Next Year's Kids are Already Started.....

       We put the does with the bucks on the 4th of November.  That means by the time you are reading this blog, the breeding season will be pretty much complete.  In fact, as I sit to write this blog most of the does have been checked off the list as having been bred.  There always seem to be a few that we never see particularly interested in the buck, but still have kids come spring.  It has been our plan the past couple of years to have the does begin to kid as they were going out to the pasture in the spring.  This year, we pushed the season a bit earlier, and will go back to kidding at the barn, so that the kids will be a little bigger when they go out to pasture with their mothers.  We read an article in GOAT RANCHER by Dr. Dave Sparks that showed the results of a 5 year study indicating that kids born earlier in the spring simply grow better and have heavier weaning weights.  We read the article too late to move the kidding back by more than a few weeks this year, but it is a trend in a new direction.  This will be a new experiment for us, and you know that "Experiments Never Fail".

      You also know from reading my previous blog that we will be using the 2 Kiko bucks on the entire herd.  Donkey Odie will have the larger of the 2 groups with almost all of the older mature does.  This group includes most of the older Boer does as well as all the older crossbred dairy does.  We put them in this group to get them bred to a fairly large framed animal who can also provide a lot of parasite resistance for the kids.  Donkey also throws a lot of color which the Farmwife says is an added benefit.  Donkey produced some very nice growthy kids this past year and his doelings will form the core of a new generation when they are bred next year.

      Survivor got a herd of younger does that are Donkey's daughters as well as a few purebred Boers.  Survivor has the potential to add a lot of length to the kids he produces, as well as some very impressive parasite resistance.  Being solid white himself, I don't see a lot of color potential, but for meat animals the color comes off and doesn't add value on the rail.  Size and vigor do.  Survivor has the potential to add that to his kids.  Some of his doelings will be 75% Kiko and as we look down the road for a replacement for Donkey in the future these young does will play a part in that selection process.

        As we move forward with our totally pasture based meat goat operation here at Sunny Acres Farm, we will be seeking out and selecting for those animals who can thrive under conditions of a forage only diet and produce a nicely muscled carcass that will be in demand in the market.  Incredibly, in our first year of our totally pasture based management style we had better success than I had hoped for.  Even with animals not specifically selected for this management style we had some very nice kids produced.  Some, unfortunately, were not as thrifty, but that breeding is no longer an option here.  Hybrid vigor combined with a higher level of parasite resistance for the animals that are raised in a "Management-intensive Grazing", forage based farm operation will be our way forward.  We are choosing to produce a better product by purposeful design.  Our customers deserve nothing but our very best!