It's breeding season around here. Surprisingly, I caught these two in the act yesterday. (I decided to spare you the breeding photo. I did take one, though, to send to John who was still at work. And, no, I don't think that's weird. It's just farm stuff. I was just so glad to see that Oreo knew how to make things happen.) This photo was taken immediately afterward. Oreo is giving his love a little kiss on the neck.
Allow me to explain why I was surprised to see this yesterday. Female goats have a 21-day cycle. (If that last sentence doesn't hook you, then feel free to just check back in tomorrow. Maybe the topic will interest you more. For those who are interested in the female cycle of my goats, read on!)
The males will pretty much try to make things happen anytime there's a female nearby, but their efforts are usually thwarted because the female wants none of it . . . unless she's in heat, which only happens every 21 days. Only then will she "stand for it." I can't help it --the double entendre just cracks me up. Literally, she will only stand still and allow things to happen when she is good and ready on that 21st day. Any other day of the month, she's likely to jump away or even head-butt him in response.
Since we've had Oreo running with the ladies since the first of September, even though we hadn't seen him take care of business, we'd assumed it had just happened in the privacy of the goat shed or something sometime last month. If that had been the case, Izzy wouldn't be in heat now, though, and willing to "stand for it." Hmmmm.
Maybe our young buckling just needed some time to work up the nerve. ;)
At any rate, we probably need to revise our pregnancy test schedule. We'd originally planned to preg test the first week of November. For most accurate results, the blood should be drawn at least 30 days after breeding. Looks like we'll need to move that date back a couple weeks!
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