Second Kids of 2012

Welcome to the second set of K-n-S Farm's kids of 2012.

Juliet was terribly uncomfortable for days and days. This silly goat exhibited every sign of labor for at least a week!

Finally, she got down to business this morning. I had the kidding camera running on her - I woke up at 6:00AM on the dot; I could hear her grunting.

I rolled over and looked at my laptop, and sure enough, Juliet was down and pushing.


I only had time to pop my contacts in, grab a towel, and get to the stall before I was catching the first kid.

Perfect presentation for both kids, one black and white, blue eyed doeling, and one cream and white blue eyed buckling. Neither are polled (the sire is polled) but they got mama's eyes. They were cleaned up and nursing within 30 minutes and are feisty little things. I find it funny just how similar to Karma the little doeling is, but it's no surprise after all, since they have the same sire.

I am really pleased with this outcome - you see, last year Juliet had a horrible first birth experience. She kidded early and a breech birth. The kid presented tail first and it took me a while to get him out. He was born dead, his cord broken, and Juliet retained the placenta. I had to check her uterus, administer oxytocin, and flush her out real good.

Thankfully, she recovered perfectly and I bred her this year with some trepidation, worried she had some problem that prevented her from carrying and birthing kids properly.

With this perfect text book birth, those fears are put aside. Juliet has a nice udder and is caring for her kids like a great mom.

We have several more does due to kid this month and the next, so keep an eye out!

First Kids of 2012

Welcome to K-n-S Farm's first kids of 2012. They are purebred Nigerian Dwarf kids, out of Honey Doe Gypsy Girl and by Wild Bill from Honey Doe Farm.

Two bucklings. One gold and white and one red and white. Both have very cute little waddles.

The first kid presented with only one leg forward, so I had to ease him back, rearrange him some, and help get him out. It was a little touch and go there for a moment.

The second kid also had quite a big head, but we got him out without too much more effort.

Gypsy was very attentive to them, cleaning them off and talking to them, but it did cause an issue - she didn't want to stand still and let them nurse, she was fretting over them too much. After a moment, I tied her to the wall and relieved some of the pressure on her udder (a lovely udder, I might add!) and then showed the kids where the teats where. After a bit of nursing, the light went off in Gypsy's head and she understood what they were wanting.

I left them happily snuggled together. They're doing quite well, full tummies and happy faces. Typical of bucklings, these guys were born with their horn buds quite prominent, so I'll have to hit them with the iron pretty soon.

Being purebreds, these guys are spared from Freezer Camp and will be available as bucklings or pet wethers. Registration can be arranged.

The next kids are due early March.

How to Look Ignorant

Put your kid on a suckling foal. Yeah. Sure makes you look educated there.

Seriously though, these images are from a Horse Day Camp. It's nearly a game, looking at these pictures. "How many things can we find wrong?"

Not only do these kids have no SHOES or HELMETS, they are sitting on BABIES.

Does that even begin to sound healthy or safe for the foal? Their immature bones are not made to bear weight. Will it harm the foal? No way to know until later in life, when damage done to growing tissue and bone starts to show up.

Some might say, ah well, it's harmless fun, just sitting on the foal's back for a second. Surely it can't hurt.

You know what? Go take your toddler and put a high schooler's backpack on him. Still sound harmless? Didn't think so. Stop it. Stop putting your children on foals.

Every time I see an image like this one, I think, "Wow, that parent must really not like their child." Horses are dangerous. All it takes is a sudden movement, and a little unbalanced child to slip off and smash it's little head on the rocks. Then everyone is up in arms about "Ohhhh what a horrible accident!"

No it wasn't. Put some damned shoes and a helmet on your child. Put your child on a been there done that horse if you must. The last thing you should be doing is putting your child on a foal who doesn't understand what the heck is going on. Just like small children are wriggly, a young foal is going to wriggle and fuss, and all it takes is that one moment.


Stop it. It's not cool. It's not fun. It's dangerous and damaging. Posting a picture of your weanling for sale with a kid hanging onto its back does NOT make me want to buy your weanling. It makes me see "damaged goods" and move on.

Just please. Stop.

Thoughts

Things are pretty much same old same old. I've been mulling over a lot of different things lately though.

One of which was registering the whole herd with the NMGA. I went back and forth, weighing the pros and cons of it, and finally decided not too. It's not the issue of the paperwork or anything, but honestly, my goats sell really well without registration, and I don't see the point of fussing with it when it really won't add anything to it.

I will of course register goats who are eligible with the bigger more respectful registries, such as NDGA or AGS.

Otherwise, I'm not going to worry about it really. It's just not worth it honestly.

