Okay, so now our beautiful new buck has a name: Capriole's GD Excursion! To quote, it's difficult to come up with "ex" names. I think it's appropriate, because it's quite an excursion from the southeast corner of Washington State to the Northwest corner! He's coming home on February 8!!
We have also gone over to Cle Elum to pickup the two girls that we had purchased from Lookout Mountain Boers! Unfortunately for my husband, I had had my eye on a third, but had decided that I just couldn't afford to get one more - but once I got to actually see her, I just couldn't resist! So, as Patti told me, we got one of each from her: Traditional, Paint, RED!
The weather was beautiful - but a tad cold. It was 3F when we arrived at Patti Gylling's house yesterday morning, and it didn't get warmer until after we left and got about 20 miles down the road. BUT, everything about the trip was beautiful. For anyone that has not had the opportunity to drive I-90 up through Snoqualmie Pass, you've got to put this on your "MUST DO" list! The views were breathtaking!
Now that we've added these girls, we have been listening to them fight with my girls all night. It's a slow process as they establish their place within the herd - but I know that it will happen. And with there being three of them, I'm not worried that they'll be bullied too bad. It won't be long before they're all just one big happy family!
We're still waiting on kids, but I'm certain that it's going to happen - I've just accepted the fact that I didn't pay attention to when they were breeding - and that it must have been later than I had expected. BUT, next year - this will NOT be a question!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Can You Spare a Buck?
Well okay, we weren't really looking for a spare buck, instead we were looking for a buck that would compliment our existing herd, as well as bringing in completely new bloodlines.
What we found was a super buck! He's just 10 months old, has no name, but brings with him a whole heap o' good looking lines!
My goal has been to own an animal bred by Capriole Boers and even more, one with Obsession in their background. This guy brings me that line. That's on the dam side, on his sire's side, he brings EGGS! I didn't know if I would get a doe or a buck - but when this buck was presented to me, I couldn't hardly wait to add him to my herd.
This brings our new additions (none of which are here yet) to 2 new does (from Lookout Mountain Boers) and 1 new buck! We are still waiting on our 2008 kids - and as you know if you have paid any attention at all, I am NEVER going to NOT know when my animals are breeding!
As part of my "real" job, I travel around the US promoting the company I work for AGS Internet Services and selling websites and web services to the RV Park & Campground Industry. What I have figured out is that I leave on Sunday for New Orleans for 5 days, and I'm just certain that these girls have all made a note of the fact that I'll be gone, and are waiting until that time. (My husband is SO not pleased with this possibility!)
So, with the new animals coming soon - and the kids coming when they get around to it, we're definitely on our way to being a real goat farm!
What we found was a super buck! He's just 10 months old, has no name, but brings with him a whole heap o' good looking lines!
My goal has been to own an animal bred by Capriole Boers and even more, one with Obsession in their background. This guy brings me that line. That's on the dam side, on his sire's side, he brings EGGS! I didn't know if I would get a doe or a buck - but when this buck was presented to me, I couldn't hardly wait to add him to my herd.
This brings our new additions (none of which are here yet) to 2 new does (from Lookout Mountain Boers) and 1 new buck! We are still waiting on our 2008 kids - and as you know if you have paid any attention at all, I am NEVER going to NOT know when my animals are breeding!
As part of my "real" job, I travel around the US promoting the company I work for AGS Internet Services and selling websites and web services to the RV Park & Campground Industry. What I have figured out is that I leave on Sunday for New Orleans for 5 days, and I'm just certain that these girls have all made a note of the fact that I'll be gone, and are waiting until that time. (My husband is SO not pleased with this possibility!)
So, with the new animals coming soon - and the kids coming when they get around to it, we're definitely on our way to being a real goat farm!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Making God Laugh
I've done it again. That's my latest thought. I made a plan, and God got a chuckle. When I planned to have kids the end of December / first of January, God must have decided that I was getting a bit more "out of control" and decided that he was just going to do it HIS way, and now ... here I am ... having waited more than 2 weeks for kids. Now for those that know me, you know I've been THINKING it is any day now. And for those that really know me, you know that I am not the most patient of people. And for my family, yes, I am admitting that my lack of control is beyond frustrating and has now gone all the way to ... "are you sure these boer goats are REALLY pregnant????"
