Well. It’s happened.

Rachel: “Next year, we’re getting a buck.”

While I’ve definitely talked about how we go back and forth about whether or not to get Shetland Sheep, we’ve also gone back and forth on whether or not to have our own buck goat to breed our does. It’s been a discussion that we’ve been going back and forth on for awhile now, and up until this point we’ve decided against it. It’s quite a commitment to house a stinky, 200 pound animal whose only value is realized for a few days a year. But we’ve come to see that it’s ALSO quite the commitment to have to transport a doe goat in heat somewhere else to be bred.

The problem is that heat cycles can’t exactly be scheduled. It’s not like you can call up the owner of a buck and say “Does Tuesday the 20th work for you? Okay, great!” No, it’s more like you walk out to the barn, hear one of the lady goats bellowing out to the world that she’s looking for a goat of the male persuasion, and you frantically call up the buck’s owner and say “Today’s the day! Today’s gotta be it! Please, please, please, PLEASE break your plans for the day because we need milk in the Spring!”

And then there’s the fact that we don’t live in a rural area, so it’s usually a 2-4 hour project to wrestle a lovesick goat into a crate in the back of the car, drive out to somewhere with more farming folk, have the meeting happen, and then get the goat home. And if the goat is Pepper, forget it. She’s the alpha, and not just ANY buck will do for her. She’ll be sure to let matters drag out far longer than necessary.

Those reasons alone were enough to convict Rachel of the ‘we need our own buck’ argument. But then, something else happened. Lily managed to escape mid transport and went on the lam for an hour in the dark far from home. She led Rachel and our friends on a wild chase which only ended when one of their neighbors caught her sneaking into their garage with their antique car and locked her in. Seriously folks, you can’t make these things up. And that was when Rachel said “Okay, the buck stops here!”

All right. She didn’t say it. I said it. Terrible pun, I know.

Anyway….

Lily and Peony have been bred, Pepper and Black-Eyed Susan have not. We have someone lined up to breed Pepper too, but I’m concerned we missed the bus on her going into heat again. She may have one last cycle in her, but as goats are fall-only seasonal breeders we may be too late. That’s not awful, since at least we’ll have 2 goats milking next year and we can always hold Pepper off from drying up for a bit if she doesn’t get bred. Still, having our own buck and not needing to rely on outsourcing will help make sure that all our does are bred and milking.

Granted, bucks require separate pens and housing, and we don’t have need for one until next fall, so you’re not likely to see one on the blog especially soon. But it’s definitely time; I’ve said a lot recently that we need to be doing fewer things better, and home dairying is one of those few things. In order to bring our home dairy to the next level, a buck is needed.