this is a Journal Page.
i was going to just write. no pics. but then...here. Buckwheat in June.
here he is. still innocent. still clean. still fluffy. the ensueing 6 months have changed him. he is now rough looking. thicker, yellower from perfuming himself with his own urine for 6 months. he is a bully. but then, someone always is in buck world.
and today was a Great day for him because Lucky Star was HOT. she was in the back doe pen, that is directly across from the buck pen, moaning, calling, begging. there was tension in the buck pen with displays galore and at one point, old Gideon fell flat on his side from his efforts. and not being able to stop, i worried about Buckwheat's horns. Sunny Ray challenges him more and more. Sometimes it's just a whirl out there of buck dance and already, Tenzen had a bloody face.
also...last week the incommunicado (over 2 months) daughter showed up. talking Some of things. she was here a few hours for that talking and then left, as deftly as she had arrived leaving many questions floating. and i woke in the middle of the night to the oh so crystal clear realization that she had been wearing her "good" jacket and the one the butterfly pin is on. Not...a goat coat. oh. that was a clue right there but it took over a week for me to "see" it. anyway, at least there was a little goat Talk. me saying this is the LAST month to breed and asking who to who...her answer was Buckwheat to anyone i might want to milk and then, when we have "used" him, sell him. He is beautiful and from a very deliberate breeding. He will be a fine "only" buck for someone because of his horns. he was born right within days of her arriving in California and she could find no one, in time, to disbud him.
Everything is so heavily weighed by ....timing.
So, Lucky Star in heat. Buckwheat needing to go, a danger to three others. ok. and here i am. how to do this. to do things with 2 individual goats, and a buck and a doe in heat, is tricky at best. the entire herd views these things as a free for all, a communal act with everyone whirring around and enjoying themselves. but no. So many small steps. close the door to the inside of that pen's access to the big doe shed. close off that far doe pen's access to the corridor that runs behind the shed to the first pen and this involves dragging the truck panel in there and figuring out how to secure it which involved a LOT. that done, connect some of the heavy fencing to the outside of the buck pen and pull it across and secure it in the other side. not easy. done. in to the first doe pen and block off the access to the corridor...hard, all 12 of the does wanting to squeeze back and forth. done. Lucky is in the back pen now, alone. waiting, moaning. Lure Buckwheat out of the buck pen while keeping the other 3 in. not easy. Buckwheat is wary but Lucky Star's soft voice works in my behalf. OUT!... Open the door to back doe pen, let Lucky stick her head out till he understands he can go In there. IN! tie gate. tie fake gate. DONE!! sorta. So....Lucky does all the things a doe should do and after about an hour of Buckwheat preening and muttering buckly things i give up watching and go split wood, roll baling wire, just listening. and by 4 oclock its getting cold and dim and all the rest are miserable at being left out and hungry. so, it's done. find the collar and lead, undo the fake fence, go in that pen and bring Lucky out. tie that pen shut, being sure top and bottom all the while hanging on to Lucky Star who wants to go home.
and now it's almost dark. Buckwheat is alone in his honeymoon pen. the other 3 bucks are lonely for him. the does all are chasing eachother around being mean because of the tension of the day and especially to Lucky Star because she smells.
So, i don't know.
I really don't know. but something got done that needed to.
