Animals
- Timing Is Everything!
Nettie B.: "Things are a little mixed up in the goat pen right now. I just don't understand boys!" Jill: "Two weeks ago, when we all moved in together,Chip spent his days chasing us all around the pen..." Missy: "Yes, and...
- What To Do With T. Donald?
Well of all the goat babies born this spring we are left with only one:T. Donald. We originally called him The Donald because of his white spot on the top of his head,that looked like a major "comb over".He has become T. Donald, or just Donald. Donald...
- Mating Mayhem
This blog post is ratedPGViewer discretion is advised! All peace was gone on the farm yesterday afternoon.War broke out amongst the fainting goat bucks.As my daughter Jenn described it..."It's like a train wreck...and you just can't look away!"Even...
- Buck Tales
I took a bit of time to stand and just watch the bucks when I fed them yesterday afternoon. Our bucks include Chip and his two sons, Smoochie and Yo Skip. The smallest of the bucks is MoJo, who we acquired this summer (he was born at the end of last winter)....
- Happy News
Missy is pregnant with twins!! This is especially good news for the farm. About a month ago we did pregnancy checks on the three female goats that were bred this Fall. Myrtle and Jill both had babies on board, but we could find no evidence of fetuses...
Animals
A Crime of Passion
Smilin' Jill has a story to tell...
it's a story of intrigue, and crimes of passion!
The scene....
(the buck's pen)
The perpetrators...
(Smoochie, Skip and Chip)
The innocent vixens....
(Missy and Nettie B.)
The climax....
(Smoochie's castration)
I know this picture looks barbaric, but this is how it's done on a farm.
Smoochie is anesthetized and feeling no pain.
The surgery is done with sterile instruments,
however, without an operating room, the surgery is done on the ground.
If you are interested, to the far right on the blue towels are Smoochies' testicles.
One of them is still in the grips of a tool called an "emasculator"
which is attached to a power drill.
The emasculator holds the testicle and the drill spins it
until the spermatic cord twists on itself.
The testicles just "pop" off with a minimum of bleeding.
The wound is left open to allow for drainage, but quickly heals in a matter of days.
If the wound were stitched, there would be a much higher potential for infection.
(Dr. Becky performs our castrations.)
I added the above info just in cast you were wondering.
Now back to our story.....
All day Saturday we heard pounding coming from our buck pen.
It seems Nettie B. and her mama Missy are "in season".
Even though the bucks are yards away...
you can barely see their pen across the field in front of the tree line.
The pen in the forefront is where our non-pregnant does are housed right now.
Nettie and Missy have been standing by the fence,
calling to the boys....taunting them.
The combination of that and their pheromones
were more than the boys could handle,
and they spent the weekend fighting,
beating their horns against their houses trying to get to each other.
Pounding and pounding, until they managed to break through the front of one of the houses!
Why did we castrate Smoochie you ask?
Well, old Smooch seems more interested in humping the wethers than he does the does;
and has been unsuccessful for two years running in impregnating the does.
We've been considering castration for quite a while.
This weekend's shenanigans convinced us it was time...
there was just a bit too much testosterone and not enough performance in the buck pen.
Don't worry. Smoochie did just fine.
He's calmly sleeping off the anesthesia.
For the next few weeks, he will be housed in an extra pen
next to our maternity ward...
Eventually, I suspect, he will be used as a companion goat for some of the girls.
Now you see why everyone gets along so well on our farm?
We don't tolerate anything else but peaceful cohabitation...
and when the hormones get overbearing....
the hormones "gotta go!"
- Timing Is Everything!
Nettie B.: "Things are a little mixed up in the goat pen right now. I just don't understand boys!" Jill: "Two weeks ago, when we all moved in together,Chip spent his days chasing us all around the pen..." Missy: "Yes, and...
- What To Do With T. Donald?
Well of all the goat babies born this spring we are left with only one:T. Donald. We originally called him The Donald because of his white spot on the top of his head,that looked like a major "comb over".He has become T. Donald, or just Donald. Donald...
- Mating Mayhem
This blog post is ratedPGViewer discretion is advised! All peace was gone on the farm yesterday afternoon.War broke out amongst the fainting goat bucks.As my daughter Jenn described it..."It's like a train wreck...and you just can't look away!"Even...
- Buck Tales
I took a bit of time to stand and just watch the bucks when I fed them yesterday afternoon. Our bucks include Chip and his two sons, Smoochie and Yo Skip. The smallest of the bucks is MoJo, who we acquired this summer (he was born at the end of last winter)....
- Happy News
Missy is pregnant with twins!! This is especially good news for the farm. About a month ago we did pregnancy checks on the three female goats that were bred this Fall. Myrtle and Jill both had babies on board, but we could find no evidence of fetuses...