*meet Rudy, our sire

We have been searching for a Nubian buck for a few months now. Unfortunately the lady we bought our doe's from did not stand good on her offer to us for a buck, so we started our search for a good match for our girls and look what we found in Alabama...

Rudy is only 5 months old and although he is sexually mature, he is not tall enough for mating just yet. We had hoped to have at least one of them bred by now, but we are trusting God's timing, not our desires. When we arrived to pick Rudy up, (Rudy is the name he was given by his previous owners) he was in a grazing yard with two other Nubians. One of them his brother, and the other a doe. All of them were very friendly, following us up and down the fence line and allowing us to pet them with no end. However, when we started to leave with Rudy, his brother bleating for him so that I almost started to cry. Seriously. Since bringing him into his new home here, he has been loud as well. I know he misses his familiar surroundings terribly. Wouldn't you?

He and Boudica are now living together in a stall together, as she will be our first doe to kid. They are both very vociferous goats and have wore themselves out. Bodie is bleating for her two girl friends, Neffie and Cleo who are in the stall next to her while Rudy is bleating for his familiar surroundings in Alabama. I am sure time will heal their hurts and help them turn towards each other. Soon enough they will be in love and will provide our family with milk for which we will make cheese, sour cream, and butter.

We are unsure of Rudy's fate at this point. Initially we had thought we would buy a buck, have him mate with one of our does then butcher him for a source of meat for our family. But now we are giving strong consideration to keeping him at a remote location on our property so we do not have to buy a buck every time we are ready to mate our does. He is a beautiful buck, his markings are really quite nice and since we have the land, we will likely have him become part of our great big family here.

Nubian goats are an excellent dairy goat because their milk is high in butterfat content which gives it a most delicious taste. Because of their build, they are also considered a dual purpose goat which puts them in the category of meat goat as well. Our Nubians are part of our homesteading endeavors and although they have not really produced anything for us yet, other than nanny berries, we get so much enjoyment from them.  I am looking forward to the days of milking and learning how to make cheeses of all sorts! (remind me later that I said that!)