Tidbits

I am SO ready for Ike to leave.  I never realized how brainless bucks become during the rutting season.  My doe goats (two Saanens and a Sable) are all bred, and he will be going visiting for a few weeks, and then I hope he’s sold.  Having a buck goat around can sometimes be trying.  When he’s in his stall at night, he’s constantly jumping up on the door and the side wall to see the does, or jumping up onto the feeder and then down onto the platform that I put in there (goats like to climb).  The noise is jarring to one’s senses, at best.  I actually had to reinforce the wall by the stall door and move the pallet platform, because he was throwing himself at the wall, trying to jump over.  When one of the 2 x 8’s came down from the wall, I moved the platform so he couldn’t get a running leap.  Whew!  Breeding season is hard on bucks.  They forget to eat, drink, and are just plain crazy and unable to relax until the lights all go out at night.

One of my Silkie hens hatched two late chicks.  I thought they might not make it, but they’re fully feathered now (fast!) and seem to be doing fine.  Silkies are pretty cute once you get used to them, but I admit that I didn’t always think so.  My terrier, bless her cotton-picking little hunter heart, got two of my hens and my old rooster.  I found the hens the same day I found a Partridge colored cockerel to replace the other one.  I got him anyway, so now I have two hens and one young rooster.  Hopefully I’ll have more Silkies in the spring.

The chicks are crossbreds from the Silver Laced Wyandotte cockerel that went into the freezer lately, because I couldn’t find a home for him.  I do hope both of the chicks are hens so it’ll be easier to place them.  Since I rarely eat meat, it tends to stay in the freezer for far too long.  Thank goodness for vacuum wrapping to keep them from freezer burn.  

I planted kale and some winter greens in my little 8' x 12' greenhouse, built by my son early last spring..  With a bit of floating row covers,  the greens for cooking and salad surviving the hard frosts we've had.  I'd like to have greens for most of the winter, though I doubt they'll make it through January and February.  Still, I'm hopeful.  They’re growing slowly, but they’re definitely coming along, and I check on them daily, casting an eager eye.  

Elections are coming up on Tuesday, and I fear the state of the country and the world won’t improve, no matter who gets in.  I think we’ve been given the option to vote for the lesser of two evils for far too long now.  I’ll write in my choice, which is neither of the two major parties.  And for local elections, I’ll look for the one that will get government out of my face the fastest.   Probably on the state and local level, we still have some semblance of control, but sometimes I wonder if even that is illusion.

 

I just finished making my first real Gruyere cheese, and wouldn’t you know?  I got the culture ripening time wrong.  It was supposed to set for only 10 minutes, and I left it for an hour.  I don’t think that’ll mess up the cheese, but I’ll know in about 5 months.  In the meantime, I’ll be cutting into a Münster and a Cotswold, because they don’t take quite as long. 

Ike

I picked up my buck from Thorndike, where he had been housed since I got him last October.  Ike (Patina M & M Eye Candy) was out on pasture when we got there, and it took a few minutes to get him.  Charlie, my friend and goat mentor, transported him in the back of his capped truck, and Ike was very good all the way home.  In hand, he was strong and had managed to pull Charlie right over before he got out ot the truck.  At my barn, though, Charlie was ready for him and safely and quickly got him into his new stall. 

Ike was not happy.  In Thorndike, he'd shared space with four wethers; here he was by himself.  My does came in to say hello, as I opened Angel's stall so they could all touch noses. It's a wonderful thing to have a buck around before a doe is in heat!  All four does came into heat, well-synchronized within 6 days, Leah and Beatrice first, and Violet and Cassie the next day.  So much tail wagging and bleating and how-do-you-do's I haven't seen before, and oh! how they all liked Ike!

It's so early that I didn't want to breed the does yet.  As I considered, though, Violet had not settled last year.  She was open but had a pseuopregnancy.  I didn't want to breed her too late to rebreed her if necessary, so when she showed signs of heat, in she went with Ike.  He thought she was the nicest sight since he'd arrived, and covered her twice in 30 minutes. I left her there overnight. 

Next morning, out she came and Ike was devasted.  "Oh, no!  Alone again!  How could you do this to me!" 

Two days after he arrived, Shawn led him in and out for me, and the following day I was on my own. Ike and I have come to an arrangement:  he doesn't run away from me, and I lead him out to the buck pen, where the does can hang out with them if they wish.  The rest of the time he pretty much spends standing on the roof of his shelter, watching for them; or hanging out by the gate where his fellow captive, Angel, says hello from the paddock.

He's a good boy, very well mannered.  He never tries to butt me, doesn't try to pull me now that he knows I'm the Bringer Of Good Things, and is altogether a well-behaved buck, if a bit smelly.  Truth to tell, I don't mind the buck smell like I thought I would, and I even find myself considering keeping a buck here permanently, maybe with company.  Maybe two bucks so I always have alternate bloodlines for my does.