HORSESHOE CANYON RANCH MEAT GOATS

Are You Kidding Me?!

2012-02-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, a pun was intended, probably the puniest I could think of. Anyway, many thoughts of what the title of this blog should be, "How Not To Be A Goat Rancher" "Goats Gone Wild" "March Kidding in January" "Not So Perfect Kidding Storm" "Just When You Think You Have Your Goat Program Figured Out."

It all started on January 26, 2012...well, maybe a little bit before that... lets back up a little. Before we headed out to the Dude Ranchers Convention in Cody, Wy we saw a few does that had bags that seemed more developed then they should have been for when their kidding dates were. Occasionally the bucklings from that year will get one or two does bred, it's happened before, so we got them up and put them in a kidding pasture and didn't think much more about it.

We returned from Wy to find that none of the does we caught had kidded out but still looked "early". No worries, no big deal right? Then 1/26/12 rolled around. We had some hikers come to the office at the ranch and say they saw a brand new baby goat and its mom waaaay up by the "goat cave". Okay, we missed one... Barry and I head up that direction in the truck and sure enough there is a first time mother black purebred Kiko doe with a little black buckling. Catching a goat out in the open on our 350 acres is a bit tricky at times. It takes the other goats and some corn to cause confusion in the new mother and over crowding so you can grab a leg or a horn. It's not the easiest task but it works.

I grab my little bucket of corn (doesn't take much corn, especially in the winter) and start calling the goats down from the hillside. They can't see me but are calling back so I decide I better hike up the hill so they don't head down to the arena/catch area. When I hike up part of the way, to my surprise there is another first time mother, purebred Kiko doe and her buckling kid. We catch the two new mom's and tie one of them in the back of the truck, put a baby in the bucket and one in the cab of the truck. With Barry sitting on the tool box holding the second mom's horns to contain her, we head down to the kidding pasture at the ranch.

We decided after that we should get the goats up again and look at bags one more time. This is not a full proof way to see if a goat is close to kidding time but it helps. Some does don't really show a bag until they kid... those are the sneaky ones.

As I pulled goats out of the herd to put in kidding pastures I started to get a panicked feeling. I kept finding goat after goat that was going to kid... it seemed more than 1/2 the herd was separated out. What gave me the panicked feeling was the fact it is winter. I sometimes will breed 5 - 10 registered goats for possible breeding bucks for people to purchase, I can handle that if the weather goes bad but more than 1/2 of our herd?! YIKES! Fortunately we have been blessed with very mild weather this year.

The other part that kind of was bothersome... all that planned breeding. We have three new bucks and we will have very few kids from them. At this point all I can do is learn and laugh from this experience.

So what have I learned?
1. Get those bucklings up no later than 3 months on the date. We castrated all but six bucklings and those six bucklings had a lot of fun. The bucklings were born April and May... I have never experienced such aggressive young bucklings. I have never had young Spanish bucklings before and I have never had those bloodlines of young Kiko bucks, who I noticed their sires were very aggressive breeders (extra).

2. Just because it is HOT, like 108 degrees, does not mean that does will not come into heat and young bucklings won't breed.

3. Nursing does in HOT weather, young and old, do and will get pregnant.

Today is February 7, 2012 and we have 105 kids born with 4 that did not make it and one bottle kid. The positive side to all of this is that we will have some really nice commercial doelings to offer for sale this year that will be ready to breed for spring kids for next year. AND the weather couldn't have been better!

Live and learn, live and learn!

Out and About

2012-01-06T20:08:00.000-08:00

The last few days the weather has been spring like. Not to go outside and enjoy it would be silly on my part, so today one of my activities was following around the goats and taking photos. I think they got tired of me showing up everywhere they went.

Winter alway has the goats on the move looking for food. They always start with the hay we roll out for the them and the horses.

100% NZ line-bred Blue Son Doe - Bred to a Generator son for Feb. kidding.

Spanish doe

This is one of my favorite goats. She a 3/4 Kiko doe from our breed-up program. She does a great job of raising good kids.

Purebred Blue's Son Doe bred to the Generator buck for a Feb. kidding.

Purebred daughter of Super Sport looking extra pregnant. She is not due until March.

THE END

Searching for Mr. Right...

