Coyotes take bite out of weaning ratio

These are some of the buck kids we weaned over the weekend. They are

10 weeks old and have had no supplementation — except plenty of

momma's milk. Unfortunately, coyotes took a lot of this kid crop.

Kidding season started out great at the last of February — lots of the commercial does having twins, all the moms were healthy and had plenty of milk. With just a few does having singles, I was shooting for a 175% kid crop. Then my big female dog had puppies, not in the pasture where the does and kids were, but under the barn near the Goat Rancher office. And that's where she stayed. That left one dog in the pasture to guard the goats.


It's my own fault that I let myself get down to two grown guardians. I've had as many as six Great Pyrenees guarding the various pastures. But as I let the goat herd get smaller, I also let my herd of dogs shrink. The number of goats may have been smaller, but the acreage they were roaming has grown, so I should have known a couple of dogs couldn't patrol 175 acres cut into numerous pastures.


By the time we weaned the little boys last weekend, the weaning average had dropped to 80%. In other words, coyotes had taken nearly half the kid crop. That also included at least three New Zealand Kiko bucklings and one NZ doeling. Conservatively, that was a $2,000 predation loss. Including a number of commercial kids adds another couple thousand dollars. In hindsight, I could have purchased and fed several more guardian dogs for what I lost in goats this year. I can promise these losses won't happen again.


I have my two grown dogs, one pup from last year, a male and female I recently purchased and four new puppies. That gives me a total of nine guardians. That should be enough!

Our young female Great Pyrenees had four nice

puppies. Bad thing is she had them during kidding

season.

Another leisurely roundup

Munching on berry vines.

It's a good thing that I have some hardy goats, otherwise I'd be in trouble (or out of the goat business).  A busy spring has kept me on the road and in the office more than usual. That means less time in the pasture taking care of the goats. My little commercial herd had not been rounded up in about 6 weeks. The 2 1/2-month-old kids had never been eartagged or had any vaccinations. Click here to read more about our vaccination regimen.

Last Saturday the herd happened to be near a gate by the driveway so I opened it up and let them drift out. The roadside had grown up this spring with dewberry vines, weeds, johnson grass and saplings. The goats enjoyed all of it. 

I was pleased with the overall condition of the goats — mommas and babies. The does have had no supplement. With plenty of grass and weeds in the pasture, the does are in great body condition and the kids are all healthy.

The does and kids ease down the road toward the barn.

10-week-old kids enjoy sweetgum leaves.

The goats arrive in the yard adjoining the barn. 

Downed tree brings bounty from above

We were in the office working yesterday morning when we heard this loud crash outside. At the same time, I heard the guard dog puppies squeal. A big sugar berry tree had blown over just down hill from the Goat Rancher office (which is located in the old farm house here on the ranch). The tree didn't hit anything; the puppies had just been startled and were hiding underneath the barn.

It wasn't until late yesterday afternoon when the goats began coming in from the pasture that they found the feast of leaves waiting for them. Everyone gorged themselves. I was afraid someone might get sick, but this morning there seem to be no ill effects. Just lots of happy goats who didn't bother to go out to graze. They're hanging out around the tree grabbing a leafy snack whenever they get the urge.

After feasting on the tree yesterday afternoon and this morning,

the goats have decided to just camp out here for awhile.

A ditch had washed out around the base of the tree loosening

the roots. The strong winds yesterday gave it a final push.

See the black & white doe in the tree? You can tell where the 

goats cleaned the leaves as high as they could reach from the

ground. Now they are starting to work their way up the branches.

Creating 'Kiko Composites'

We call this guy Peg Leg because of his red left front leg.

This young buck was sired by a 100% New Zealand buck but, as you can tell by his coloring, his dam had some Boer influence. He could be described as a Kiko-Boer cross of unknown percentage, but I prefer to call him a Kiko Composite. It sounds intriguing, experimental and even secretive....


If all goes well, he and several other Kiko Composites, along with some Kiko fullbloods, will be going to the Kerr Center Oklahoma buck forage test this summer. The buck pictured above was born on pasture and he and his mom are thriving on fresh grass. If he proves to be parasite resistant and can gain weight quickly on forage, I'll know that the secret formula from which he was created has potential for  producing a profitable terminal animal.

Our barn isn't fancy, but it's functional

This 48-ft.-wide shed has been patched many times over the years.

