Starting this blog after disbudding on the second set of 8 babies. First set of mostly boys was done about two weeks ago.  This next set should have happened last Saturday but bright and early Saturday  morning I threw my back out.  

But, by Tuesday night I was ready to get at it after 3 days of what I consider idleness. Just those few extra days made the littler girls buds just that mush bigger that we had to be a little more attentive to burning properly.  It all went flawlessly!The only year I've goofed a doe was the spring right after I had Eli.  Our now 2 year old boy.  Jason and I have a great team effort going here when it comes to disbudding.  While trying to teach a couple our style a couple of years ago, it hit me hard how well him and I work together to make things as smooth and seamless as we can for the sake of the babies.  You see, disbudding is probably the WORST part of goat breeding.  But it is the responsible thing to do when you have a dairy herd.  The only thing I can think of that might be worse than disbudding, is to have an udder torn up and an animal lost due to there being a horned animal in the herd.  On top of that, Nigerians are perfect for families. And who would want to worry about their children around horns??  Not us!
Cherry just had her kids last night. So, when we are ready to disbud them I will get pictures up of Jason and my process.
This year we also opted to bite the bullet and tattoo at the same time as disbudding.  I've always worried that it was too much stress and to try and spread it out.  Well, I tell ya what!!!  I LOVE it!!  Disbudding AND Tattooing is done on 16 kids (17th will be done by Karen at Bridgeport) and they are all already coming out of the scardicatness that goes with the event.  So, CD/T's by 6-8 weeks and these kids are golden.  I only have one set of kids that are being skittish but they are Arcades and she is such a nervous nelly mother, it's no wonder.  They'll need a little extra TLC but not because of the necissities of the trade.