Does in heat....

Winter is settling in, it is cold and windy today. We bedded down all the quonest hut houses deep with straw so the goats have nice warm spots to hunker in against the inclement weather.

We are still watching the girls to see when they will come into heat for breeding. If you told poor Furry Husband 7 years ago he'd be watching goat vulvas for signs of estrus, he would have laughed you out of the room!

We'll be leaving Chocolate on a 2 yr. lactation cycle this year and see how that works out. It will be GREAT to have milk all year long but I wonder if I will miss my 3 month hiatus from milking when we normally dry the does up and let all their energy go toward the new babies forming in their bellies.

The other day we thought Spot might be in heat... we took her to the buck pen and put her in with the wild man, our buck, Mario.

She was NOT in heat. She ran around fast as she could, eyes bugged out, mouth open and tongue sticking straight out squallerin' - with the buck close behind making his plea of love.

She would run into his house, he'd follow and all we heard was banging around... Furry Husband went to see what was happening in the house...

Spot would simply lay down.

Well, I know I should work with the buck more, but I didn't want to go in because he is really stinky and dirty from his rut to attract the females. If you don't already know, bucks pee all over themselves to make a lovely "stank" that only does find attractive during breeding season. If you have to handle a buck during breeding season, you end up with that "stank" all over your clothes and hands. They also make noises like rapid fire machine guns, eject their tongues from their mouths and flap them around, stick one front leg out and stomp it stiff legged on the ground... they really are "interesting" to watch when breeding season rolls around. The Larson family has a buck that sounds EXACTLY like Chewbacca when trying to attract females.

For all the reasons listed above I decided to try a different tactic to get Spot the heck outta there.

She was in the quonset hut laying down protecting her "goods" from Mario.... I called out "Spottie, Spottie, Spottie!" She came running out of the house - buck close behind, right to the gate that I had open and out she ran! Good girl! Who says animals don't understand?! I slammed the gate closed in the buck's face and Spot was saved! Poor Mario.

We put her back in the doe pen where she ran all around pell mell, happily cavorting and glad to be back home free from that randy ol' buck.

And so, the vigil of goat hind ends and wagging tails (signs of does in heat) continues...