Last night we said goodbye to Castle Rock High Tide.  He has been sold to the Australian syndicate and will be helping to establish the breed in Australia.  We have known this day was coming for almost a year, but it was still hard to say goodbye to our sweet boy who has been our pride and joy for 5 years.

He is being transported by 5 Star Transport down to the holding facility in Texas, and it looks like he will have plenty of room for his journey.

While we are sad to see him move on, I know he will do great things for their program and we have retained a number of his daughters here all which seem to carry his gentle nature.

I have been searching for buck or buckling to fill Tide's slot and instead of getting just one, I brought home two.  (yeah I know, cutting back and all that.)  I really had only intended to get one, but then decided that as long as I was getting one I might as well get two that were close in age so they could be raised together.  

I picked out Arctic Tundra first - he is out of a first freshener however almost every doe in his pedigree has an LA score of 90 or higher and given what I saw of his dam's udder at just 4 days fresh, she is going to be living up to her pedigree.  Tundra is related to Tide on both his sire and dam's side which makes him distantly related to the 2015 National Champion doe and his great grand-sire is the sire of the 2019 National Champion doe so how could I pass up that sort of pedigree.

No other blue-eyed buckling were available so after a few hours sorting through all the brown-eyed options I settled on Strangers Ace.  He may look plain, but his paternal grand-dam has an LA score of 92 and has made the Elite doe list for 5 consecutive years.  And like Tundra he has a lot of does with LA scores of 90 or better behind him including one Jobi doe way back. (I love goats from Jobi!!)  He is unrelated to any goat in my herd and will be a true outcross.

The boys are only 4 days apart in age so are on the same bottle feeding schedule and both have very sweet personalities.  

One of the reasons we chose to move to Idaho was the laws concerning the sales of raw milk  are much more reasonable than Oregon and I had dreams of running a dairy here.  Alas, the deterioration that started following an accident 27+ years ago has reached the point where I can no longer keep up with a large herd.  So I even though I made drastic cuts last year, I am making more this year.   We will have some first fresheners kidding at the end of June into July and decisions on them will come after they have kidded.  My goal is to get the herd down to 6-8 adult does, and just a couple of kids.  But that is easier said that done as I love all of them.

Violet and her half sister Gal are retained along with Violets daughters Viennetta and her 2021 doe kid.  Moana and Puzzle are also retained.  That makes 5 adults and 1 doe kid retained. Everyone else is up for consideration so if there is a doe you are interested in let me know. 

I have updated individual pictures with those that are for sale.  A couple of additional yearlings may become available after they have kidded in late June or July.  
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Things have been a little crazy around the ranch lately, so here is a quick recap of the last three kiddings.   Rosie, who barely looked pregnant kicked things off by kidding at triplets unobserved overnight  April 15th-16th.  We have chosen to give the kids a birthdate on April 16th as that seemed the most likely scenario based on the last check at 10pm that night. She produced 2 doe kids and a buckling.  So far no moonspots are showing up, but Kingfishers kids tend to not show any for up to their first month, and then you start seeing them, so there still could be some pop up.

This is the only picture I managed to get (with my cell phone) of the three of them together.  They are a very active bunch, especially the little chocolate girl that was so tiny I could hold her in one hand when she was born.  We are quite smitten with her so it will probably be the white doe kid with blue-eyes that will most likely be the one that is available in the future.  Her little spotted buckling is already spoken for.

Moolatte (aka Cowgirl) was the next to kid.  She popped out twin buckling's the morning of April 17th.  First born was the oh so flashy black and white boy, with his dark chocolate and white brother following shortly there after.   Both were very large kids but she didn't need any assistance getting them out on day 152. 

These boys will be available as wethers once they are weaned.   Really looking forward to milking Cowgirl and Rosie for the first time and getting them on milk test.

And then there was Levana, day 154 rolled around with no sign of her kidding, so once again the Red Barn Mobile Vet paid us a visit to induce here just like last year.  However, unlike last year she kidded much quicker, and she only gave us a single buckling who is the spitting image of her - pure white with bright blue eyes.  There is already a sale pending for him.

