Starting to get more Red Deuce and also a few Chadwick Cherry. Ate three this morning. Red Deuce is the commercial hybrid so they're nothing special. Chadwick are heirloom large red cherry and have good flavor. Won't be too long before I have more maters than I can eat. I'm anxiously awaiting Black Cherry, Cherokee Purple & Brandywine. Those are all store bought starts that were discounted for their small size which is why they're later than the rest. All are decent size and have clusters now so it won't be long.
One Chadwick vine is getting crazy long. I'm going out now to do something different with the lean and lower. Neversink farms came up with a system where you lean them on wickets.
Solves the problem I've run into where I need to lean and lower but have clusters near the bottom of the plants. I stuck a jack stand under one a few days ago but I did a little test yesterday and figured out I can do the same using strings and hanging that lower part of the vine to keep it off the ground. Hanging them horizontally by strings, I could also have 2 tiers of horizontal vine where needed.
The image above only shows a single vine but imagine 4-5 vines all laying on a set of wickets. Could get crowded and cause foliar issues. He does it in a high tunnel but I have rain to deal with and piling them on top of each other, they'd never dry out.
Speaking of which, got a couple new meat goat kids in the past few days.
Doe 1: Had two kids but one was either still born or died shortly after birth. It was dead by the time I found out she gave birth which wasn't too long after the kidding because the other one could barely stand and they start walking in 15-30 minutes.
Doe 2: single kid as usual.
The big buck died in March and their gestation period is 150 days aka 5 months so they're likely his. The younger buckling probably wasn't quite sexually mature enough at that time though he is now.
Have no idea if the new kids are male or female. My goats are free range but I need to build a fenced in area where I can catch and contain them at times. Then I can feed some grain and get close to them and get a better look. If either or both are bucklings, I'll need to catch them and band them or sell them which also requires catching them. I had one doe and big buck, that I could pet but they both died for no apparent reason. Both looked healthy as can be. All the others are skittish but I have gotten pretty close to one momma doe.
I'm doing a zero input goat herd so losses are to be expected, at least for a while. No deworming or hoof care. Started with three, made it up to five, two of the original three died bringing it down to three again and now these new kids brings it back up to five.
If at some point I end up not having at least one buck plus one doe to breed, I'm done with goats.
If I end up being able to keep a small herd and take one or two a year for the freezer with absolutely zero input, that's the ticket.