The very next day, Bill called and said he had found a goatherd who could supply us with a dairy goat. He said he would ship her to us as soon as we let him know we had completed a shelter for her. Our own shelter was not complete but it was convenient and comfortable and most days we were able to move it closer to complete. Besides, we were well-accustomed to living in construction zones. At first, wanting to have the goat with us as soon as possible, I thought we could rope off a section of the house's main floor for her, while I completed her shelter, but with little discussion among us all, it was decided to segregate the four-legged from the two leggeds at bedtime, from the very beginning. The single-goat shelter was located on a rock outcrop about a hundred feet from our house and about five feet higher in elevation. It was ready in a couple of days and our goat arrived in a couple more. Since she would become the queen of our herd, we gave her a queenly name: Sheba, after The Queen of Sheba. Hey, I know, Sheba was the kingdom over which that queen ruled, not her name. Even so, I think if you see a goat (doe) and hear her called "Sheba" you'll think "Queen...of the herd". Right?
She resembled nothing like a queen during her first nite at Puna Lani and her complaints didn't stop with the rising sun. She was away from her mama and her sisters for the first time and she missed them something fierce, day and night. The next night we put a wind-up alarm clock in her shelter and while she did cry a bit before dark she settled down after that and was quiet 'til morning. (The ticking apparently simulates mother's heart-beat.) To me it was obvious: we needed more goats. That alone would solve the problem. Being joined by one of her sisters or girl-friends would make it seem like home again. We planned to have a herd of 'em anyway and having two does at the start would put us there much sooner. I fully expected Bill to agree with us, based on previous experience, and he did. He called Jack, the man who had sold him Sheba and said he'd like to get another one. Jack said that he had sent us Sheba, who lacked a number of confirmation points that a good, high-yield dairy goat would have, because he had the impression we just wanted a pet/bush trimmer. He felt bad about mis-reading our situation and told Bill he'd be happy to supply us with two high-yield goats for the price of one, to make up for for us winding up with one low-yield goat; Sheba.
Two days later, two more goats at the airport for us. Both instantly recognizable as a few cuts above our herd queen. Her position was secure though; despite her lack of confirmation points, among the goats she maintained a haughty, arrogant manner. She was, after all, the first among them on this place and that seemed important to her; and to the other does (their acceptance of her position seemed complete). The two new does, we named Wonder and Nanny. They were about the same age, perhaps two months younger than Sheba. Wonder got her name after leading us on an all-day chase after slipping her leash when we first tried to put her in her shelter.
At one point, thinking it our best chance to trap her, we chased her up the stairs into the house (which was elevated nine feet above the surrounding yard.) She raced across the big room and leapt through a window covered with a bamboo/paper shade, at a point about four feet above the floor. She seemed to fly out of that room and then somehow glide to a soft landing, nearly 14' below the high-point of her trajectory. Well, she is a female and I thought "Wonder Woman", "Wonder Doe," just plain "Wonder".
Nanny held the highest score among the three in confirmation points. Like Sheba, she was mostly Nubian, wearing a black coat with white flecks on forehead and undertail. Unlike Sheba, Nanny, had she been shown at the county fair, could have brought home the gold. She was such a fine example of a high-yield dairy goat. She was also such a baby. And while "nanny" can be a name for someone who cares for a baby, it also means "female goat" so our babyish female goat was named Nanny.
A doe can be bred with a mature buck during her second "heat". She will give birth in a few months, most likely to twins. She will lactate for many months after her kids have been weened. When she becomes "dry" she can be re-bred to start again.
Bucks should not be kept on the same property as does. It's best if they can be kept a mile or two apart. This is due to an anitomical fact among most goats: Does and bucks alike have a scent gland, shaped something like a flattened donut, located one at the base of each horn, just under the skin. The buck's glands exude the scent, in the form of pheromones which travel on
air currents. If they come into contact with the base of the doe's horns, pheromones will be absorbed by her scent glands and ultimately make their way to the milk which is then ruined. So while you can't have a growing dairy goat farm without the buck's services, care must be taken to prevent his contamination of the milk. At breeding time take does (one at a time)to the bucks' residence. Never bring a buck to the does' residence.
end of Wonder's Star and Krishna III
woman
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