I went on a road trip this week to pick up two new goats. Our Herd needs some new genetics for breeding. It was quite the adventure.
We Need Some New Blood…
In order to breed our momma goats for next year, I need a new buck. Our two boys are the kids of our momma goats, and since the momma’s are sisters I don’t want to breed any of them. Jolene and Juniper need a new baby daddy!
There are only a few Kiko breeders near me, and most of them have related stock. I found some quality goats for sale in Davidson, Saskatchewan – a 7 hour drive away. Crazy Creek Ranch is a well respected breeder of Kiko goats, but due to poor health they are dispersing their herd.
I settled on a cute buckling from their herd, and we are naming him Leif. He does have a great-grandsire in common with my does, but I think that is a distant enough relationship to be safe.
Leif is a pure New Zealand Kiko, as are my does, Jolene and Juniper. Their pairings should result in some quality kids, and hopefully some colour.
How about another Doe?
Since I was going to be going all that way to pick up Leif, I succumbed to goat math and bought a new Doe as well.
EZK Bat Chick is a gorgeous black Kiko doe. She is slightly smaller than Jolene and Juniper, but I think she is adorable. I was getting tired of only seeing white goats in the Girls pen – hopefully we can add more colour next year.
Puddle Adventure
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not the best driver around… I get easily distracted by scenery. I decided that there was no way I should pull the horse trailer all the way to Saskatchewan and back, so decided to borrow my daughter’s truck and put the goats in large dog crates in the box of the truck.
We used the horse trailer when we picked up the original goats, but there were a few differences.
- It was a one day trip
- my daughter was driving
- we picked up Hitchhiker goats in addition to our own.
I took our two largest crates, and put them in the back of the truck with some hay and shavings, and set off on my road trip.
On Thursday, I drove to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and checked into a hotel. Luckily the drive was uneventful. The sky was a bit gray and it was windy but warm. I couldn’t be sure if the sky was overcast or the gray was from the forest fires in BC.
For dinner, I decided to just walk about a block to the nearest restaurant. As I finished my meal, there was a huge crash, thunder and lightning, and hail. The sky just opened up and dumped 2 months worth of precipitation onto Saskatoon.
Because the ground was so dry, and there was sooo much rain, rivers formed on the road and the parking lot. I had to wade thru 6 inches of fast flowing water to get back to the hotel. I was soaked to the skin, and my shoes are still wet!
Damned Thieves
As I passed my truck in the hotel parking lot I was devistated to find that someone had stolen the biggest dog crate out of the back of the truck. I thought it would be safe there as it was strapped down and would have taken some effort to steal… My mistake…
Then I had to drive around a strange city trying to find a new crate before the stores closed. The first store I found did not have any large enough. My daughter helped out on the phone and found one for me at Petsmart. She had it put aside while I navigated my way through Saskatoon to the store.
I put both crates inside the truck for the night!
Hail Damage
When I advised the front desk of the theft, they told me I was lucky because half of the other vehicle in the parking lot had side windows smashed by the storm. I breathed a sigh of relief that I wasn’t going to have to replace a window. The other drivers were all out searching for plastic and tape to cover their windows for the night.
The next morning I realized that the passenger door window had sustained a hit and had two big cracks in it. So, I will be replacing a window, but at least I was able to continue my road trip without plastic covering the window.
The Pick Up
I was out of the hotel bright and early and made it to Davidson for 8 am to pick up the goats. It was lovely to meet Shelley and her grandkids who helped me put the new crate together and catch the wild and crazy goats. We got loaded up and headed for home.
We stuck lots of hay into the crates and I stopped several times to make sure they had water. It was a long drive home, but we made it safely. Eight hours is a long time to be on the road.
Unloading New Goats at home
Because we don’t have our cross fencing completed yet, I don’t have a good way of quarantining the new arrivals. I trusted that they were from a good, healthy herd, and went for it.
Using all my strength, I heaved Bat Chick, still in her crate, out of the truck and set her down close to the other does. I wanted to give them a chance to sniff each other and familiarize themselves while I took care of the boys.
My two original bucklings are so gentle and friendly that I wasn’t worried about putting Leif in with them. I left him in his crate for about a half hour, then let him out with the other boys. They have been getting along famously ever since. The boys are all about 4 months old, so hormones have not started causing issues yet.
Getting the Girls settled
Getting the girls sorted was a bit more difficult. As soon as I let Bat Chick out, Jolene and Juniper started to gang up on her. It is probably just normal sorting out their places in the herd, but it was too much for Bat Chick after her long, stressful day of travel.
I used the fence panels to divide the doe house and create a separate enclosure for Bat Chick. She will need to be kept separate for a week or so until the other ladies are used to her, and she knows that the house is where she goes at bed time.
Unfortunately, she escaped while I was rearranging the fence panels and was loose within the 3 acre paddock. The two new goats are wild – totally afraid of people. (unlike my other goats who swarm me looking for treats as soon as I enter the paddock)
It took me almost 4 hours to catch her!
She wanted to stay near the boys enclosure, so I put the boys to bed early and got her to go into the enclosure. After chasing her around the feeder for a while, I got smart and rearranged the panels so I could corner her.
My other goats will follow me anywhere if there is a treat involved. Not the new ones… I had to drag her by her horns over 300 ft to the girls house. (which didn’t help getting her more friendly…)
Now the real work begins.
I am going to have to spend lots of time with the new goats to socialize them and get them “eating out of my hands”.
I don’t plan on picking up any other new goats for a while. Our herd will grow via breeding, and I won’t need another new (unrelated) buck until 2023.
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