The goats are a big part of The Two Nickels Farm. Life here sorta revolves around the girls. Feeding time, milking time, kidding time & snack time. Okay, the last one is for me. I like to spoil my girls with a snack. What girl doesn't like a mid afternoon snack? This time of year it's greens, pine tree boughs, winter squash, craisins & raisins. Ahem.
I thought it would be nice to introduce you to the girls while we are wating for them to start kidding, having babies. (I need something to do to keep my anxiety down!) I'll try to aquaint you with the girls over the next couple days. Let's get get to know Mocha!
Oh, my Mocha. She was the first goat I bought. She is a ADGA Registered Purebred Lamancha dairy goat. Mo or Mo Mo, as I call her most affectionatley, will be 3 years old on next Friday. She comes to me when I call any one of her names. She is brown/chocolate in color with gopher-sized ears. Yes, lamanchas do have ears! She loves people & chickens, just not other goats.
Mocha is the herd queen. She's in charge. When Mo is in the barn, it's her barn. She pushes everyone else out. If it's feeding time, it's all her food. I have told her many times that if it wasn't that I love her so much I would have sold her because she's a bully. It took me a while to figure her out. Then it came to me, she's just a selfish 2 year old who wants my attention! Awwww, makes a goatherder feel loved!!
Despite Mocha's penchant for controling the goat world, she has a remarkable lineage. Her sire (dad) is +B Dalton's Way TM Justin Time. Her Dam (mom) is SG Barnowl Quintessa. Mo comes from an oustanding pedigree that includes Grand Dams with numerous milk stars. Like her Sire's Dam, her grandmother essentially, SGCH Orchard G Jubillee, has 11 milk stars. Mocha's other grand Dam, SGCH Barnowl Quidditch, has 2 milk stars. The more milk stars, the better the goat. In addition to the does in her family having super genetics, the bucks rank right up there as well. Her sire's sire, South-Fork TTN Trademark, is a +*B buck. Her Dam's sire, SG Kastdemur's Tach Lach, is a ++*B buck. In other words, Mocha is special all around!
That kind of stuff, the SG, SGCH, *m, +*B, doesn't mean a lot to people who just think goats are neat. In the world of genetics ranking & showing goats, it's what breeders look for in a pedigree. The more the intials & stars a goat has the better.
In case you didn't know, goats need to have a baby goat in order to have a good supply of milk. For that to happen, you have to have the goats bred to a buck. I will spare you the details. I chose to breed Mocha to Mint*Leaf AACSM Prince.
Through ultrasound, we found out that Mo Mo is having twins! We are unsure of the gender of them, but will find out in the next couple of weeks. Mocha 's due date is the 9th. So right now Mo is dry, She has no milk. Her udder looks like a deflated balloon.
So, that's the footnotes version of Mocha. Thanks for taking the time to get to know our herd queen. Next time I'll introduce you to MazyWigfield, or Mazy as we call her.