Love Is In the Air!

Fall heralds the season of love on the farm. While farmers are busy pouring over their livestock’s pedigrees in order to plan for the best possible outcomes for the next generation, the animals aren’t so discriminating. 

The goats are especially vocal in their intentions. Females goats, or does, bleat with full-throated high-pitched “BAAA-AAAA-AAAA-AAAA’s”. This love song punctuated by their tails standing straight up at attention and flicking back and forth act as superfluous exclamation points definitively announcing their estrus has begun! Their voices carry across hills and valleys, in a desperate desire to attract a mate, fueled by hormones and the signature single-mindedness of a goat in heat. 

This annual event used to lead us on several road trips an hour south to another farm in Athens, Ohio where the males goats, or bucks, live. Early on we chose not to house a buck finding it’s worth the minimal breeding fee to have another farmer keep a selection of purebred bucks in top shape for us to choose from. We saved on space, feed, and seasonal olfactory fireworks the bucks are renowned for producing during their annual period of rut. It’s been a win-win! But this year is different, this year we have Nicholas and if things go well (from our observations things have been going very well) we'll be rewarded with kids in March. Stay tuned!

A kid and 6 kits

What an exciting day on the farm--in fact the entire weekend was full of exciting things. Part of our mission at terravita farms is to introduce people to endangered breeds of livestock in the hope that one day they too will want to raise them and ensure their survival. We're happy to report that two more farms are now raising the critically endangered American Chinchilla rabbit. Congratulations to Tammy in Ohio and Chris in North Carolina on their new charges. Each of them purchased a trio of weaned rabbit kits, 1 buck and 2 does, to start their American Chinchilla rabbit herds. We wish them and the rabbits all the very best!

For more information on endangered breeds of livestock, visit the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. We've been members for years and enthusiastically support their work.

An American Chinchilla rabbit kit and admirer

Everything always happens at once on the farm, especially in spring. As we were waiting for our second American Chinchilla rabbit buyer to arrive this afternoon I ran out to the barn to make sure everything was in order. I peeked in the goat stall and did a double-take. In front of me was a newly born Toggenburg goat kid, Nigella's first. She was due on Friday March 16 but this being her first freshening, a late kidding is normal. What isn't normal is for the kidding to take place in the middle of the day. Usually it happens in the wee hours of the morning--the most inconvenient time! The little doeling looked great, Nigella was cleaning her off and the afterbirth was beginning to pass. As I looked over my shoulder to the driveway, our guests were arriving! They didn't stay long, considering the circumstances--I was a little distracted--but left with their 3 rabbit kits and a hank of Jacob yarn which they couldn't resist.

Nigella and her doeling

Nigella can't stop cleaning her off!