Shakespeare the Stud Muffin

Thursday, I noticed that Billy Shakespeare and Honey Bunny were actually being very affectionate to each other.  Honey Bunny was not a bottle baby and has never shown affection to any being. Gypsy, Dottie Belle and Shakespeare were bottle babies, so they are always rubbing on each other and on me.  Actually more affectionate than a lot of dogs.

Honey Bunny says I like the little guy.

I just filed Shakespeare and Honey Bunny's behavior away to be processed while I slept.  I got up Friday morning convinced that Shakespeare could not longer hang out with the girls.  While I was at the goat yard Shakespeare actually showed what all this affection was--foreplay, but with Gypsy and she was not interested in him.  Gypsy is the smallest doe and I don't think it would be good to breed her now anyway. Honey Bunny is my registered doe and I want to take her to a show before she is bred. 

Dottie Belle wants to go back to the other girls.

So I have decided to move Dottie Belle into the "dog yard" with little Stud Muffin Shakespeare.  Don asked me why I want to breed a non-registered goat, whose kids would not sell for as much money.  My thinking (and it may sound bad) is that I want to practice my first kidding with the "cheap" goat.  Poor Dottie Belle, I really love her; she and Gypsy were my first kids.  But I know that I could make some bad mistakes, like I did with feeding them grain and Dottie Belle got "goat polio." 
Also, my point of having 3 does is to breed one at a time and always have milk.



Shakespeare was born on September 26, so he is 10 weeks old.  I read somewhere that bucklings have been known to impregnate a doe as young as 7 weeks, so hopefully none of mine are "with kid" yet.  But since Shakespeare is getting too big for the Schnauzers to be his companions; Dottie Belle is now living in the dog yard with him.

Do any of you have experience with young bucks and know when it is best to get them away from does you don't want to bred?

Billy Shakespeare Meets His Family

Billy Shakespeare's first day was not actually about making friends.  His introduction to the girls, Dottie Belle, Gypsy and Honey Bunny was not very impressive.  He immediately rear-up at them to show his dominance and they knocked him on his little buckling butt.

Therefore, I didn't think it was safe to leave him with them.  They could lay down on him and kill him.  Then I took him to the the Schnauzers, Diva and Megabyte.  Diva is 13 and weighs about 14 lbs and Megabyte is 11 and weighs 11 lbs. Shakespeare got behind Diva and made a surprise attack by jumping at her.  Diva will not put up with such, so she bit him on his backside.  Megabyte is a very timid little fellow, so Shakespeare did not bother to challenge him.  Anyway, during the day Billy Shakespeare stays in the dog yard with them.  At night I bring him in and he sleeps in a dog crate in the den. The first few nights he would cry loudly for 5 minutes, but now he is use to it and goes straight to sleep.

He does have a buddy to play with, at least for a few weeks.  He will grow quickly and because he is male, I fear he will be aggressive; no matter how much I hold him and try to make him a lap goat.  He and Kennedy are great playmates for the time being and seem to be on equal footing.

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