2011-12-14T07:15:00.000-08:00

Four years ago we decided we wanted to raise registered AKC Anatolian Shepherds. Back when we started with the brush goats, a big group of wethers, we had a Pyrenees who was "adopted" by a neighbor (that is along and interesting story - not the time nor the place to explain). Who was then replaced, after his "adoption", by Rabies, an Anatolian cross (looked all Anatolian). We really liked that he had short hair and stayed cool in the summer not to mention his great athletic ability and the no questions asked when it came to taking care of business. Later after Rabies passed and we re-started our goat venture (another story) we purchased a pair of unregistered Anatolians, Jo and Mischief, from a couple out of TX.

Hondo - 21 month old raised with goats. Tall and well muscled

As our goat herd grew we knew we were going to have to find another dog (or two) to add. That is when we decided we wanted to raise this wonderful breed. Much searching went on to find the right female. To my surprise a lot of Anatolian breeders 1. do not raise them as LGD and 2. Are extremely picky about whom their dogs go to. I understand being picky, they are a different type of breed and are not for everyone, but occasionally it felt more political... the contracts that came with the dog seemed more detailed than adopting a child. I won't go any further into that...

We found Ookii (pronounced Okie and means Big in Japanese) at Dream Catcher Farms in TX - she was raised with goats and children, which makes for a good fit for our ranch. Did I mention our dogs have to be very tolerant of strangers, this is not an easy fit sometimes - again another story.

We decided to wait on the male thinking we might breed to an outside dog. This also allowed Ookii to turn 2 for her OFA certification which came out as good. During that two years we purchased a male that didn't work out and ended up with another female as a replacement. Horizon Farms Amazing Grace. She is a beautiful dog.

Jasper - 11 months old, raised with bottle kids and does and kids (bonus points there)

So now we have two registered females and no "Mr. Right". If we were going to do this, the time is now. Ookii is now 4 and Gracie 1(she won't be bred until she is two and her OFA test done).

I have three dogs I am considering right now... it is hard to choose, they are all different and very nice in their own right. There are so many different "types" of Anatolians if you have not noticed. Some have more of a Mastiff type body, others are long and lean and then you have the inbetweens.

Gideon - 21 months old - raised with goats very stout.

Now we are just deciding on who we like the best and we have to factor in who will work the best in our situation. The dog needs to be aloof to strangers but not eat them because even though you tell the people running around our ranch DO NOT PET OR FEED THE BIG GOAT DOGS they will.

Keep checking back to see who Mr. Right will be!

Organizing the 2011 Doelings

2011-11-11T14:23:00.000-08:00

Most breeders probably all ready put their does up for sale and have been sold out for over a month. Me, nope. I drug my feet thinking I didn't have that many (read post before this) to sell. With the culling of quite a few older does I figured I was keeping most of them. After getting everything up, separating the doelings and taking the wethers off to market I realized I had a lot more than I thought. Also after the drought this summer and talking with my husband we decided there was no need for keeping an extra amount either.

___________________________________________

These are the two NZ Bucks I used last breeding season.

Black Buck: DAR Kareem O Wheat

Red Spotted Buck: DAR Diamond Trout

All of our registered stock this year will have to be DNA tested regardless of the %. We turned both bucks in at the same time with the does due to not having enough pens.

___________________________________________

So yesterday I had the task of "organizing" the doelings into groups.

1. Replacements: Who and how many.

2. Who to sell: A. Who to sell as registered stock.

B. Who to sell as commercial.

C. Who will go straight to market.

1/2 Kiko doeling that we will be retaining.

Sire: NZ Kiko Dam: PB Spanish - she is one of my favorites to look at.

She did not get her spots from the

Spanish side believe it or not. I am pretty sure he sire is

DAR Diamond Trout.

The DNA test will let me know if I am right.

Purebred Doeling we will be retaining.

Another Purebred doeling we will be retaining.

FOR SALE

This is just a few of the ones we have offered for sale

FOR SALE: 7/8 AKGA Doeling (papers pending)

She comes from a line of dams that have made excellent mothers.

$350

FOR SALE: 3/4 PB Doeling (papers pending)

$300

______________________________________________

Purebred Spanish Doelings

Below are 2 of the 6 Spanish doelings we are offering for sale. All of them are black.

Priced $200 each or $175 if you take them all.

_____________________________________________________

Commercial Does

We have about 11 commercial (non-registered) doelings for sale.

$200 each or $175 for 5 or more.

Sire: Spanish Dam: PB Kiko

Purebred Doeling who is a triplet.

High % Kiko Doeling

So if you haven't all ready purchased you doelings this season, give us a call!