I have spent the past two weeks babying my girls (boer goat does). I have taken them warm water every evening. I have bought them treats (bribery MIGHT work) that are for goats (they smell like licorice - no idea what they really taste like) and my goats love them. I have been scratching necks and backs - and now, I think these girls are just enjoying the pampering so much they've decided that they can forgo delivery for just another day or two ...
And now, it's apparent, I've lost my flippin' mind! I am to the point that I am giving these girls credit for so much more planning than ever could have been possible. BUT, it passes the time, makes me laugh at myself and to be honest, causes me to continue to believe that "it's any time now!" Ahhh... the bliss of lost minds!
As soon as I do have kids, I am going to post new photos to the Llama Ridge Ranch & Boer Goats, Too! website. And from that point on, I might manage to find my mind again.
... off to continue listening to God laugh!
I have spent the past two weeks babying my girls (boer goat does). I have taken them warm water every evening. I have bought them treats (bribery MIGHT work) that are for goats (they smell like licorice - no idea what they really taste like) and my goats love them. I have been scratching necks and backs - and now, I think these girls are just enjoying the pampering so much they've decided that they can forgo delivery for just another day or two ...
And now, it's apparent, I've lost my flippin' mind! I am to the point that I am giving these girls credit for so much more planning than ever could have been possible. BUT, it passes the time, makes me laugh at myself and to be honest, causes me to continue to believe that "it's any time now!" Ahhh... the bliss of lost minds!
As soon as I do have kids, I am going to post new photos to the Llama Ridge Ranch & Boer Goats, Too! website. And from that point on, I might manage to find my mind again.
... off to continue listening to God laugh!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Do you see what I see ... ???
Okay, this is it ... well, okay, that's what I thought LAST night! Tonight I would love to say yup, that is "goo" that I am seeing from my one doe - but well, maybe it's not. Maybe it was just something else OR maybe it was what I thought it was, and now it's gone and I'm waiting for the other "goo" to start. Ohfercriminy, what in the world is it that I'm supposed to be finding, anyway!
But again, while we are waiting, we've been looking at many of the other things that we have heard that we need or at the very least "should have". The most interesting of things is a "kid box" which is the box you put the kid in to disbud them. (I learned last night that disbudding takes place at 10 days or less, and dehorning is after 10 days.) I'm serious, I'm learning a LOT while I wait.
The one sad part of this is that I went to my local feed store to get some iodine for the navels of these kids that I'm sure must be going to be arriving just any time. Now many of you are probably not aware of the fact that you can't buy iodine these days, due to the amount of meth users that apparently use it in their cooking. It's so sad that those things that we need to run our businesses are being banned due to those that find unethical and illegal uses for the products. Thankfully, my feed store knows me, and knows that I have animals, and is more than willing to go and get some for me from some unknown point. But, it's still sad that I can't just grab it off the shelf like I could not so long ago.
For now, I'll go back to my homework and continue to listen ...
But again, while we are waiting, we've been looking at many of the other things that we have heard that we need or at the very least "should have". The most interesting of things is a "kid box" which is the box you put the kid in to disbud them. (I learned last night that disbudding takes place at 10 days or less, and dehorning is after 10 days.) I'm serious, I'm learning a LOT while I wait.
The one sad part of this is that I went to my local feed store to get some iodine for the navels of these kids that I'm sure must be going to be arriving just any time. Now many of you are probably not aware of the fact that you can't buy iodine these days, due to the amount of meth users that apparently use it in their cooking. It's so sad that those things that we need to run our businesses are being banned due to those that find unethical and illegal uses for the products. Thankfully, my feed store knows me, and knows that I have animals, and is more than willing to go and get some for me from some unknown point. But, it's still sad that I can't just grab it off the shelf like I could not so long ago.
