ECR Rusty Kat consigned to Cream of Crop

ECR Rusty Kat, an ECR Rusty son out of a Sports Kat daughter, is back home from the Western Illinois University Buck Performance Test. Rusty Kat finished in the middle of the pack with an overall average daily gain (ADG) of .39 pounds per day. His best performance was his feed efficiency of 4.33 (second best in the test), which means he gained 1 pound for every 4.33 pounds of feed consumed. You can tell by looking at the photos below that he takes a lot after his maternal grandsire, Sports Kat, with the stockiness and muscling, even on the rump. Rusty Kat was born March 8, 2011.

Rusty Kat, a 100% New Zealand Kiko, is consigned to the Cream of the Crop Kiko Production Sale (Lot #53) scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 29, at 1 p.m. at the Harrison County Fairgrounds in Corydon, Ind. Click here for pictures of some of my other consignments to the sale. 

Acorns are a part of our goats' diet

Acorns can supplement a goat's diet in the fall.

These does are pawing underneath oak trees looking for treats.

Found one!

I've heard supposed experts say that acorns will kill goats. I guess if they ate too many at one time they might, but that could be said of anything in their diet. Acorns have always played a part in our goats' diets. Every fall when the acorns begin to fall, you'll see the goats running from tree to tree to nibble on the tasty nuts.


I've had ranchers in Texas tell me that a large acorn crop helps give the goats a nutritional boost at breeding time, which can help conception rates. Others have told me that the tannic acid in acorns acts like a natural dewormer and that is why goats look so slick and healthy in the fall.


How true all of this is, I don't know. But I do know that my goats have been eating acorns for many, many years with no ill effects. The acorns this year are tiny compared to some years — probably because our lack of rain. Surprisingly, other foodstuffs, such as persimmons and muscadines, had bountiful crops. So our goats have had a variety of tasty treats this fall — which means a lot of free nutrition. (I took the above photos on my way to the office this morning.)


While doing research, I was reminded that humans have been eating acorns for thousands of years. Acorns were a large part of the Native American diet. They knew how to soak them to remove the tannins and used the the nuts in a variety of ways. Click here for an article on how you can prepare your own acorns for safe consumption.

Goats adapt and thrive on Bermuda grass

These Kiko-cross does graze on Bermuda grass.

Experts will tell you that goats don't like Bermuda grass and that parasites (worms) love it. The trouble is that Bermuda grass is a fact of life for most of us Southern ranchers. It grows naturally, it thrives in our heat and moisture, yet is drought tolerant. If you buy hay in this part of the country, it will be some variety of Bermuda.

It is possible to kill it out with chemical sprays and plowing, but that is expensive. Over the years, our goats have adapted to Bermuda, and goats raised on our farm don't know they are not supposed to like it. It's not their favorite food — they much prefer the weeds and few broadleaf grasses they can find, but as a staple, Bermuda grass makes up a large part of their diet.

Haemonchus worms like Bermuda because it holds moisture next to the ground and makes a perfect habitat for worm reproduction. Our solution has been to rotate pastures as often as possible and use Kikos genetics, which are more parasite resistant than some breeds. When raising goats on pasture in the Deep South, it takes strategies from several angles to keep your goat business successful and profitable. And one of our strategies is to use the forage that is free and readily available, which is Bermuda grass.

Bermuda Grass Facts:

• Bermuda grass pasture seed produces the most commonly used pasture grass for livestock grazing and hay production throughout the southern and central USA. Improved bermuda pasture grass seed varieties produce excellent quality hay for all grazing animals and have a high production yield. These improved seeded forage varieties also exhibit more frost resistance than hybrid or sprigged varieties

Pasture: Bermuda grass is a perennial, tropical and sub-tropical forage (warm season grass) and should not be grown in the cooler areas because of winter kill.

• Bermuda grass is a warm season, perennial grass that has been found growing in many native forms all over the world. Bermuda is a drought tolerant, fast growing, full sun grass and can grow on soils of low fertility as long as they are well draining. This is a tenacious grass and in one form or another is found growing in approximately one third of the USA at this time (warmer areas).

