Challenge and Personalities

One of the challenges this time of year is keeping/getting bucks in good condition.  It is down near impossible while they are in rut, so by the time they are getting back to normal they look something like this....

All scruffy looking and hairy...most of the time reminding me of Chewbaka....oooo that would be a good buck name Chewbucka!  Anyway.  Their hair all grown out, stinking up a storm from months of applying their own special blend of cologne.  By the way, you may notice big patches of very short hair on the back of their necks.  That's because they squeeze their heads through the fence pannels to get a bit closer to the girls and blubber at them.  It breaks their hair from rubbing so much.  Not attractive on Manny at all since he tends to have a very fluffy head in the winter, and very nice shoulder width.  It kind of makes him look bizzare with that naked neck.

In this picture you can see how big Frodo is compared to Manny and Pete.  Frodo turns a year old this week.  All 3 of these boys are on special feed and getting several small meals a day to get some weight back on them.  I've already done their after rut hoof trimming; and once the weather is warm I will give them a day of beauty that will include a haircut.  Until then, they will just keep bonking heads and blubbering at the girls.

Ditto really took a beating from Frodo, which is why Frodo got moved to the big pen.  Ditto has graduated to the day spa.  I let his copper get away from me (black goats tend to be copper deficient, especially when on iron rich soils) and he stressed out pretty bad.  So for now he is getting room service, plenty of herbs, and gets to go to grandma's house to feast on honeysuckle and dandilion during the day.  He is such a sweetheart and such a gentle boy.

The babies will be a month old tomorrow and already have such fun personalities.  I have officially picked my favorite.....Glory.  One thing you can count on with Glory is that if there is food around, she will eat it.  She will even eat non food things, and take food from the big goats....

Can you see her spots?

Just wait till she gets her haircut.  Because she is so good at eating her hay pellets, hay, and grain she has developed her rumen giving a lot more depth of body.  I think she will be a big girl.

Genesis is a ham.  Pull out the camera and she will pose....

It doesn't matter if you were actually trying to get a picture of her.  She'll be there even if she has to just jump into the scene...Notice she only has 2 feet on the ground.

And of course our 2012 barn princess Gidget needs no introduction...

And let's not forget the greatest goatie of them all....Faith has recovered from the difficult kidding and is producing nearly a gallon of milk a day.

And she seriously needs her nose cleaned.