I really am done with breeding now!

On a spur of the moment decision I ended up breeding another doe so we'll actually have 14 does kidding in 2016. Merry Oaks Oreo's Swamp Music was bred on Thursday to Taxman meaning I'll have 5 FFs all kidding in April. I'll only have two dry yearlings for 2016 now instead of 3 and April will be busier than planned. 
Oh wait, I just realized my title is false...I still have to breed a Nigerian Dwarf  doeling next month. I do want her to freshen as a yearling so I am going to go ahead and breed for May kids.
My new buck shed is almost finished which means I can pick up my buck soon! I really don't want any more May babies because we'll already be feeding kids for 8 months, but if any of the doelings don't settle and come back into heat then they will be bred to Google in December.

These are the due dates for 13 does that are currently bred.

January 20-LittleFlowers Rebekah
January 21-The TS Iris
January 30-Merry Oaks Emerald
January 31-Sweet Flowers Tansy
February 1-Sweet Flowers Poppy
February 2-Sweet Flowers Clematis
February 24-Merry Oaks Oreo
March 21-Busy-B&D Dolly's Della
April 6-Merry Oaks Royal Empress
April 10-Merry Oaks Oreo's Tokyo Rose
April 16-Merry Oaks Sweet Home Alabama
April 20-Merry Oaks Tansy's Twist&Shout
April 24-Merry Oaks Oreo's Swamp Music.

Change of breeding plans...

Twist was in heat on Sunday...and I decided to go ahead and breed her instead of Swamp Music. I have several reasons for deciding to switch the two and have Twist as my 4th FF, but part of it was the appealing thought of being done with breeding season, and I haven't yet seen Swamp in heat. All my does are bred! I have to say, I'm really glad I won't have to deal with my stinky bucks any more in this weather. It's getting cold here and it's still pretty wet and I'd like my bucks to stay in the back pasture now. I do need to go pick up my new buck Google sometime, probably next month, but I'll probably wait until we have our new buck shed finished.
If all my girls settled we will have 4 does due in April, I'm really hoping none come back into heat-I don't want May babies!
If any of them haven't settled, they will probably be bred to Google.

Only 1 Alpine left to breed!

Alabama came into heat on Wednesday and was bred to Taxman. Yay! Hopefully she settles, and a doe kid would be nice too.
Now I'm just waiting for Swamp Music to come into heat so I can breed her and be done with breeding. I had planned have all my does bred by the early April, but I suppose my goats had other ideas. I'll also have all 4 FFs  kidding in April instead of 2 like I planned, and 1 doe kidding in March instead of 3. I guess March will be a lighter month for us. With our first kids due in exactly 2 months, we'll be feeding kids all the way from January to July, hopefully weaning the youngest kids before we start up 2017 breeding season in August.
It's been a month since Taxman bred his first doe(Della) and she hasn't come back into yet so it appears he was successful and his first babies are due in March. I'll be keeping a doe kid out of Della and I'm really looking forward to seeing Taxman's kids! He is maturing nicely and aside from being rather smelly and a bit yellow he is looking very nice himself.

Sometime this month I plan to draw blood to confirm pregnancy with BioTracking, I'm really hoping all are bred!

Google babies...

Are due April 10!
Tokyo Rose was bred today to our future herdsire Cherry Glen Gentry's Google.
He is still living at Sweet Flowers Farm but will be coming here by the end of this year. I will be retaining any does out of Tokyo, wethers are $100.
Only three more doelings to breed (2 Alpines, 1 Nigerian) and we are done for the year. Testing will be done soon to confirm pregnancy.

Empress ReBred.

Unfortunately Empress came back into heat today. For some reason she didn't settle after being run with the buck for a week while we were gone, so she was rebred to Adonis today. She is due April 7. We have 3 doelings left to breed- Tokyo, Swamp and Bam. Bam and Swamp will be bred to Taxman and Tokyo will be bred to Cherry Glen Gentry's Google.  

Doe kid reservations FULL

Thank you to all those who reserved doe kids from us!
All 1st doe kids are either reserved or being retained and any second doelings will be back ups to fill reservations. Buck kid reservations are still open for 3 does- Poppy, Clematis & Oreo(all $250) and we will have quite a few wethers available from Tansy, Emerald and the FFs.All wethers $100.

Pictures from the NC State Fair.

I finally got the chance to upload some pictures from the State Fair. The first pictures are from Friday Night, Showmanship.
Peewee Showmanship-

My little sisters after showmanship

Intermediate Showmanship, 2 of my brothers were in this class.


I don't think there are any pictures of my and my other brother's class. 

The rest of these are from Saturday.

Waiting to go in the ring

Sweet Flowers Poppy~ she took 4th in both of her classes

Sweet Home Alabama~She took 3rd in the Youth show and 7th in Open.

BBD Dolly's Della~Della tried to dry herself up so she didn't exactly have much milk. I'm not really surprised she took last, we'll try again next show!

Merry Oaks Oreo's Swamp Music

Merry Oaks Oreo~She took 3rd in both of her classes

Merry Oaks LucyInTheSky-5th place.

Merry Oaks CallMeTheBreeze~I think she might have taken 5th but I can't quite remember

My brother waiting to go in the ring with Jr does.

Udder class. 


Best In Show lineup. The Saanen doe went BIS and BUIS

A few of my siblings in their NC State Fair T-shirts. Yep, it was a long day, they were all tired

And last the costume show.
Everyone has fun with that, it's quite hilarious!
And we all love it because we get a 45 minute break before we start showing Jrs in the Open show.

No pictures of the Open show, we were all way too tired to even think of taking any pictures!Youth started at 8 AM and we showed Jrs until 11 that night, I think 15 hrs of showing is enough to wear anyone out!