Anyway.
We have to 'debud' the kids - essentially this entails branding their heads. It stops their horns from growing. Goats with horns hurt other goats and passing humans. This has to be done under anaesthetic - which means a trip to the vets. But the vets - who are 30+ miles away - will only take up to five kids at a time. This means that in addition to the £10:50 per kid for debudding we have to drive something close to 200 miles to get the job done.
It was my turn to take five today. They hated Radio Scotland - baaing their heads off all the way - and in our little Skoda Fabia five bleating kids are head splittingly loud. On the way home they were a bit dozy and so were quieter - I was also playing the iPod and I think music calms them. However they did insist on joining in when Julie London struck up "Cry me a river" - such soulful kids. When I joined in it just made everything worse.
This afternoon we castrated (by ringing) 4 of the billies. I can't claim they didn't mind this, but it was a lot easier than I expected. We've not castrated the Nubian kids - they're good pedigree and it would be a waste. But this might be condemning them to an early freezer, cos they mature very quickly and we cant risk them mating with relatives. So if you happen to know someone who would like a show stopping Anglo Nubian billy tell them to get in touch.
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