Ch-Ch-Changes!

 So today were big changes for Jasper, Coral and Amethyst.  It's weaning time!  And breeding time!  Amethyst has been with her mom for four and a half months and that really is way too long.  Doelings really should be weaned around three months.  Coral is starting to lose weight so it's time to separate them and get weaning started.  She's been self weaning Amethyst for the most part and Amethyst is eating solid food really well, so it's shouldn't be a difficult weaning.

It's also time to breed Coral again and we're going to breed her to Jasper, since Apatite is nowhere near old enough to breed.  I mean physically he can, but I'm not having my little baby breeding at his age.  He needs to mature a lot more.  We originally intended to get two Myotonic bucks, one buckling and one adult who would be ready to breed Coral, but it didn't work out.  Jasper is turning out to look like a really nice buck (although he's only 75% Boer), so I don't mind seeing how he crosses over Coral.  They could have really cute babies.  We will keep any doelings and we can sell the bucklings as 4H kids.

Check out how nice Jasper is turning out.  He's only fourteen months old, so nowhere near full grown yet.

His beard is always dirty from his mineral lick tub lol.

 This is why I love Jasper.  He's a very friendly, laid back buck.

 He's looking nice.  Definitely has some growing to do and 

he doesn't have perfect conformation, but he's not a train wreck either.

 Comparison, Coral is full blood Boer.  Sorry the sun washed her out so bad. 

The white on her neck is Desitin I put on some healing cuts she has and she smeared it everywhere. 

 We put them in the breeding pen and they both were only interested in eating LOL!

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They did have a couple of short tussles to sort out dominance.  Coral is used to being top dog, but she quickly realized he out-weighed and out-muscled her.  So they went back to peacefully eating.

 She's so pretty. I wish she didn't have Desitin all over her in this picture....

While the adults were getting to know each other (not like that!), the kids were out playing in the yard.  Amethyst was upset that her mom was in a new place.

 They love playing together.

 Coral was too busy eating to care too much, but she did cry for her baby.

One thing I love about Jasper is that he doesn't waste energy harassing a doe that isn't in heat.  That's a really nice quality to have in a buck because it keeps them from running the weight off the does.  Some breeds (like Pygmies) seem to harass the does constantly regardless of whether they are in heat or not.  He's a good boy though and left Coral alone for the most part.  He will get the job done when she's in heat, but he won't wear her down in the meantime.

 Poor App stepped on some fire ants and was chewing on his painful foot.

We have fire ants EVERYWHERE!  I hate them....

 Amethyst was full of herself and likes to try to climb on top of Apatite, like she used to do to her mom.  Apatite was annoyed, but he put up with it lol.

 In between playing, she was crying for her mom.  I hate weaning. It's always so sad.

It was hot, so they had to stop for drinks.  We finally put them back in their pens because Amethyst was so wound up she was panting.  I didn't want her to overheat.  She just doesn't know when to quit.  I think she really misses having another kid to play with, but they can't be left together unsupervised because she is capable of getting pregnant at only four and a half months old.  I wish she'd had a sister so she would have a playmate, but what can you do?  Garnet and Topaz will hopefully have some doelings that can go out with Amethyst eventually.

Well that's all for now.  I'll update again soon.  Hopefully the update will be to tell you about Garnet and Topaz babies hehe.  I'm getting so impatient!

P.S.  I completely forgot to mention their updated weights and we measured their heights too.  Amethyst is four and a half months old and is 21 inches tall and 52.9 pounds!  Apatite is five months and a week old and is 19 inches tall and 44.8 pounds!  Keep in mind he is a Myotonic, which is a slightly smaller breed, and she is Myotonic/Boer, so she's larger.  That's what we want though.  Smaller bucks bred to bigger does keeps birthing nice and easy.  Okay, talk to you guys later!

P.P.S.  Don't forget to check out the earlier posts if you keep up with the blog on Google+ because I scheduled them in advance so they didn't post on Google+ like this one will.