I’ve been noticing our Rooster pecking at the hens lately. I guess he is showing his loving feelings by pecking the ladies. He has pecked me. Not because he has any loving feelings for me (like Calvin does) but probably to keep me away from his harem. It hurts. I’m glad I’m not a hen.
“Yes, I’m the master of this coop.”
“Look at all my ladies. Mine, all mine.”
Over at the barn we are hoping for some love action of the goat kind.
Halle isn’t pregnant yet. Three dates she has had with Jasper and still NOTHING. It is our fault. Being new to this sort of thing, we haven’t been taking good notes and really watching when she comes into heat. Remember, she is the subtle one. Very quiet. So we have had to take drastic measures.
Let me reveal the “Love Shack”….
The extra boards on the top are to keep Jasper from jumping out.
You were first introduced to Jasper on this post.
He is now living with Halle.
Halle isn’t exactly thrilled with the situation.
“Let meeeee ooouuuut!” she says when we are around.
So far there hasn’t been any co-mingling. Which simply means that Halle isn’t in heat. Jasper will stay for weeks. One way or another were going to make this happen!
Our other three bucks are quite interested in what is going on.
Here is Calvin checking out the competition.
Is this curiosity or a more serious issue? Can you say “Peeping Bucks”?
Just Jasper being there has some interesting effects on the boys. These are all “rut” things they do.
What cute little doe wouldn’t be attracted by this face?
Here is our lovey dovey Calvin. (on a side note….he is getting wethered on Monday. Sniff, Sniff. No more babies for him. All of our new girls are his though).
Back to Halle and Jasper. Don’t they make a cute couple?
What cute babies they will make.
Hugs,
Karen
Sooooo funny! You have a knack for “goat speak”!
XO,B
It is a gift 🙂
xoxox
As usual, fascinating stuff. You have a real farm, and you (dear Espalins) have covered so much territory in such a short period of time. What an education you are all getting on God’s creation. With all our coming and going over the past 20+ years, we kept our farm fare minimal. Just never had the time or manpower to invest in the care that needs to be done. Through The Banks of Salt Creek, I am experiencing what it could have been like, so I am grateful. Always amazed by you. God is so abundant in His blessings. Love to you all.
Yes, we are learning a lot. Michael and I were discussing that topic last night. Our only hang ups are our personalities….we want to be experts NOW, we want to do it ALL NOW. I know that I am learning to take my time with things and not be anxious because something isn’t getting done for whatever reason. It is good for me.
We need to shift our focus to the garden and orchard pretty soon. We will be taking a pruning class the first three Sundays in February. I’m excited to learn how to do that.
I’m glad you are enjoying the farm blog posts. I know all of us enjoy the “Letters from the Farm” that we receive from you and Mr. Stebbing.
Miss you,
xoxo
My Australorp roosters look just like yours. They are so huge and they run like ostriches. I had to isolate them from the chickens because they left bold spots on the chicks’ backs. They are really rough. I can see the true meaning of “love hurts” 🙂
Your goats are such darlin’s! I want goats soooo much! I wonder, how much milk do the Nigerian Dwarfs give you per day?
Thank you for sharing the pictures and the story. They are so cute.
Thank you.
I am glad we only have one rooster. I’ve heard that too many roosters is rough on the hens.
Our Nigerian Dwarf goats are not in milk yet. We are still trying to get one pregnant and the other appears to be pregnant. When milking my neighbor’s goats, back in the city, a half gallon a day (milking twice a day) was not uncommon. I know that people who milk once a day lose a little bit of that volume but not as much as you might think.
We love having ND goats. They are very smart and very sweet. Of our five does one wasn’t raised around people and so she is a little more stand offish. The other four just love us to death and want a lot of petting.
We are learning a lot about animals and such.
Thanx for visiting our blog.
Karen
What a cute couple!! Thanks for the update on the “dating.”
Let’s just hope this works 🙂
hugs,
Karen
Thank you for your response, Karen.
We have a neighbor with ND goats. I almost bought a few from her last year. But then I wanted to do a little more research. I think, I am becoming more confident about the breed. A lot of people seem to like them a lot.
I enjoyed exploring your blog. I like your “About Us” page. I had to spin my computer in all directions to see all of you 🙂 . It is so gratifying to find like-minded people out there. I’ll visit you again.
Kimberly
They really are delightful goats. One of the other things that I like is because of their size they are manageable. Even the bucks are manageable. There are some other great breeds but much larger and when you really have to force them to do what they don’t want to do the smaller they are the easier it is.
You can also mix some. I’m not that knowledgeable but I do know people who breed a ND to another breed that is full size and you will get a slightly bigger size than the dwarf but a big increase in milk production. Right now I just want to feed my family. If I ever became interested in selling the milk I might look into it more.
Karen
Goats have minds of their own! I’ve had does flat out refuse the buck I’ve chosen and hold out for their choice. And sometimes, in spite of everything looking like it went well …. nothing! It’s always a try, try, again.
What I really wish is that there was a simple urine test. It would be nice to know for sure. There probably isn’t enough return on the investment to develop a urine test 🙁
Your goats are pretty cute 🙂 I would be a little nervous around that rooster!! My sister has chickens and one (or two?) roosters and they did a good job protecting their girls.
We didn’t want a rooster but when one of the chicks turned out to be a dude my friend said it is good to have at least one. Apparently, without a rooster the hens will “hen peck” which is vying for the dominant position. With a rooster his dominance is a given.
[…] turned the stall across the aisle (formerly called the Love Shack) into a multi-purpose stall. It will be the stall that the babies are in during the night, the […]