We sent Emmy and Tor to the auction in May, and then I brought Ebony and Lad in June. I was pleased with what we got for them. The auction is usually our last resort, after having advertised the goat for several weeks and getting no bites. It is also where we send all our real culls, (i.e. Emmy who had CAE, or Ebony who was starving herself to death) and, due to the high population of Mexicans in the area, I surmise that most go for meat.
Everest was sold to a nice local family who is just getting into goats and has two does that she wants to breed so she can have milk.
Ebony's buckling, Echo, who, by the way, was an exact "echo" to Ebony in looks, and bossy attitude, went to some local lady. She came to get two white rabbits and left with two white rabbits, two black rabbits, and a goat. I'm not complaining though! :)
Marigold, Ivy, and Lass, went to Idaho for a commercial goat dairy and brought the highest price I've ever gotten for any goat not in milk! Marigold brought twice what I was asking for her on Craigslist!
A friend who we've bought three goats from contacted me and told me to call so-and-so because they were looking for weaned and dry yearling does. I had to rush home from our appraisal session, skip lunch and load the aforementioned goats and rush to Hermiston in 95 degree weather with no AC to meet the fellow, who waited for me for an hour to pick them up. After dropping them off and getting my check, I was about faint with hunger and went into the truck stop and bought a.... salad!! Most of you know that I don't eat salad(though I'm trying harder to these days)but, as they say, hunger is the best sauce! I think I ate a whole, half of the thing before admitting defeat.
Here's who we have left.
Robbie, a very nice buckling(though a tad skittish) from great lines, who came with his dam Clare. He is unregistered and is priced at $100.
Hassie, Bunny's doeling, who's DNA came back showing that she is an Everest kid, meaning our AI failed-not surprising. She is a sweetie overall, but is very bossy and mealtimes and gets her head smacked a lot for trying to shove everyone else off of their bottles. $200
Finn is about exactly the same as his sister. (Above) His dam, Bunny, is nice looking but doesn't give much milk. He can be sold registered for $200, or unregistered for $100.
Eclipse, Ebony's doeling, who is not for sale at this time. Looking at these three pictures, I think I can say that Everest throws kids with huge ears!
Also for sale but not pictured, are:
Skitz's buckling, Avery-unregistered for $100
Bluebelle's buckling, Toby-unregistered for $100
Below is my out of control rabbit project. For sale at $10 a piece with group discounts.
Juniper has weaned her litter except for these three who are a lot smaller than the rest. She and most of her litter will be butchered, if not sold, because most of the litter appears somewhat unthrifty and she was a bad mom.
Carmella had another litter on June 6th, which she again had all over the floor of her cage. I was gone but Brittany rescued four of the kits, who had gotten out of the cage and were on the barn floor. The cat was mooching around looking smug, so we think she had more kits that the cat ate before Brittany got out.
I had raised this litter by holding Carmella on her back in my lap and placing the blind, naked, pink babies on her abdomen to eat, twice a day. After a week, Carmella suddenly stretched her neck out and started licking a baby while on her back in my lap. After that, I put the box in the cage with her twice a day and she would hop in and feed them. I didn't trust her enough to leave the babies with her 24/7. At about 2.5 weeks of age, Carmella decided to stop feeding them twice a day, and only feeds them once a day now. Yesterday I forgot about the babies and left them in her cage after they'd eaten, and she didn't kill them, so now they are with her. They will all be butchered for their bad genetics as well.
Big, fat monsters!
Spruce's and the rest of Juniper's litter in the growout pen. I lost my Rex buck, Rexy, last week, so will likely retain the solid black buck in the front for breeding. He is fair sized, friendly, and a Rexy son. He is also a Juniper baby, but oh-well.
These are both Spruce/Rexy does. I plan to keep one but I can't decide which.
I would keep this one, but he's a buck and I can't breed him to his mom, aunt and sister. If I keep Juniper's buck he'll only be related to his half-sister.
I never know how to end a blog post, so adios amigos!
No comments:
Post a Comment