870-715-2891 or e-mail at kiko@gohcr.com

A New Spanish Buck

2011-11-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

We are excited to announce our purchase of a new Spanish buck. A 2011 Buckling that is out of a Kensing bred doe and by a Weinheimer bred buck. We put him in with 15 Koy Ranch bred does on Oct 21. Barry likes his build and his type but is not excited about him not being black. If the kids turn out like I think they will, I don't think he will mind.

We have not come up with a name for him yet.

In with some Koy Ranch Does.

How many doelings?

2011-11-03T07:14:00.000-07:00

2011 Spanish Doeling

I take records, I write down birth weights and who was born when. I even tag everything when the kids are born... the trick I have found is looking BACK at your records and actually reading them. This kidding season it felt like for every doe kid that was born three buck kids were born next. I kept thinking how we were going to have to keep every doe to replace older does I was getting rid of this year, plus the usual number of culls. So I didn't look at the doe kids or count them as time went on... WELL, we pulled all of the doelings off the 350 acres to avoid them getting bred. I don't like breeding does in the year they are born.

The pen we put the doelings in. Lots of food, although, not for long since there are so many of them.

As we were working the goats and separating the 2011 doelings my husband asked "How many of these do you have?" My reply, "I had mostly bucks, there shouldn't be too many." Then he asked "How many of these are you keeping?" "Well, most of them because we got rid of so many does this year." As the work went on the doeling number got bigger. The pen we were putting them in was getting more and more crowded, to the point we had to use a different pen.

Some of the 2011 doelings

When all was done we counted the little girls and I had fifty two. Hmmmm, fifty two? I was thinking I had around 30 with some that would end up at the market. Moral to the story: It is important to read and use your records not just make them.

Crazy colored Kiko/Spanish doeling

What now? Now I need to go through the doelings and figure out who I am keeping, who is worthy of being sold as breeding stock prospects and who is going to market.

Purebred Doeling

Goat this and thats...

2011-06-06T07:56:00.000-07:00

Mid Spring

I would say summer is now upon us. The cool rainy days have stopped and the heat has arrived. I think it was a bit rude of Mother Nature to go from one extreme to the other, but she does what she does and we have no say in it. :)

With all the rain we had some of the goats were very "challenged" while others took it in stride. When extreme weather comes it lets you know who your real tough girls/guys are and who needs to go. So some have been added to the culling list.

End of May

During this time of the year there is a lot more thinking about the goat program than doing. The kids are starting to show more of what they have potential to be and the does are out just doing their job. A lot are starting to put weight back on due to all of the summer forage (which is nice to see). A few things I have thought about while watching the goats be goats:

1. I really need to update my website, and do it on a regular basis. I usually am more involved with it but this year I have been very ho-hum about it.

2. I need to get back in the Goat Rancher. Another, sigh, I didn't renew my breeder listing. That is something that is important if I am going to sell any kind of breeding stock, duh! AND I need to do a 1/4 page ad or something.

3. Breeding plans. I have decided I need to stager breeding better. Breed the top does to kid out earlier and the first timers and commercials later when the weather is pretty okay (unless we get more rain and mud like this year, then it really does not matter).

4. When should I go look for another Spanish buck? We purchased two last year. One ready to go and the other was quite young and we only gave him a few does. So I am thinking the older buck is going to find a new home (think he has found it), breed all the Spanish to the younger and then look for a buck for the year 2012 breeding season... my thoughts thus far.

Spanish bucklings: always on the look out.

So as the summer goes on I will sit and think some more and come up with more plans for the future. Before we know it, it will be time to gather up kids and take them off to market.

Can't afford to wean these guys late or else I will have some unauthorized kids being born.

Puppies for sale, you know you want one.

2011-05-07T22:45:00.000-07:00

The puppies are just a couple days over a month old. They will be ready in about 4 more weeks. There are 8 girls and 2 boys. This pups are full siblings to the last litter that went for goat dogs to pets. They do make great family farm dogs if you have time to spend with them. Priced $200 each. They will not be registered but are full blooded Anatolians.

Kidding season, new puppy and puppies at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch Meat Goats.

2011-04-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

Kidding season finally arrived. It started the beginning of this month and is still going full force. This is the first year to have the Spanish kid and they are proving to be excellent mothers. They are very attentive and do not like to leave the kids for some time. We are very pleased. The only thing that is a little worry some is that they have given us a lot of singles but in their defense (for the time being) this is their first time to kid. Next year we will start to cull who gives us singles again... it is always a process getting your herd where you want it and there are so many ways of going about it, you just have to pick what works for you and your style you want for raising YOUR goats.

