And the goat saga takes another twist. When we went to feed the goats at teatime on Saturday, we could see that Curds had started her latest season, and somewhat unexpectantly, she and Pepper were being a bit gooey-eyed through the partition. We tentatively decided to put them together!! Pepper did not freak out and neither did Curds get all demanding and in fact, as the photo shows, we had some serious lovey-dovey-ness occurring. Yes that is Pepper nibbling Curds’ ear in the final shot!! There were no signs of any mating being in any way remotely imminent but the fact that the two of them were obviously enjoying each other’s company was rather wonderful. We ended up leaving them together overnight and for much of the next day and whilst we have no expectation of Curds being pregnant, we do wonder whether this interaction might have paved the way for things to be a bit more positive with Pickle when she next comes into season (due 13th).
The not such good news is the plan to use Ovarelin for Pickle (to help induce proper ovulation) is no longer viable. The vet rang today to say that she cannot get a goat dosage for it (it is only licensed for cows) and as such she cannot now recommend its use. Our only hope now is that Pickle and Pepper are de-stressed enough to maybe want mating to occur. Things are a lot calmer since all the goats has been inside and secure in their own stalls and obviously the Curds/Pepper flirting is very encouraging.
We aren’t massively hopeful but will keep a glimmer of optimism going if we can!!!