Target number of does I wanted to freshen (kid): 30 to 35
Number of does who kidded: 45
Total number of kids born: 111
Number of bucks: 66
Number of does: 45
Number of first fresheners: 20
Ten single births
Thirteen sets of twins
Fourteen sets of triplets
Six sets of quadruplets
Two sets of quintuplets
First kids born: January
Last kids born: June
Months during which we bottle fed: 7
Hours spent disbudding just our own goat kids: 15
Rough estimate of hours spent bottle feeding: 543 (this translates to approximately 68 full-time eight hour work days, which is equivalent to having a full time job from January 1 through April 4 of just bottle feeding, and no other farm related chores.)
Not counted up: hours spent delivering kids, milk stand training first fresheners, milking the rest of the does, taking pictures of the kids for the web site, e-mailing/talking with potential customers, waiting for people who have made appointments but never show up, filling out paper work, getting health certificates for and shipping out kids, etc.
This is the first kidding season we've had in a really long time that we didn't have some sort of volunteer help (I may write more about this later- I needed some quiet after last year, which included the need for me to talk less, hence, no volunteers) and it is the biggest kidding season we have ever had. We had far fewer health problems with kids this year, and both of us attribute most of that to being able to have absolute control over how the kids were handled, though I think another contributing factor was our very dry spring. I also changed up how I fed the dry does this year- far less alfalfa for the last couple of months of pregnancy than usual, and it seemed like the kids were all a pretty good weight, and I had to reposition/pull less kids than in previous years.
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| This is exactly how I feel during the last half of kidding season |
And I can't believe I start breeding for 2014 in six weeks...
2 comments:
I'm sorry you were so crazy busy without volunteer help this season. Even just getting 3 kids simultaneously on a bottle this spring sucked up more time in a day than I thought possible. I don't know how you do it sometimes. I do understand the 'if you want it done right the first time...' problem though. I'm the same way. I can delegate, I just often choose not to, as it takes more time to teach someone, and then go back and fix what wasn't done right, than you actually save by delegating in the first place. Good help, as they say, is hard to find...and I'm a self-professed control freak. Hence, we still do everything around here ourselves. Anyhoo, congrats on the end of the kidding season! Follow Stella's lead, and enjoy it while it lasts, the next one will be here before you know it! :P
Hi there.....sounds exciting in the least. I am bringing home my first goats, dairy goats....Nigerians, in a few weeks. New venture and am soooo excited about it.
I have raised horses, llamas, dogs, cats, birds....why not goats, eh? Looking forward to the husbandry education and downright entertaining moments!
Thanks for your blog!
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