashelin and the kid before she went to bed and everything looked good.
I went outside first thing the following morning and Ashelin and her kid were in the heavily bedded 4x4 building. The doeling was laying down and since I am used to removing Dairy goat kids from their dam, I got her up to check on her. She stood up, stretched, and walked over to her mom to nurse. That was a good indication that all was well with both of them.
Sissy had twins around noon today. She had a 9 lb. buckling and 6 lb. doeling. Jim finally got to name some goats and named the buckling Meat and the doeling Robin. Meat was unable to get up but Robin was up and looking for food within minutes. After waiting a short amount time for Meat to get up, I went to the barn and gave him 5ml of Selenium E-Gel. Christi placed him next to Sissy and he was able to nurse. After we made sure that he ate, we went into the house and finally had lunch. We went back outside around 3:30 p.m. and Meat still wasn't getting up. We attempted to get him to nurse from Sissy but gave up. Robin was doing fine so we left her with Sissy and brought Meat in the house. I made him a bottle with Ashelin's colostrum that was frozen on 3/8, and Christi was able to get him to eat 6 oz. Christi has been working on getting him up since we brought him in. Meat actually got up on his own this evening, so hopefully it is just a matter of time. We will keep his belly full and continue to try and get him up. If he is stronger and able to get up tomorrow, we will attempt to put him back with his sister and mom.
Updated 1/31/06
We had our first Boer goat buck kid on 1/23 at 2pm. Boer kids are small and adorable when they are born. We took pictures of him right after he was born and then when he was a couple of days old. Lord Hawksmoore weighed 11-1/2 lbs. at 8 days old and is growing nicely.
Since we didn't have kids from any of the does we purchased on 8/21/05, none of the does were bred prior to coming to our farm. The does were only exposed to Lazarus so he will be the only possible sire to all of our Boer goat kids.
We will be having Nubian/Boer goat kids this year because we bred Lazarus to four of our Purebred Registered Nubian Dairy Goats.
Ashelin is due on 3/07 or 3/31, Leila is due on 6/16, Darlene is due on 5/31 or 6/20, & Adelaide is due on 6/23. The two Purebred Registered Nubian Dairy Goat bucks that we have are related to these does and are their sire and half brother.