But now, a brief State of the Goat report.
The migration and remix:
Last Sunday (9/10) was the great goat migration. The four big does (Crystal, Sashimi, Goldie and Jessie) were sent to the front field with Jared to get some lovin' going and to enjoy the nice regrown grass. Sancho went with them for company. Summer and Loki have the back/right field for their honeymoon suite, and the rest of the back barn is divided left/right girls/boys. Because good sense overcame greed, Dru is playing queen of the girl-kids this year rather than being bred. So that field has Dru, Anna, Mona, Dahlia and Alys. Next door are Justin and Madison.
Due dates:
Because of Madison's little unauthorized expedition, all the does got hit with lutalyse on 9/23, which caused them to cycle into heat on August 25 or so. Heat cycles are three weeks, which puts the next heat cycle on this Friday (9/15). With a 150-day calculation, that would put the expected due date at February 11th. NOTE TO SELF: Last time, the entire group hit within a week, and only the last two were "on time." So the start-freaking-out date is probably February 6th, and with chemical enhancement, I can expect much the same type of grouping (4 births within 6 days).
Math: Crystal's twins (Justin and Opal) were born on 1/31/06. If gestation = 150 days, her bred date was 9/3/05. The does were mixed in with the Jared either on 8/31 or 9/3 (I can't remember), so they came into heat almost immediately.
Expectations:
Two years ago, only Crystal had twins (Mica and Toby). Last year Crystal, Goldie and Jessie all had twins. But I not only was rabid about deworming, I also "flushed" the does with extra food at the end of August '05. This year I did not change the amount of food, though the goats did move onto a "new" (fully grown) pasture just in time to hook up with Jared. So the data has shifted slightly, and I'm curious how it will turn out in the twins department in February.
And I got all these neat name suggestions last year that I haven't used up yet. - http://reedrover.livejournal.com/325724.html - and of course I'm happy to take more suggestions if you have them. Check the names explanation page for a perspective on my naming logic.
