Tiramar Farms: April 2013

It has been quite a while since I've made a new blog post, and it is definitely beyond time for an update!

As you may or may not have inferred from my absence from the blog and a lack of kids for sale, I took a sabbatical after my 2010 kids were born, for a couple of reasons which I will go into shortly. I would like to apologize for not making myself more available via the web regardless of my sabbatical, however. I hope that no one hesitated to contact me due to my dropping off the face of web.

The reasons for my sabbatical were twofold. One is that I simply had too much going on between finishing up my last year of undergraduate school, being active in a pet rescue group (including fostering, transporting pets, and occasionally trying to revive sick animals), and having so many animals of my own. I did not have the time or energy to breed any does during this time, because I knew if I did I would not be able to continue juggling all of my responsibilities sufficiently.

The second reason I took a break was due to a string of heartbreaks that made me hesitate to breed more goats. I suffered several losses, most of which were completely unexpected, between 2010 and present. The causes ranged from stray dogs to cancer to having to sell when I hadn't planned on it.

It was a hard few years, and I was in a place where I was wishing I had not had any animals ever at all. It was difficult to deal with so many unexpected losses within such a short period of time. Because of this, I was not ready to face the risks of breeding any of my girls; in the back of my mind was the voice that said, "if you breed them something bad will happen." I wasn't ready to face the risk of having any more losses.

It is difficult to come clean about these struggles, partly because it is a sign of weakness and partly because I still feel that they were my own fault despite the fact that I logically know that I was doing the best I could and that there was no way I could have foreseen or prevented any of these problems.

However, it is true that time heals wounds. Over the past year I have debated whether I wanted to breed goats again or if I should sell out. But I knew deep down that selling all of my goats was not something I wanted to do, but milking them and having babies running around was something I wanted to do. I was able, through my sabbatical, to recognize that I needed to do a few things: I needed to come to terms with the fact that loss is a part of life and that having animals means losing animals. I needed to decide whether the joy animals could bring was worth the pain of losing them, whether it be through death or having to sell them, and I discovered that it is. And I needed to reevaluate my goals for my herd before I began breeding again. I needed to center and plan out how I wanted my herd to evolve before I made my fresh start, and that is what I have done.

Over the years from 2008 to present my goals for my goat herd have undeniably changed. I am no longer interested in showing or breeding as a hobby, and have therefore chosen to not breed as frequently or as many animals at once. The primary reason behind this has been a steady decrease in the amount of time I have to allot to my herd. I recognize that, with all the other things that go on in my life, I will be stretching myself too thin and not be able to give 100% of myself to every area of my life that deserves it if I breed too many to kid at the same time. With this in mind -- but still with a desire to continue my heard -- I have chosen to significantly downsize my herd and shift my focus from the Nigerians to the Minimanchas, which I have found to truly love and which combine increased milk production with the compact size of the Nigerian. My goals have shifted from wanting to show and breed show quality animals to wanting to focus on the milk pail and breed animals that are correct from the inside out. I want to breed hardy, healthy, productive animals that give back in the bucket and kid without problems. Furthermore, I want to breed my does to kid at intervals rather than all at once. That way, if there are any problems, they will be easier to manage.

This decision means more for me than for interested buyers, but there are some things that will change for others as well. One result of this decision is that I will have fewer kids for sale and also that some of my foundation stock is now for sale. After reevaluating my goals I have worked out which animals do not fit these goals and am working them out of my herd. There are also does who I am keeping for the time being but will be reevaluating as they kid and I milk them next spring. Those that don't fit my new goals will be sold or, if I am very attached to them, retired.

As part of my herd reduction/reevaluation, all but two of my males are for sale. I will be keeping one buck, Wybie, and one whether. Which whether I retain really depends on which one sells last. Check out my website (link to the side) to see the for sale animals.

As for the future, I am spending this summer improving fences and housing to make for better organization and will hopefully add a new herd sire when mine is sold. I plan to slowly convert my herd to a majority of MiniManchas rather than Nigerians, but I will continue breeding a few Nigerians as well. Babies will be on the ground starting in January of 2014 and kids will be for sale. Some adult does in milk may be as well depending on how I feel about how they add to my herd.

I hope that this explains my absence and that bigger and better things are ahead for Wonderland. Thank you, as always, for reading.

- Rachel in Wonderland

Pages

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Exciting Announcement!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Update