We 'think' we may sell Pepper, although it’s going to be a tough call if/when it comes. Whilst we aren’t going to keep his two daughters from this year, we do need to separate him now from all the females because we don’t want any of our nannies (Garlic, Onion or Sorrell) pregnant till the autumn. PLUS he will have to live apart from them in the winter too because we now have Coriander who won’t be old enough to mate till next year. We knew all this of course when we bought the Anglo Nubians and our original plan was to have Pepper and Tarragon living together BUT, as indicated on Monday, situations change, and as such, so does our thinking. To begin with Sorrell came into season on Sunday which was a bit of a shock because dairy goats are usually only receptive to males from early autumn till early spring (Sept to Feb/March). We 'hope' we caught Pepper in time before the deed was done because if not, the result will be winter kids: NOT ideal. Our interaction with Facebook revealed that we are not alone with this: several people have reported very 'randy' males and seemingly receptive females up and down the country. This made us think of next spring/summer when Coriander will be a year old and how she could come into season early too. Sorrell by that stage will hopefully have kids (along with Garlic and Onion) but what all this means is having to keep Pepper separate pretty much all year, except when we need him to mate with the females. Even though he could have Tarragon as a companion, this will essentially mean extra work ALL year round because we will in essence have 'two' sets of goats which cannot be mixed together. Plus it will limit movement around the paddocks and give us less flexibility when it comes to space in all our housing.
The extra workload we now have due to Pluto (albeit a lovely workload) has also given us pause for thought. We need really to be prepared for such events without having to worry that there is no longer enough time to do the ‘normal’ smallholding duties.
We may be June, almost July but the change in the weather back to wet and murky, has seen us return (almost) to winter mucking-out levels as the barn and the field shelters are all being used so much more. At the moment the morning rounds are taking at least an hour longer than they were pre-Pluto and back when the weather was better. We often then find we are mucking out in the evenings too.
So, where does this leave Tarragon – the short answer is 'likely to be castrated' as it seems unlikely he can be sold on now as an entire male (and really that is a little unfair when he has only just arrived with us). Serious buyers would want to see his mum for a start… He is a very sweet boy and as a castrated wether will probably make a lovely pet/companion.
The Relaxed smallholding is full of many different types of livestock and whilst we only have just over twenty all-year-round animals, there are not twenty plus of the same variety: as such workload and issues are greater – as usually mind you are the rewards and pleasures too, which is why we run the smallholding as we do!!! As per Sunday, decisions, decisions…