Friday, April 30, 2010

Our New Additions.......

One can never have too many goats right?  I love spotty goats and have wanted spotted Kinders ever since I got my first Kinder goat 3 years ago.  Yesterday the Youngun and I loaded up at 6:30 AM and headed up to Granny Bob's house.  From there we loaded into her Jeep and began our journey to Prairie Fruits Farm in Champaign IL.  About 2 and 1/2 hours later we arrived.  We were greeted by Aaron, herd manager of the farm.  Aaron is a wonderful young man who promptly showed us to the nursery which was filled with baby goats of all shapes and sizes.  Nubians and LaManchas were everywhere!  After picking out our two kids, Aaron graciously took us to the back pasture to meet the ladies, then on a brief tour of the milking facilities.  Such a nice set up they have there and it was wonderful to learn how they do things. 

Then it was on the road again with our precious cargo in tow.  2 1/2 hours back to Granny Bob's house where we let the kidlets out in her fenced yard to stretch their legs before getting in our truck to make the 1 hour journey home.  A long day, but well worth it in the end. 

Without further ado, allow me to present..

Prairie Fruits Farm Millicent





Prairie Fruits Farm Heather




Both are ADGA registerable, both have moon spots, and both are adorable! 

In other goat news around the homestead, Lightning got wethered last night.  He has already, at not quite 8 weeks, begun spraying himself, and licking "himself" so he had to be wethered!  Silly boy!  He was pretty funny with his tongue flapping, and buck talking. 
Goodwife Farm's Lightning - wether
Osiris and Carl are both soo very nice, in different ways that I'm really struggling about what to do with them.  I think I will keep Osiris though instead of Carl because Osiris has nice long legs.  I don't like short stubby goats and that's what Carl is.  He is a beautiful example of a Kinder goat, just much shorter than what I like.  The worst part about breeding goats is that you just can't keep them all! 

Goodwife Farm's Osiris.....keeping for a future herd sire and will use him on my Nubians

Till next time.........God Bless!

11 comments:

  1. Thank you for the introduction to part of your goat family.

    Have a great weekend ~ FlowerLady

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  2. Love the names of your goats. We'll be looking for a name when our calf comes, maybe we'll do a contest on our blog!

    I love goats, Mike doesn't :o( so... now I love my cows :o)

    What fun you'll have with your new babes.
    Have a very blessed weekend,
    Kelle

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  3. I agree ... It's hard not to want to keep them all! Your new kids are beautiful!

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  4. They both are adorable. I would have a horrible time choosing because I would want them all.

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  5. Love the new additions. I'm partial to spots as well.

    I hate having to sell cattle too. I get to attached. No surprise there, huh!

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  6. Not being able to keep them all would be the worst part about breeding horses as well. I do love my babies but my checkbook does not.

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  7. Love the baby goats! Okay...without TOO much detail, how to you take care of the neuter thing? I know someone who uses rubberbands. I wonder if that's okay..

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  8. Hi Parsley! No gory details around here. We use a burdizzo. It's a clamp that sort of looks like a giant pair of pliers? Sort of? Anywho, you just find the cord, making sure the teste is below it and clamp. Then you do the other side. No muss, no fuss! It crushes the cord making sure no semen can get through. They walk a little funny for about 5 minutes afterward, then they are fine! ;)

    We used to band calves, but I don't like to use them on goats. On calves you do it when they are about 3 days old, lessening your chances of blood poisoning. With bucks (male goats) you wait until they are older to wether them, and I worry too much about blood poisoning to band them. :)

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  9. Okay...well that explains it a little for me. We don't have goats but we used to pet sit for friends that have them. We loved the job but their pens weren't very good and somehow the buggers got out all the time when they were on vacation!

    Thanks for the education. I like learning ANYTHING about animals.

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  10. Glad to help! I feel the same way as you, love to learn animals!

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  11. Oh my, I do love me some spotty goats! That's why I got my Belle. I'd be sorely tempted to name the little Heather "Bambi", or I guess "Faleen" (sp?) would be a better choice since that's his gf.

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