Here's our breeding update, full of pure Vermont farm drama.
Oscar began settling into his new home, obviously still a bit spooked by his truck ride home and new surroundings. Friday, I went out to the barn to hear Lola's typical goat scream. "I'm coming, I'm coming sweet girl..." (pause). Lola was not peering over the hay feeder as normal, but rather standing with her hooves in the feed dish, staring intently into Oscars pen. Mmmmaaaaah!!! After a quick check it was confirmed: One goat in heat.
Now Lola is not a shy goat when it comes to boys. She literally threw herself at Oscar. I worried for the poor little guy. He seemed terrified!!! By Saturday morning, Lola wanted nothing to do with anything, unless it was Oscar himself. She spent the whole time kicking and yelling while being milked and refused to finish her food. Back to Oscar she went, licking his ears, stomping the ground, nuzzling him, talking to him, and wagging her tail excessively. By the afternoon, Lola had finally coaxed Oscar out of his shell and he began behaving as a typical male goat behaves when overcome with lust for a lady...tongue wagging, peeing on himself, bleating, and trying to mount Lola. Imagine a Chihuahua trying to breed a Labrador, you get the picture. It's ok that Oscar is way too short though, as Abby was the doe we wanted to breed.
I began intensive training sessions with Oscar that afternoon, having him hop up onto the hay feeder shelf and down again, coaxing him with food. The hope was that he'd be able to reach Abby to breed her when the time came. And it came, Saturday evening, Abby began wagging her tail while eating her hay, with one issue: Anytime Oscar got anywhere near her, she flew at him like a torpedo and tried to knock him over! Abby did not like Oscar.
Last night, the decision was made to abandon plans for breeding Abby and transfer the deed over to Lola. Made sense, she was obviously more than willing! Sunday morning arrives. Out comes Oscar, out comes Lola, WHAM! Oscar is pummeled by Lola. Apparently Lola "lost that lovin' feeling" overnight. So today consisted of semi-friendly grazing together with occasional headbutting at Oscar by both does. Looks like breeding for this cycle is a failure.
What does one do when faced with failure? Make cajeta (goats milk caramel) of course! We plan to eat away our sorrow and hope that the next heat cycles proves a little less dramatic. Oscar will have a few more weeks to settle in and hopefully be ready to breed with Lola's first scream!
