New Boy in Town

This past Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving, a new young buck arrived at the farm, Dry Creek Acres Carob. Once we realized there were no "baby bumps" - just well rounded does - we decided we'd just have to get another buck. (We'd hoped at least one of the girl's had been bred by Yuri in early summer - but fate had other plans. Between the extreme heat and likely low sperm count, plus his unexpected illness and sudden demise, it was not to be.)  I emailed Melissa, at Dry Creek Acres (Toggenburg breeders in NW Iowa), to let her know we'd like to do a road-trip in the next couple of weeks to see what she had available. Our plan was to purchase another young buck. Her quick response was that she was actually heading our way on Wednesday - and could deliver a 9 1/2 month old buck she had for sale, if we were interested.  She sent photos - we studied them with a fine-toothed comb - and immediately fell in love with Mr. Carob. His bloodlines looked good, his mother was "very pretty" (in Ada's words) and we were sold. Upon his arrival this week, the four does all immediately fell in love with him, too. He has Yuri's gentle and calm nature - a big plus for us.  He's also a darker brown than Yuri was and finer featured, which I like.  The girls were all over him, too - especially Ginger.  It was funny to watch her "snuggling" up to the new boy in town.

 

If all goes well, come the middle of April, we should have a slew of new kids, and, even better - I'll be back to my daily milking routine.  The one wheel of Cheddar that I made up this past spring sits patiently waiting in a cooler on the basement floor.  Last time I checked it was mold-free and firm.  We'll do the taste test come Christmas time.  I look forward to having a batch of chevre in the refrigerator at all times and moving on to trying blues, brie and more Cheddar wheels. Even though goats can be a major pain-in-the-butt creature, I determined that I simply cannot live without them in my life and that if I want the benefits of fresh milk at my disposal, I have to deal with the aggravation of having a smelly, dirty and hairy boy-goat, around.