It is the summer of 2013 and our neighbors had just got a few goats. They were going to participate in the junior livestock show. Everytime we saw them we always exchanged a few playful remarks. At the time we thought raising goats and doing the livestock show was a little out of the ordinary. The longer the banter went on the more I became interested in participating in the livestock show myself. I gathered bits and pieces of information, and began convincing my parents to let me try it. After lots of time and consideration my parents came to an agreement and told me I could give it a shot. Little did we know it would become such a big part of my life.

Fast forward to the summer of 2014. I had my own brown goat named Coca Cola.She was a handful to say the least. At first she did not want anything to do with me. I spent many hours reading to her, and just spending time around her. Eventually, she warmed up to me. Coke caused so many problems. She could get out of anywhere and everywhere. She quickly gained another nickname, Houdini. When it came time to show her I was ecstatic. We did really well together. Selling her was one of the  hardest things I have done. I loved the livestock show, so much that we started a herd of our own. I now own 28 goats several of which we born here at my house. I have gained a lot of knowledge regarding breeding, and goats health. All of this has helped me figure out what I want to do with my life. I would love to become a veterinarian. I am now a student at success academy, and will be graduating with an associates degree. I wanted to get a head start on college, so I can become a veterinarian quicker.

Now let’s talk about breeding goats. There are two ways people breed. The more common way is by putting a male with a female. The males going into a rut which help the females go into heat. When the bucks go into a rut they began urinating on themselves. They get quite stinky which only attracts the nannies more. The doe’s go into heat about every 21 days or when put in with the billy goat. When they go into heat they are only in heat for 12 to 36 hours. If a nannie is not in heat the buck will not breed her. Usually after the male has bred the female he will not try to breed her again. The gestation period for a goat is about 150 days.

Some things we do during breeding time are put a marking harness on our buck, Colossus. Basically it’s a harness that straps a crayon on his chest. We use this tool to help us estimate the date our doe’s will be kidding. When we breed we put Colossus in with all our nannies. Some of our females have their kids a few days late. As you breed your own animals you will learn how they act when it gets closer to time kid. A lot of my females get really clingy, and do not want me to leave their side. Others get clingy towards each other, and will often spend lots of time together.

    The second way people breed is Artificial insemination. Basically you look online to find a buck whos genetics you want, then you buy some of their sperm. When you buy their sperm it comes in tube they call straws. The cost of the straw varies depending on what genetics the billy has. When you get the straws you need a way to make your females go into heat. For that people use shots or other hormone inducing things. After your doe is in heat you need to insert the straw, and breed her as soon as possible. There will be a possibility the sperm won't breed her, but ideally she's bred.

People have began using this technique for many different reasons. A.I. (Artificial insemination) is used to generate better genetics to improve your breeding stock. It’s also used so that you do not have to keep a foul-smelling billy around. I’m not going to lie the bucks are also trouble makers. Another reason breeders use A.I. is so they can keep better track of when the nannies are bred, and so they can control when they are bred easier. Artificial insemination is becoming more and more popular.

Overall, breeding can be very complex. I have definitely enjoyed retaining all this knowledge. I am very grateful to be apart of such a great program. I never expected it to amount to this, but I am glad it has. It’s helped me make life changing decisions. A lot of my peers have made fun of me for it, but I am definitely interested in animals and their health. I plan to be apart of the livestock show until I graduate. It has been a wild ride, but a great experience. I can not wait till next year.