I would gladly post some pictures if someone tells me "how!" I am just a dumb carpenter from SW Ohio...hahaha. Backlanelady...our Alpine is due in March. Good luck...March is a good time to have babies. Not to cold. We breed our Boers for 1-Jan babies because of our local fair rules. This gives us 75 - 100 lb whethers for last week of July I don't know if babying our goats is "doing it right"...but we haven't had any issues yet. We strap on a marker vest to the buck and record the date that each doe has been "serviced." We take shots and records very seriously. About a week before the doe is due...we pull her into her own stall and watch her like a hawk. The first week of January we had 4-does due...needless to say...I spent alot of long days an nights in the barn (freezing my keester off!) But it was well worth the effort with us batting 12 for 12 (so far). I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to properly care for your animals. Giving them the proper feed / hay / shots and making sure there facilities are adequate makes all the difference in having a great herd. Also to be there when those kids are born. Emma's baby was the only one that we did not physically help in one way of another (probably because we weren't there). I know that most of our does would have been just fine...but Sarah (Emma's older sister) would have died along with her 2 little bucklings if we weren't there to help; and she delivered about 12:00 pm on the coldest night of the year! The first kid was completely breach. Thank God my wife has small hands and Sarah is a big girl...or it would not have turned out very well. Cristi...I agree 100% about the paints. They are gorgeous! I am still puzzled how I got a paint. Emma is a 75% boer bred to (my since dearly departed FB SA buck). He was "color correct." Emma is "somewhat" color correct for a percentage doe. I have seen a lot of kids from this buck and none of them are paints. I know he is the daddy because he was the only buck on my farm during breeding season and he definately "marked her up good with the vest." Any ideas? How do you like Kiko's? I have read a little about them in my "Storey's Guide to Raising Meat Goats"...but have never seen one in person. The pictures I have seen are impressive. I love their horn set! I will try and figure out "how" to post the pictures and get them out to ya'll. God Bless, Brian

Ahhhh home! With two fat bellies! Mrs. Harrell is an ANGEL! I learned more from her in the first 5 minutes of meeting her than two days of hem hawing with the breeders of my babies. I did find out that Pipp couldn't possibly be full pygmy as she has a half white body (Which is really totally fine, they are just pets. But that does show me that the breeders have no idea what they are talking about, period). Mrs. Harrell looked at my bottles and nipples and said they were all fine. She had me throw out my rolled oats and let me know that alfalfa hay was ok (But not ideal) for the girls but if I ever got a boy it had to go. She gave me a big bag full of what she feeds and the label off her bag and told me where to get it (The girls thought it was yummy by the way). Then she looked at me, rubbed Izzy's horn bud's and said.... "These have to go, that's a safety issue". So she told me we'd take care of that after the girls ate. She went inside and brought out two full mountain dew bottles, one with a pritchard teat and took Izzy from me. (She also inspected the girls and said they were lucky I was so persistent because they looked to be ok and not literally starving, lol).She sat down on her steps and sat Izzy beside her with her butt to the back of the step. Gently she wrapped an arm around Izzy, pulling her into her side and squeezed on each side of her mouth, pushing the lips forward to accept the nipple. It went right in but Izzy seemed to be having issues with the nipple. Mrs. Harrell stopped and said she thought she had just the trick. She disappeared inside and returned with a lambs teat (A red rubber one) and switched out the nipples. She put the nipple in Izzy's mouth and Izzy began to suck, still half chewing but better. Mrs. Harrell pulled the nipple forward slowly as if she might take it away and Izzy went NUTS! All of a sudden it was on like Donkey Kong! Izzy sucked down about 6 ounces in a wink of an eye and was fat as a little tick! Pipp followed the same procedure and then fell asleep, standing up, with the nipple in her mouth, lol. After that, and tears of joy from me, I followed Mrs. Harrell back to her little barn and she gave both the girls a shot. She said they had to get a tetanus before they could be disbudded and she didn't have it by itself so she just plain out vaccinated them for me! She stuck Pipp in the little box, shaved her head (She didn't cry or struggle, what a good little girl!), and I stepped out and BOOM, finished. She handed me Pipp with two round holes and a yellow head, lol. Izzy went next and now they have matching little heads (Ouch!). We put the girls back in their big crate and talked and talked. She gave me the mountain dew bottles with the lambs nipples FULL of goats milk from her goats. THEN as if she hadn't done enough already, she went inside and brought back out TWO FULL GALLONS of her goats milk! This woman had no intention of asking me for one red cent! All I had on me was 15 measly dollars and knowing I owed her a CRAPLOAD more than that, I humbly handed her 10 bucks (I needed the 5 for gas, remember she was an hour and a half away, lol, squeezed her neck, and told her that no words could express my gratitude. I will be returning to NC Promised Land with the girls for their next round of vaccines and wormings, etc... She gave me the number of a lady more local to me to purchase milk from if I didn't want to put them on cow's milk (Which she said would work just fine). I also offered to tag along to shows with her when I can so that I can help her however she needs it. I have shown dogs over half of my life and I know how horribly difficult it can be to venture to a show ALONE with even TWO dogs! When I return to see Mrs. Harrell I'll bring a sufficient amount of moolah with me for her trouble. This woman is unbelievable, her heart as pure as they come and a gorgeous little herd of Nigerians to boot. Thank you to everyone that so graciously helped out a newbie and stranger. My only concern is that of my girls, Izzy and Pipp. Elaine

