I have always used Bio-Tracking for my CAE testing in the past, and have tested later in the year so that I didn't have to worry about shipping while keeping the contents cool.   Since I did the testing earlier this year  I decided to try the labs at OSU.   Friendly and prompt service when I dropped the vials off and they had the results back to  me in less than 6 hours!   Oh and the results - all NEGATIVE as usual.  :) 

On Sunday, Sept 14th at 2pm we will be hosting a blood drawing clinic for anyone that would like to learn how to draw blood for testing.   The clinic will be held at Wags Ranch and will involve drawing every goat over six months of age in my entire herd for their annual testing through BioTracking.   Sarah McCraw of Mac's Rainbow will be doing the drawing and I will be doing the holding.   While it is possible to do the blood draw as a single person operation we have found that is much easier to have two people involved.  If you are interested in attending please let me know ahead of time. 

Last weekend I picked up a buckling from the Tahoma herd up in WA.  I liked Qwillerian but then I came across a chance to acquire Finnius in trade for Qwill and I jumped at it.   

Finnius looks like a buck we had several years ago - Poppy Patch Rio the Rebel, except that Finnius has a little flashier markings and blue-eyes.   

The does seemed to approve of him and so far he has been a fairly cooperative little guy to deal with.   We are looking forward to adding his outstanding genetics to our herd.

This morning the Albany Democrat Herald showcased our "ranch" on the front page with a headline below the picture at left of "Loving life on the ranch".   The article and pictures took up 3/4 of the front page and continued onto an additional page.

I was expecting a small story in the community section and was shocked when a co-worker told me we made the front page.     The article came about because we were featured in Farm & Ranch Living magazine.   You can read the Democrat Herald story for yourself on their website.

Overall it was a very nice article.  The only thing I would like to correct (other than that goats kid, not lamb) is that it gives the impression that all of our animals are rescues.  While we do have a lot of rescues here, our goats are most certainly not rescues and they are all registered  finely pedigreed animals. 

Confetti kidded around noon today with a single buck kid that looks very much like his sire.  He has blue eyes and appears to be polled like his dam.

He may possibly be available as a herd-sire, but only after more evaluation.  For right now I can tell you that he is VERY wide in the rear, much like his grand-father Basil. 

Confetti is being a very good mom and I'm sure he will thrive with all of her affection and milk  lavished on him. 

Yesterday evening Rtia broke from her pattern of quad births and delivered twins with assistance.   The black & white buckling looks a lot like his sire and the white & gold doeling looks like her dam.

These are the last kids out of Elijah for the year and there is just one more kidding to go - that of Confetti who is a Rita daughter.

Almost two years ago I was contacted by Farm & Ranch Living Magazine to be a diarist for the month of June  What that meant was in June 2013 I was to keep a daily diary that would then be published in the June 2014 issue.

Well the June/July 2014 issue is out on newsstands now and my diary and pictures are  the center article.

I have already gotten a couple of calls from people who read about our ranch there and want to purchase goats from me. 

The study is the first large-scale, U.S.-wide comparison of organic and conventional milk, testing nearly 400 samples of organic and conventional milk over an 18-month period. Conventional milk had an average omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio of 5.8, more than twice that of organic milk’s ratio of 2.3. The researchers say the far healthier ratio of fatty acids in organic milk is brought about by a greater reliance on pasture and forage-based feeds on organic dairy farms.

A large body of research has shown that grass and legume forages promote cow health and improve the fatty acid profile in organic dairy products. Still, said WSU researcher Charles Benbrook, the study’s lead author, “We were surprised by the magnitude of the nutritional quality differences we documented in this study.”

Personally,  I am not at all surprised that researchers found that organic milk from dairy animals that were fed a grass based diet was healthier.   Just like our free range chickens produce MUCH healthier eggs, so too our goats who have a grass-based diet produce MUCH healthier milk that we prefer to drink raw in order to maximize those nutrients. 

You can read the whole report on the study here: 
https://news.wsu.edu/2013/12/09/researchers-see-added-nutritional-benefits-in-organic-milk/#.U4QCtvldU0U

About 3:30pm this afternoon Eve kidded with twins.   First born was the multicolored doe and the black/white buckling  was second.  Both of the kids have their dads blue eyes and it appears that it the doe kid at least may be polled as well.  She will more than likely be retained.

This was my husbands first solo kidding and I am very proud of him for sticking around and taking care it all.

Today is day 144 for Eve and we are really hoping that she will kid on her due date.  If she does her kids will all have names related to the Mt. Saint Helen eruption that occurred on that date.

Last Sunday I started out to give e Eve her maternity trim but it turned into a full body trim because she just looks so different my curiosity got the better of me.   Before she was a light caramel color and now she looks so elegant in her black and gold "evening wear".    She is bred to Elijah so blue eyed & polled kids are a possibility.