1st Spanish born - Twin Bucklings.

We are keeping an eye on them for possible sire prospects. Time will only tell.

On April second I headed out to Limestone, TN to pick up our new Anatolian Shepherd. About two years ago we had purchased a male from the breeder but he had a few fluke issues and didn't work out so this is a replacement puppy. We went with a female this time.

The eastern part of TN is just beautiful! I would love to take the family back that direction to do some tourist kind of things.

The dog in the middle is the sire of our puppy.

Horizon Farms Amazing Grace, aka Gracie made it all the way back to Arkansas.

7/8 Kiko Bucklings - soon to be wethers.

While I was away the goats kept kidding. Cameron took over the tagging and weighing of the kids. Thanks goodness for that.

This dam is a Myotonic x - we owned her dam, who was a reg. 1/2 boer doe. We have kept several 1/2 siblings to this doe. They are great commercial dams.

Triplets - Purebred Kikos: 2 doelings & 1 buckling. All tired out from being born.

7/8 Kiko doe with her PB doeling

Kiko/Spanish Doe with her twin bucklings

Hiding

We also had a littler of unregistered Anatolian puppies born on April 6th. Ookii (pronounced Okie) gave us 11: 3 boys and 8 girls.

One last thing, don't forget to re-order tags before kidding season starts. I had, what I thought was enough, an extra box on the shelf. Well, there was no box when I went to get it... I guess I used them all last year. So I have about 30 kids running around tag-less. This does two things: 1. makes it exciting to play the guessing game when my tags finally arrive (hopefully today) and 2. it's going to be a chase down now that the kids have a day or two of age on them. Oh the wonderful adventures of goat raising. How the simple things as having tags can make your life more difficult when you don't have them. Oh well, live and learn.

2011 Winter Weather at Horseshoe Canyon Meat Goats...

2011-02-03T21:52:00.000-08:00

Remember last years kidding season for HCR Meat Goats? You might not but we do! We had purchased quite a few does that were due to kid in Jan. and Feb. It was one of the coldest most miserable Jan and Feb I can remember - at least it was during the times the does started to kid. We had goats living in our garage to keep babies from being born and almost instantly freezing to death. What a mess!

This year we purchase a few goats that were bred to start kidding the end of January and that they did. This year the difference was they picked a week that brought 60 and 70 degree weather. The last doe to kid decided to do so the day before the "big storm" was to hit. We were able to gather her up and put her and her twin bucklings in the end stall of our barn where we set up a heat lamp and had lots of straw for the kids to keep warm in. Kikos are tough and so are their kids but letting less than day old kids stay out in freezing rain would have been pushing the limits, no matter what breed.

All that is left for our winter kidding season are 3 purebred Spanish, 1 Willingham Spanish and one Purebred Kiko doe all bred to the purebred spanish buck (due to start kidding mid-Feb.) The date is approaching fast. Hopefully this arctic weather will have moved on and we can have some days above freezing. Time will only tell what mother nature will bring.

A few days before the big freeze hit Arkansas.

Marlin our English Bulldog/Blue Heeler

One of the early expecting Spanish does.

A 7/8 Kiko dam and her 2010 PB doe kid.

1/2 Kiko doe

Joe and Mischief coming to say hello.

Older NZ doe

The day after the storm arrived.

Despite the cold the new kids that were born during the warmer weather seem to be handling it well. We have found if a kid can have several days to nurse he/she can handle pretty cold weather. They are more capable of finding shelter and following their mother around for some warm milk.

New PB doeling

The majority of the herd waiting for the hay to be rolled out. Forage is not an option when there is iced grass covered with snow.

Cold but beautiful.

NZ Kiko Buck DAR Kareem-O-Wheat

Corydon Indiana - THE CREAM OF THE CROP SALE

2010-11-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

We had not planned on attending the sale this year. I got a call from a past buyer who lived in KY that wanted to purchase another load of our commercial does - I will say this always makes me feel good. I am sure it makes everyone feel good, but sometimes don't you wonder how your goats are doing when they leave your farm and if the buyers are happy with them. Sometimes you never hear from the buyer again. Anyway we struck up a deal to deliver goats to the sale.

I was excited because I wanted to go back and take the kids to Corydon during Halloween for their big festival things going on around the square.

