Following Creation Farm 2024 Goat Kidding Thread!!

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Wmahoney

Wmahoney

Awesome Friend
Neighbor
Joined
Apr 10, 2024
Messages
56
Location
Roanoke, AL
It is Following Creation Farm kidding season now!♥️
We have eight Nigerian Dwarf does that were bred and due this month, 3 have already had kids! Most of these girls come from pretty good milk lines, and I'm super excited about the babies this year.

Here is the list of goats in this years breeding. I included pictures of each below.🥰

Tangerine (FF) + Ashwagandha
Sage + Ashwagandha
Osha + Ashwagandha
Pepper + Ashwaghanda
Lydia + Papeda
Golden (FF) + Papeda
Crab Apple (FF) + Papeda
Crisp (FF) + Papeda

Let me know what y'all think!

Bucks

Ashwagandha (BL EYED) (POLLED)
Ashwaganda2.jpg



Papeda (BL EYED)
papeda1.jpg



Does

Tangerine (BL EYED)
Tagerine1.jpg




Sage (BL EYED)
Sage2.jpg




Osha (BL EYED)
View attachment Osha3.jpg



Pepper (BL EYED)

pepper1.jpg




Lydia (BR EYED)
View attachment lydia3.jpg


Golden (BL EYED) (POLLED)
View attachment Golden1.jpg



Crab Apple (BL EYED)
Crabble1.jpg



Crisp (BL EYED) (POLLED)
Crisp3.jpg
 
Here is Crisp's baby girl. Born on Aug 7th.
Both parents are BL eyed, and yet she still managed to get brown eyes.
Crisp is a very good first time mom, she was not sure about the whole nursing thing in the beginning, but after putting her on the milk stand and letting her nurse she is now completely fine with letting her baby nurse.

Osha (Crisp's Mom) decided she was going to help Crisp raise her first baby, so she helped Crisp lick her off. But then we had to take Osha out of her daughters birthing stall so that the baby would not get confused with who is her mum.
Osha will still keep coming over to where she can see the stalls and calling to them .❤

Crisp Baby 1.jpg
 
And Crab Apples kids, both boys. Born yesterday afternoon!
One has BL eyes, and the other BR.
She is a really good mom, and everything is going pretty well! She is licking them a lot, and they have been nursing on their own pretty well.
It looks like we are going to have quite a few of Black & White babies this year!
Crab Apples Babies.jpg
 
Lastly (For now); Peppers 2 bucklings!
At 12 AM this morning Pepper had 2 BL eyed baby boys (more boys!?😆).
Unfortunately, the first twin was a dry birth (and positioned wrong) so we ended up having to assist her. But he is now doing well (he started nursing while he was still wet and she was licking him off). The second birth went a lot better except for her being so tired from the first. Both babies are a very good size, strong, and healthy.🥰
Pepper baby TW2 (2).jpg
Pepper baby TW1 (2).jpg
 
Pearl said:
Great pics! What a bunch of cuties! Great thread too, looking forward to many many more updates!!
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Thank you!!🥰 I will try to keep everyone updated. I think Sage is going to go next.
 
sonya123 said:
Cute goats , but then goat kids are the cutest anyway:)

we are not breeding ours until October, so they will be born end of March start of April, but I will post some photos on here when we do have the next batch
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Thanks! That's awesome, I cannot wait to see them!
We are thinking that we will start breeding them so that we have have babies is spring and fall instead of summer. We used to live in VT before we moved to AL (3 years ago) and summer worked fine then, but in Alabama it is a bit too hot for kids.😊
 
Wmahoney said:
Thanks! That's awesome, I cannot wait to see them!
We are thinking that we will start breeding them so that we have have babies is spring and fall instead of summer. We used to live in VT before we moved to AL (3 years ago) and summer worked fine then, but in Alabama it is a bit too hot for kids.😊
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Vermont was actually one of the States we looked at for a farm ( but didn't find one, and glad we didn't winters here are long enough)
Where in Vermont? We used to go skiing there every Christmas for many years
AL would be too hot for me, do you like it there?
 
sonya123 said:
Vermont was actually one of the States we looked at for a farm ( but didn't find one, and glad we didn't winters here are long enough)
Where in Vermont? We used to go skiing there every Christmas for many years
AL would be too hot for me, do you like it there?
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Saint Albans, VT. :)
I would for sure not suggest for farming/homesteading though. I don't miss having to break ice, or having my hands go numb when I'm milking!
We love Alabama. The summers are a bit longer and hotter than we are used to, but otherwise it works great for our farm! When we feel bad for our goats, we just have to keep reminding ourselves that Nigerian Dwarfs come from Africa, so they will probably be fine. 😆

What state do y'all live in?😊
 
Sage had her babies sometime early this morning (3AM?) 1 boy & 1 girl. Sadly the buckling did not make it.😢
We are not sure if he was stillborn or died after he was born (not sure what caused it either).

