We decided to sell our two bucks from last year; since we got Mark and Mongo we no longer needed these two as herdsires. After advertising them for several weeks online as herdsires and wethers, with no response, we decided to have them processed. It was sad to have to come to terms with having my first two babies processed, especially the brown one as he was so beautiful. BUT we gave them a great life, they were happy and now they are providing us with lots of delicious meat to sustain our own lives. They were 8 months old and weighed about 80 pounds. They gave us 37 and 40 pounds of cuts, respectively. I love goats, they are such a versatile animal.
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Finally got around to weighing my LGD's and here they are: (I was thinking they were heavier, especially Diego, I can barely lift him!) Dakota: 125# Diego @ 9 months: 86# New Dog @ 12 months: 72# (weighed at vets office) (Ended up not keeping her). Toli @ 7 months: 67# These were on my bathroom scale with me holding them, so hopefully they are accurate. =) The last six months of my hard work, research, training, and perseverance all lead up to this moment. Oct 5th 7:00 am. My first endurance race starts. It's 25 miles long. I'm on the fiesty little mare I have been training for the last six months, her name is Bella and she's rarin' to go! It's a "controlled" start meaning they time you as you leave, it's not 40 horses taking off from the line all at once. The first mile was all walking. I had planned on riding with friends, but I knew Bella was capable of more and she was having a 100% day. Mile two started speeding up, the front-runners started working their way out front, while the middle packers held their horses back so the others could pass. By mile three we were in the top ten. It was a little crazy trying to get around and pass people on such narrow twisty trails, but Bella was already familiar with the area the race was held, and so sure footed that I just let her do her thing. By the end of the third mile we were in first place. It was insanely fast. They say "ride your race how you ride your training rides" and I did, I didn't push her any faster than we were accustomed to and I just let her do what she wanted. Still it felt like a blur. We averaged 9 mph for the first 13 miles. We came into the vet check way ahead of schedule in first place. Bella was doing great, happy and excited, but still eating and drinking great. I figured she used up all her energy in the first half of the race and had mentally planned on having lots of people pass us during the second half of the race. We left from the vet check just a couple minutes late as we were having tack issues with her not wanting the bit back in. We left in third place, but caught up to the front runners just a few hundred yards ahead as they had stopped not knowing which way to go. We went up and around the loop averaging just a bit slower than we had the first 13 miles. She still seemed fresh and had no signs of tiring yet. By about mile 15 we were alone in front with two other riders, and that's how we would remain until the end. There was a flat fire road in the back where the three of us were averaging 5 minute miles. I let Bella do her thing and she just stayed right out in front of the other two horses. She wouldn't let them out of her sight but also wouldn't let them pass her. Mile 19, Bella was getting tired I could tell, but she didn't slow and continued to want to be out in front. Mile 21 there was a water break and a short 5 minute hold where one of the other ladies that was behind me (riding in our group) tried to take off so she could come in first. The other girl and I looked at each other and were like "no way!" so we took off at a good trot to try and catch her. We did catch up at about mile 23 and then the three of us had a good long 2 mile canter into the finish line pushed by the other lady who was trying to get first. Bella wouldn't let them leave her, she just stayed right with them! The three of us got into the finish line all at the same time so they took our numbers and we dismounted to let the horses cool off and get some water so they could pulse down and our "end time" recorded. A 25 mile race doesn't end when you cross the finish line, but rather when your horse's pulse reaches a predetermined number. In our case Bella pulsed down the fastest so we scored first place in the race as well as first place in our weight class. 25 miles in 3 hours and 25 minutes. I love this horse, yay Bella! We're selling our two young boys we had this year. I bought a nice *B buck and have been kinda sorta looking for a buddy for him for after the two baby boys are gone. And well, the lady I had taken my girls to to breed last year has a buck that I just fell in love with, I had planned on bringing some girls back to her this year for breeding to this buck, but she emailed me 2 days ago and is offering him for sale!!! YAY! It would have costed me half of his buying price just in stud fees, not even including boarding, so I am SOOOOOOO happy to be able to add this AMAZING buck to my herd. We put the deposit on him and we'll go get him in a week or so...... YAY!!!!!!!!! So we planned the breedings so all our Senior Does are bred to Mark and due in February, and all our Junior Does are bred to Mongo and are due in May. I can't tell you how happy I am to have this buck added to my herd!!! I found a picture of him as a baby: of course he is a year and a half now so I will need to get pics asap!!! He topped 200 pounds at a year old!!! We let the goats out to free-range the other day and Diego and Toli had a blast running around the hills with them! They didn't leave the herd the whole time except to scout out a bit further around the perimeter and then came back to lay in the shade while keeping a watchful eye over the grazing goats. I can't wait until they are both bigger and older and I can start letting the goats out more, maybe even without me sitting up there with them! I really almost can't wait to breed the two pups (lol of course I will) but I want two more and they are both so awesome! We've only had them for about 6 months and I like the sheep, but I am the only one. We are going to sell them and focus on goats and I'll have a free pen if I sell the sheep. The main reason, other than them being extremely wild, is that there is no market here for them. I have a hard time selling the babies for even $50. The adults can go for maybe $100. With feed being so expensive here it just isn't worth it for us to raise them, and Steve doesn't even want to process any of them as he says he doesn't like lamb/ mutton. So we're trying to sell them as a starter herd, but most likely I will have to break them up and sell them off in pairs. It's sad selling animals you have grown attached to, even unfriendly ones, but we have to do what works for us, and we are trying to sell them to people who we know will give them good homes... So long sheepies! Sorry I haven't been able to post lately. I think about it constantly, but just so busy! This month has been crazy with me finishing the