We arrived late, late Friday night - we had planned on leaving earlier, as we always do, but it didn't work out that way. The 9 hr trip always takes a little longer when you have 4 kids in the truck - but we arrived!
The next morning we slept in a little (because of that dang time change - Cameron our oldest didn't think that Corydon wad far enough East to allow a time difference. I think I agree with him).

When we finally arrived at the sale Dr. Browning was just about to start his seminar. I feel that his information is so useful and well done if that is all you went to see it would be a well worth trip. We learned a few things and were reminded of a few others. He also talked about the flood from last year and showed a lot of photos from it. The goat industry is lucky to have TSU and the Brownings and all of the research for us to use for free.

Sale time rolled around and some how Cody and Cameron (our two oldest - were helping work the sale). It is funny because Cody is NOT a goat person but he was more than willing to go do a paying job.

The prices were up and I bid on a few but they were to much out of my reality price range for me to justify me buying a goat. We are not in need of any stock but there were a few that that I really wanted. :) I was proud of myself for refraining and having control of myself. Goat auctions, well almost any auction, it is hard for me not to go home with out at least ONE animal or item.

There was a lot of high quality stock and they buyers appreciated it. From what I can see the high selling buck was consigned by Egypt Creek Ranch Lot #71 and sold for $2400 - he was by BBM Hanky Panky's Y266 and out of a daughter of BHF Onyx's Shadow...he was a pretty buck and just got off of the WIU performance test.
The high sellind doe was consigned by Goat Hill Kikos Lot #27 and sold for $2700 sire: Sunboy Stanton 149 (Nick) Dam was a daughter of TNT Cody
The high selling % was a 1/2 AKGA doe Consigned by Goat Hill Kikos Sire: GHK Nick's Copy and out of a commercial Spanish doe - she was bred to Wild Bill... she sold for $525

After the sale we took the kids to the square for some Halloween fun. We were just an hr behind on the good trick or treating, most of the homes were out of candy after dark....so we ended up taking them to Wal-Mart to pick out a big bag of candy to make into one big pile of sugary goodness.

Work, work, work....

2010-09-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

FINALLY we got the goats up again to check FAMACHA and worm who needed it and do a little weighing of the 2010 kids (I think we are off by a month, but better late than never right?).

I had the great idea of using our two oldest boys as "ranch goat hands" since they were off for Labor Day. Cody, the almost 13 year old, let me know that working goats was a horrible "vacation" day activity. Cameron, 16, who owns some of the goats, decided to have a smile on his face (forced) since he owns some of the goats.

We started at 9 a.m. (if you don't count me getting up at 6:30 a.m. to get them all in before they left the arena/goat catch pen area) and finished at around 5:00 p.m. There was an hr and half break when I went to deliver the 5 commercial doelings I sold to a near by new goater. Probably having a not too excited preteen who complained of a sore wrist from rock climbing slowed us down by and hr or two - BUT we did it, together.

Now we have wormed the ones that need to be wormed and marked the ones that need to be culled - oh and weighed those remaining 2010 kids, late or not, they are weighed! Now onto breeding plans.

I pulled 5 does out to put in with the El Chido Quate (Spanish buck) tomorrow. I hope we get some nice bucklings for the forage test. (1) PB Kiko doe (3) PB black Spanish does from the Koy ranch and (1) Willingham Spanish doe. I wanted to breed some AKGA NZ and PB does early too but I do not have the paperwork back on the two older bucks we purchased this year. So until all the DNA checks out they will stay doeless. I am sure it all will but the minute I start putting does with them, something won't be right. I know how it goes for me sometimes in the luck part of the goat business...

Until next time!

New Bucks!

2010-08-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

Meet El Chido Cuate (The Cool Dude or The Cool Man)

I was just minding my own business and here came this buck and I just had to have him. That seems to happen to me when it comes to nice goats. We have another young buck (2010 model) coming from the Koy Ranch where we purchased all of our does from. He will be arriving around the second week of Sept.

A few weeks back we decided to give Ron Polette a visit and returned with AVG'S Ozark Hot Shot. His bloodlines are known for good parasite resistance.

More to come.... :)

The Kiko Advantage

2010-08-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

Our goats at work

2010-07-20T18:47:00.000-07:00

Our spanish goats...

2010-07-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

While we were at the AKGA National Convention I had some people ask me how our spanish goats were doing. Well, I really didn't know how many we had left out of the 52 we purchased. Between natural selection and a few, we are sure, leaving the ranch there could have only been 15 left.

