Well, breeding season is well underway up on the farm. We have, for the most part, the does where we want them so we can with any luck start kidding out in December. Chuck reports back when he sees activity, and I record it in the calendar with the tentative due date. Now, we just have to keep everyone healthy until it is time to move them to the other farm sometime in November. We have had a record number of days over 90 degrees, and I wonder how it will affect fertility. Obviously the days are beginning to shorten triggering the does to come in, but I wonder if their bodies will respond to the heat with reduced ovulation or if it won't matter at all. I suppose I will start getting my answers this December.
We finally got the weanling does moved to the country. So far, they have adjusted well and only little Tempy continues to try to get herself killed. She is the smallest of the bunch, but spends all of her time foraging even when everyone else is taking it easy in the shade, so I hope she does not eventually succeed in her attempts to eliminate herself from the gene pool. I have learned to appreciate the individuals who really get out and forage.
Connie's doe kid continues to thrive even with the heat. We hope Connie rebreeds so she can kid out closer to the rest of the group next time, but that may not happen until next year. I have tried to keep the late kidding does fed well enough to raise their kids and keep a reasonable body condition so they may still continue their own growth but still rebreed and produce kids for this winter. Again, come December, I will know if this worked or if it was just feed wasted. If so, I can make better decisions next year. I don't mind providing extra feed for a doe doing double or triple duty, especially if she herself is still growing. It's the freeloaders I have a bit of a problem with.
I can tell you the high temps didn't affect our does fertility last year. We bred the first week in July and they all kidded within 2 weeks of each other in December; and 7 even had triplets! We are holding off breeding until Sept this year. We are opposite than you guys....we DO NOT want December kidding!! It was a nightmare for us. I wish you the best of luck!!! :)
ReplyDeleteAs miserable as the weather was on us people last December, the does did so much better. We didn't have to deworm but a couple at all, and didn't have to deworm a single kid. We are just hoping it works out as well this winter. To be honest, in NC, December is typically milder than January and February. It is January that normally brings us the heaviest ice storms. And if we blew it, well, we will back up and make changes the next year. Good luck to you guys, too!
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