Oh, Hello Spring!
This week I found myself suddenly caught off guard by the fact that I am officially 31 weeks along. A large part of the reason I was taken by surprise is because as of April 17th it was STILL SNOWING. We had flurries (and some accumulation!) nearly every day last week, which gave the illusion of June being much further away than it actually is.
Meanwhile, we ALSO forgot that Pepper’s due date was this week. Again, it seemed like it was February 25th, not April 25th. Well, she wound up delivering 5 days early; one buckskin buckling and one black-and-tan doeling.
I do have to say, though, I find it decidedly unfair that the goats, who got pregnant after me, are delivering a full 2-3 months before me. And never mind the ducks, who merely have to lay an egg and walk away from it, while I carry a child AND incubate theirs for them in my living room.
Pepper’s black-and-tan little girl is positively adorable. The name she’s sort of fallen into is Black Eyed Susan. I liked it because there’s a lot of good nicknames like Blackie or Susie or Bes (her initials), but Steve seems to think that Black Eyed Susan is the only name for her. I’m not convinced — four syllables is a lot when you’re calling from across the yard!
Meanwhile, the as-of-yet-to-be-named Black-Eyed Susan is giving Lily (Flora’s doeling) a run for her money as to who gets to be our third milking doe. That was supposed to be Peony’s job, but since for some reason she’s only half the size of the normal goat it’s doubtful she’ll be any more than a pet unless we can find her a Pygmy or dwarf buck to breed her to.
- She’s likely to be quieter like her mother, I don’t know if we could take a bossy daughter from Pepper
- She was born first, and we’ve had the time to attach ourselves to her
- We prefer Pepper’s udder, flavor of milk and quantity of milk to Flora’s, and does tend to take after their mothers in terms of all of those.
- Not-Yet-Named-Black-Eyed-Susan has better dairy conformation. I didn’t necessarily notice it, but Steve was quick to see that this one has dainty bones and a nice, wide pelvis with well placed back legs that will hold a good udder. I have no eye for things like that, but once Steve pointed it out I could definitely tell the difference between the two.
Fine bones might seem like a funny thing to look for in a dairy goat, but it’s for good reason. You don’t want a goat with big, chunky bones that will use up all her energy and calcium maintaining them instead of focusing on milk production. Dainty, feminine looking goats tend to produce more milk, because their body doesn’t need as much energy to maintain bone and muscle mass. It’s not necessarily a guarantee, as there are lots of factors that affect milk production, but it helps to hedge your bets where you can.
Now that the goat kids have all arrived safely, next up is ‘duckling watch’. And then we’ll just be waiting for baby!