Today we worked goats, all 245 of them (well except a few 2010 kids that did not come in or slipped through the fence) and 39 of them were spanish. So if you ask me again I can tell you how many spanish goats we still have left and how they are doing, pretty good I would say. AND they are still wild as ever when you get your hands on them.

A few of our spanish does as yearlings.

AKGA National Convention and our herd....

2010-06-30T07:13:00.000-07:00

We just returned from the AKGA National Convention last week. It was hot but the center had air conditioning which was great and worth every extra penny that was spent to have it. At one point I had to go buy a Wal-Mart special jacket because I was cold.

I didn't get to attend any of the classes for one reason or another but I did get to visit with many friends that I only see once a year during this convention.

The sale went well. There was not a market for the % goats this time around like in the past which was bit of a bummer since I had brought two. Still, their prices were better than at a regular sale barn. I just consider it part of my advertising campaign and let them go for what they went for. If you wan to see all the prices from the sale go to: http://www.hcrhorses.com/AKGAConvention.html

After we returned I finally got out and about and took SOME photos of goats we will be offering for sale and to update our website. Still have a lot to go but it is a start. I also need to get them all up and FAMACHA scores and start pulling hair and gathering information to register some 2010 babies....

Commercial doeling

Twin - FOR SALE

Commercial doeling

Twin

FOR SALE

Commercial Doeling

Twin

FOR SALE

Commercial Purebred Buckling

Single

FOR SALE

Commerical Buckling

3/4 Kiko 1/4 Spanish

Twin

FOR SALE

1/2 AKGA '09 Doe

FOR SALE

Purebred Buck out of Nicks Last Shadow

We will be test breeding some and then possibly will

be offered sale.

Little Update

2010-04-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

It has been forever since I last posted it would seem. Kidding season is moving right along. I think we are nearing the end soon. I was able to get MOST of the goats up in their kidding pastures but some did not come in or they escaped. For the does that did not get in a kidding pasture, their kids, who were born out on the 350 acres, do not have tags or weights. Oh well such is life.....

This kid's dam was kind of an accident. We had a Myotonic buck for some time. We were brining goats to separate into breeding groups and the dam's dam jumped out into the Myotonic's pasture. So we just left her instead of trying to catch her again. This kid then is 1/2 Kiko and his dam is boer/spanish x myotonic.

Sun!

2010-02-20T12:46:00.000-08:00

The last few days have been heaven compared to the unusual wintery weather we have had. 45, then 50 and today 60 degrees. The kids (four legged - well and two) have really enjoyed this warmer weather. Here are a few photos of some of them. Enjoy!

7/8 Doe by BBM Sports Kat V872

(twin sister facing the other direction)

Purebred kids by Nicks Last Shadow

Purebred Doeling by BBM Sports Kat V872

Owned by Cameron

1/2 Kiko Doe with her 3/4 Kiko kids (doe & buck by BBM Sports Kat V872)

Purebred buckling by Nick's Last Shadow

A 3/4 Kiko Sky T42 Smore's daughter with one of her 7/8 doelings - the other one was the fancy

splash paint doe.

I love Smore daughters! She is a first time mom.

Purebred doeling by Terminex

Purebred Buckling by BBM Sports Kat V872

Kidding Update...

2010-02-02T09:25:00.001-08:00

Sigh...

This 2010 kidding season has not been with out it's ups and downs. A doe would kid here and there and the weather was not too bad, all was going well. But when the weatherman announced that a BIG storm was coming we knew we were in trouble. Fortunatly we did not get the ice they thought we would , just 8 inches of snow - and it was cold cold at night.

To make a long story short we have 5 does in our garage all w/ twins except one that kidded triplets this morning plus three bottle babies.

At one point I thought, "Now why do we have goats again?" After a good nights rest, the next day I felt better and was ready to take on whatever happened.

Not that the garage is the most ideal place for our goats, it has a good viewing window from the kitchen. :) It is time for several of the mothers to go out w/ their kids today - Cody our second son said "Our garage smells like a goat show. " I can only imagine what our house is starting to smell like to people that come over who don't have animals or goats.

When it comes down to it, these guys are an investment and you do what you have to do... plus no one likes frozen little babies.

New photos will be coming soon after things start to get back to normal.

Slowly but surely...

2010-01-26T15:04:00.000-08:00

Little by little we are getting kids. We have not had any big kidding storms...just a set of twins here and there. Boring we thought at first, but since the weather has turned bad on and off, this is a good plan.

Twin commerical kids - doe and buck

Marlin the wonder puppy! Helping me check kids.

