Three healthy, handsome boys for Levana and Evel Knievel on 5/6/2017. Of course we were hoping for at least one doe kid, but at least one of these handsome fellas will be staying on at Wags Ranch as a future herd sire.    Only the champagne and gold colored buckling got his dam's blue eyes. 

Levana's udder continues to impress and I am looking forward to milking her in a couple of weeks.   Normally with triplets I wait three weeks to start milking, but even at this point in time it is easy to see she will easily handle nursing triplets and milking.

This is our last spring kidding for the season but we are hopefully that Bristol, Alex and Blush will be presenting us with kids in August and September. 

About 10am this morning Emmylou presented us with two very large blue-eyed doe kids out of Tide.     Moana (which means deep ocean) on the right was the first born kid.  Her slightly smaller sister Cordelia (daughter of the sea) is on the left. At this point we are thinking we will probably o retain both of them.

After being in labor all night long Dassy finally kidded with twins.  A very handsome boy and a darling black and white girl we have named Zipporah.  "Zippy" will be retained on the Ranch.   Her brother is already spoken for as a wether and they both have great personalities and provide us with a lot of entertainment. 

First kids from Tanya and first kids from High Tide.  Three beautiful doelings all with blue eyes like their parents.  The first born buckskin is very tiny, but she was born kicking so I have no concerns about her size.   The last born was a bit of a surprise, as she came almost 30 minutes after the first two, and Tanya didn't appear to be big enough to have triplets.  Babies and mom are all doing fine.

The following evening Tanya's older half sister Sweet Pea kidded for the second time, but it was our first kids out of "K".   I was at ER with my dad, so my 12 yr old daughter midwifed the birth with the moral support of her dad.   I was getting text updates at ER and was so excited when there was finally a doe kid after the two boys and then - surprise their was another girl!  Quads!!  Sweet Pea handled it like the trooper she is and she is being a great mom.

The boys will be available as bottle baby wethers next weekend.  $100 each or $150 for the pair.

Kidding season is finally upon us, with several first fresheners and two new bucks in the mix we are looking forward to great things in the coming year.   Tanya and Sweet Pea are due this weekend, but we are past day 142 for both of them so we could have babies on the ground any time now.

And just because I can't resist, here are few of the kids born here in previous years.

Today we added two doe kids from the Tahoma herd up in Graham, Washington. The ligher colored doe is "Tahoma Sterling" (3/10/16) out of "Tahoma Aspen Snow" x "Tohoma Suka".   The darker doeling is "Tahoma Early Blue Snowfall" (4/15/16) she is out of M.R. Sparrow's HeartTrobBlues x Sunny Prairie TrailingBlue Ivy.

Extended pedigres for these fine girls will be put up once I get them completed and get individual pictures of the girls for the Jr. Doe page.

Given my usual propensity for small blue-eyed bucks this big brown-eyed hunk is a real departure from my norm.   However, when I saw everything this guy brings to the table I just couldn't say no.  

This is what his previous owner who owns his finished champion daughter has to say about him: "Evel Knievel, or "K" as we call him, has been an outstanding buck for us. He has one finished champion daughter, CH Sans Gene K Zydeco, also winner of Best Udder in Breed awards; another daughter Sans Gene K Cookies and Cream, who by age two earned 2 legs, several RCH wins and Best Udder awards, and a BDIS. Several other daughters have taken home RCH awards as milkers and juniors. Daughters milk very well; peaking at ½ gallon or more and holding their lactations very well. With several daughters on test, it is very likely K will get his +B this year.
Although K is a taller buck (23.5”), he consistently throws smaller kids, maturing same size or more often a bit smaller than their dams. He improves across all areas of the score card, particularly in leveling toplines, dairy strength, feet and legs, especially front legs. He does a lot for mammary capacity and foreudder attachment, and especially improves rear udder width and height. We get improved orifices, production and will to milk, too. His kids tend to be calm and friendly even if the dams are not. K himself is a gentle, sweet natured guy, gets along well with other bucks, and easy to handle and care for."

We are very excited to be adding this proven, outstanding sire to our herd and look forward to seeing kids on the ground!
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Shortly before midnight on June 9th, Bristol kidded with twins.  A black & white buck kid and a brown & black doe kid.  Both of them have their parents blue eyes.  The doe kid will probably be retained and the buck kid will be available as a wether.

This makes the 10th kids for Midnight  this year and marks the first buck kid.  Two more does are due to kid that were bred to him.   So we shall see if his 90% doe holds and his 100% blue-eyes.

As you can no doubt tell from the above pictures the last two days have been busy here at Wags Ranch.   First Hyacinth kidded Thursday evening.  An hour or so after she kidded her half-sister Sweet Pea started acting like she was in early labor.  After a very noisy night of the two of them vocalizing, Sweet Pea finally kidded with triplets this morning around 10:30 am.

We will be retaining Hyacinth's second born doe kid (the one with the "W" on her side.  The other two doe kids and the two wethers will be available after weaning.  Oh and did I mention ALL five of the kids have ​blue eyes!

This weekend involved driving, lots and lots of driving!   I had spotted Golden Era Made Me Blush for sale down in San Jose, CA and had arranged purchase and transport for her on Friday  Then I got an email from Castle Rock farms Thursday evening letting me know there was a blue-eyed buckling available out of Tsunamie x Cooper.   Tsunamie is a maternal half-sister to the 2015 ADGA National Champion doe Flood.  So sight unseen I agreed to purchase him and then canceled my transportation reservation for Blush.    Saturday we drove to San Jose and picked up Blush in the hills above the city and returned to Vacaville for the night.  We picked up High Tide  who is almost 6 weeks old, first thing Sunday morning and headed home.    Oddly, it rained the whole time we were in California and we only had sun for the Oregon portion of the trip. 

The above pictures were taken shortly after we got home from all that traveling.  Better pictures will be taken at a later date, when they have had a chance to acclimate to their new surroundings.

I will of course be making them pedigree pages, but in the meantime here are some of the does behind Tide.   The top row is his dam's side, the bottom row are on his sire's side.   Carina and Hot Tamale were 3rd and 4th place in the 4 yr old class at the 2013 ADGA Nationals.  
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                    (Click on the thumbnail of any picture to see a larger version.)