Thank Goodness For Friends!

Okay, I've finally admitted it ... I didn't know what I was doing when I did it, but now that I've done it, I'm not sure what I did!

This all has to do with breeding boer goat does last fall. We have raised llamas for more than 5 years, and for those of you that don't know, llamas don't have heat cycles. They are induced ovulators, meaning that it requires the act of breeding for the girls to ovulate (get pregnant.)

Well, we were just plain ignorant as it relates to breeding boer goats, and never thought to pay attention to WHEN the goats bred - but rather, without thinking - assumed that when we put the buck in with the does, that 150 days later we'd have babies. Well, okay, maybe not ALL of them in 150 days, poor Buddy would need some rest between calls. But, as we have learned, that is most definitely NOT the case.

I have a very dear friend and co-worker that used to raise dairy goats (she says it's been a lifetime ago), but she's the closest person that I know that come and let me know if I've even GOT a bred doe - YEAH!!! We will have babies!!! Now, it's a matter of when.

Bootsie, Hayley's doe, is definitely bred, definitely bagging up (although she's not filling up yet) so the assumption is that she's got a couple of weeks to go.

Sam, my big paint doe, is definitely bred and probably due about the same time as Bootsie.

And all the other girls that I thought were bred, probably are. But, the timing is still the question.

I think, if this is something that is true, that although Buddy was in with the girls for awhile, until we brought Showdown onto the property, he probably was only playing with the girls. BUT, when he realized that there was a new guy in town, it seems he went to work - and if Jeanette's right, most of these does are due in the exact same time frame.

So, while my patience level has dropped - and my "is it ever going to happen" questions are pathetic ... it seems it will ... and next year, we'll KNOW when they're due to kid ...

Thank God for friends!