Nancy - yes, Buddy is doing well, and he'll always get a bit extra attention from me after what he's been through. (For those that don't know the story, Buddy is our deerworm survivor.) He's still a bit leaner than everyone else, but no sign of neural damage. He's the guy who halter trained our calf for us.
Kim - Buster has a lot of relatives spread throughout SE Ohio. His father was a black spotted Nubian named Solomon and his grandfather was a black spotted Nubian named Simon. The bucks have gone through a number of farms in the area, introducing polka dots and then being moved on to bring fresh blood to other herds.
If you like spots, you'll like Clyde. He's a Simon son and is the brown spotty one in the photo below. He's neck and neck for herd position #4 with Connie. They usually play like equal rank playmates, but Clyde teams up with the high ranking goats when they want to steer Connie around the yard. At other times, Connie sasses Clyde like she outranks him. And every night at dinner time, Clyde rears up at Connie to remind her she's supposed to wait until all goats go through the gate before she's allowed to go in for dinner.
All 8 of the goats are in this shot. The sandy colored one on the left with the raggedy ears is Sandy. She was headed for a bright future as a 4-H fair beauty queen until she dunked her ears in a water bowl during a vicious cold snap. She frost bit the tips of her ears off so we had a chance to get her. She's Cocoa's sister from the same breeding, and holds position #2. She's nicknamed "The Enforcer" - Cocoa sets the herd rules and Sandy thunks everyone into compliance. Sandy adopted Connie as a calf takes lead on the parenting responsibilities.
On the right you can see can see Bindy with the big white spot on her side and little white spot on her head. Cocoa and Sandy are her kids from her second breeding. Mabel is her daughter from her 4th breeding. (All of this is on other farms - we don't breed.) The dark chestnut colored one tucked in between Buster and Bindy is Molly.
Molly is Bindy's granddaughter out of Snow White - a doe from Bindy's first breeding. Snow White died from deerworm when Molly was 5 weeks old. We had a chance to get Bindy, Molly and Mabel - and Bindy was willing to nurse Molly alongside Mabel. Molly was weaned in a fairly timely manner, but Mabel kept topping off with Bindy milk until she was over a year old. We think it is part of Bindy and Mabel's master plan to someday take over the herd and oust Queen Cocoa. Molly is much more interested in developing the size of her rumen than in political intrigue.
Molly and Mabel were sired by Simon.
Bindy is a total pushover for a sweet talking spotted buck. Since there are no bucks here, she's equally content flirting with Buster. We think some of that might be Cocoa's master plan to keep Bindy busy with a boyfriend so that she doesn't get back into herd politics and regime overthrow. Buster and Bindy are herd ranks 8 and 9, but they don't care because they are in love. Buster the whether can sweet talk every bit as well as Dad and Grandad.
It's all quite lively. They roam 15 wooded acres during the day. Between having a mixed herd and the whole Bindy/Cocoa power struggle, there are all sorts of things going on to keep them physically and mentally busy all day long. And Cocoa just keeps getting smarter and craftier because she has to be. Buddy fits in as Cocoa's royal prince. He's quite reserved and sometimes a bit aloof, but Cocoa and Buddy can often be seen wandering off to the edge of the herd where they plot and plan together. Buddy tends to help Cocoa sneak the herd away herd away when Cocoa decides it's time to teach Bindy a lesson by ditching her in the woods.
One other thing - how do you think these guys (goats and cow) look for animals that have only had 6 square bales of hay in the past year, and that share a 2 cup measure of grain between the lot of them each evening.
We're quite proud of how the hills and the browse around here have shape them all up.
I'm really glad I finally got an account at
www.photobucket.com It's very easy to post pics, and it is a lot of fun sharing the photos and herd gossip with you all.
Lynda
I only know who's at the very bottom of the pecking order. This guy always gets extra attention 'cause I feel sorry for him.
