Yesterday, after coordinating with Frank and Caroline, I loaded Molly up into the largest old dog crate in the bed of the pickup and took her up for a weekend fling with Harry Houdini, Prim's son. Both Molly and Tangie are still giving a decent amount of milk, which I am attributing to the very wet summer resulting in lush green stuff in the pasture even up through the present (when usually the August heat makes the pasture dry out a bit). Molly's absence was noticeable this morning, as she is still giving a good quart-and-half per morning.
We're all hoping Molly does triplets again. Frank and Caroline are intending to replace Harry, as he has gotten a bit destructive, and the fencing is his preferred target. Ideally, they want a polled son, which would be a first for Molly, but they definitely want a kid from this year's crop as I am planning to bottlefeed all kids this coming season. I also plan to practice with the disbudding iron where appropriate. It is going to be some work, but I saw with Tim and Andre just how easily bottle babies sell themselves, and the Cocoa/Chaos Puff shows how responsive bottle babies are once they grow up.
The polite version of yesterday's events is that Harry knew Molly was there before he even saw her. In fact, he met her at the gate - and I had to push her in the last couple steps, as he was right there "with bells on." Frank and Caroline both have a rather, um, "earthy" sense of humor so I'll spare y'all the ribald jokes, but let's just say Harry was interested and enthusiastic, while Molly had a "What kind of nanny do you think I am?!" look on her face. Harry finally got the clue, and when we walked back to the house, he was busy wining-and-dining her, probably whispering sweet nothings to her as he licked her ear. We'll go pick her back up either Sunday or Monday, depending on when hubby feels more up to it. I won't be able to get Molly up in the truck by myself - she does NOT like traveling. At least this time, I didn't get pulled over because someone on the highway couldn't tell the difference between a complaining goat and a "wounded deer," like what happened when we took Maggie up there.
Just for the record, Prim is STILL milking after more than twenty months. That is exceptional! It's also the main reason Harry is still intact and alive at this point - this breeding has been planned since last year, but Hurricane Irma messed up plans on both ends (they took damage last year). I've been forced to learn a bit of patience, as things happen in their own time here.
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