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3/7/2014 1 Comment Kidding Watch! We don't have a firm due date for Miriam because she was bred already when she came back to the ranch. But based on her udder I would hazard a guess that she will kid sometime this weekend. She is Maple's first daughter and we are really looking forward to seeing her udder. Right now it looks to be on the small side, but then Maple's wasn't very big (just so nicely formed!) for her first kidding either.  After Miriam the next up to kid is Mame'. (pictured on the right) This will be her 6th kidding and if she holds true to her past history she will kid on day 142 which would be March 14th - which just happens to be her 8th birthday and the date she kidded last year.
Her daughter Levana (pictured on the left) is due the 21st and we are not only looking forward to seeing her first freshening udder (which is shaping up beautifully!) but also seeing the first kids out of Maple's son Midnight. It is hard to tell Levana apart from her half-sister Rita who is also a Sunny daughter. We are hoping that Levana will be a super producer like Rita and Mame' - she certainly has the genetics to surpass them both!
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12/30/2013 0 Comments Making Room.... It seems the state of the herd is always in flux. When you have limited space it means that if you want to keep new kids you have to let someone else go. And with all the new bucks we have of course we want to keep kids out of them. After months of agnozing I have finally made the tough decisions on who to keep and who to sell. Roni is a Sunny daughter and it shows in her teat length and above average production. The other doe is Millie, who is a good little producer but she tends to pick on my favorite doe, and if you have followed my blog for any length of time you know I have sold does on more than one occasion when they didn't get along with my Mame'.  I am also making room in the buck pen so Matador is up for sale as well. He is a quiet buck that prefers if people just left him alone. Although he does walk well on a leash and stands pretty quietly for hoof triming.
Matador has nice tight shoulders and lots of dairy wrinkles! I have had a hard time getting a good picture of him that really shows off his coloring and conformation. I am willing to make a deal on the three of them as a mini-herd so don't hestitate to ask. 12/27/2013 0 Comments Miriam is back! Miriam is back! She has been over in Idaho for the past year where she won some blue ribbons and a reserve grand champion as a dry yearling. She had a Linear Apprasial done as a dry yearling this year and reportedly socred well. Receiving an "EC" (Extremely Correct) in the general appearance catagory. I am looking forward to reading the eval when I get it.  As a bonus she comes back to us bred to JDR Ranch AL Zeus who is a cute little moonspotted boy. I only have a kid picture of Zeus and he obviously isn't set up in this shot, but you can see his markings. For the curious - here is the pedigree for the kids from this breeding. There is a possiblity that we could end up with blue-eyed moonspotted babies.
12/8/2013 0 Comments Deep Freeze! A very fluffy Eve peeks out at the frozen landscape. No new snow since Friday, but it hasn't warmed up enough to melt yet either. At 10pm last night the tempurature was 9 degrees and at 8am this morning it was a grand 6 degrees! Quite possibly a record low! All of the critters are doing well, the humans however are exhausted from hauling hot water for all of them. But as always we do our best to make our critters comfortable.  In other news, Maple's first daughter Miriam is going to be coming back to us! I am so excited to have her back as she is the one doe that I have always regretted selling.
She has done well in the show ring over in Idaho and scored very well on her Liner Apprasial. And is coming back to us bred to a very nice buck. I plan to put her and Eve (pictured above) togther so they become buddies before introcuding her into the main herd. Having her come back also means I have to make so room so I will have a couple of does for sale shortly. Now to get the weather to cooperate so I can make the trip acorss the mountains to go get her! 12/6/2013 0 Comments Snow Day
Woke up to the first snow of the season today. It has been quite cold with below freezing temperatures for a few days leading up to todays snow and as always that means extra chores.
All of the outdoor animals need extra feed, plus ice on the water troughs needs to be broken and in same cases we haul hot water out of the house for them as well. The hot water helps to keep production up for both the milking does and the chickens. It is pretty and the children are having a blast playing in it, but boy does it make me wish we had a bigger barn with electrictiy and a hot water heater! 9/19/2013 0 Comments Welcome Eve! I'm a little behind schedule in offically welcoming Eve to the herd. I sold Shirli on Sunday the 8th and while I was waiting for the buyer to come and pick her up I saw that Julia at Room For 1 More in Harrisburg had posted Eve for sale.
I hadn't intended on replacing Choc-o-latte, but for some reason I just couldn't turn down Eve who is a first freshening yearling that is still in milk. She is a petite doe who placed third at the Oregon State Fair just before we purchased her. She enjoys attention from people and is Bekah's new favorite doe. I am still trying to decide if I am going to breed her to Elijah or Midnight this coming year. Either way we are looking forward to seeing her second freshening udder and her offspring! 9/8/2013 0 Comments Kittens On July 23rd a couple of guys at the warehouse where I work discoverd a 10 day old kitten when they were moving a pallet. They called me and I came and got the little fellow that has now been dubbed "Cosmo".
Cosmo is our division mascot and goes to work with me every day. He enjoys "helping" me with all my administrative chores and loves all the attention the guys give him. Playing with him is a good way for them to take a stress break too. Cosmo is now about 7 weeks old and this past week another little kitten was found in the industrial park. He is about 4 weeks old and was bedraggled, straving little thing when I first saw him. He has made great progress in the past few days and has already gained a few ounces! This cute little fluff ball, (seen here snuggling with Cosmo) has a strong will to live and is being adopted by a friend of mine up in Seattle area. 8/16/2013 0 Comments And then there was one... One goat left for sale that is. This past Tuesday we sold Hershey, Choc-o-latte and Roadrunner (who has been renamed "Java Jolt".
We thought we had a buyer already lined up for Shirli but they apparently changed their minds so this friendly girl is once again available. Wags Ranch SB Shirli DOB: 04/09/13 Sire: Spots R Us Basil SS: Tupence Buckshot Blues (LA 2008 EEE91) SD: SG Sots R Us Destiny 1*M (LA 2008 89 ) Dam: Wags Ranch SA Roni DS: Capri-Dance RA Maple Sunishine DD: M.R. Lucky's Allegro Extended Pedigree Shirli means "a song for me" and is a refleciton of her dam's name which means a "joyful song". Her dam is one of my top producers and I fully expect Shirli to be an above average producer too. Her half brother is staying on at the ranch as a herd sire so this friendly girl is available for $200. 7/28/2013 0 Comments Kitten Last Tuesday a couple of the guys where I work found this little kitten under a pallet behind the warehouse. After realizing that whclod of dirt was alive, they brushed him off and called me.
I had already gone home for the day but willingly headed back to work to pick up what appeared to be about a 10 day old kitten. My best guess is that his ferral momma was scared off by the fork lift and she might have already moved other kittens and he was just the one that got left behind. We have never seen a cat hanging out behind the warehouse and we searched a couple of times for any other kittens. At any rate he is healthy and seems to be thriving on the goats milk we are giving him. 7/4/2013 0 Comments Shave & a hoof trim....The past week has seen unusually high temperatures with heat index warnings so I thought it was high time I got at least the bucks shaved. Plus I really wanted to see what was under all that hair.
Elijah was the biggest surprise, he has a whole bunch of little black spots all over him. When Ari saw him freshly shaved his response was "Oh wow, he looks so awesome!" Elijah must have thought he looked pretty awesome to because he kept posing for pictures. Cadence was the least cooperative with pictures which could be becasue there was a doe in heat All three of the adult bucks have exceptionally nice dairy skin as shown by the wrinkles. I love lots of wrinkles except when it comes time for a shave and then I hate them becuase it makes the job that much more complicated and lengthy. |
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