[ballingall]

It's been a bit quiet in here lately (not that I've been saying much either), so..... What's happening?


Has everyone's goatshed survived the weather? How's the goats, what are they up to?


Beth

[ScotsGirl]

Well I cleaned my sheds out last weekend and brought in the girls and boys just in time to miss the storms. Having said that it has been a gorgeous weekend so let them out in the sun during the day. A couple of feet left to trim, lamivac in new year and then just wait for kidding early Feb.


I can't believe their udders are filling and bums swelling already with 5 weeks to go. Even my first time AN x is filling up. All look really good though and carrying a little more weight than last year so hoping they fair better.

[Lesley Silvester]

I need to wait a few more days to confirm, but Cloud should be in kid and due in May.

[sokel]

We start Kidding at the end of feb this year, still not convinced it was a good idea because at that time of year if there is any problems we will more than likely be snowed in.
Then the other herd who has not showed any signs of coming into season have started  so it will all start agin at the end of may 

[goosepimple]

You're all way ahead of me with our pygmy Pebbles just returned from the billy a few weeks ago and doesn't seem to have come in to season so   


ahhh... just thought of a question - last year when she came back from the billy she stank of billy, this year no smell - are some billies smellier than others and is that for a reason?

[ballingall]

Sounds like you are kidding early Scotsgirl  Beginning of Feb I guess in 5 weeks time.

MGoM- 

Sokel, you are brave- I hate drawn out kiddings! We once had kids on the 5th of January, and the last kids were born in April- we were feeding kids for more than 6 months of the year!

We are supposed to have 7 in kid, with the first one due the 28th Feb. Arwen who is due first, looks very well, is dried off and is obviously pregnant. Evita is due next, and she hasn't kidded for two years, so I am not as certain of her, but she is beginning to look like she might be pregnant. We have 4 all due in a week at the end of March. Rula is one of those, and she is refusing to dry off. Have dropped her down to only being milked once every 2nd day, but she is still resisting.  Karla is also one of this batch, and I have no idea if she is pregnant or not. Thinking of maybe getting them scanned,as I need to know with her as she has bad feet (laminitic) so I can't afford to feed her extra food unnecessarily. And Charade, the little pest came back into season so she isn't due until April.

I have 3 pens which all need mucking out, and I haven't been able to do them as it has been so wet and miserable here. So that is a bit frustrating. The big boy is out on loan still, not expecting him back for another couple of weeks. The wee boys are still living out in the field, and enjoying grazing when it is dry. Had no frost here since the end of November, so its actually been really mild for them- just wet!

Beth

[sokel]

well in a way it actualy works out well, we will have the first lot all kidded within a week of eachother then we will have a good 2 1/2 months before we start again 

[tizaala]

Because of the incredibly foul weather  and the situation with my hip op , we delayed things this season. decided that if I'm going to be laid up for 3 months then a late kidding will be better for Gabi to cope with on her own. So we didn't put the billies in with the girls until the 20th Dec. White with white, brown with brown, we will leave them together until 1st Feb just to make sure , then we will have to take pot luck. Not the usual carefully planned arrangement at all , but wading through mud on crutches with an excited billy trying to pull me over is not my idea of fun.

[Roxy]

During the recent high winds, two of our goat shelters tipped over,complete with goats in!!  All were fine, and managed to get themselves out ok.  Poor Darren the AN male - his house turned round to face the other way,poor lad must have thought he was going to the land of Oz!!  Hopefully we have 4 AN females in kid (for late April/early May).  Darren has also served our big white BA x Sanaan female, so will be interesting to see those kids ....but they should be big, as s he is tall, and wide. Also one of the smaller females in kid to the large Pygmy around the same time.
 
Goats all fed up with the weather -constant rain and high winds confining them to barracks

[little blue]

Geraldine our milker seems ENORMOUS! So should get multiple kids sometime early on in the year.. can't say when exactly, as complications with injured billy goat - he must have managed in the end, looking at Gera!!

Been an up & down year goat-wise, so hoping for a quiet, fit & healthy 2014 for them :/

Little Cleo, the kid born in August is a superstar, the funniest, tamest little one we've ever had! She too had a shaky time with (unconfirmed caused) tummy upsets (vet treated with coxiod, ABs wormer,  rumen balancer etc over a period of time, it seemed to do the trick)


the shed was faced with breeze blocks in the summer - so less chewed holes ("Windows") than before!
Just wish the ground had time to dry out between deluges - they get so muddy & hate having it picked off!