I have officially bred two does! (Well...not me exactly...it was a buck that did the "official" breeding.) But, I facilitated it. I bred two Kinder does to my Kinder buck. We'll get F-2 kinder kids out of this cross. I love my Kinder buck - he's the healthiest and hardiest goat on the place. I think I've only wormed him two times in his life and maybe trimmed his feet once...if that, and he's around 4 years old. My Nubian buck on the other hand has feet that need more attention. He's pretty hearty, but still needs wormed a couple times a year. I think it helps that the bucks don't have free run of the pasture. They're not exactly on a 'dry-lot' but they do stay in the same pen with the same green stuff that they don't eat, lol.
I think I have 14 or 15 does on the breeding plan....and I already have 32 goats, lol. Does that really make any sense - nope. But, I love it anyway. I think this is the last year I'll be doing any Nubian x Nubian breeding. I love the floppy eared things, but they are the least hearty/healthy goats on the place. My crosses and even the pure pygmies are so much easier to maintain.
It's still hot here. We'll be hitting 90 today. Is fall EVER gonna settle in or will it be like it is most years....straight from summer to the less hot WET season? I used to call the less hot wet season "winter", but we don't get a lot of winter. But, we also have a warmer wet season...I still call that one summer cuz it's hotter than hades!
I don't think the sow will have any problems keeping her newborns warm if she farrows first part of November as planned. I really like raising hogs over the winter..it's just too hot in the summer for them to do anything but lay in the mud. They tend to stay healthier and eat better when it's cooler.
I think I'm gonna try my hand at pig castration depending on the number of male piglets. I would like to free range the ones I'm gonna keep, but I don't want to free range the sexes together once they get a little older. I like having the pigs out in the pasture, but since they reached sexual maturity I need to be able to have a little control. Can't have that control if a whole bunch of intact hogs are running together.
Dh had a hypoglycemic episode this morning. Blood sugar was down to 43..not fun for him. I got him back up to 100 before coming to work and I'm calling him about once an hour to check on him. He'd rather sleep than talk to me, but I've gotta know he's ok. Probably go home and check on him at lunch.
The new endocrinologist he's going to seems to have a handle on keeping his sugar lower - but - um - too low isn't good either. And, he even cut down on his long acting insulin last night. So, while the lows are miserable for him - I think we're headed in the right direction. Just got to get him stabilized on the new meds and I think he'll do a lot better.
Happy Thursday ya'll. Almost the weekend!