For now, I'll go back to my homework and continue to listen ...
Sunday, January 6, 2008
The Chores ...
You know, the thought of having goats and llamas is always a great thought ... in SUMMER! But, winter is a horrible time to have animals. Well, it's horrible if mud isn't your favorite color, if urine isn't your favorite smell and if wet isn't your most comfortable clothing!
We spent the day cleaning out the goat girls' housing. This was done last week, too. And we went to a lot of work trying to figure out the BEST materials to put down to keep them warm and dry ... and I thought we had finally found it ... but that was Thursday! By today, the area was wet and smelled ... so it's time to keep trying.
We had used Stall Dry last week - this week we went with something called Sweet PDZ. The folks at Airport Garden Center in Port Angeles recommended that we try this, so we decided that we'd see if it worked. Hopefully it's better than the Stall Dry.
Oh, and of course, there's the continual waiting. I would have sworn that we would have kids by now ... but that will teach me to swear. But, for all the time that we spend waiting, we're spending it reading up on all the things that we didn't know that we're pretty sure we should know, and really hoping we won't need to know. You know, the "problem" deliveries.
In all of our travels we decided it would be a good idea to pick up some nipples (somebody said that every kid has their own preference, so we got 3 of them) from Clallam Co-op / True Value Hardware. The folks here are so helpful when it comes to finding things - and if they don't have it, most of the time they are more than willing to do some research on the product to see if it's something they can carry. THIS is great customer service!
Okay, so it's back to baby watch!
We spent the day cleaning out the goat girls' housing. This was done last week, too. And we went to a lot of work trying to figure out the BEST materials to put down to keep them warm and dry ... and I thought we had finally found it ... but that was Thursday! By today, the area was wet and smelled ... so it's time to keep trying.
We had used Stall Dry last week - this week we went with something called Sweet PDZ. The folks at Airport Garden Center in Port Angeles recommended that we try this, so we decided that we'd see if it worked. Hopefully it's better than the Stall Dry.
Oh, and of course, there's the continual waiting. I would have sworn that we would have kids by now ... but that will teach me to swear. But, for all the time that we spend waiting, we're spending it reading up on all the things that we didn't know that we're pretty sure we should know, and really hoping we won't need to know. You know, the "problem" deliveries.
In all of our travels we decided it would be a good idea to pick up some nipples (somebody said that every kid has their own preference, so we got 3 of them) from Clallam Co-op / True Value Hardware. The folks here are so helpful when it comes to finding things - and if they don't have it, most of the time they are more than willing to do some research on the product to see if it's something they can carry. THIS is great customer service!
Okay, so it's back to baby watch!
Friday, January 4, 2008
What's New
Well, we have managed to get through the holidays without much fan fare - and unfortunately, without any "kids"! We are waiting not so patiently for the arrival. We currently have 7 does bred and 3 of them should be kidding sometime soon (that translates to, we didn't keep close enough tabs / records on when breeding occurred to know EXACTLY when!) This will definitely change next year.
While we're waiting, we've been working on upgrading the feeders and trying to find new and improved ways to keep goat feet dry in our very "wet" world! For those of you that may be geographically challenged, we are located in the northwest part of Washington state (the Olympic Peninsula) just 16 miles across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Victoria, British Columbia. Keeping feet dry in this climate is more challenging than trying to corral goats without feed!
Stay tuned, I'll make sure that we get baby boer goat pictures posted as soon as we can!
While we're waiting, we've been working on upgrading the feeders and trying to find new and improved ways to keep goat feet dry in our very "wet" world! For those of you that may be geographically challenged, we are located in the northwest part of Washington state (the Olympic Peninsula) just 16 miles across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Victoria, British Columbia. Keeping feet dry in this climate is more challenging than trying to corral goats without feed!
Stay tuned, I'll make sure that we get baby boer goat pictures posted as soon as we can!
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