Adorable, extremely useful, and historically accurate to the Queen's Hamlet. goats are the perfect livestock option for the QH Co-op. Adopt-a-Goat is a way to spread some of the joy & profit they bring.
THE ADOPT-A-GOAT PROGRAM
On occasion, the QH Co-op will be able to provide Co-op Members with goats that have been breed and raised as part of the Hamlet animal husbandry program. The terms of an adoption are as follows:
- The goat(s) will be free of charge
- All wool, milk, meat & skin is the property of the adoptive member and are considered to be a product of the Co-op
- Milk produced may be fed into the Co-op Cheese Factory, the resulting goat cheese being the property of the adoptive member
- The goat(s) will be housed at the member's private residence
- The member is responsible for the provision of a feeding station(s) as well as the necessary grain & water
- If the member can no longer care for the goat, it can be returned to the Co-op
The number of goats made available will depend on Co-op members. Please post here to indicate interest so that we can start an adoption waiting list.
((The above is the TL;DR version. The intrepid may find the following interesting but it's not imperative for adoption))
BASIC FACTS & CARE
One goat consumes:
- one sack of grain every 7.5 days
- one bucket of water every 1.25 days
A goat:
- Goes from birth to adult in 4 days
- Lives approximately 40 days
- Can get pregnant every 8 days
- Survives in inventory only for a short time
- Sheared every 6 days
- Milked at least twice a day but is not hurt if milked less. Only females that have at least one kid produce milk so we will try to send them for adoption after their first pregnancy.
GENETICS
Genetics are where things really get interesting as they account for colour of wool (there are 9 variants), frequency of milk production, quantity of meat production and skin quality.
Our "foundation stock" Queenie & Axel are special in that they are "multi-breeds' meaning that they can pass on all 9 variants for wool to their offspring while the rest of their genetic characteristics are only average, i.e. 5/10.
Queenie & Axel will produce average, "crossbred" kids (maximum of 2 colour variants per kid) and the goal of our breeding program will be to develop a herd of "purebred" goats (only 1 colour variant), with excellent characteristics, in as many colour variants as we can.
It's a fun challenge and since I haven't had much experience with "breedables" I've got a lot of theories & spreadsheets to go on.
With a bit of luck and help from the community I hopefully won't follow this route:
Questions, comments, advice; please post all of those here or give me a shout inworld.
For specific goat pedigrees see the QH Book of Goats.
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Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site
updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 22 Oct 2016 04:28:18AM
