Great show in Wellborn

Mike and Becky Swafford of Swafford's Sunny Acres did it again with a super show this past weekend at their farm. Sixteen exhibitors and over 100 goats made it one of the largest FPGA shows in it's history. It was great to see friends from TN, GA, SC, NC, and AL make it to the show despite the threat of rain and impending cold weather. The weather cooperated and the shows (2 in one day) were a great success. Congratulations to all who participated and especially to the champions.

Kidding season is about done here with two does left to kid. Plans are finalized for the start of our next breeding season which will commence on March 12th. These will be August kids. I finalized the breeding pair last night and they will produce awesome kids! PGCH OHF Quinton with be the main man on this go-around.

We are expecting a chilly night, tonight, with temperatures getting near freezing for the first time in a while. Everyone in the barn was huddled when I last looked tonight. I saw four kids squeezed into one feed bucket. Cute and warm.

Congratulations to Alexis Houghten who showed one of our former does to a grand champion win at the Goats-R-Us 4H goats show in Ft Myers this past weekend. Way to go Alexis and Crystal. Alexis also place second in Junior Showmanship.

Bundle up everyone tonight.

g

A HUGE Single!!

What do you do when you have a doe in labor and nothing happens? What kind of skills do you have in pulling a kid? Should you pull or leave her alone? Those are very serious questions to ponder. Your overall experience should be you guide. If you are at all uncomfortable...by all means call your vet. I cannot walk, talk or guide you through the procedure to pull a kid, so trust your instincts and leave it at that. There are just too many kid presentation sceanios for malpresentations and distocia to take a chance if you are not experienced in getting a kid out of a bad situation.

I had one of my long line Oak Haven Farm does go into labor the other night. She pushed a for about an hour with nothing but her water sac presenting. She had a great kidding history of twins in the past. No problems. But when I pulled on the gloves, I found a foot and the nose in the birth canal. I had no way of knowing that this was to be a single, five pound doe kid. I just helped a bit with a gentle downward pulling and eventually the head emerged and then it was a bit of a struggle to get the shoulders through and out. She pushed hard and WE were able to get the amazon kid out. Since I pasture breed I have no way of getting a definite breeding date, but from the size, I expect this single kid was a few days late in getting out. This is typical with some single births - large kids and the potential for problems. Twins and Trips tend to be smaller and on time. Although my all time favorite doe; Oak Haven Farm Beffy-Q (now 11 years old) had an easy time with a set of XL twins; both four and a half pounders! They slid out like butter.

Good luck and trust you instincts with your does at kidding time.


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Happy New Year !

We're off and running into the new year. A time for new plans and change on the farm. We have sold off all our four Boer/meat goats and some of our Pygmys to make room for Zebu cattle. We purchase a trio of two heifers and a cute little bull. We won't be expecting babies for a couple of years so we may be adding a few bred cows as the year progresses.

Our show season kicks off soon...January 27th to be exact, at the FPGA Super Bowl of Pygmy Goats show at the Swafford's home in Wellborn. It will be a two shows in one day event and it should be quite fun. The pizza and storytelling the night before is always the highlight of my trip.

Our babies are almost all on the ground now. Just two more does to kid. We had some disappointments and heartaches, as usual, but for the most part the kiddings went great. Too many bucks to does though. Two of the best little ones so far is a little buck and a doe kid out of Gunsmoke and Dream Catcher Total Eclipse+. I expect him to be following in the hoofprints of his half brother, PGCH Oak Haven Farm Quinton, and the little doeling to be as competitive in ring and in the kidding pen as her mom.

If you are looking for a nicely confirmed buck kid out of Gunsmoke or out of HBF Primal Attitude, we have several great looking little studly bucklings to choose from. The light caramal guys from Primal Attitude will turn heads in the ring. I am going to wether very late this season to see how the different bucklings progress. PGCH Quinton took a while before he came into his own.

I hope the new year brings you great kids. More soon.

g