Anyways......I normally give the pregnant does a three month break from milking so it's about time I started drying Annette up and Nettie will follow a few weeks later. And in anticipation of losing my supply of goat milk, I made a batch of granola. I start thinking about how much I'm going to miss the fresh milk and then have sudden cravings for anything with milk in it. Normally, cold weather would make me want to have a hot bowl of oatmeal or grits for breakfast, but I want to get in all the milk-filled breakfasts I can before the girls are dried up.
Speaking of goat pregnancies, when I first got Lily (the Boer doeling) I was afraid that she was pregnant. Being as she wasn't even six months old, I chose to terminate her potential pregnancy using lutalyse. If she was early along in her pregnancy, her body would reabsorb the fetus. If she was farther along, she would go into labor and deliver a premature kid. And if she wasn't pregnant in the first place, she would just go into heat. I watched her closely for an entire week and didn't notice any blood, signs of labor, aborted kids or even signs of heat. So maybe I was lucky and she wasn't even pregnant to begin with. But I'm glad I gave her the lute anyhow otherwise I'd be going crazy wondering if she was going to kid at such a young age and have problems. Technically, she could still be pregnant as lute isn't 100% effective, but she doesn't look like she's any bigger in the belly than when I first got her. Still crossing my fingers though and still trying to catch her in heat so I can start tracking it.
Pickles has gone through several heat cycles already, her first one was when she was only three months old and one just a few days ago. I don't plan on having her or Lily bred until spring, but I've never had year-round breeders so I want to keep good records for reference.
Here's to hoping Lily is NOT pregnant and it sounds like you got a good trade for Pan! ;)
ReplyDeleteI was going to breed my Alpine doe Madeline this fall and borrowed a purebred Alpine buck awhile back. I thought he had done the deed but she went back into heat a few days after we took him back. I actually decided to just keep on milking her without breeding her. She hasn't kidded since March 2011 and I'm still getting almost three quarts a day from her with OAD milking. We don't really need any kids so I figured what the heck.
From what I have seen of Pan, he's like a bad penny - he'll be back!
ReplyDeleteMy milk supply is also basically gone at this point, a sad day!
bastardstinkyass, that's funny! Sounds like a good trade :)
ReplyDeleteCan't comment on the goats....never had any but I can sympathize with you on the milk issue. Hopefully next year I will have two milking cows and that problems will be solved.
ReplyDeleteI am starting to feel that way about eggs. we are down to 1 or 2 a day now and I am wanting to eat eggs every morning.
I hear you about those dry spells. I'm not even gonna blog about possible pregnancies, after last year's breeding failures. Ziggy is only giving about 2 cups a day now anyway, so I've already got those milk cravings!
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the lutalyse. I used it on Jasmine after her difficult delivery and stillbirth, but didn't think much about it's uses otherwise. Glad for the information.
I read some of your old posts about Pan ROFLMAO!!!! I agree with Chai Chai you probally haven't seen the last of him!
ReplyDeleteWe are pretty sure one breeding was successful, but we are not sure on the other female yet.
ReplyDeleteI posted an update on my blog, regarding how I make my ham bone soup.
I also can't wait for more milk! I'm very glad we have a natural dairy I can go to for milk, but even that's not the same as having our own milk from the goats. I hope all goes really well for you and the girls, and come March you have plenty of good milk! :)
ReplyDeleteCandy, I've seriously though about milking Nettie through (she's a heavy milker & tough to dry up), but become gun-shy (milk-shy?) when I think that there's the possibility that she'll dry up and I'll be OUT of milk! Oh, the horror!!
ReplyDeleteChai Chai, don't you dare jinx me like that!
Nancy, a good trade indeed! I'm just glad to be rid of him (again).
gld, we always seem to crave what we don't have...be it milk or eggs or whatever!! I'm getting the shakes just thinking about two months without milk.
Leigh, dry milk spells, dry gardens, oh, it's so sad!!
Kelly, well, at least Pan provided some amusing reading material!
Kristina, Hope your breedings went well. Ham bone soup is on our menu next week when it cools off. Can't be making soup on the wood stove during the day when it's 70 degrees!
Patty, I wish I knew of a place to get milk around here, but nobody seems to want to give up their sources; it's like crack or something!