Back when I bought our first two goats in July, I asked the seller if I could bring our females back for breeding, and he agreed. When I called him a few weeks ago, he said it would be better for the male goat to come to our home. He could bring him, but he would have to charge me for that service, and would be glad to let me take him myself for free.
I was very nervous about that, but he assured me it wasn’t a big deal and would help me get him into our vehicle.
When we got there and saw the owner bring it out, I thought, “Oh, my goodness, he’s massive!” and that was an alarming thought, not admiring. But what came out of my mouth was a mild, “Oh, he’s big.”
“No, he’s not big,” responded the owner. “He’s enormous.”
Well, yes. That’s exactly what I was thinking. And that was not what I was expecting and it was very intimidating.
The owner and his son got him into our vehicle, and he was remarkably calm during the short drive home. Two of my teenage sons led him into our yard to our pen – or it would be more accurate to say he pulled them both since together they couldn’t hold him back. I had read a lot about the aggressiveness of male goats and was apprehensive about that, but Oliver, as I named him, seemed kind of shy and was actually pleasant to have around.
I was very pleased with Oliver, as the personality of the father is important to what the personality of the kids will later be. In addition a couple of other desirable traits he had, he was a polled goat (born without horns), a quality that I prefer but in Israel this is the minority of goats. All of my goats are polled – and now the kids born will be polled as well. Though many people prefer goats with horns, I’m not one of them, and I’m not interested in having to remove the horns of baby goats.
Oliver spent a couple of weeks here and it was constantly on my mind as to how we were going to get him back in our vehicle to return him. Finally, the day came when it was time to go. The female goats were all sad to see him go and very verbally expressed their feelings as he was led out.
Other than my fifteen year old getting pulled to the ground at the last moment when Oliver was startled by a sudden action that was intended to be helpful by my thirteen year old, it was smooth and uneventful.
The owner told me he’s never allowed anyone to take any of his animals on loan before. (He’s been raising and and selling animals for many years.) I didn’t ask him why he made the exception for us, but I certainly do appreciate it!
I felt kind of bad for Oliver when he was led to his pen back home, as he lives alone there (the two males are separated so they don’t fight) and he clearly enjoyed the fellowship of the does.
I feel accomplished to have taken care of getting all the does bred. Now we can relax for the next 4.5 – 5 months and wait to see how many kids make their arrival!
Avivah
This is so interesting and educational for your kids!
Can’t wait to see cute little baby goats!
Are you going to keep them, or are you doing it for the mothers’ milk supply?
It’s so interesting and educational for me, too!
We’re breeding the goats for the continued milk supply, but if we had the space, would really like to be able to keep all the female kids for eventual milking, and a male or two for breeding would be helpful (we would have to have two since they can’t breed with family members). Right now, we can accommodate the kids when they are small but not when they get bigger, so at this point we would probably have to sell all but one or two.