The other big thing I'm going over is disbudding. I really think if I begin to disbud my kids, I'll have even better sales since most of my babies are sold for pets and hornless goats make them safer. I had some trepidation over a few issues, such as the possibility of goats without their horns overheating and dieing from heat stress, but I have been told by a lot of more experienced owners that this is a really rare occurrence, and any goats who did die from this likely had something else going on.

So while the registration went in the garbage, it looks like disbudding is in the "to-do" box. I plan on getting the 1/2" Rinehart X30, which is small enough for Nigerians but large enough for little buckling buds and possible future Mini-Nubians. The very thought of burning their little heads quells my stomach, but I think I can handle it.

Thankfully, I have a new friend, the breeder I am buying two lovely does from, who has offered to help me out by showing me how to do it. I look forward to learning!

Another great bit of news, the breeder I am doing website work in exchange for a buckling teased me with a post.

"My camera is hiding again, but I had a BEAUTIFUL blue-eyed buckling on the 14th. I've never seen one quite like him. I'll send pics as soon as I discover my camera's whereabouts : )"

How cruel of her to post such a teaser and then not follow up! I can hardly wait to see the little guy, he just might be "the one." I really wanted blue eyes and dashing color, because in the pet industry, it SELLS!

Not to mention I'm a huge sucker for color myself of course.

The weather has been really nice lately. It's warmed up and the ground is drying up even. I love it. I'm able to go out and spend time with the goats again, something I couldn't do in the cold. They of course are delighted with the attention.

I have been a bit sick on and off, but that happens every time the weather changes, so I tend not to fuss about it too much.

I think I'd like to plan on doing two "waves" of kids each year. Early kids (March) and mid-year kids (May) about. This way I can breed the Junior does I have at a good age and not have to wait another year, but also not have to breed them too early. It will also be an opportunity for "early" breeders to settle if they don't the first time around without spending a year as a hay burner.

And when there's a ton of interest and my "early" kids are sold out, it's not too long for those who joined my ever growing waiting list to wait for the "mid-year" kids.

I just hope we don't have problems with the heat. We did really well when old Cowbell kidded in June or July last year and didn't have an issue, so I'm hoping it will work out. If not, we can always ease everyone back to being bred for early year kids and just enjoying the inevitable "flood!"

I guess it all just depends on how things go!

Website

Today was productive!

It started out with a lovely young lady and her daughter coming to meet Hope's little boys. They had a great time playing with the goats and asking questions. I was amazed at how tolerant the little ones were about picking picked up, handled, and loved on.

She put down a deposit on both of the boys and is very excited to pick them up when they are weaned. It sounds like its going to be a GREAT home! And she took some pictures of her little girl and the goats, so I can't wait to see them and feature them on my website.

Speaking of, I completely overhauled my website today. I was tired of the dark cramped look it had, so I fussed with it until I had it better. I even added some great elements, such as kid pictures under their dams and sire and dam pictures on the young ones I had those available for.

I tried hard to keep it organized, but I may need to go back in and re-size the larger pictures. What do you think?

http://www.knsfarms.webs.com/

I got all of my usual chores and work done as well today, so it was quite a feat. I can hardly wait until the real work starts!

ChaCha for now.

Snow

It snowed here! How disgusting is that?

That means that all 50 states have experienced snow this Winter season. All 50 states!

News Link

Now, I've always laughed at the Global Warming nonsense. 30 years ago, they used the exact same information they are using now to try to convince everyone that we were going into a new Ice Age. Clever right?

Then they turn around and say the Earth is going to cook. Ha!

Nevermind the fact that this is nothing more than a normal cycle of our world. I imagine in another 30 years we'll be back to the Ice Age theory. Were you aware that the southern glaciers are growing again? Something that the Global Warming scientists said was not going to happen.

Nonsense.

I of course, am never happier than when the cold is gone and the summer sun is beating down. Love it! I look forward to summer's return, and of course, my electric bill will go down too, which is always nice.

I have someone coming on Wenesday to look at Hope's little boys and most likely put a deposit on them. I love the little guys and its nice to find such a great home for them. I'm giving her a discount because she wants to take them both. She said I changed her mind from Nubians and complimented my website. Needless to say, I am really happy! It's good to know my work isn't going unnoticed.

Sure, my goats may not be registered fancy goats, but they are hardier for it, and I ensure that all of my babies go home tame, happy, and healthy. It's extremely hard to find tame goats in my area, with the exception of a few friends who breed now as well.

As long as I have no trouble marketing even my little wethers, I'm surely not going to change the way I do things. With the possible exception of purchasing a disbudding iron, so that my wether pets are even safer for people and their children.

I am looking forward to meeting the soon-to-be owner and am hoping the mud will be cleared up by then!