We are sure when Levana was bred as we witnessed it and she did not go back in with a buck after that one afternoon.  Rosie and Cowgirl (Monolete) did go back in with Kingfisher about a month later.  Both of their udders seem a little small to us, but Cowgirl and Levana both look like their kids have dropped when I check on them today.  We will be giving maternity haircuts this evening, so we shall see what is under all that winter hair. 
 
Last year Kingfisher was only bred to two does and he produced only one daughter.  But boy howdy were some of his boys gorgeous.  We are of course hoping he gives us some pretty girls this time around.  He is blue-eyed and the does are all blue-eyed so the odds are pretty good there will be a bunch of colorful blue-eyed kids very soon.
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We are looking for a retirement home for a couple of does.  These does need to spend the rest of their lives as pasture pets with no kids in their future.  If you think you might have the right sort of laid back home for these special girls please get in contact with us, we would love to discuss their future with you.

One doe is almost 6 years old and the other is almost 9.  Both are healthy, they just shouldn't be bred again.

Sunday was hoof trimming day for our herd, and the fact that Violet let her hooves be trimmed while lying down was a good clue that she was in early labor because she could have cared less what was going on as long as she got a maternity massage at the same time. 

Around 3:30pm she produced a bubble and we were expecting kids to follow shortly after but that didn't occur.  After waiting a half hour I checked and no kid in the birth canal.  Which is very odd.  I kept checking every half hour, and still no kid in the birth canal and my checks were not brining on contractions like usual, but she didn't seem to be in distress.  Finally about 8am I went in past her cervix - something I have not personally done before, although I have witnessed it.  Took me awhile to figure out what I was feeling but I finally got a finger into the tight ball of kid at his hip, and was able to follow that down and untangle his back legs enough to get them into the birth canal and then slowly pull him out with a twist.  He arrived upside down and backwards and we fully expected he would be dead, but no, he was very much alive.

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His sister arrived without any assistance lined up in the perfect dive position.  And since he dam was standing up and busily cleaning off her brother, she was caught on the way down.  Both kids were hungry and quickly got the hang of nursing.  Both are chocolate buckskins and have their dam's brown eyes.   Up until this point, Violet has been my only brown-eyed goat, but I am probably going to retain this daughter.  She is quite a little chatter box and speaks up sweetly every time someone enters the room. (Not complaining or demanding just saying "hi") She also comes over and hangs out with me - so much so I wonder if she realizes I helped her escape by removing her brother. 

Violet is a very well put together doe with a fantastic pedigree so I will possibly be offering the buckling as a future herd sire.  I will know more once he has had a few days to get over his balled up position and stretch out a bit.  

Violet's pedigree is the combination of two of the top milking lines from Jobi which is one of the foundation herds of the breed.  And Saranghae is the son of the fabulous Castle Rock Sarafina.  

This finishes off all of the does bred to Saranghae and our next kiddings won't be until mid April.  I am sure we will enjoy the break from sleeping in the kidding room, but we are eagerly looking forward to seeing what Kingfisher is going to produce for us this year. And we will have a couple of first fresheners kidding - Rosie and Moolatte so we get to see some new udders too.  Along with them will be Levana the "old lady" of our herd.  Depending on how this kidding goes it may be her last as she is getting along in years.  Last year she had to be induced after going over, so we are prayinig this year everything goes smoothly and that we get at least one more doe kid out of her.

It was a busy night here on the ranch last night.  First Moana x Saranghae had triplets 1 buck kid followed by two doe kids.  Then while we were waiting for Moana's third kid to be born Moana's half-sister Presley who was also bred to Saranghae started getting serious about her labor.  

Fortunately, Moana's last doe kid was delivered before we Presley got her first kid out.  She then went on to have triplet bucklings.  The third one was very stuck, and I thought she was going to end up with a c-section but I finally got him repositioned enough to be born without having to have the vet out.

Everyone is doing fine this morning, and the kids are bouncing around.  The bucklings are a all spoken for - pending deposit.  And I can't decide which of Moan's daughters I am going to keep.  I am very tempted to keep both, but I don't really have the room to do that.  The little black and white doe has a pink spot on her nose that makes it look like she is sticking her tongue out at you, but she isn't.  The other girl has some very pretty markings and is a snuggler compared to her bouncy sister.  I will have to see how they develop.

