It's fall breeding season and so far three of my does have been bred and have due dates between March 15th and the 21st.   Come next March I may very well not be so thrilled about spacing them that closely and I could have waited to bred Roni instead of doing it today, but I so want to see what a kids out of Mojo looks like and how the udder on one of Sunny's daughters looks that I just couldn't wait another three weeks.   :)

As for the blue eyes well Mojo has blue eyes so hopefully Roni will have some blue eyed kids.   Tsunami who was bred to Sunny yesterday is blue eyed and Mame' was bred to "Camanna RHB Praise the Lord" last week and he is a blue eyed buck so we a sure to have blue eyed kids from that breeding!  

Next up to be bred will be Rita and then we will have a break in the breeding schedule until next February it will be Mystery and Millie's turn.   And of course there is no guarantee that any of the past weeks breedings actually "took" so we get to watch, wait and hope.

I trimmed hooves this afternoon and had finished all but the final two when I just had to sit down and take a break.   Roni wanted up in my lap (she isn't a bottle baby, just a friendly girl) so I thought why not try trimming her hooves.   I flipped her over and she relaxed with her head on my shoulder.  And I was able to trim all four hooves with her in that position.

Mystery's two boy were disbudded this afternoon.   They are both developing so well and their dam is such a good producer I may change my mind and offer at least one of them as a buck, probably the tri-colored one we are calling Willamette.

This is my first week milking Mystery and she has been very consistent at 3# of milk a day.  (I expect it to increase to 4-5# or better soon.) There is still a slight after taste so I have been making the chickens happy most mornings with some fresh warm goats milk.  Just like the rest of us they enjoy a warm beverage on a cold morning and the extra calcium helps their production.

I also moved Sunny and Rio to the pen across the driveway from the does so that Mojo would have the ladies all to himself and have a chance to build up his confidence.   With these two big romeos out of his way he didn't hesitate to make his presence known and was doing his best to impress.   I plan to breed him to Roni the next time she comes into heat.

Last night was the first night I separated Mystery from her kids.  They did just fine despite temps dipping near freezing for the first time this fall.

Mystery wasn't thrilled about being milked, but was mostly cooperative and gave me 1.6# of milk, which after filtering works out to about 3/4 of a quart.   I didn't milk her out completely as I wanted to be sure her boys were able to get a warm meal in their tummies.  

Since I'm milk sharing with her twins she won't be milked this evening.  Her production this morning is doubled as an estimate for what she would have produced if she wasn't also feeding two growing boys.   So for today she would have been at 3.2# so I'm quite hopeful that she will be up to 5# or better a day (her dam peaks at 6#) by the time she hits peak production.

And speaking of two growing boys I noticed Will & Col playing in the upper pasture yesterday afternoon and at first assumed they were playing with their dam.   Then I realized that their dam was grazing in the lower pasture with the rest of the herd and Tsunami was the one kid sitting.   She was being very patient with them, despite apparently being their "king of the hill" target.   This morning I noticed that Mystery didn't shove Tsunami away from the feeder like usual, so I'm guessing that's her reward for watching Mystery's kids.    In the past Mame' has also taken on kid sitting duties for her herd mates so I guess you could say it takes a herd to raise kids.  :)

Well you can color me embarrassed!  When Mystery's kids were being born I did a quick check and decided that the lighter colored kid was a doe kid.   Maybe it was lack of sleep, or maybe it was because I wanted a doe kid with those markings so badly, either way I was a little hasty in that pronouncement and it turns out "she" is actually a he.   So he is now being called Willamette, after the second largest river in Oregon. 

They are both very lively boys and love to play & nap on the overturned feed tub.   They will be available as wethers in mid December after they are weaned.

Mystery and her almost 48 hour old twins are doing well.  The little doe kid loves to kick up her heals and bounce around.   Her brother is more cautious and more interested in people than she is.  We have settled on calling her Agatha Christie and his name is Columbia George which is a compromise between myself and my children.

I am happy to saw that it looks like Rio has passed on his very nice confirmation to his kids.   I will be retaining the doe kid in our herd, and the buck kid will be a available as either a buck or a wether after he is weaned in December.

Since it was sunny this afternoon we let the kids and Mystery out of the barn for a short while before the breeze got too strong and cold .  The kids enjoyed exploring their new reality, and I enjoyed snapping more pictures of them. :)

Finally after days of waiting Mystery had an uneventful kidding shortly after 2pm this afternoon.  The tri-colored doe kid was born first and was quickly followed by her brother.   She weighed in at 3.25lbs and her brother at
3.5 lbs.   Mother and kids are all doing well.

No names have been selected yet.   But the children want to name the male "George" as in Curious George because as soon as he was done nursing he set off to explore the kidding stall.   I want to name him after a river in Oregon to incorporate his sire'sname influence.  The little doe kid will probably be named after a mystery writer and right now I am considering calling her Agatha Christie.

Note:  It turns out that the kid I thought was a doe, is actually a buck kid and is now named Willamette, and his brother is being called Columbia George.