i was very dissatisfied about yesterday's Goat post. it really didn't say much. so, i'm thinking, Goat by goat.
This is Sunny Ray. pic taken last month. Son of Ginger, brother to Cinderella. first batch born here, April 17th. Although we haven't sent dna info to UC Davis yet, it's almost a sure thing he is Gideon's. His color and also his temperament. Loving, peaceful, engaging. Because of these things he would make an excellent herd sire for someone. You can see his "horns". these are scurs, deformed continuation of growth after he was dis~budded.
Sunny Ray got sent to live with the Big Boys the day that Snowbunny was having a very difficult labor in August. What i have learned since then is that he dealt with his Fear by racing around the doe/kid pen displaying all instinctive buck behaviors he could imagine at 4 months. I hadn't gotten used to those Buck things yet and found him totally intolerable and half way through the delivery, grabbed him out and put him in with the 3 mature bucks. Since then, he has spent his days as a Wether would there, a castrated male. Which is as a companion to the bucks who pretty much receives all the attention that a doe would get if one was available. All the vocalizing commands...move here, NO!, over there, no! here, snorting and the sneeze/spitting, the constant attention. It's taken these months, but i no longer have the same response. They are simply being the best that they know to be. And if he were not at the bottom of the "pecking order", his behavior would be exactly the same to a younger buck or a wether. He escaped castration because his testicles were too large for the ring size bands we had. It was supposed to happen later but later didn't come. Maybe it's karma. But he's worth keeping whole, again...his Willingness. That goes a long way, goat or human.
i need to regularly take him out from the buck pen and let him experience that sweet side. he needs to be handled, he needs a bath. he needs his hooves trimmed. he needs regular and individual love to be the herd sire i hope for him. So, this is Sunny Ray.
