Breeding Plan Update

Hey all,

We have a busy year this year, and some changes to the does we currently own.  This has lead to our choice to breed only two does to kid this season.  Moon is due mid May and April is due mid June.  Moon is showing evidence of having a belly full of kids already.  April not so much, but I'm hoping. :)  These kids will be F2 Experimental and 50/50.  Please feel free to contact us if you're interested in purchasing a kid from us this season, and we'll keep you posted as to the progress of our does and the kids they have.

I finally got all of my registrations completed, and all papers sent off to new owners of our 2017 kids, and that feels pretty great too.  Now all of our mininubians are registered with the Miniature Dairy Goat Association (MDGA).  It's great to see a little herd of mininubians developing under our patient and thoughtful care.

We have a deposit on a Green Gables Mininubian buckling this year, so we should be able to update on who we get sometime this summer.  It's very exciting!  I've been looking at the Green Gables herd for years, and I'm like a kid at Christmas waiting to see him myself.  If all goes well, we should have four does ready to be bred to kid for Spring 2019, at least two of them sired by our new buck.  Some of the resulting kids next season will be F3, and should be American.  I expect some really nice breed character with them.  Some of the kids will be F2, but if their dams are bred to the new buck, I believe we should have improved breed character with more roman noses and longer, less controlled ears.  It's all so exciting to think about!

Welcome Donald!

Moon kidded on Friday, July 10th, on day 145.  It started out as a normal kidding, and then stalled out completely.  She stopped contracting and pushing, and just lay down for a rest.  It seemed she was saying, "Please just make this go away."  I went in for a feel, which made her contract, but there were a number of parts that didn't match all jumbled up, and I couldn't seem to sort it.  A dear friend went in with the same results.  So, it was off to the vet, another dear friend and my boss as well (we'll call her K), for some help.  Here's Moon with her new little buckling just after his birth.

  Donald (named after K's 98 year old father, who passed away the next day) was the first baby pulled, followed by a stillborn doeling.  The doeling was all broken and twisted inside the doe.  So strange.  I imagine she got hit by another doe some days before the birth.  Because it was so tangled up, it's back end as well as it's front were presenting at the same time.  Hence the confusion with all the body parts.
It's sad to have lost one, but I'm thankful Moon seems to be doing so well, and little Donald is such a friendly, quirky little guy.  We're enjoying him a lot.  Here are a few more pics from K's yard after Moon was all finished up.  She went straight for the raspberry bushes. :) Smart girl.

NFF Blue Moon X NFF Mr. Tumnus for July kids!

Moon and Mr. T will be first time parents around July 10 to 15.  Here are a few pics of the lovely Mini-Nubian parents to be.  Click on photos for larger images.

Mr. Tumnus, about a month

Mr. Tumnus, about a month

Moon at 9 mo.

Moon about 2 mo.

Moon about 6 weeks

Mr. Tumnus, day 1

Moon and the girls, 4 mo.

Mr. Tumnus, 8 mo.