Dusty Boot Ranch

New year, new goals! We have applied to designate our property as being used for wildlife management, specifically for songbirds. That includes things like installing nestboxes (this one is designed for Eastern Bluebirds), creating brushpiles, reseeding our pastures with native seed mixes, and working to eradicate invasive species including chinaberry trees and those dang fire ants. We'll still keep a few goats for brush control. Looking forward to seeing the results of these efforts in the years to come!

SEV Powder Keg's D'Artagnan checking out the brush along the fence. He and his buddy, Wingman, usually stay in our front pasture. We have some fence work to do up there, so we've moved them to another pasture for the time being. They'll be eating well in here!

It's that time of year! Three of our does have kidded and we're expecting one more in the next week or two. So far we have three sets of boy-girl twins from SEV Glad Tidings (Joy), Vanilla Cupcake, and SEV Steel Magnolia (Maggie). We're excited to see how these babies grow!

This is charming Billy. (In keeping with our folk song theme: "Oh, where have you been, Billy boy, Billy boy? Oh, where have you been, charming Billy?") He was weaned earlier this month and moved into the buck pasture with the big guys. We'd like to see how his growth continues, but so far he's been promising. One of a set of twin bucklings, he was 50.4 lbs at three months, with an average daily gain of .48 lbs. He's also sweet as can be!
Billy Boy looks white, but he has cream-colored patches that will probably darken a little as he ages, just like his dam. Speaking of his dam, SEV Glad Tidings ("Joy") is one of my favorites because every time I do FAMACHA checks her eye membranes are red as red can be. She was a first freshener this year and turned out to be a terrific mother.