This spring has definitely ‘gone to the goats’. I promise, we do still have gardens, chickens, turkeys, and bees, but as we start to build up our dairy herd, we’re occasionally finding ourselves with new goat additions this spring.
On Sunday, our most recent addition, one of our new herd sires, arrived at the farm. Meet Camanna RZ White Zedoary.
Camanna RZ White Zedoary
Zedoary is a gorgeous cream and white 7 month-old buck, with an impressive pedigree, and we’re very happy that we’ve been able to add him to the Curbstone Valley herd.
We recently brought another buckling, Castle Rock Abraham Darby, to the farm, but thought it would be better, both for Darby, and for diversifying our herd genetics, to maintain more than one buck on the farm.
Once Darby is weaned, he and Zedoary will be sharing the buck pen together
This time we chose to look further afield for a buck, to give us more breeding options down the road. Darby is already related to Minnie, so we wanted to find a buck that was completely unrelated to her, and to the other does we hope to add to the herd in the near future.
Zedoary arrives at the farm
Trying to get Zedoary to the farm created a few problems, though.
We initially looked at flying Zedoary down here from Oregon, but despite the fact that we live very close to not one, but TWO, major international airports, none of the major carriers could muster a direct flight between them.
After talking to numerous airline agents, I think we both shared this opinion of what it would take to fly Zedoary down to the farm
After assessing absurdly circuitous routes, weaning restrictions, weight restrictions, species restrictions, and landing restrictions after certain hours, it became impossible to get Zedoary here without forcing him to end up in an airport cargo bay overnight. As the whole point of flying him down would be to minimize his travel, and subsequent travel stress, it quickly became apparent that driving him to the farm would probably be the better option.
Flying a buck this size presents a different set of challenges, versus flying kids
Mr. Curbstone volunteered to drive up to Oregon and pick up Zedoary in person. At the time we were arranging Zedoary’s travel, Lotus hadn’t kidded yet, and I promised Mr. Curbstone that I wouldn’t leave him on his own during kidding time. This trip though required clearing three days from his schedule…no small feat when leaving the farm at the moment for more than a few hours between bottle feeding, milking schedules, and the rest of the daily farm chores, weeding, and planting schedules, is almost impossible.
He did make the 1500 mile round-trip though, last weekend, leaving me to hold down the farm. Despite the long journey, Zedoary toughed it out like a champ. He arrived at the farm on mid-Sunday afternoon, and seemed rather unfazed by the whole experience once he arrived.
As soon as we turned him loose in the pen, Zedoary headed straight for the hay feeder
Zedoary is a very sweet, rather mellow, young buck, although he does somewhat excessively crave attention. Overall though he’s settling in very well, and learning his boundaries. Thankfully, he’s very used to having poultry around, so the turkeys, and chickens, in the adjacent pens don’t seem to bother him in the least. In fact, I think they probably help him feel right at home.
A sleepy Zedoary napping in the sun
While Mr. Curbstone was driving down through Northern California, I was scrambling to get the last of the former-turkey-now-buck-pen put together, replete with new roof (to keep our nosy predators at bay), and I also exercised my rough carpentry skills to build Zedoary a new shelter.
Zedoary really seems to like spending time in his new house
It turned out I was one board short of a full set, which I’ll pick up this weekend, but Zedoary didn’t seem to mind, and happily moved right in to his new redwood house.
“I like it, but there seems to be a piece missing”
Since arriving here his appetite has been great, and he’s always happy to come and greet whoever might stop by his pen for a visit. In a fence-line beard contest with Mr. Curbstone this week, there was no question that Zedoary’s beard was the longest.
Comparing beards with Mr. Curbstone
You might be wondering where on earth Zedoary’s name came from. He is named after an Indonesian spice, White Zedoary, also commonly known as white turmeric. His sire, Rosasharn SH Zahtar (also named after a Middle Eastern herb), is linebred on ARMCH Rosasharn’s Buckwheat Honey 3*D 3*M EEEE 91, Zedoary’s great grand-dam. She was the 2007 AGS National Champion Senior Doe, including Best Udder. Zahtar’s dam is an elite doe, SGCH Rosasharn HB Gari 4*M EEEV 90, and is the current Nigerian Dwarf breed leader in milk production, producing a phenomenal 1740 pounds of milk in a one year’s lactation.
Zedoary’s dam, Camanna CS Acapella, is a beautiful dairy doe. She has a very capacious udder for her small size, with excellent attachments, and easy to milk teats. All traits that we hope Zedoary will pass on to his offspring. Acapella has completed two of her championship ADGA legs, and has a number of reserve champion wins. Acapella’s dam, HBF L.S. Impressive Encore, was recently awarded her superior genetics title.
Combining Rosasharn and Camanna genetics, we’re very much looking forward to seeing what Zedoary will contribute to our herd
As for Zedoary, we’re very happy that he’s been able to join the Curbstone Valley herd. While he adjusts to the California sunshine, we’ll have to keep a close watch on his light pink skin so he doesn’t get a sunburn. After all, we want him to look his best when he meets the girls this fall.
