Breeding Season

This year's breeding season appears to have been successful.  Buddy Buck is no longer making his strange animated noises and his uniquely quickened stomping has pretty much ceased.  He does still stink, however; and once in awhile I catch him "applying" his special cologne ritual.

It's easy to see Abba's calendar in the breeding season.  He really did create everything to be efficient and accomplished.  Goats and sheep have about the same length of gestation, five months.

Although some goats will breed year round, many breeds have a season rather than a cycle.  I have both in my herd, but since I keep the buck separate from the milkers, there is a single time frame for breeding and arrivals.  Buddy Buck left the north pasture to join the does in the east, right before Yom Teruah.  As I have learned more on the homestead, it becomes clear how the animals really were created to also align with our Creator's timing.  By the time of Sukkot, all the goats are in one pasture with plenty of grass still remaining.  This is the easiest time of year to move a herd or travel with one.  Early autumn affords the does the best nutrients available, as the beginning of the gestational period is the most crucial.  The summer dry season has passed and the pasture is still lush and green.  Dew falls in the morning by this season, so even as they browse and graze, they are taking in extra moisture.

According to my calculations, all the kids should begin arriving by mid-February and all should be here by Passover.  Just one more great blessing regarding Abba's creation and calendar.  With this breeding schedule, no babies arrive in the coldest months of winter.  Here are a few photos of the girls, confirming that breeding season has now, officially become; the season of gestation!

 

Easy Times and Holy Days

The easiest month in homesteading, I believe, is October.  The full swing of the garden has passed, so canning and preserving is quite minimal.  All the young critters are off the bottle, and I dry up most of the dairy goats for the breeding season.  The weather is still warm, so there's no ice to chop and the big hay bales are in place, yet the pasture is still green.  Basically, it's just a matter of opening and closing the door on the chicken houses, gathering a few eggs, as they decline through the autumn season; filling water tubs, and feeding the dogs and cat.  There are still daily responsibilities, but those responsibilities are quick and easy.

The month of October on the Gregorian calendar closely aligns with the seventh month of the Biblical calendar.  It's not an exact overlap, but close enough that it's easy to see, there are far fewer agricultural responsibilities through the month of YHWH's set apart days.  Hardly a coincidence!  Considering the seasonal changes of living an agrarian lifestyle, it would be very difficult to become bored or stuck in a rut.  Life is not stationary, but is constantly changing.

With the easy month now behind me, there have been a few days of ice chopping, and feeding grain to the herd has now begun.  Although the calves will not be grained, the goats do receive non-GMO grains through the cold months and their time of gestation.  The egg production certainly slacks through the months of shorter daylight hours and the lack of garden scraps.  In the next few weeks I will be trying my hand at canning chicken and that will officially end the canning season.  This year will seem odd.  November and December work on the homestead consists of tending to ice and firewood, but January always gave a hint of new life in that I'd start the bedding plants in the greenhouse.  This year the land will rest, so January will be just like December . . . There will be no planting in mid February, but YHWH willing, the kids should be arriving.

By March, the eggs are abundant, milking is in full swing and the new bottle calves arrive.  A friend is planning to visit later this month, and I thought of his last visit which was in April.  April is also a month of minimal agriculture.  Although there is plenty of milk and the eggs are in abundance, but the garden isn't yet producing much.  April breakfasts on the homestead are amazing!  Dinners . . .not so much.  This also aligns with a set apart time.  Passover and the Week of Unleavened Bread are in the first month of the Biblical calendar which usually aligns with April.

Abba truly did create life to be so much easier than we have made it.  In the months He has called us to observe extra Sabbaths, there really is less work to be done.  April and October, both mild weather months, seasons of change, and the beauty that is clearly by the hand of our Creator.  Whether it's the color of springtime flowers or the leaves of autumn, He meant for us to enjoy this life in Him, and He decorates beautifully for His Holy Days.