the one and only

As I said in an earlier post sorry bout the time between posts . Now that the spring kidding is done the real work begins we have our real day jobs and also our farm job , to begin with hay season is under way and fence building is goin to follow shortly all the pastures finally caught up and started growing we had way to much rain and cool frosts this spring that set the pastures back . 2 separate pastures are in use and one Sudan grass plot of one acre will be used at the height of 2 feet , we sowed this for the purpose of backup rotational grazing. And in an earlier blog post I had wrote of tumbles my 3 legged Texas Spanish billy and the hopes that I would possibly be able to get a young buckling to keep his bloodline goin and I luckily had 1 lil guy , pure just like his daddy black wavy coat  real blocky head and real nice stance , so I got only one and he gets to stay a buck . pics at later date

kidding is now finished for 2012

 pic- smoke ridge nannie

We have now had a succesful 2012 season all nannies have kidded and we only lost one kid it was one a triplet , our kid crop is tad more females than male , at first the males were to be the first to arrive but the female s arrived 2X 2 AND NOW we have an abundance of spanish kids available , the bucks will be banded for meat wethers if not spoken for by our desired weaning time so that they can still pasture with momma . breeding stock will be available possibly August . contact  mb3lpiatts@gmail.com for availability.

great maternal instincts

 coco Spanish

Our does are all on there way to kidding and we have had real good mothers . They suffer for 151 days all bloated out and when the time comes they truly enjoy getting that little one or twins out and this year most of our births I have been able to watch , I watched one nannie go through the whole process from bleating incessently , to makeing her nest , then laboring then more adjusting then back to labor , then next day I wanted a pic for the blog so I snuck up to the lil girl , and the next few pics illustrate the motherin skills we have here on the farm . You dont get nothing past our does.

Could have been bad

todays pic after the episode....

Today when I got home from my day job I was busy checking on the nannies  feeding them there rations and checking the water for floating pellets , but while I was feeding the hay I noticed the two nannies staring out in the field in the direction of the house when two goats are not eating and they are fixated on something you better be looking so I got back behind them and sure enough I had a big problem 140 lbs of problems. Titus our LGD dog was out of his pasture and sniffing around the house UH-OH , so I just walked up to the house slowly as not to spook him and walked around to cut him off , he has never been out of his pasture EVER so this had to work, my dogs were not raised as pets and will not react as a normal dog will, so the wistling or come here doggy does not work. Titus had found a door open that goes around the back of the barn so he gingerly walked out. If he didnot go in on his own I dont know what the plan would be , food will not work he knows Im trying to trick Him . So I walked out cut him off like you would a goat and held out both arms and shood him out he started to feel uncomfortable and thank God went back to the barn , the last episode like this was with Goliath and I had to lasso him it was like having a polar bear tied to baler twine I fought that big dog and dragged him back to pasture , the moral of the story is check and double check your doors and gates or it could be be bad.

signs of kidding

Sorry for the lapse in time from last post , The spring around the farm means getting busy I have plans for fencing , plans for planting , plans on equipment repairs, and day job. Our time for goat- kidding is now upon us I fed a few evenings ago I took a few pics of signs to look for on a few nannies that are close to kidding TWO PIC SHOW SWOLLEN UDDERS one is a Nigerian Dwarf nannie, she kidded one day after pic.  The pic may be grey a barn pic. 151 days is a close gestation for goats I moved the nannies prior to kidding so that I can monitor feed intake and infighting amongst them I am not set up for pasture Kidding because of my day job . More nannies to go and this OHIO weather 35 dgrees last of April , I hope afew wait for a couple days of spring warmth.

PIC of GINGER,2 boys.

Tumbles- the 3 legged billy

The anticipation of my new billy grew every day till it hit its peak the day he arrived. I had worked on the deal with our good friends up north The Morefields for over a year they had family in Oklahoma so on their trip out they were going to head on down south and pick up some new Spanish bloodlines From Texas, so I was to purchase one and they the other , both black young billys. well time went by they got back to Ohio then the Morefields came down and we unloaded my new young Texas billy that Dian had named Tumbleweed. This was to be a bad omen not YET known, he wasnt wild but I had built a 5 foot enclosure to keep him quarntine for a few weeks , till I could further introduce him to the herd. Morning of day two my gaurd dog titus was unglued at the barn barking feverishly at the fence that held tumbleweed. I ran to the barn with excuse me boots only and shorts, the worst sight I could have Imagined The gaurd dog was warning me my new prize billy was hanging by one back leg snapped in half SEVERED. I was alone and couldnt yell for help I had to get the 80lb billy off the top of the goat panel that he had attempted to jump, with one arm holding his head up the other trying to free him.I knew I had to somehow keep his severed leg out of the barn manure and straw , so i ran to get my box of med supplies that just one week prior I brought down to the barn. I tied his horns and tried to splint his leg but realized it was to far gone , I sprayed him down liberally with IODINE, Iwas going to have to save him from infection by AMPUTATING my new prize billys bottom portion of leg.This decision was made because the bottom of his foot was cold and would only be a breeding grounds for infection. So I grabbed my hoof shear s sterilized them the best I could and with him tied I brought a round castrator band up over the dead hoof and to the point that some skin could cover the exposed bone, and at the bottom edge of the castrator band I cut with one good slice cut the skin off that held the hoof,it took all I could at that point to keep it together he lurched and fell to the ground like I took all his power away.I set the dead hoof aside then sprayed more iodine then USED vet wrap  to cover the stub . I dont know how long this took but I was heartbroke I had just saved my billys life , but what life could he have. Now he was named TUMBLES, after several weeks of cleaning of the wound daily I had no fly troubles or infections so after 1 month I turned him out of his pen and let him run and he did quite well , and He was able to breed some does, so this year I will have another lilltle tumbles . I sold him his rear pastern would give out in time, and wouldnt be a successful breeder.     I hope that out of four nannies I will once again get a lil boy tumbles.

Next generation- goats

The barn in a few weeks will be once again filled with the sounds of newborn goats , they are sired by Ochey and the various nannies . 4 are also bred to my old 3 legged buck I gave him only 4 because I wasnt sure if he could handle it but he proved me wrong. The 3 legged bucks lineage is straight out of Texas  . I am anxious to see if theyre are any growth rate difference between the Ochey and Tumbles, I have noticed that you cannot compare the Spanish goat to the Boer kid goats on growth rate the more Pure the strain of Spanish I think they grow at a slower rate ,and they are not as big boned . But they are a long haul goat they can stay in production for a documented 13 years, thats a while . So our next generation is on its way and more to be bred in the fall we have sealed the deal on a more meatier strain of Spanish goat The WEINHEIMER we will breed some nannies this fall   this should add hybrid x vigor and increase the growth rate for the goats to be used in 4h arenas. pictured are young nannies and one pic is ghost our odd colored blonde buckling. sorry the pics came out fuzzy  barn shaded , and eve set in