He’s Just A Gigoloat…

Last night was quite a busy evening for us: dinner, voting, and then picking up a goat buck to bring home to our girls. He’s an Alpine, but is so hairy right now, you might not know it. Our Awesome Vet loaned him to us for our breeding program this year, and we brought him home in a large cage wrapped in a canvas tarp in the back of our pickup. He was a perfect gentleman, and calmly laid down the entire ride home – only about a half hour, but we remember that transporting Veronica wasn’t such a simple affair – she stood up and wailed the whole time. So last night’s ride home was uneventful, and rather contrary to his nickname of “Asshole.” He was even very cooperative getting out of the truck once we arrived home at the barn. Of course, I think it helped that he realized coitus was in his very near future, as the ladies peeped their heads over the half-wall of their pen.

My anosmia has cut off the majority of my ability to smell right now, as I’m fighting allergies or a head cold. In either case, I wasn’t subject to the full aromatic assault of his bucky scent – a mix of musk glands and the urine he sprays onto his legs and beard. George has assured me that it is definitely present and accounted for, however.

He’s a rather handsome goat, and comes from great milking lines.

The buck’s presence will bring our girls into ovulation, if they aren’t already there, and within about a week, everyone should be knocked up. Does are definitely not very interested in bucks unless they are in estrus, and we were given quite the Parkour demonstration by our girls as soon as he walked into the pen last night. I didn’t realize that goats can climb walls, but you learn something new every day.

This morning, I noticed that Ginger was very interested in the buck – even rubbing against his chest. I thought, “Only in nature would musky urine smell be an attractant.” Then I remembered that frat boys get laid all of the time at wild kegger parties, and the lines between man and beast were once again blurred. For some reason, the sound cuts out about halfway through the video that I took, but you can at least see the mating behaviors that both of them are demonstrating.

I took everyone on our usual afternoon walk, including Asshole, but I put his chain on his collar. Awesome Vet has been using it as an attempt to keep him from jumping the electrified fence – the thought being that it will give him a jolt and he will cease in his escape efforts. He is quite strong, and determined, however, and was continuing to jump the fence. It does make for a good insurance policy that if he tries running away, or is doing something he shouldn’t, I have the ability to pull him back. He was very well behaved for about 15 minutes, after which he became quite intrigued by me, and as soon as the grunting and tongue flapping began (I’ve had dates like that!)(Thankfully, long, long ago…) I realized he needed to be thwarted and returned to the pen.  The Wookiee, I mean Tauntaun, err, rather, Asshole was actually quite cooperative in being led on the chain, and I was grateful for that. Struggling to drag a large buck back into the barn was not on my agenda this afternoon.

I witnessed him in flagrante delicto with Ginger in their yard shortly after everyone returned to the pen for some grain (works like a charm at getting them back inside). So hopefully, we are well on our way to having a little herd of pregnant goats!

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5 responses to “He’s Just A Gigoloat…”

  1. Melanie B Avatar
    Melanie B

    Hey Trase!

    I have a question. So I know that you have to breed the gals in order to start milk production (yummmmm fresh goat cheese…) but what will happen with the kids? Because most will have the same father (I think I remember a post about starting artificial insemination), will this affect your decisions?

    As always, I really enjoy your blog!!!

    Melanie

    1. Trase Avatar
      Trase

      Great question, Melanie! 🙂

      We will be keeping any does that are born, and add them to our herd, and they will get bred next year (along with our current does). My dream is to one day have an on-site creamery, so that we can make those yummy artisan cheeses right here on the farm! We can’t afford to construct a new building just yet, but I am looking into incubator kitchens for next year, so that I can make cheeses for sale. We plan to grow our herd in accord with the demand for cheese, and we will also be selling raw milk shares. So the more milking girls, the merrier!

      As for little bucklings – we will be trying to sell them intact at first. However, they can start breeding at just 12 weeks of age, so if they do not sell as bucklings quickly enough, we will have to get them neutered into wethers. We’ll sell them as pets, or if that is not possible, there are many customers looking for goat meat, particularly with the rise in immigrant populations. Goat meat and milk are consumed much more around the world than cows, that’s pretty unique to the U.S.! So when folks immigrate here to the States, they are looking for a taste of home, and goat meat isn’t necessarily easy for them to locate, depending on the area they are in. While I’m a sucker for a cute face, and I know it will be difficult to come to grips with one of those babies being someone’s dinner, I can tell you from my experience with this buck increasingly living up to his nickname by the hour, I’m not interested in keeping any around! Furthermore, I do take comfort in knowing that they will have a good life until they are slaughtered – we will make sure of that.

      So that’s the plan – thanks for the question, and please let me know if you have any more! 🙂 Always happy to answer, to the best of my ability.

  2. Trase Avatar
    Trase

    Oh, we’ve had a Brain-to-Finger Assurance of Rigorous Translation error. (aka, Brain FART).

    I failed to mention that when we breed all of the does next year, we plan to do it via AI, which will avoid any sire issues, because we will be able to choose from a variety of options. 🙂

  3. Melanie B Avatar
    Melanie B

    Good stuff all around!

    It sounds like to me there is the potential to ship the arti­san cheeses on dry-ice to non-locals ;). Keep us posted!!!

    1. Trase Avatar
      Trase

      Absolutely! We’d love to do that – and I will definitely keep you posted. 🙂 Thanks for the good questions! 😀

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