July, you were a hot fart.
Yes, July, you certainly were a hot fart. Busy as usual, but with an extra dash of extreme heat and poor air quality. Here is a word of wisdom for some of you. Do not work outside for any length of time when there are alerts for both extreme heat and poor air quality. I chose to do this, and I was sick for over two weeks!
The month of July is always busy, and every year I’m still surprised by how busy I am. I count my lucky stars that it wasn’t as strenuous as it has been in the past. My herd of San Clemente Island goats persevered through the heat and humidity, unlike last year when I was dealing with ongoing pneumonia.
Bob and I also put away over 430 small square bales of hay. We worked with locals who brought hay wagons to us to unload and stack in our hoop houses. As an over estimation, I feed hay 5-6 months out of the year. And even if I feed out 2 small square bales a day (which I won’t), I will have a nice cushion of extra bales.
The extra hay helps with an adjustment in my goat management plan. This year, I am keeping all the does and their new kids in the winter paddock and housing. While still offering rotational grazing connected to the permanent paddock. The does and kids have free choice of both hay and pasture. Last year, many of my does cycled later in the season and had kids later this year when it was much warmer. Being pregnant and kidding when temperatures are high can create extra stress. I wanted to offer my does the choice of hay and pasture to help them put weight back on. On top of feeding grain every day to all of my goats. I am seeing faster recovery time after kidding, and everyone has put on just a little extra weight.
Over the years, I had been working on a specific management strategy that required all goats to thrive and grow with only pasture, hay, and good minerals. And many goats adapted well to this management plan. But my own goals changed in the last 18 months. I am now completely focused on Tepper Line Preservation within the San Clemente Island goat breed, as well as examining the color variations that occur. I no longer offer goats as biological land management (goat rental) or milk my goats for personal use.
Nadine and Eartha are part of the Tepper Line Preservation Project.
My goal is to grow a healthy Tepper Line and pursue different genetic preservation options like artificial insemination and semen collection, and build a dedicated Tepper Line community. I am working on creating some new guidelines and goals for this endeavor. It’s been startling to see history repeating itself in some negative ways with this goat breed. While there have been many positive steps forward, it seems like human ego and folly continue to be a detriment to these critically endangered goats. I don’t like to focus on the negative aspects of issues, but I’m not going to pretend like they aren’t happening either. And I tend to lean toward finding solutions, which I am actively working on and will share soon.
Onward to August!
