Kidding Season Success

“Sigh” – it seems that our first kidding season has already come and gone – the last of the bucklings left today. The three Nigerian Dwarf does (Tinker Bell, Bit ‘O’ Honey, and Jewel Box) produced eight kids (seven bucklings and one doeling) between them this spring, and we put all the bucklings up for sale. I was worried that it’d be difficult to sell that many bucklings, particularly since the does kidded late in the season and most human kids already had their goats for 4H projects. However, all the bucklings sold quickly and were picked up immediately after being weaned at eight weeks.

We retained the doeling (Ruby) – she’s the first homegrown Bramblestone Farm doe! She already has beautiful dairy lines, so we’re looking forward to watching her grow up. All in all, the first kidding season was a bit stressful and exciting, but successful: the does all kidded without complications, we learned a lot about kidding (quickly), the kids are all adorable, those put up for sale sold quickly, we made a bit of extra money, and the does are producing plenty of milk. Can’t wait to do it again next year – it’s too quiet in the barn!