The good news is that I now have a breeding date on one of my does.
The bad news is that my 8 mo old buckling did not get her bred.
As all 3 of the girls seemed to still be coming into raging heat we decided to go ahead and purchase another buck rather than risking no milk next spring.
Our new buck is a registered Nubian. He was a fairly local buy - another town but only about 10 miles from me. They let me borrow their truck carrier to get him home. He has not been handled much so getting him loaded up was a rodeo but unloading him and getting him in his pen was fairly easy.
We had a choice of two bucks - this one or an unregistered LaMancha (for a lower price of course) but this buck was deeper bodied, had a better rump and was overall a much better buck. I am crossing to Alpines so will have airplane ears on kids but I am "just" a homestead goat keeper so my main concern is a good milk supply and quality healthy animals. My Nubian doe is just not big enough for me to breed this year but next year we will have full Nubian kids.
The first doe was making moon eyes and walking his fence line as soon as we brought him in. He got her three times with in one hour of being home.
We have another doe that I think is going out of heat as she was showing interest in him but not standing. My third girl was more interested in what he was eating than him but she is due to come into heat in about 1 1/2 weeks. Hopefully the last two girls will come into heat again in January so we can have kids from all three rather than just one. Anyway, looks like we will have milk in the late spring!