The girl is doing pretty well though. She has a weak suction when she nurses but she can nurse on her own now at least. She is black with white w/ BR eyes, I will be posting photos soon! 🥰

Its super sad about the buckling, but at least the doeling is doing well, it could have been worse if sage just had the boy and he did not make it.♥️
 
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Wmahoney said:
Saint Albans, VT. :)
I would for sure not suggest for farming/homesteading though. I don't miss having to break ice, or having my hands go numb when I'm milking!
We love Alabama. The summers are a bit longer and hotter than we are used to, but otherwise it works great for our farm! When we feel bad for our goats, we just have to keep reminding ourselves that Nigerian Dwarfs come from Africa, so they will probably be fine. 😆

What state do y'all live in?😊
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I know where that is, I think we actually looked at a property near there, but didn't like it ( too small too expensive)

We live in SW Virginia on top of a mountain. IT gets plenty cold here sometimes too we have had weeks were it was below 20 , but usually doesn't stay cold as long as Vermont most likely ( but we have had snow in May a few years ago)

Our animals go into the barn in bad weather. It's big and has 4 different areas in it. Plus we have a house for the bucks
 
sonya123 said:
I know where that is, I think we actually looked at a property near there, but didn't like it ( too small too expensive)

We live in SW Virginia on top of a mountain. IT gets plenty cold here sometimes too we have had weeks were it was below 20 , but usually doesn't stay cold as long as Vermont most likely ( but we have had snow in May a few years ago)

Our animals go into the barn in bad weather. It's big and has 4 different areas in it. Plus we have a house for the bucks
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That's so cool!
Vermont weather can go in the negatives sometimes. That, and the weather is a couple of the (many) reasons we moved. Everything is so much cheaper in Alabama (including land)!
It hardly ever snows down here, and when it does everyone goes into lock down (we are used to driving in 3 ft+ in winter) and then it melts right after anyway!😂

However, we found that there is not much for good hay in AL. We tried to give some to our spoiled VT goats Alabama hay, and they refused to eat it and acted like they would rather starve!:rolleyes: So now whenever we drive up to VT to visit family, we bring hay back for them.
 
sonya123 said:
she is so tiny!! Do your usually only have 1 or 2? Kikos have lots of kids, we used to get 4-6 from some of them and they all survived. The Boers don't have as many so now we haven't gotten more than 4 to any doe
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Usually our goats will have 1-3 kids. Unlike most people though, we only want them to have 1-2 because we feel like they tend to be bigger and stronger, and it is easier for the mom to take care of them (after all she only has 2 teats).😊 If she has more than 2 we take the extra ones away after they get a good amount of colostrum, and bottle feed them so that the mom can focus on the other 2 better.
 
Wmahoney said:
Usually our goats will have 1-3 kids. Unlike most people though, we only want them to have 1-2 because we feel like they tend to be bigger and stronger, and it is easier for the mom to take care of them (after all she only has 2 teats).😊 If she has more than 2 we take the extra ones away after they get a good amount of colostrum, and bottle feed them so that the mom can focus on the other 2 better.
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surprised AL doesn't have good hay, doesn't it rain there a lot? I have only driven through there and been to Mobile ( eeewww LOL) so I don't know. We generally have good hay here but some years there is not a lot when it's dry ( like this year) and some years it rains so much they have a hard time getting it put up dry
this year so far we have gotten 10 really nice round bales ( 4x5) , but right now they are getting old hay from last year that is less than perfect on rain days. OUR spoiled goats want to be in the barn, eating hay when it is raining a lot lol
The sheep are way pickier when it comes to hay, they will eat the grass down to nothing before they will eat anything less than perfect hay

we like our goats to have 2-3 kids, they can feed those no problem, most can feed 4 , but when they have 5 or 6, I have to usually take a few away and feed them. Our milk goat had 4 this year, one tiny one , but they all made it and she fed all of them no problem ( but we didn't get any milk ) I just started to milk her, took the babies and put them in a stall overnight, and then milked her in the morning . They were not happy ( but LOL , these little fatties are already almost 6 months old)
 
