Queens can pass leadership to their sons! My queen had 2 bucklings this year. Both if papered would have made some milky and show babies. Now I am kicking myself for pretty much giving them away for meat
Well anyways! I will tell you that bottle babies do get smarts from their parents genes!
Beth (my queen) kidded on a very cold March 30 2007. She had sunfire first and all that was coming out was a head. I woke up at 1 am to check and was greeted by a limp but alive head hanging out. Then it all kicked in! Like a FF knowing what to do after being bottle fed. I knew that I would have to get him out some how, but he was alreadly cleaned off (thank you doe who did it as Beth could never have got back that far!) well I knew pushing him back would just kill him so it was for me to shove my hand in and try to figure out what was going wrong. So I get my hand in and that was hard, but then she gave a huge push and out came my hand! Well running to the house to get some dish soap was out of the qesution also, so I just pulled and pulled and after 1 leg was correct I let Beth push and out came Sunfire. Now I was hoping this was a doe, but no luck
Buckling
and he was a little slow. So I knew he diddn't get alot of air during the birth. He always did stay a little more stupid then the other kids!
Next came Mercedes the most cool color I have ever seen! Like a purple! that at 2 months turned into a red/purple mix, (I called it Gods punch line!) Well he was just a 1 push kid and I pulled him after his rib chage was out.
So after I got mom up and had the kids semi dry in a box by the milking stand I milked mom and headed for the house. I got the milk in the bottles and warm water as when it is only 1 or 2C out it does get cold quick. So I lay a towel down and dry the babies off. Mercedes got up only 10 mins or less after birth and was yelling at me for a bottle. Now anyome that has heard a kid scream you would feel for me and having a bunch of other family members sleeping! I felt like just having a kid sandwitch! and what is Sunfire doing now?? laying on the floor putting his head up and down like a foal half way out of the mare! So after half an hour of fight with him I got them both standing and now they are both wanna a bottle bad! So I feed them all the colostrum. Now Beth isn't one of those crap milkers she milked well over 3 litlers of it! and that was down to 1 lilter after these hungry new babies were done! So I put them in a box down by the fire and go to bed.
The next day they got to meet their new brothers. The Jan twins were now HUGE compared to these ones! So they then learned they stepping on the new babies would mean a SLAP! so that night I seen all 4 boys sleeping under the heat lamp.
NOW FAST FOWARD 2 MONTHS!
My new borns now were little brats were now moving along with the 2 other bucklings to a new pen as I needed the indoor pen for my new set of twins! (buckling and doeling.) So they got to live in our summer hen house. They even had a run! And they got to see papa ram! (Dodge the RAM!) Well guess who was the first to want to get on the other side of the fence?? MERCEDES! was about all I said for the next month!
Well after a month they all looked readly to move to freedom! In the sheep tent! They could sleep in or out never having to be locked in for the night!
So after 3 months since birth the kids were half weaned and all most readly to be sold (which never did happen till July!) and now Mercedes learned that the bottle of half water was no good!
But Sunfire was happy to drink his bottle!
So well I fenced and fenced but nothing could keep this buckling in!!
hot wires boards running 5 feet high and taller! He would find a spot I had missed and would get out. Now this was the time the girls would leave to graze again after milking and Mercedes had it in his mind he had to lead them all! What was so cool was all my snobby show does would let him do it and even let him sleep together! Did I say Beth only seen him for a few seconds??? But she still would let him be her baby! So after it got dark the herd would head down and I can hear the bells so I would hide in the tent (no life here!) and as he let himself in I would say "Where have you been?" and like a teen he would just go get a drink and start to eat the hay the others were eatting!
Now tell me how on earth did he learn to lead a herd of 8 does??? He was bottle fed and only could see the legs of them!
So after I locked out every way he got really mad and said good bye to his girls and now set his life to make me mad! Every day around 2 I would hear the glass being hit and sure guess what I would see??? Him tapping on the door saying "ha! see you can keep me in!" and so I would drag him back into his pen. and yet agian I would fix the fence. Well after that he learned that the side wall was just the right size to jump on the roof of the tent and walk to the fence and jump over! Well I had to now fence the tent's roof! (Do you know how hard that is?? )
Well after a little it all stopped!
YES!!!!!! But them he learned that crying like a roo at sun up would mean he would get grain and all the other kids would to! So after a week they all learned to do it!!
I would like to say how many times I told him I will bring a knife out one of these monrings and take care of him!
Well then it all happened! The day came for Chance one of the Jan babies to head up Northern New Brunswick and he said his good byes to his brother and mom (It was the cutest thing ever! I took Him to his Mother and said he was going to a new home where he would make pretty Nubian babies and the weiredest thing happened! She turned and put her nose to his ear and told him something! No kidding here! and then she bit him on the ear and we walked away.) Then the next day now 3 started the loudest cdry ever! I then said sale barn and off went the 2 bucklings! And I was left with Spirit the last Jan kid. That was a very sad day for me as I sold every kid I had off and only kept my herdsire and Anna my 2007 doeling.
Well the next morning it was all qiuit! No sound! And happly ever after started!
So well sorry for how long it was and see how they are preprogramed and even if you bottle feed you will end up with evil kids!
