In the spring
of 2004 we plan to participate in our first
Embryo Transfer (ET) program. Our plan is
to use Kattie as our donor doe; she has an
outstanding bloodline and has produced some
truly tremendous kids, to include Enhancer
I, Panna, Samantha, and Thunderbolt. We are
still considering using Venus as a donor;
but since her ‘Black
Friday’, we will continue to monitor
her and make the final decision in late February
2004
Step 1 of our
planning is to have an adequate number of
happy, healthy recipient does.
Many of the recipient
does will come from our existing herd. All
the does who kidded in the fall of 2003. except
Venus, will be used because we know their
capabilities, their health history, and their
mothering abilities. All kids from the fall
2003 crop have gained more than ½ pound
a day with no supplements other than the mothers
are being fed twice a day instead of once
a day
Two of our kikos, Holly
and Eileen
But, we need a minimum
of 10 to 12 recipient does; so, we attended
the monthly auction at Elgin Crossroads on
12 Dec 03 with the intention of buying some
recipients if the price was right.
The prices were extremely
low. We decided to buy does with kids by their
side. That way we would be able to determine
their milk capacity and determine their mothering
skills.
Note: any time you
purchase from a sales barn, you never know
what you are going to be bringing home –
in the way of quality or disease. It is, therefore,
extremely important to have an “isolation
area” where the goats can be kept and
monitored before joining the rest of your
herd. All our purchases from sale barns are
tested for CL, CAE, and Johnes as a precaution.
Our intent is not to allow these receipts
to join the herd at all.
As soon as we
brought the goats home, we wormed them three
days in a row with Valbazen. One week after
the final worming with the white wormer, we
wormed with an Ivomectin product. One of the
three goats we bought had a very mild case
of diarrhea, so we chose an aggressively treatment
of Biosol and Kaopectin.
We also went to
our vet’s and picked up three syringes
of 3 cc lutylase just in case these does were
pregnant (although we were certain, based
on the age of the kids on them, they would
not be bred back).
At the auction,
they sold the male kids off one of the does.
Based on the size of the kids, we guessed
they were 2 months old. Two days after we
gave this doe her lutylase shot, she aborted
3 fetuses – two girls and a boy –
who were well-formed and clearly in the last
trimester of the pregnancy. The clear indication
is the kids by her side at the auction were
not hers. The other two does had no noticeable
reaction to the lutylase.
One of the three
does we purchased as a recipient is a fullblood
Boer with a week-old doe kid. She’s
long and extremely thin but, with the proper
nutrition, should be easily capable of carrying
two embryos. The other two does are Kikos
– one (the one who aborted the 3 fetuses)
appears to be approximately 4 years old and
is extremely malnourished; again, proper feeding
and an occasional fortified Vitamin B complex
shot should improve her condition. Both the
Kikos have a large capacity and can easily
carry two (or more) embryos.
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liked this article please let us know by signing
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Ken and Pat Motes
Clear Creek Farms
33 South Clear Creek Road
Fall River, Tennessee 38468
Phone: (931) 852-2168 or (931) 852-2167
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