Bucklings.

When I first got goats, I had no intentions of ever owning a buck, because my breeder has more than one, and they are unrelated to my does. She would like me bring my does to breed to her. Since that time, I've been TRYING to get my does settled for nearly a year now. It's not working. I'm not catching them in the prime of their heat cycles, and it's just not taking. I know it's not the bucks, because they have been busy siring plenty of babies with other does. lol
SO.
I've been considering owning my own buck. I finally decided to do it, and since goats are herd animals, and should be kept with at least one other goat, I figured it was probably smart of me to get a companion for my buck. That means a wether (a castrated male) or another buck. I didn't figure it made much sense to buy one buck, and then keep him with a goat that was really only good for eating up food.
SO.
I'm getting two bucks.
I went out to Holly's farm this week and chose the two I'm taking.
This is Milton

This is Cal. I'm trying to decide if I'm keeping his name... I'd like to keep a C name... Maybe choose a longer version of Cal for his official name...

I'll be bringing them both home in about 6 weeks. :)
It took me forever to figure out what to do for bucks...
I wanted to be sure to get bucks that would provide me with as many breeding options as I could have... Here's what I figured out.
My breeder has three bucks.

1. Mr. Stinky
2. Captain
3. Rocky
   

One of my does (Ginger) is not related to ANY of those bucks.
Two of my does (Lucy and Harriet) are daughters of Mr. Stinky.

My plan is to buy bucks from Captain and Rocky from breedings with does that are not related to my does. (there are about 2-3 does that I can buy from at my breeder's farm)
I plan to keep doelings from Harriet and Lucy when they are bred directly with Captain. (Harriet should be kidding with Captain's babies soon, and I plan to breed Lucy to Captain this year when she is a year old.)

With those breedings I will have the following options to breed:

Captain's Offspring (Cal):
Ginger
Harriet
Lucy
Doelings from Ginger's most recent breeding to Mr. Stinky (if she has them)
Any doelings from any of the above does bred with Milton.

Rocky's Offspring (Milton):
Ginger
Harriet
Lucy
Doelings from Ginger's most recent breeding to Mr. Stinky (if she has them)
Any doelings from any of the above does bred with Cal
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Good and Painty

I'm actually on track for art journaling this year!!
There's a new prompt up at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal...

and I got my page done for Emily's prompt too!!

ALSO...
On Wednesday, I get to go visit my goat dealer, and look into bringing this little guy home along with one other to become my breeding bucks!

Plus, girl to boy rabbit ratio has recently changed... and now I have one buck and two does... I'm hoping baby rabbits are in the future!
Photos of those in the near future... and hopefully this year, I'll be adding Muscovy ducks to my mix.
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Blankets

It snowed today...
It was beautiful. There's just something about the quiet cover that a blanket of snow provides...
Pin It

Today was a weird day... feeling low.
Feeling irritated over stupid things.
Feeling sad about things I cannot change.
Somehow, the snow didn't make any of that better...
in some ways, the shut in ness of the day is... I don't know...
MORE.
Like a big fat snowball to the face.

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