Thanks Bonnie. First of all, I don't know what kind of goat it is. Like I said, my daughter bought it at an auction. It all happened so fast....I was protesting as she was bidding! As I am remembering, her mother wasn't much bigger than my labrador retreiver. We think she came from the Amish as we have a settlement in the area. We have had an eventful morning here as it began raining at dawn. My husband made a makeshift house for her last night out of some lumber and bricks, but everytime I went to check on her, she had knocked it down. Anyway, we had offered her some horse grain the first day we got her and she took it, so this morning while it was raining so hard I took her into my tack room and offered a cupful of sweet feed. She picked out the corn and the oats. She was very glad to see me this morning, but after I got her inside she acted timid, finally allowing me to pet her. When I pick her up and hold her she is very good and is almost cuddly, so I think she has been fooled with some. I eventually put her on a long lead line and with coaxing she would follow me around the yard, so I'm getting her used to being on a line. Today my husband constructed a permenent shelter (big enough for 2 if need be) and expanded her enclosure. The pen is out in my horse pasture just inside the gate. While we were working on her pen I tied her to the hay rack and she quickly played "queen of the mountain"! The 4 horses soon came to check her out, which was pretty interesting. They are used to dogs so they aren't particularly aggressive. She ate some of the grass hay while all this was going on. When we finished our project I placed some fresh hay under her shelter, to eat if she wanted or hopefully as bedding as there is no bottom to the shelter. We will probably try to hold off, like you said and see if we can get her settled down before we go shopping for another one. I was in hopes that my schnauzer would take up with her, but he is pretty jealous natured and wanted to chase her if she ran.

I don't get the plastic feed sacks as often as I used to. Wish I did because they came in handy. I have 2 large wooden feed storage boxes. I use the bags on the ground underneath the boxes for a vapor barrier. It keeps the box dry. I use them inside on the bottom for easy clean up the bags catch the spilled grain and I can lift it out and shake it off for the chickens. I slip the bags over the boards of the work benches in the barn. The top boards aren't attached, so I slide the boards inside of the bags and put then back on the benches. Keeps the tops nice and clean, and again, a quick clean up. If the bags are cut, instead of pulling the string, they will shred and chickens can get that stuff wrapped around their legs. If hubby gets to the bag with a knife, before I can get the string pulled, I discard it because of the shredding. Maggie is right about the shredded ones being a hazard.