It has been a very busy summer here at Sunny Acres. While the weather has at times been quite challenging, including two major hail storms that severely set back both our gardens and an annual pasture seeding, we still managed to put up more 1st and 2nd cutting hay than in years past. We battled parasites in our herd of young kids, no doubt due to some very wet and warm weather throughout the spring and summer. (Ironic, when you see all the reports of drought, but here in Athens we really didn't have prolonged dry spells.) The kids were set back some due to the parasite issue, but are now rebounding well and are thriving on rotational pastures of regrowth grasses, clover, and trefoil.
About a month ago, we took delivery of ten new kids....purebred Kikos....from Tennessee. They come from "Goats Unlimited", the herd of Dr. An Peischel. Anyone who studies the Kiko breed will recognize this herd, and Dr. Peischel, as a leading authority on Kikos. She has an outstanding reputation for selecting and breeding excellent goats, through diligent culling and performance testing. We were fortunate to be able to purchase a combination of purebred registered and purebred commercial doelings, along with a new purebred registered buckling to become part of our expanding Kiko herd. These new doelings will not be bred until Fall 2013, as is the recommendation of Dr. Peischel, but the new buckling will be used against a small number of our current yearling does. It is our hope that in the near future, we will be able to offer quality, purebred Kiko breeding stock to interested buyers, along with commercial and crossbred Kikos.
As always in farming, despite setbacks, we look to the future for better things to come.
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