semester at school (another 4.0 semester), been working for a friend a few towns over, worked our local fair, and my boyfriend got a "new job" working for the same people he worked with when he was 16, now he is running their business for them, and as such, has been out of town, and now there is more workload for me to do here by myself at the farm and household. PHEW! I need a vacation! LOL! Well, at least the animals are all doing really good. I really like the way my youngest two baby doe goaties are turning out. They have a different daddy than the first ones and they have a lot wider hips and are much stockier overall, which is the look I prefer. The baby boy goats are doing really well, still sweet and friendly and growing so fast! I have three and plan on keeping two. I was going to sell the third one, but I actually tasted goat over at a friends house and it was SO good now I am thinking I want to eat him. LOL. Like there won't be enough boys for that next year. I may just put him up on Craigslist and if no one wants him, then off to the processors! The other older girl babies are doing really well, growing fast and very elegant and pretty with very shiny coats. They are still on the Lambar feeder but are losing interest in it, so this will probably be the week where I wean them completely. They are 18 weeks old now. The milkers are all doing really good, except haven't been giving me much milk the last few days. I think maybe because it has been SO hot. Yesterday I started giving them electrolyte water along with their regular water. They love it. AND I added a new milker! So excited, she is so gorgeous, I love her! She just won second place in her age group the the Del Mar fair!!! Here she is; meet Incantation! Sheep are doing good, babies are growing like weeds. We named our new baby Anatolian LGD Toli. We couldn't think of anything else and the name really fits her. She is doing really good. Not itchy anymore, I think it was just the shampoo causing dry skin. She was underweight at only 9.5 pounds when we got her and last time I weighed her she was over 20 pounds. I need to weigh her again.... later when it cools down. The heat here is unbearable! And finally that brings us to Diego; what a good good dog he is. He really is. I am not amazed by a lot of things, but this dog is amazing! These last couple weeks he has been barking NON-STOP all night long. I know he is just going through a stage in his development right now, so we have kinda been ignoring it. If I'm up there and he does it continually I'll tell him in a firm voice "enough", but it usually doesn't do any good. So we have been distracting him with bones and letting him out to play with Toli, instead of bark. Well, we added the new milking goat on Thursday and I was really worried about bringing a new goat into his territory. Well, the first thing he did when I put her in the pen was run up to her and started gently licking her face and ears. LOL. She didn't appreciate it very much, but I did. LoL. He is such a good dog. AND on top of this (and it may just be coincidence) since we brought the new goat home he stopped barking all night!!! I actually woke up night before last and went and checked on all the animals because it was TOO quiet. LOL. Everyone was fine and sleeping. It was just odd to not hear him constantly barking, lol. And then last night he was barking up a storm again so I let him out of the goat pasture to run around the property (like I do when I am milking) and then I came back and laid down. Well I heard him chase something through the bushes all the way from the top of our property, down around the side, and out and away from the bottom. I didn't hear a peep from him after that. Have I mentioned he is amazing?!?! I really wish I had two more dogs just like him. I love that dog. I need to wash the dogs and weigh them and then I'll get updated pics. They grow so fast it's hard to keep up with them! Welcome home Mongo, a purebred *B Nubian buckling, he'll be one of our future herdsires. He looks great as a baby and even though he has the "supermodel" look rather than the "milk cow" look that I prefer, he is a *B and has great legs and a topline which I need in my herd. My plan is to breed back and forth between bucks to hopefully get the best aspects of both bucks! We were finally able to find another LGD pup down here in Southern California! They are located 5 hours away from us but the owners father is willing to meet us closer! Woo hoo! I've talked to the owner extensively and we have finally put down our deposit on a new baby female Anatolian Shepherd! She is coming right off a working farm, but she is only 6 weeks old so won't be coming home for two more weeks. Can't wait to meet her! Here is our baby on the left! She is a "pied" or "piebald" Anatolian. Picked up our new baby girl LGD on Sunday, she's a purebred Anatolian and I asked the breeder TONS of info on her, I think she just omitted a few small details. I was a little disappointed at the pups condition, she was awfully small with a rough coat and extremely skinny and pretty scared and nervous. She was 8 weeks old. Weighed her and she was only 9.5 pounds! I've seen Anatolians on the internet that are 20 pounds at 8 weeks old. Quite a big difference. Apparently the breeder was having health issues and couldn't tend to the pups as she wanted to. They got weaned way to early, and had a very heavy worm load. I dewormed her when we got her home and have been pumping the good food into her. She is doing better now and is happy and playful and is already up to almost 14 pounds. I hope she doesn't have any size issues because of it! I brought Diego home at 12 weeks and he was already 35 pounds! She is altogether QUITE different than him. He is sorta slow and gangly and laid back and calm, whereas she is very active with lots of energy and VERY agile- always running around and investigating stuff, very energetic. I'm keeping her in the baby barn at night with the baby goats, separated by a gate. During the day I put the baby goats into the baby goat yard and was leaving her around the barn with my big dog Dakota. She didn't like being away from the baby goats though so now every day she "gets in" to the baby goat yard. She is so small she can squeeze under the fence and in between the gates! I was worried about her at first, but after watching her interact with them, she loves them and likes to lay in the shade with them and they don't mind her at all, and it's just the baby goats so I'm not worried. Now she goes in that pen with them every day during the day. Cute! Love her! |
AuthorsIn 2009, we moved to a rural rental on the outskirts of San Diego to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and to get away from the chemicals in our food and in our life. Little did we know that just a few years later we would be real farmers; growing fruits, vegetables and herbs, as well as many different kinds of chickens, ducks, turkey, bunnies, guineas, quail, goats and more! We left the suburbs for "Green Acres" and haven't looked back since! Categories
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