Yazgur...

Sometimes the planets align and things fall magically into place.  That happened today.
It only took a few polite emails and some brief phone calls, and then Charles from Tramps Rest Farm put a smelly billy goat in the back of his car and brought him to visit. Because it is the time of year when my lady goats are in the mood for LOVE!  I know this because they wag their funny little tails at a furious speed, bleat and baaa and talk more than usual, plus they seem very annoyed with each other, head butting and carrying on like a bunch of kids on the school playground. Most breeds of goats only come into estrus in the fall. They cycle through around every 21 days from around September till January or so.  Unless, that is, they get a visit with someone like Yazgur.

He is a Saanen buck, the same breed as my beloved Spirit goat. And not only THAT, but he has waddles, the little dangley things that hang off some goats necks. They are known as "goat jewelry" and I adore them. AND he is polled, which means he carries the genetic trait of being born with no horns. If his kids inherit this trait they won't have to undergo the horrid process of "disbudding," where the tiny horns are burnt off when the kids are very young. 

Yazgur made a bee line for Spirit the moment he entered the pasture.  He's a young guy, just born this spring, and these are the first ladies he has had an opportunity to, ah, entertain. That dirty face?  Bucks have a strange idea about how to be appealing to the girls.  They like to pee on their legs and faces, spreading the strong, hormone-laden smell of their urine all around.  Icky to humans, irresistible to lady goats.

Chanel came right up to check out the new comer.  When I first brought a buck here 6 years or so ago, Chanel had a huge temper tantrum. She ran and raced and bucked and snorted, furious by the sight and smell of the guy.  Wiser now, the two touched noses and all was well.

Abraham ignored him.

He zipped from goat to goat, inhaling deeply, and finally decided that Ella smelled just delicious.

I'll spare you more graphic pictures, but there was a whole lot of action going on in the pasture at FairWinds today.  And in 5 months there will hopefully be a flock of darling goatlings frolicking about.  And some of them will be pure bred Saanens. That will delight me. 

Sometimes the stars align and things fall into place.  This was one of those times.