Goats

Our first sad looking goats... Caruna & Sparkles

We got our first 2 goats last year.   We had bought a registered Nigerian Dwarf doe and her 3 day old doeling.   I loved the temperaments.   And having a kid that young was just plain fun.  But, we wanted them for milk  and rapidly realized this wasn't a good match for me to milk size wise.   I bought an Udderly Ez Milker but that didn't help either.  Perhaps she had not been milked previously because she hated it.  She was 5 yrs old and had kidded before but she wanted no part of my milking her by hand or any other means.  

I went out a  month or so later and bought my first Alpine as a first freshener, in milk.  I went from less than a cup per milking to over a gallon a day.   And she stood to be milked like a dream.  She really was a great first milker.  I loved having all that milk too and was quickly making my first cheeses, yogurt and ice cream.  I also loved the elegance of the Alpines.  They somehow seeemed like real dairy goats to me too instead of pets.

Tina , our first Alpine

Iron-Rod STG Sustina

Then when we decided to get the pigs, we knew we wanted to add milk to their diet so added our second Alpine. 

Our second doe - Passion

Munchin Hill Passion

We have since placed our Nigerians and only have the 2 big girls.    I still thought a smaller goat would be more appropriate for this sized homestead so I made arrangements to breed the girls to a Nigerian buck.  They could be registered in the Miniature Dairy Goat Assc. as long as both parents are registered and the kids would be somewhere in size between the parents.   I've read the mini's generally give about 2/3 the milk and are 1/2 the size.  Sounded perfect.

Passion came in season this week.  We got her to the buck but it just didn't happen. I guess I have heard so much about keeping bucklings away from all does including their mothers after 8 weeks that I just didn't think too much about them actually not being able to "fit" because of the size difference. We stayed with them for a while as it was suppose to be a "driveway breeding" but after being there for over an hour trying to get the job done we decided maybe a sleep over would help. It didn't. I picked her up sat. in the rain and slush and brought her home. She was exhausted and slept all the way home. I have luckily found a French Alpine buck and will be breeding her and my other doe to him next go round.  Although I had hoped to downsize a bit from the big goats, the logistics of breeding two different sized goats is too much for me for this year.