Breeding Season

Well, it's that time of year again -- breeding season. All of the goats (me included) decided to come into heat all at the same time this year. Cookie led the charge by coming into heat on November 3rd and 4th. Pepper, being a total Nubian and not wanting to be outdone by her daughter, followed on the 8th and 9th. Here's a picture of both of them in all their Nubian (PA-TOOEY!) glory:

My mom, Gloria, decided to give it a go on the 10th and 11th. Here she is looking much rested after her year off from having kids:



And I rounded up the rear on the 12th and 13th. I was looking very splendid on this wonderful fall day:


We were nice enough to the one and only buck on the farm to come into heat in succession and not all on the same exact day. That way he wasn't overwhelmed with adoring females to the point of total exhaustion.

Here is the lovely buck from both sides. Notice the wild spots and large splashes of white between the black. Hopefully his kids will be just as wildly colored.

The buck has one more doe left to breed. My half-sister, Madge, has come back from the farm she lives on in the next town over. She is here to visit for a few days because she didn't get bred the first time around when she was with the buck in September. After she leaves, the farmer says she will keep the buck for one month to make sure none of us decided not to get pregnant the first time.

I heard a funny rumor the other day:The farmer said that her friend's Nigerian Dwarf can come and visit our buck when she is in heat to make sure that she is totally in heat before being shipped to the next state to visit with her Nigerian buck boyfriend. Can you imagine what our buck will think of a Nigerian Dwarf?! Of course, being a buck he probably thinks anything with four legs and a heartbeat is a good thing but really... REALLY?! Sometimes I don't know what this farmer is thinking.....

Happy Halloween!

Okay so I am a little late on the whole "Halloween" thing, but heck, I am a goat - I don't exactly get to go trick-or-treating or anything (although some treats would be nice once in a while -- hint, hint farmer!). One thing good about this Halloween was that the farmer has really started to make her new assistant pay off. Here is a picture of Assistant Farmer, Emily, in her Halloween costume:


Can you guess what she is? That's right - She's a goat! I thought Emily being a goat for Halloween was a great way to pay homage to us wonderful goats of the world. It also is a great way to spread the message about goats being just as cute to dress up like as a sheep or lamb (patooey!) would be. The only criticism I have about this costume is that judging by the roman nose and the airplane ears makes me think that she must be dressed up as some sort of Alpine-Nubian (patooey!) cross. Nubians (patooey!) aren't exactly the best representatives of the species, so I am a little perturbed that such a nice costume is somewhat wasted on that branch of the goat family tree. Oh well, at least she doesn't have horns!

On another note: Cookie is having a hard time with this breeding season. This being her first time coming into heat, she is having a very difficult time deciding what is going on. Take yesterday for instance; yesterday she sat all day screaming throughout the barnyard. All we heard all day was, "Let me see my boyfrieeeennnnddd! I love my boooyyyffrrieeennnddd! I llllooooovvveee hhhhiiimmmm!". And soon on it went all day long. When the farmer came to do chores, she noticed the extra vocalizations from Cookie and did as Cookie was wanting. The farmer put Cookie in with her boyfriend. Well, once Cookie was in with the buck, she decided that this was not what she wanted. So all we heard for 30 minutes was, "GET ME OUT OF HERE! I DO NOT WANT TO SEE MY BOYFRIEND! HE SMELLS AND IS UGLY!!". The farmer got tired of this yelling so she took Cookie away from the buck and put her back in the barn with us girls. Cookie decided that this was not want she wanted either so she immediately started to protest and cry, "BUT I LOOOOVVVEE HIIIMMM! HE'S MY SOUL MATE! YOU CAN'T KEEP US APART!!!!!". And on and on it went, all night long. Sheesh.... Teenagers......