Friday was a rollercoaster of a day.  First I was woken up to the news that Blush had kidded unexpectedly and the baby appeared to be dead. I threw on barn clothes and raced over to the barn through the two feet of fresh snow, and yes the beautiful doe kid was beyond saving.  

Then I noticed Moana was having discharge so I moved Havilah and Velvet along with their kids back into the main barn and and cleaned out the three kidding stalls by myself as my children were headed off to school.  While I was cleaning things out Layla marched over to me and very loudly announced she was going to kid and wanted her nice comfy stall back.  So I double timed it and got her back where she wanted to be, and moved Moana into the pen next to her.

While I was waiting on Layla to kid, Moana started pushing too - it appeared to be race to see who was going to kid first and then instead of a kid Moana had a vaginal prolapse.  I texted our regular vet but she is on maternity leave herself, so I called around to a few other vets and wasn't having any luck getting someone to come out.  Then she sucked it back up before I could do anything more than get the straw picked off.   

Then Layla got serious about kidding - her water broke - and then she decided that kidding against the wall was what she wanted to do.  I dragged her away from the wall, and she scooted right back, then she started popping out kids with less than two inches of space one right after the other, I would barely clear noses and the next one was coming.  It took 18 minutes from the time her water broke until I was placing  the 4th kid by her head.  

She gave us two bucks and two does - it appears that there are blue eyes in the bunch but I don't want to call it until I am 100% sure as some of them look a little on the dark side and are likely to turn brown in a week or two.

After the kids were all cleaned up from Layla's kidding I ran back to the house to get something to eat and get some dry clothes on.   While I was in the house Moana prolapsed again.  Then a meat goat breeder friend of mine that lives in the area let me know she had a vet coming to her place to do a health certificate that afternoon and said maybe we could piggy back onto that appointment.  I called and the vet agreed to come see her.

He got here around 4pm and I think this was the first time he had ever worked on a Nigerian Dwarf goat.  All he had was sheep sized gear, but with some jerry-rigging we go a prolapse retainer in her.  The vet thinks she will kid in 5-7 days, and while sheep can lamb around one of those devices he doesn't think she can, so we have to keep a watch on her around the clock until she is ready to kid, at which time we will need to remove the device.

She isn't thrilled with the device, but so far hasn't managed to dislodge it.  This is the first time we have ever had to deal with a prolapse, and I sure hope it is our last.  Other than being annoyed about it she is doing well, and Presley is in the kidding stall next to her to keep her company.  They are both High Tide daughters and both were bred to Saranghae.  

Velvet kidded with a single buck kid this evening.  Her dam Havilah was in the stall next to her and talked her through the entire event. Havilah went through the usual first freshener puzzlement - "who is this calling me mama?"  But thanks to grandma Havilah's coaching she soon got the hang of being a mama and she is being very attentive.  He was up and nursing quickly.  He will be available as a pet wether after weaning.

We thought Layla was going to be the first one to kid but Havilah beat her to with twins born later Friday afternoon (2/19/21).  Both kids are good sized, but Havilah needed no assistance in pushing them out.  The doe kid was up and bouncing! around before she was even an hour old.  Neither of them got daddy's blue eyes.  The buckling will be available as a wether after weaning and the doe kid may be available.  The next 6 does due to kid were all bred to Saranghae and naturally we want to keep one or two of those kids for ourselves. 

There extended pedigree can be seen below:

,Back in 2018 we shipped in a buck kid, "Dutch" from Colorado who was sired by Castle Rock Saraband who was a littermate brother to Saranghae out of the amazing Castle Rock Sarafina EEEE 92. His dam was out of Castle Rock Wildfire VEEE 90.  Sadly we lost Dutch before he had a chance to bred anyone, in January 2019 on the day we were finally able to move the goats into the barn.  (The barn that over 2 months behind schedule.)

​I was especially disappointed to lose Sarafina's genetics.  A friend mentioned she was bringing in a new buck and I immediately recognized his pedigree.  I bought a blue-eyed daughter of Saranghe  x Layla last year, but then was blessed to borrow him this fall and to house three does for her too while her barn was undergoing some bear proofing.  Glad we don't have to deal with Grizzly in our part of Idaho.