A Husband For The Girls

Tick tock. We talked about the slow life not too long ago, and that it isn't necessarily opposite to the busy life. Rather, slow refers to the pace at which one lives. Still, there are some things, even on a slow paced homestead, that create a sense of time pressure. Planting while conditions are right, for example, or harvesting before things get overripe, or getting the hay in before it rains. Another is breeding season because some animals, like goats, aren't in season all year long. This is true of Nubians, who are receptive to being bred in the fall.

My original goat plan, and the reason I spent the extra pesos to get registered Nubians, was to start my own herd of Kinders. This requires registered Nubian does and a registered Pygmy buck. I've got the first half of the formula, but getting the second half required planning and logistics, i.e. a way to separate the bucks from the does. That was something we didn't have until we finished the new fence.

All this was on my mind even before that however. I had been thinking about it all summer, because I knew it wouldn't be long before my girls started coming into heat. I debated a long time about what to do. The last thing I wanted was to wait another year, but the new pasture wasn't fenced yet. After a lot of deliberating, I came up with a plan.

Plan. Find a registered Pygmy buck close to home and pay a stud fee to have my girls serviced. The problem with this plan was that I couldn't find a qualified buck in the area. So...

Plan B. Find a registered Pygmy buck within no more than half a days drive and pay a stud fee to have my girls serviced. Well, I finally found a breeder about 150 miles from here, who was willing to offer stud services. The stipulations were that each doe required a veterinary certificate dated within 30 days of the breeding, to certify they were disease free. It would be "by hand", meaning the doe is introduced to the buck and removed once the deed is done. The plan seemed less appealing when I realized that it would mean a 300 mile round trip per doe, unless they both came into heat the same time. The biggest problem with this was that I really can't tell when they're in heat. It's not as obvious as say, a cat. Alternatively, they could be given hormonal injections to make them ovulate. That, on top of stud fees, testing fees, and travel expenses made me reconsider. Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to buy my own buck? So...

Plan C. Find a registered Pygmy buck to buy. I did a lot of research on this one, but no joy. The only bucks available were babies in the next state. Being only two months old, they weren't ready to breed. True, a buck reaches puberty at that age, but that's really too young in terms of his own health. Hmm. Options seemed to be running out. So...

Plan D. Find a registered Pygmy buck from where DH makes his runs. There a lots of Pygmy breeders in Ohio, for example. I could make the deal long distance and he could do the transaction and bring a buck home from wherever. This plan didn't turn out to be very practical however. So...

Plan E. Find a dairy buck for this year, breed my does, and worry about a registered Pygmy buck in the spring. This plan, was successful....

Meet Petey. He's 3/4 Nubian, 1/4 Alpine, and about 7 or 8 months old.

Being young, he's also small. However, there weren't a lot of choices on craigslist and he seemed the most likely candidate. He fit my requirements for breed and price. He is smaller than the girls, but I figured that if  those little Pygmy bucks can manage those big Nubian does, Petey will probably manage too.

Introductions went so much smoother than expected. With two fenced areas, I was planning to keep them separate for awhile. But the girls were so interested in him that I let them go ahead and mingle.

Everybody showed up to check out the new guy: goats, chickens, Charlie Llama, and Riley. They all wanted to sniff, but all Petey wanted to do was explore his new surroundings.

Jasmine and Crybaby in particular followed him all over the place, while Surprise just wanted to show him who was boss. Each goat had a brief go at the head butting ritual to establish herd order, and before I knew it, Little Petey was the one leading out.

None of my girls have been receptive to him yet, though he certainly seems willing enough. Does come into heat every 18 to 21 days from about August to December, or maybe January with Nubians.  Obviously I'm hoping there's still time for the girls to get pregnant.

This kind of haphazard breeding is called "field breeding," because it lets nature take its course in the field. It means I won't know when the kids are due, which obviously isn't as convenient as having a known due date. Hopefully I will now be able to observe when each doe comes into heat by her reaction to Petey, though there are no guarantees. Gestation is approximately 150 days for goats. That means we could have kids anytime from April through June. Which means I must be on diligent alert during these months. Even so, I'll just be happy to have them all bred at all. I do not want dry does for the next ten to twelve months and figure the kids can be sold, though we will need a wether when we get our Pygmy stud. (I do plan to manage this in a more orderly fashion in the future.)

I am not planning to keep Petey permanently. If all goes according to plan, I will try to sell him for what I paid for him ($50). I will consider his services well worth his keep. Of course, as you read above, my track record on goat plans hasn't been anything to brag about. How it all turns out in the end, remains to be seen.

A Husband For The Girls © November 2010 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/