Yesterday morning, Katherine did chores and gave the pregnant does their hay, grain, and water, as usual. Then she walked Trouper, who is in the small barn with the kidding pens. When she brought him back from his walk, she heard a goat scream. That sounds like a goat in labor, she thought. When she went to the kidding pens, there was Carmen with a head sticking out of her back end. Katherine grabbed an armful of towels and dried off the babies as they were born, which happened very quickly.When Katherine came inside to tell me about the new kids, I was on the computer, editing photos that I'd taken of the three pregnant does the night before. I was planning to have a contest on the blog, asking people to guess which doe would kid first. I actually knew it was going to be Carmen, because the previous night, I had noticed that her ligaments were softer than the other two. I just didn't think it would be so soon! She was at day 143, and 145 to 150 is average, although Carmen does have a history of growing her babies a little faster than most goats.
One of the nice things about Carmen is that she has a habit of throwing a lot of does -- 80 percent, in fact! She is six years old and has only had two bucks.I just love the white mark on this little doeling's side. I think it looks like a gecko.
It took me quite a while to be able to tell these two girls apart. They look like twins, for sure. So often, siblings look like a patchwork quilt of colors and spots, but these two look just like their mama's babies.
Their sire is polled, but one will have horns for sure, because she has little swirls of hair around her horn buds. The other one might be polled, so if one has to be disbudded, it will certainly be easier to tell them apart after that. In the meantime, I have to look at the spots.Having names will help me remember who's who. I've also decided not to advertise kids this year until they have names. Last year, a couple buyers were upset about not being able to name kids they were purchasing. They were new to goats and didn't understand that most serious goat breeders like to name their goats because we have themes to keep everyone's lineage straight. So, if I see an AOF goat on a show win list or a milk test list, I'll know immediately who the sire and dam were. I also need to add a section to my website about naming goats, but it's one of those things I keep forgetting to do.
Carmen's theme is opera, so I need some opera names. We've already used Mm. Butterfly and Lizzie Borden (yes, there was an opera made about Lizzie Borden), and I think we've used just about every name from the opera Carmen by now. Any ideas?
14 comments:
Wikipedia's bit on Carmen has a long list of productions at the end with the names of the directors. Could you start using the names of Carmen directors?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen
Unfortunately, they're all men, and I need girl names this time. Thanks for the idea though!
How about Le Miz or La Boheme - there are some pretty good names with those. :) but if you had to stay with Carmen - I guess directors or actors [both famous] that have played the parts?
Dorothy Dandridge played her in the movie version.
Dotty and Danny - [I know they are both girls :)] Good luck
We don't have to stick with Carmen -- any opera is good. Maybe something from Le Miz, especially with the popularity of Susan Boyle and "I Dreamed a Dream."
Oops! Just looked up Le Mis; it's a musical, not an opera. Probably just as well, since the names in there are rather complicated, and there are not very many women.
How about Despina and Dorabella? Or Sandrina and Arminda? Those names are just from me searching googling and then searching thru Wikipedia, so I make no guarantees as to the accuracy of the information (or the accuracy). Even simpler yet, how about Mabel and Ruth (of course that might be a bit too common..)
I guess it depends on if you want to go with a popular opera
http://www.stageagent.com/browse/showtype/Most_Popular/Operas
or something a little obscure :-)
I had to explain to some buyers last year that though we assign "registered names" that they can choose any "barn name" they'd like to call the goat. I went on to explain that our herdname must be a part of the registered name and that I must sign the registration papers and choose a name that is in keeping with our herdname... thus they are usually "officially" named before they are purchased -- but they are smart animals and can learn a new name in no time if you want to call them something else.... that seemed to work out ok
Kathy makes a good point - I never seen an animal barn or pet that wouldn't come to any name you called them as long as you said it sweetly.
We had some prettttty interesting names for my grandmother's cows. heehee
Sally, thanks for that link! There are some great names in those operas.
Kathy, I did explain that to them, and they were still not happy. One even said they would not buy the goat with its given name. Last year was the first time in eight years I've ever had anyone upset about naming, and it happened three times. I'm thinking that in years past, my daughters always had them named when we put them on the sale page, so people realized we named them. My oldest daughter used to do a LOT!
Hi, Deborah.
Congratulations - those are beautiful doelings!
What about Giroflé and Girofla? The spelling is quite close, but the pronunciation is different enough.
" 'Giroflé-Girofla' is an opera bouffe in three acts, its music by Charles Lecocq and text by Van Loo and Aterrier. It was first produced at the Théâtre des Fantaisies Parisiennes, Brussels, March 21, 1874."
Best of luck!
Congrats on the babies! =) I had no idea about goat names so thank you for the insight.
Also glad to read about Trouper's recovery - slowly but surely!
How about something from Turandot? You could have Princess Turandoe, or Princess Turangoat, and the only other female part is Liu... Liu Ewe?
I like the idea of using names from Les Mis - I already had a couple of those earmarked for future use here. I am fond of Cosette and Eponine. Those really are incredibly cute goats. The white mark on her side reminds me of the white mark on our Lotus. It is more square though, and I always call it hieroglyphics, since she has an Egyptian name. I'm thinking of naming her kids in line with the Egyptian theme!
They are beautiful Deborah!!
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