Happy Birthday, Goatlings! Have We Got A Surprise For You!

Yes, that's him, hiding behind the Farmer!

This week brings the birthdays of all three of our little Nubian doelings!  Yesterday Chocolate turned one, today is Mabel's birthday and Saturday will be Goldie's first birthday.  We had decided months ago  that they would get a very special present, so yesterday we made a trip to Brambles Nubian Goat Farm up by San Clara, Manitoba.  Brambles is where the girls all came from and we needed something special for them that only Brambles could supply.

We returned after dark last night with an eight month old registered Nubian buckling, a gorgeous little guy who is brown with some white and black patches, mostly on his legs.  When Rebecca, of Brambles, introduced me to the little guy my first question was: "Is he old enough to do-the-deed?'.  Farmer Man came in the barn a short time later and asked almost the exact same question!  He is probably about twenty five or thirty pounds lighter than our three does (who admittedly may be a wee bit over-weight), and two or three inches shorter at the shoulder.  He is very festive looking at the moment with some bright green splotches: something about a tattoo ink bottle accident a couple of days ago, but Rebecca assures us that it will wash off easily or wear off in a few days!

Look at those festive, green ink spots!

He is just gorgeous; the full Nubian ears, a long slender nose, beautiful big brown eyes, excellent lines!  Farmer Man would like to call him 'Randy', but I'd like to get to know him a bit better before picking a name.  He smells like a goat buck with a musky, smokey scent that the girls don't have.  He has not, unfortunately, been the instant success we were hoping for.  The goatlings were in a bit of an uproar when we pulled up to the barn last night.  We've never both been away so long and the girls had not gotten their afternoon or evening grain ration and it was past their bedtime and we still hadn't 'tucked' them in!  We got the little buckling out of his crate on the back of the truck and set him in the corral where he promptly started to bawl and bleet.  I got some grain for everyone: we fed him in the corral and the girls in their usual spot in the barn but left the barn door open.  When they finished their grain, the girls came out for a look.  Chocolate promptly head butted the little fellow, Goldie chased him around the picnic table and Mabel just went back inside the barn.  So much for love at first sight!

The two doelings continued to be quite aggressive with the young buck so we decided to take the crate off the truck, put it in the barn and he could have separate accommodations for the night.  Farmer Man found a pallet that would fit over the open door so that the little guy wasn't completely cooped up in the dark.  This morning, Farmer Man went and hang out with them for quite a while; he even took all four for a little walk while he gathered kindling.  Mabel, as always, is sweet and gentle, just sniffing at him from time to time.  Goldie continues to chase him a bit, Chocolate continues to take runs at him, horns first!  He did show a bit more gumption today - pushing back a bit, so to say!  Other times, the little buckling goes to hide behind Farmer Man anytime the doelings approach.  According to everything we've read, once the goatlings even just smell a virile male, they should go into heat within ten to fourteen days, so there may be an attitude adjustment in the next couple of weeks!  And hopefully, some baby goats will be bouncing around the farm in May!