Breeding season begins

BHF 3rd G Traveler (or "G" as we call him) with an ECR Rusty daughter 

and our best Nick daughter, BBM Vicky. 

This double-bred CCR Xcelerator buck, ECR Xcaliber, with his does.

Breeding season got under way Saturday and Sunday. I had planned to begin breeding on Oct. 1, but I will be out of town tthe next two weekends, so I decided I had rather start a week early rather than late.


Normally I have seven or eight breeding programs going on at once, but this year I didn't have eight separate pastures and pens available. (Remember, I've often said you can't have too many pens!) So at the moment I have five bucks in five pastures working.


I couldn't use my smaller pastures this year because I don't have any round bales of hay to put out. Locally, square bales of bermuda are $6.75 a bale. Too much for my budget to feed for the next 45 days. So I'm only using pastures large enough and with enough grass and browse to support the herds without supplementation. 


That narrows me down to five pastures because I also have pastures tied up with doelings too young to breed right now, does going to my production sale which don't need to get bred, young buck prospects and another pasture for yearling bucks and herdsires not being used (cleanup bucks).


Herd sires we are using now are:
• BHF 3rd G Traveler, who has produced some of biggest kids lately.
• BHF Onyx's Shadow, an Onyx grandson who throws great color and sired most of our 2011 replacement does.
• BBM Hanky Panky's 266, an Onyx son owned by Rittenhouse Kikos who also throws color and whose offspring have done great in performance testing.
• ECR Xcalibur, a double-bred CCR Xcelerator buck that is packed with muscle. This is our first year to use him. I put him with my best white Kikos. I haven't bred for white goats in a long time and I am anxious to see a bunch of solid white kids next spring.
• ECR Rusty, who turned 9 this year. I didn't think he would be able to service many does this fall. He came out of last winter skinny and looking terrible. I've had him penned up near the barn all summer and feeding him about three pounds of feed a day. Over the last 6 weeks, he has blossomed. Right now, he is the best looking 9-year-old buck I have ever seen. I don't know what he will look like after breeding season, but I'm glad to have him available for another year. That means his son ECR Rusty's Rambo will have to wait another year before he has to try and fill him father's shoes.

ECR Rusty on Sept. 25, 2011. He was born

Feb. 12, 2002.

Goat sales just about over for the year

Three March-born percentage ECR Rusty daughters.

A local buyer picked out these girls about a month ago and paid a 50% deposit. He and his family returned Saturday and picked them up. I have three more percentage does to deliver next month and that will be all we will be selling off the farm this year.


I have picked out 14 head that I will be selling at the Cream of the Crop Kiko Production Sale Oct. 29 in Corydon, Ind. I have uploaded some of their photos on my for-sale page. All of the adult does have been raised strictly on pasture with very little attention. 


In another few weeks, it will be time to launch the new matings and see what kind of kids we get next spring. Can't wait!

Uh-Oh! Doeling in the buck pen!

This 6-month-old doeling is surrounded by "admirers".

When I was heading out of town last week I noticed a doeling in the buck pen. I'm not sure how she got there; she was supposed to be two pastures away with the big doe herd. I watched her for a few minutes and decided the eight bucks in the pasture didn't seem to be bothering her. I've seen a doe get into a buck pen before and they nearly ran her to death chasing her.


I left word for someone to try and get her out while I was gone. Apparently all efforts to catch her failed -- she was still there when I returned. The bucks still weren't bothering her, so I have left her there all this week, too.


Tomorrow is a roundup day, so we'll get her and the boys to the barn and separate her out then. I'll probably give her a dose of Lutalyse. (If a doe has an unwanted breeding, 2cc intramuscular around 11 days post breeding will cause an abortion.)

Try my new blog

Some of the more than 200 head of goats that sold Monday at the Lazy S-T

dispersal sale. The Duseks of Lazy S-T are known for their colored Boer genetics.

My grandson Rylan and I have spent the last three days attending the Labor Day weekend sales in San Angelo, Texas. There were two sales on Saturday, two on Sunday, and the Lazy S-T dispersal sale was today. For a rundown of the top-sellers, visit my new "news" blog.