She Was A Good One!!

Two weekends ago, we weaned our kid goats and took the cull kids to the stockyard.  Along with the cull kids, we also had to cull some of our does.  I had to go way back to 2009 to find a picture of this one particular doe that I wanted to write about. 

T26 2009 photo

We purchased this doe back in 2008.  We weren't interested in pedigrees at the time.  We wanted to make sure that we had good parasite resistant does.  When we purchased T26, her prior FAMACHA checks (that were available to us ) were good.  She had scored 1's and 2's and hadn't been dewormed.  We knew that our farm, in hot-humid south Mississippi, would be the perfect breeding ground for the dreaded barber pole worm.  We purchased this particular doe along with about 25 other FAMACHA tested does (there's a whole other story about that ) in hopes that they would be a good foundation from which we would build our kiko goat herd.  

This particular doe wasn't the biggest framed goat, she wasn't flashy in color.....but let me tell you.  She weaned some of the heaviest kids each kidding season and her FAMACHA scores were always 1-2.  

T26 in 2013 with her bucklings; their 90 day weaning weights were *58 lbs and *61 lbs
Her weight that was taken in the fall before breeding was 111 lbs.  Wow!

Up until recently, did she start showing signs of anemia.  We knew her time with us was coming close to an end.  She was 9.5 years old.  This is what her teeth looked like on the last work day.  She only had two teeth left.  We knew that she wouldn't be able to forage and maintain her body condition much longer.  It had been evident to us these last few months. 

She made the trip to the sale barn, and I'm going to tell you I hated seeing her go! We have one daughter out of her....only 1! Out of all of the years, we had her here, she always had bucklings each kidding.  Lucky for us, we kept one for ourselves from the 2013 crop and he has turned out to be one of our herd sires for the upcoming 2015 breeding season.  We hope he passes on his mother's traits.  She was truly a remarkable kiko goat! 

I pulled out her registration paper from our current herd file to put in the culled goats file.  I was blown away at how many registered kiko goats we have culled through the past 8 years.  It is never easy for us to do, but this is an absolute MUST in order to improve your herd!  I just wish more people could/would practice culling rather than selling just because they have a "papered" goat.  For us it's still performance over their pedigree any day! Anyway, that's a whole other post for another day :) 

papers from goats no longer in our herd

It has been quite nice getting back into the blogging endeavor!  I have missed capturing/documenting what's been going on around our farm.  After Shane was injured last year, I kind of just quit.  Plain and simple.  However, the farm is still going in full swing.  Be on the lookout for more updates from me.  I thoroughly enjoyed getting this post typed up and looking through old data/pictures for it.   Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Sweating like a pig

I went for a walk this morning and took my camera along with me.  I thought I'd share some of the sights I see in the morning time.  The picture below is our doe herd walking along the "cow trail" right after they got up from their bedding spot by the pond.  They were on their way to get minerals to start their day.

Below is a mineral feeder that Shane made to put out in the pastures.  The horses, goats, and cows are all able to use them.  I believe it was constructed with the bottom of a 55 gallon drum, a large bolt through the center, and a large rubber flap.  Most of the things constructed around here come from supplies that were to be thrown away at Shane's workplace.  What is that old saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure"?  It couldn't be more true than that!

After getting their mineral fix for the morning, the goats headed out to one of the cut-over spots in the back forty.  Thank goodness for these areas with brush.  This summer's drought has been brutal to our pastures productivity.  The meteorologist on the weather this morning said that rain was in our forecast for the next 3 days.  We definitely could use it.

Can you see the goats?

After walking around ,watching, and following the goats, I realized I needed to get back home and do a little house cleaning.  I turned around and realized that I had to climb a monster hill.  Ok.....so maybe it's not a monster hill to some, but to me it is definitely a monster hill.  By the time I made it to the top, I decided I will take the Kawasaki mule next time to make my rounds.  Then I had to remind myself why I'm not taking the mule to do rounds.  Exercise.  I simply do not enjoy it... No ifs, ands, or buts about it; It is necessary to get one's body and mind healthy though.  So for now, I will stick with it and whine and complain while doing it.  Oh and I will sweat like a pig too.  ( Yes, I know pigs don't sweat.....it's just something folks say around here, so I guess I will say it too.)  

 

Good luck in climbing your hills (whatever they may be) today!  Have a great day!