(He is an English Bulldog and Heeler cross - strange I know)

Another commercial - buckling

A few photos of the first purebreds born - they are funny. I love how they stick together!

They are true sisters.

The first Purebreds born for 2010!

2010-01-14T17:36:00.001-08:00

As we left for Branson today to do a few things I said, "That black doe is going to have kids today I bet." When we arrived home, there they were - two twin purebred doelings. One weighed 5 lbs the other 5.25lbs. One doe down and 20+ to go for January/February kidding!

Waiting Game

2010-01-13T10:36:00.001-08:00

We are playing the waiting game, waiting for someone to kid during this nice weather spell. Don't they know it is the perfect time to "GO!"? There are a couple of does out there that look close. We will keep you posted....

The kids are coming, the kids are coming....

2009-12-30T20:09:00.000-08:00

HBK Lisa 1/2 Kiko doe due in Feb. Bred to BBM Sports Kat V872

It is almost that time of the year (this year) for the kids to start to arrive. We had initially had does bred to kid in Feb, but since our new purchase of goats we should start kidding the middle of January. Fourteen 7/8 Kiko does and 13 commercial Kiko cross does, oh and we can not forget the two we purchased at the Cream of the Crop sale a NZ Blue's Son daughter and a PB Two Time'n Loverboy daughter.

Are we ready... hmmm. I ordered a bunch of color coded tags today, a couple of bottle's for the "just in case" which we don't intend on having any, right and couple this and that goat things you need for new kids to arrive. They will be here before we know it!

NZ Blue's Son daughter bred to Nick's Last Shadow

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch Meat Goats is Growing!

2009-11-17T14:06:00.000-08:00

Yup, we are growing. After the Cream of the Crop sale we felt we still needed more goats!

What to do, what to do? We headed up to Double S Livestock and solved our problem.

We would like to thank Duff and Laura Sandness for filling our trailer with 53 more goats. NZ, PB, 7/8 and a some commercial (those were from Blu Sky Kikos - we couldn't fit them all in the little trailer we took to the CoC sale, so Duff took them home for us to pick up, knowing we were coming that way).

We also greatly appreciate them letting us lease some bucks, four to be exact. Kidding season will be interesting, exciting and stressful to say the least.

Photos coming as soon as the sun comes out again.

Cream of the Crop Sale Trip...

2009-11-01T17:23:00.000-08:00

I decided last year when I saw the Cream of the Crop sale advertised in the Goat Rancher that I might want to try and make it. After the AKGA National Convention I decided I had to go - I wanted to buy some more breeding stock to add to our program (I only ended up with one goat from the National Convention Sale). My plan was to get just one NZ if possible - more would be nice but I figured I would only be able to get one and then some PB does - I couldn't spend the entire budget on one goat. My other goal was to get a daughter of Blue's Son - I didn't care if it was a PB or a NZ. Every sale I have tried to get one I have been out bid.

We left out Oct. 29th. We stayed in St. Louis, MO (a little more than 1/2 way). We visited the LDS (Mormon) temple and went to PF Changs for lettuce wraps and good Chinese food aftewards. The next morning we had planned on leaving around 8:00 but the rain followed us from Arkansas. We turned on the t.v. to check the road conditions and got the news that there were flooded roads and many accidents.... we delayed our departure time by an hour.

Driving in hard rain is tiring and VERY boring...

The weather started to clear up once we crossed into IN.

South Indiana is very beautiful. The rolling hills with the autumn leaves that were left.

We checked into our motel and headed to the fairgrounds to listen to a seminar and look at goats.

The bucks were ripe and ready! Sheew!

Some of the commercial goats.

The paint was a PB Two Timen Loverboy and the other was a Raiz'n Kane daughter.

Duff and Sky talking about some last minute details before the sale started.

We purchased lot number:

18 - SKY 1107 Sara

NZ Doe

Sire: TNT'S Two Time'n Loverboy Dam: MGR Lightin's Lady T14

22 - SKY 217 Rudy Blue

NZ Doe

Sire: Blue's Son Dam: D7D 9B

Bred to Nick's Last Shadow

59 - DLS TNT'S Two Time'n

NZ Doe

Sire: TNT'S Two Time'n Loverboy Dam: JFK Aristocrat's Agape

90 - DSL Two Time'n Girl B106

PB Doe

Sire: TNT'S Two Time'n Loverboy Dam: SKY S403

Bred to Nick's Last Shadow

We also purchased three 50% from Terry Hankins and several 3/4 commercial does that are bred.