sonya123 said:
surprised AL doesn't have good hay, doesn't it rain there a lot? I have only driven through there and been to Mobile ( eeewww LOL) so I don't know. We generally have good hay here but some years there is not a lot when it's dry ( like this year) and some years it rains so much they have a hard time getting it put up dry
this year so far we have gotten 10 really nice round bales ( 4x5) , but right now they are getting old hay from last year that is less than perfect on rain days. OUR spoiled goats want to be in the barn, eating hay when it is raining a lot lol
The sheep are way pickier when it comes to hay, they will eat the grass down to nothing before they will eat anything less than perfect hay

we like our goats to have 2-3 kids, they can feed those no problem, most can feed 4 , but when they have 5 or 6, I have to usually take a few away and feed them. Our milk goat had 4 this year, one tiny one , but they all made it and she fed all of them no problem ( but we didn't get any milk ) I just started to milk her, took the babies and put them in a stall overnight, and then milked her in the morning . They were not happy ( but LOL , these little fatties are already almost 6 months old)
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It does rain here a lot, but the grass is completely different (I have no idea why). I often get annoyed with our goats because they have 5 acres penned in for just them (grass and brush), they they will sit up near the barn and munch on hay for half of the day!:rolleyes:😂
We separate our babies just at night as well (starting at a few weeks old) and then let them have their momma for the whole day, by doing this some of our girls will still be nursing their mom at almost a yr old! 😂 I don't think we have ever had a doe have more than 3 babies though!
 
What kind of hay are you looking for? I have 40 rolls in the field now but driving across the state would make it too expensive to be worth your time.

Grass in the central and southern part of the state is usually bahia or more rarely bermuda. Both are excellent for cattle and most importantly they do well in the alabama summer heat. You're not going to find cold weather grass from new england. For starters it won't grow here.

95% of the hay you find for sale with be bahia. There are 1.3million cows in the state, one for every 3 people. They love bahia for graze or as hay. It's what I've always grown.
 
Peanut said:
95% of the hay you find for sale with be bahia. There are 1.3million cows in the state, one for every 3 people. They love bahia for graze or as hay. It's what I've always grown.
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bahia is very different from what grows here , we used it in Florida to regrass on construction projects
no wonder her goats don't like it, they will probably have to get used to it
 
Peanut said:
What kind of hay are you looking for? I have 40 rolls in the field now but driving across the state would make it too expensive to be worth your time.

Grass in the central and southern part of the state is usually bahia or more rarely bermuda. Both are excellent for cattle and most importantly they do well in the alabama summer heat. You're not going to find cold weather grass from new england. For starters it won't grow here.

95% of the hay you find for sale with be bahia. There are 1.3million cows in the state, one for every 3 people. They love bahia for graze or as hay. It's what I've always grown.
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We get mixed grass hay. Everyone keeps telling us about this great hay so and so has, but our goats just don't end up liking it... Goats tend to be A LOT pickier than cows!😂 We also try to raise our goats naturally without grain, so their hay is super important because it is their main source of food when they are not out grazing or eating brush (besides their Alfalfa and sunflower seeds each morning).
Our system right now is not ideal, but I guess it will work until we figure something else out.
Thank you for the info!😊
 
If I were in a new area, didn’t really know anyone but needed hay… I’d start looking at hay fields in late october about the time fall rains start, when the weather turns cool.

I’d look for fields that are well tended, edges bush hogged, ready for grass to put up in spring. The owner probably knows how to grow good hay. You won’t find many fields that look like this.

Most fields will have weeds, look trashy at the edges. Looks like they were let go till next year. I’d avoid buying from such farmers. If the hay field look sloppy in late fall it’ll probably look that way come spring.

A farmer with attention to the smallest detail of his fields will grow good hay. A farmer without attention to the smallest detail will grow hay the same way, sloppy.

my 2cents...
 
Peanut said:
A farmer with attention to the smallest detail of his fields will grow good hay. A farmer without attention to the smallest detail will grow hay the same way, sloppy.

my 2cents...
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it is incredibly difficult to find GOOD hay
so much depends on the weather too. We have one neighbor we get hay from every year. It is usually pretty nice and the goats like it, but there have been a few years when it wasn't dry all the way, and while not quite moldy, it was sort of dusty ( which is almost moldy, as I am sure you know) when we undid the bales. We just left it out to dry some more and then fed it to the animals anyway and they didn't seem to mind too much and ate it
We have also gotten hay that LOOKED perfect but none of the animals wanted to eat it, it was probably sprayed with something? That only happened twice and one farmer took his back and said his cows didn't mind it at all
 
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