When I talk about our "barn", I use the term loosely. It's actually a shed — an old hay shed that my dad built in the 1960s to use for hay storage on our farm, which was a cattle operation before the goats came along. Over the years most of the roof has been replaced, a few partitions have been installed and I've added a few kidding pen gates. It's relatively dry (yes, there are still a few leaks) and some of the wood is rotten, but it faces south so it offers reasonable shelter when it gets cold and wet. It's not large enough to house the entire herd, but it works well when we're sorting or doctoring on goats. 

Catch pens and the working system are located in front of the shed.

Out "barn" isn't fancy but it does offer a dry place out of the wind.

CCR Xcelerator — a legend — dead at 13

It was a sad day on Egypt Creek Ranch yesterday. We found Xcelerator dead in his pasture. It looks like he just fell over. The old boy had lived a good life and leaves a lasting legacy in the Kiko world.

CCR Xcelerator was born at Caston Creek Ranch near Poteau, Okla., on February 24, 1999. He was a son of Moneymaker. His mother was a Goats Unlimited doe, a daughter of 14/89, one of the first Kiko bucks brought into the United States by Dr. An Peischel.

I purchased Xcelerator in November 1999 from Steve and Sylvia Tomlinson while visiting their Caston Creek Ranch. I had gone there to purchase does, but this chunky little buck caught my attention, so I brought him home, too. In the early days of the Kiko industry, there was no distinction between purebreds and 100 percent New Zealands. They were all the same to most of us early breeders. So we just bred best to best, which resulted in Xcelerator (97%) being bred to many 100% does.

Not only was Xcelerator quick growing and muscular, he passed these traits to his offspring. One cross with a Goldmine II daughter produced the winner of the 2007 Oklahoma Buck Forage Test, ECR Meat Eater.  An Xcelerator son was the top-gaining Kiko at the 2004 Langston buck test and a grandson was the No. 1 gaining buck at the 2009 Maryland buck test.

Others liked his genetics, too, and proved it by consistently paying top dollar for his sons. ECR Ivanhoe was the high-selling purebred buck at the 2007 ECR production sale and ECR Sinbad was the high-selling purebred buck in the 2008 sale. 

In addition to his production traits, Xcelerator was "pretty" with his long curling horns and bright, white sleek coat in summertime. His photo has been used in books and magazines to illustrate the Kiko breed. Of course he is incorporated into our ranch logo and his likeness appears on Kiko-related apparel.

Xcelerator retired from active duty when he was 8-years-old. He spent his remaining years in his own private pasture and shed and enjoyed 3 pounds of expensive senior horse feed each day. He died fat, happy and contented.

Xcelerator's likeness embroidered on

a denim shirt.

Xcelerator's head is part of the

Egypt Creek Ranch logo.

Xcelerator with one of his best sons, ECR Ivanhoe.

ECR Meat Eater, the Xcelerator son that won
the 2007 Oklahoma Buck Forage test.

Even his daughters were big and muscular.

An Xcelerator grandson, ECR Xcaliber, busy at work
on Egypt Creek Ranch in the Fall of 2011. We have
Xcelerator great-grandkids on the ground now.

Using horses in pasture management plan

Hungry horses clean the Bermudagrass thatch from this goat pasture.

With decent rain last year and goat numbers down, some of our pastures became overgrown with Bermudagrass. The Bermudagrass makes up a large part of our goats' diet, although it is not their first choice. Some experts preach against Bermudagrass because its thick and dense nature helps it hold in moisture, which makes it the perfect environment for stomach worms. Here in the Deep South Bermudagrass is prevalent, so we have learned to live with it; there's not much way to kill it out. 


About a month ago I told my son-in-law Stephen and his friend that they could put some of their horses in a large goat pasture where there were only six head of grown bucks spending the winter. I wanted the horses to tear up the Bermudagrass thatch and suck up as many worm eggs and larvae as they could. 


I know it would be more profitable to use cattle for this job instead of pet horses, but the horses were readily accessible and didn't cost me anything.


It's about time to pull the horses off the pasture (and the bucks, too). Hopefully they have trimmed the pasture down enough to allow the new grass to pop up as the weather continues to get warmer. And since we didn't have much winter, maybe the worms will be set back some also.


Fortunately, worms are nowhere near the problem they were a decade ago. Better management and better genetics have all worked together to make goat raising a pleasant experience.