SuburbanHomesteader":1u5ff9r2 said:
Sure beats the heck out of my production!!
How many does do you breed at one time?
Do you breed weekly - bi-weekly - more frequently?
Good to hear that you're back on track and pumpin' them out!
Congrats!
Hey Guy!!
I had a back-log of open does. With the prob's I was dealing with, I hadn't
kept the herd on even a "slow" breeding schedule. Once I got a handle on
it, I picked up the pace. I steadily bred does that came in season until I had
about 20 or so. I'm guaranteed to run into "holding-pen" shortages in about
8 or 10 weeks. I'm hoping to have at least "two" more phone calls from my
snake guy. He usually takes a lot of the slow-growers' and allows me to
even out my weight classes a little more and free up some cage space.
I did a major culling a couple weeks ago and dumped five does that were
duds and one of my excellent does that was at the end of her production
time, plus a really good buck, R2D2. He came down with wry-neck. I sure
hated to see that happen to him........He was a dandy!!
I usually breed on Wednesday's of each week, 5 to 7 does at a time. Four
Wednesday's later, I put in the boxes for a Saturday kindling. With this
colder weather, a lot of my middle-age does are having fewer kits per litter.
They surprised me with their high-numbers a week or so ago.
I pulled five really nice young does yesterday for replacements. I've got two
more litters to sort through that I can hold a few more does out of. I was
down to Zero replacements and I don't like that!! LOL. I like to have 8 or
10 "in-the-bank" most of the time. Ya never know when you may need one
quick!!
Celice":1u5ff9r2 said:
wish it wasn't so cold where I'm at now! I had a doe kindle yesterday and they all died from the cold air.... lost a litter of pure french angoras...bid bummer but I'll try again next year!
Congrats on your though!!!!
Celice:
We've had record-setting lows here for nearly a week. Fortunately all of my
stock is in the barn and it's well insulated. It's not gotten below 40 degrees
in there thus far this season. My old bones couldn't handle having to work
out in the elements.
Most of my does are excellent nester's and pull a lot of fur for the kits. One
or two didn't, but I've got several coffee cans full of nesting hair that I've
saved just for the times when a mama is a little short on pulled hair.
When I have a doe that consistently shows laziness about making a good
nest, I'll make a note about it. NONE of her kits are held back for replacement
stock and she's shipped out when she's finished her career with me. I won't
sell her to anyone but my snake-guy. If a doe kindles twice on the wire.
She's gone the next time Larry (my snake-guy) shows up. Zero tolerance
for problem children.
grumpy.