Loaded up and ready to go.

St. Louis was almost 1/2 way home.

Finally home!

Unloaded and expecting the arena.

Better photos to come of the girls.

This and That...

2009-10-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

It is the second round of breeding season here. We bred 6 does for Feb and another 10 for March. Today Sports Kat was sold so we will be searching for a new buck to cover the rest of our herd. Maybe we will find him at the Cream of the Crop sale - we will be heading that direction this weekend....

We are trying out a new electric mat that they use for cattle and other livestock. So far so good.

Bringing the goats down to check them out and to continue training the spanish to come when we have a corn sack.

Some of the spanish doelings that have figured it out...

Spanish Goats Update

2009-10-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

I got an e-mail from a friend the other day asking how our Spanish goats were working out. My reply, "After keeping them up for a month and feeding them every few days, to gentle them. We turned them out on the 350 acres and we normally only see 15 - 20 of the 52 we purchased." Yes, this is true. They are scattered all over the ranch. Have any died? I don't know - they are usually in groups of 2 - 10. The smaller groups are like deer, you better look quick or you might miss seeing them. Their black color does not help in finding them.

We did have goat hunt a week after we turned them out - we sent out 3 of our employees and Barry to hike around the property. We think we got a count of 40. The other evening one of our employees said he counted approx. w/ the Kiko herd - YEAH!

So they are here -just where is the question. :) To revisit the question, "How are the Spanish goats working out?" Anyway they want to work out is how they are working...

Watching me from a distance - there were about 7 in this group.

With the springs and creeks and all the forage there is no need for them to come out into the open.

Stay Away From Our Goats!

2009-10-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

If you are a coyote this is what happens to you if you are roaming around in the middle of the day.

A place to work goats...

2009-09-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

As you know it is about impossible to keep a goat in if your fence is not 100% up to par. It might keep them in for a while but after a day or so - they will find a way to get out, if there is a way.

We have come to a point where we have too many goats to catch in the smaller pen at the end of our arena. So it was tie to totally goat proof or as my husband Barry would say, make the arena goat resistant.

Deciding how to goat proof the gate on the corners.

Succor rod was welding around the bottom in places that were easy for goats to go under.

Barry cutting the end off of a rod.

Glen working on a panel that we will put up against the gates to cover the bottoms.

Spanish Quest...

2009-08-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

Some of you, I know, are asking, "Why more goats?" and "Why go all that way to Texas?" and we say, "Why not?".

This week we closed so we could take the Annual employee lake trip and work on projects, like fence that the ice storm destroyed in Feb. Then Barry mentioned how he really wants MORE goats to eat MORE brush at the ranch. I guess my Kiko breeding up program is going too slow for him. :) We talked about it and had several ideas and then he mentioned how he really liked the black Spanish goat. So without much hesitation I got on the old computer and did some searching and found an ad in the Livestock Weekly for 100 spanish doelings... so a call was made and we were on our way several days later to West Texas. (I like to call it South TX because it is South of me but tech. it is West.)

Can you see the excitement on our faces!

Really we were having fun - I promise.

Koy Ranch, Eldorado Texas

Koy Adcock's mother started raising Spanish goats in 1991. She believed it to be the best way to clear her ranch of brush. Her mother really liked the black spanish goat. Koy said that her mother would sell a goat if it had just one white hair (and of course she culled for the other obvious things). After her passing Koy inherited the ranch and goat herd. She sticks to her mother's breeding program by using only black bucks on her black does. She says occasionally a doe will throw a kid with brown legs or a white spot. She doesn't keep many of them like that but if they are good goats they get to stay, at least for a while.

Koy did tell us this is the first time that doe kids have been sold for breeding stock out of this herd since it was started.

Koy, Marie & Tino (and their daughter).

Back in Arkansas on I-40

Time to unload.

Our goats checking out the new girls in town.

All the girls exploring their new surroundings.

They will spend a couple of days in this holding pen so they can settle in and not try to head back to Texas. We wouldn't want that!

Thank you Koy for offering these quality does!

Thank you Tino and family for your help and hard work - I need you guys to come help with my goats. :)

If you are looking for some good black spanish genetics Koy has more for sale. She can be reached at 325 -853-2272

Welcome to our new blog!

2009-08-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the HCR Goat Blog! This will be a place I will share little events that might be going on with our goats and the ranch, photos and of course kidding season.... enjoy!