“You know the ladies will find me irresistible”
Zedoary has already settled a few does before coming to the farm, and those does are due to kid this spring and summer, so we’ll be watching closely to see how his first offspring look, and we’re looking forward to seeing what he will contribute to our own herd in the next kidding season! Welcome to the farm, Zedoary!
I absolutely adore him and especially the picture where he is sleeping…just too cute…how could someone not love that face!
He looked so content taking a nap. I love that his face always makes him look like he’s smiling 🙂
I tell you, Clare,…the photo illustrations of your story are so incredibly cute. Your goats have such personality, all of them, and you do a fine job of anthropomorphizing them!
I always enjoy your posts…
It’s funny, the professional, sciency side of my personality would gasp at the notion of anthropomorphizing, but honestly, I don’t know how anyone can look at goats, and not! Their personalities are larger than life, and I have to admit, they are a lot of fun to photograph…providing the shutter speed is fast enough, or they just turn out as a blur! 😛
Hi Clare,
I just love his pink ears/nose/eyelids it’s always so cute to see; makes me want to nom them. (I’ve shown & bred Gerbils and always love the orange with red eyed ones as they too have the cute pink ears, nose etc)
Good luck with your future kids; I’m sure they’ll be gorgeous 🙂
I love his pink nose too, although I do worry about him getting sunburned. I expect in a few weeks he’ll get used to being a California boy. So far he does seem smart enough to seek out shade during the sunniest part of the day though 🙂
He looks like a baby. Im surprised he is old enough to breed already. Im sure he will bring you lots of happiness, as well as beautiful baby goats (kids).
The boys can be fertile at quite a young age, and some are perfectly capable of settling does by the time they’re 3 months old. We always presume they’re capable at a younger age though, especially the smaller breeds like Nigerians. It’s certainly something you have to keep in mind when managing herds with young animals. I am looking forward to seeing how his babies look 🙂
I know looks aren’t everything, but he sure is a handsome boy! Will his skin eventually adapt to the increase in sun? And do they make goat sunscreen???
With a little exposure his skin should get more used to the sun. I’m just concerned that after being further north, with little sun this spring, our warm and sunny weather might be a bit of a shock. Being fair-skinned myself, I know how quickly the sun can turn that pink color, red! I’m not aware of sunscreen for goats, but they do make it for dogs! 🙂
Zed is very handsome, and I can see he is loaded with charm. I am sure the ladies will be swooning over him! I’m glad he is adjusting well to his new home. I wonder if he has any inkling what a fine home he has come to!
We often joke that none of our critters have any notion just how good they’ve got it here. They’re all spoiled rotten, but they all deserve it. I hope Zedoary is very happy here…so far I haven’t heard any complaints 😉
After watching your video of the romping Darby, I think I will always have a soft spot in my heart for him. But Zedoary will add diversity to your herd, and he is a cute little fellow, too! I love the sleepy eyes!
Zedoary, being a little older, is definitely less bouncy than Darby was. However, I am quite liking his mellow personality. He had a few bad manners on arrival, but nothing a squirt bottle with water didn’t fix. Overall though, he is very sweet, and quite calm for a buck. I am looking forward to introducing Darby into the pen though, as think Zedoary might enjoy having a friend to hang out with 🙂
Awww… what adorable pictures!
He does photograph very well. It’s always a challenge to photograph darker animals, and see much expressiveness in their faces. Light colored animals, like Zedoary, though, just shine on camera 🙂
He’s adorable!!! Love his beard! He looks a bit like Abraham Lincoln to me. 😉 But – is that a mohawk on his back? Obviously, he’s much more “hip” than old Abe! I think he’s right – the ladies will find him irresistible!
That’s funny, now I’m trying to envision Zedoary in a stove-pipe hat (I actually think he’d look quite dashing). That is a mohawk. All the goats have one, if you let their coat grow long enough. You should see Minnie, mid-winter, when she’s all riled up 😛 She has a mohawk that would rival even Zedoary’s!
What a sweet face he has! Don’t know I’ve ever seen a goat smile before but I have now.
He does look very smiley, doesn’t he? He has a very expressive face 🙂
Oh so cute. I never had goats growing up, but I have to admit they are cute. I have a friend with miniture goats, and they are a bit agressive. How are yours?
Hi Melissa, thanks for dropping by! Our goats are very friendly, but they’ve been handled a lot since they were kids. They’ve all been bottle raised, except for Zedoary, although that doesn’t necessarily make for a friendlier goat, they do get a lot of human interaction as kids. I’m a firm believer, just as with puppies, that you must start with goats as you mean to go on. Don’t let bad behaviors develop in the first place. We don’t tolerate butting (of people…the bucks can head butt each other all day though). Biting, pulling hair, chewing on clothes/hair, rearing up at, or running up the back of, people is also not tolerated. A water bottle set on ‘stream’, or a water pistol, and consistent correction, goes a long way to squashing bad behavior early. With those ground rules set in place early, these goats can be every bit as friendly and affectionate as the sweetest family dog. They love to go on leash walks too! 🙂