Meet the Herd: Barney

Barney is the billy goat I bought this year to do his thang with my girl goats. Without baby goats, there is no goaty milk. Those ladies need to get preggy and I hope that Barney has done his job and that we'll have lots of little Barneys jumping around next April.

I got Barney from Coombs, from a nice guy that raises French Alpines. I got to see Barney's mom, which is always important in checking out breeding stock because the billy's mother's udder will give you an indication of the genetics you've got for future milking goats. Also it will give you more of a clue what your baby goats might look like, which is always a fun guessing game.

Big, beautiful teats! It makes a big difference when milking.

I also got to see Barney's dad. This guy is some sort of prize-winning stud who drove out from Manitoba and he is the biggest goat I have EVER seen. You can't tell in the photo but this guy is like a centaur. He was super stinky. Isn't he handsome?

And then of course there is dear little Barney. He looks like a small fry but he is almost as big as Ken and would someday grow to be as big as his pops. 

Barney rode the ferry like a champ. He is rather a gentleman, except for when the food bowls are out and apparently when I go away. I believe that all my girls went into estrus while I was away for 5 days and nobody has shown any signs of heat in the last six weeks, which means that they are probably pregnant! Yay! What am I going to do with all those goats?