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.....