In October/November of last year, we bred (or purchased bred) eight does. Several were bred to a Myotonic buck in an effort to get some heftier kids and a meat wether or two to butcher. The rest were bred to our Nigerian Dwarf buck, Blizzard, and two does were bred to an outside buck. Finally, one outside doe was brought in and bred to Blizzard.
We started kidding in March, as planned.
We produced 13 kids total. 9 bucklings and 4 doelings. All kids were born live and healthy. A great year! One outside bred doe slipped her pregnancy early on and was bred back for June kids, so we do still have one pregnant doe running about. But for the most part, we are done.
We did notice that several kids needed assistance to be born, but there were no serious issues. We had quite a lot of flash and color by Blizzard - this is his first year covering a larger number of does, and I think he did an excellent job. I can hardly wait to start breeding all over again and see what we get next year, using Blizzard almost exclusively.
Most does are raising their young, but we are milking out Gypsy and Hope currently. Gypsy is giving a little over 20oz a milking while Hope is giving between 30-40oz a milking. Not bad! We are debating on who else to milk this year - we decided to dry off April after her buckling was sold because she is a hard keeper. Seven is raising a meat buckling so we won't be milking her I do not think. Juliet is still nursing a doeling, so we'll decide on her when the doeling is weaned and sold. Ruffian and Juliet I may milk long enough to break them to the milk stand to see if it tames them down any.
Yumi is the doe due in June, so we won't worry about that until the time comes.
This year is the first year we sold kids as soon as possible as bottle kids. It's tough letting them go when they're still tiny and cute, but it's better in the long run for us all. The kids are raised by their new owners and become very friendly and personable, I don't have to worry about deworming/cocci treatment/management of a large group of young kids, and I can milk the does sooner.
As it turns out, the only kid being retained is the kid from the outside doe brought in to be bred, and brought back to kid here. She's a stunning baby, sporting the best of the best when it comes to genetics from my herd, and we're very excited to see how she grows and turns out.
So that does it. Kidding season closes, but in a few short months, breeding season will begin! The air will be once more filled with a buck's blubbering - can't beat it! ;)
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