Storm Babies!!!

[Stanb999]

They came yesterday morning during the white out!!!

http://images47.fotki.com/v1454/photos/8/830687/3112314/100_2883-vi.jpg
Our new little Doe.

http://images20.fotki.com/v385/photos/8/830687/3112314/100_2876-vi.jpg
Our new Buck.

http://images42.fotki.com/v1466/photos/8/830687/3112314/100_2874-vi.jpg


I'm sure glad we brought them in.... The below zero temps. along with the wind chills in the -30 range this morning. Would have been a bit too much. Anyway they are cute as can be. :-)

[Emily]

Awe! How precious.

[Limner]

Beautiful and healthy looking, too. Yeah, it was a good thing you brought them in. Nothing as cute as baby goats and sheep!

[Kettle Farm]

Oh Gorgeous!!!! They are beautiful!

[hunybee]

i love baby goats.....they feel like human baby newborns when you hold them. they snuggle and nuzzle. oh i love baby goats

[goatlady]

Neat! Are those Boer/LaMancha cross??

[momof23goats]

they look great!!!!!!!!!!!! really good,. I have a doe, that looks like she is getting ready to deliver also. well, here we go, and so cold too. guess they will go into the kitchen!!!! fun, realy fun for sure.

[Stanb999]

Neat! Are those Boer/LaMancha cross??

Actually they are the third generation of my little experiment.

Here is my goals,
To get a goat that will thrive and give modest milk on only pasture/hay.
That don't lose fitness in this cold/wet/damp temperate rain forest.
That give birth in very late winter at the earliest, without separating the buck from the herd.

The babies "pedigree" if one was to pervert the word is..
The dam
25% Boer, 25% Nubian, 50% LaMancha

The buck
50% Alpine, 50% LaMancha

The original LaMancha herd buck was massive (Jessie). His biggest trait was downy underfur and long guard hairs. He was never cold even in the driving rain @ 20 degrees. He also gained weight in the winter on just poor quality hay. He was truly a great buck.

The doe that is the new momma came as a tiny baby. I just know her past from the person I bought her from. Here father was (Jessie) and her mother was a Boer/Nubian mix. With the mother being Nubian.

The Buck that is the new Papa. His mother was 100% alpine, his father was (Jessie).
The main thing his mother gave him was milking and long hair, like better than 3". Also worms don't seem to bother him at all. So with the traits of Jessie and his mother. He stays toasty warm, does well on just hay, and should have some good milk traits for his daughters.



The babies should be good milkers that thrive in the constant wet, windy, and generally low temps.that make life so pleasant. Here on this snowy mountain top. All this on just low quality hay.... I'm going for survivors, Not the biggest or the greatest milkers.

P.S. She is the first of the does to give birth. The others should be at least 2 more weeks. She bred early than I would have hoped.

[goatlady]

Just keep an eye out on your NEXT generation. It's been my experience with Boer x's as sires that breeding daughter to father has a GREAT chance of those kids born with goiter which seems to be a nondominant trait in Boers especially. I lost 5 kids 1 year with that - their thyroid glands were so huge they could't swallow! Vet said it was necessary to watch for that with Boers. Seeing as how you have Jessie in both dam and sire lines.... but it may work well for you with the other breeds in there at such a higher percentage. My Boer buck was 75%

[suzy]

Theyre just beautiful. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I miss being with the animals.

suzy

[Stanb999]

Just keep an eye out on your NEXT generation. It's been my experience with Boer x's as sires that breeding daughter to father has a GREAT chance of those kids born with goiter which seems to be a nondominant trait in Boers especially. I lost 5 kids 1 year with that - their thyroid glands were so huge they could't swallow! Vet said it was necessary to watch for that with Boers. Seeing as how you have Jessie in both dam and sire lines.... but it may work well for you with the other breeds in there at such a higher percentage. My Boer buck was 75%

Jesse was 100% LaMancha... No boer in him at all.

This baby boy most likely wont be the new herd sire. He has the hair of his mother. Long and thick but not the downy underfur.

Thanks for the info about the Boer goats tho. :-)

[goatlady]

Gotch! You should be in VERY good lineage shape, guy. I just can't bring myself to consider LaMancha's as goats - goats have BIG, LONG EARS!!! LOL.

[Stanb999]

Gotch! You should be in VERY good lineage shape, guy. I just can't bring myself to consider LaMancha's as goats - goats have BIG, LONG EARS!!! LOL.

I get about 25% with the large LaMancha ears. The rest are more like the alpine. Not as large as the Nubian. Which for me is nice. Because when I had a Nubian her ear tips would freeze/get a bit of frost bite. I'm sure she suffered due to it. But she didn't make the suffering obvious. Hers were so long that when she would brink from the bucket her ear tips got wet. This was the biggest issue IMHO.

[Stanb999]

I made a creep box for the babies and put in a powerful shop light in it. So they are back in the barn today. They don't seem to wanna nurse and momma doesn't seem to wanna encourage them.

Does anyone have any tips to get them to nurse again? The other times we had to take the babies it was only over night and the mommas took them back right away. So this situation is kinda new.

[goatlady]

Easiest for me is to put the mom in the stanchion securely and hoist the kid up on the stand and aim a couple squirts in thei mouth - usually does the trick, otherwise you may have to milk and then bottle feed every 4-6 hours for a week or so. Then 3 times a day for awhile. They absolutely need that colsterum anyway you can get it in them.