I can't believe it's November!

I was just realizing it is November and was thinking back over the year and Wow - I can't believe what huge things can happen in 1 year. My herd has changed and evolved. Some of the changes were ones I couldn't help and other's were changes I thought were necessary. Every now and again I have twinges of "did I do the right thing?" Or would I take a "do-over" if I could. Looking out at my present herd and the possibilities that could be over the next two years? Probably not. But at the same time - I must say I let go some GREAT animals

and am really happy they've done well in their new homes.
For instance - the little brown guy in the back of this photo - that little guy I wanted to keep but at the time I owned his dam, littermate sister, half sister and dam's half sister. I only had ONE doe to breed him to. So I sold him to another farm. CBF TD Daredevil has gone on to sire about 10 kids with more on the way. Many of them are lovely animals.
This is his littermate sister - Kokoro Kiseki - who I was going to keep but was feeling like I needed to change my herd up some - So I sold her and her dam to

Pecan Grove in Arizona. I must say of all the goats I've sold I miss Joie the most. She was my first Star milker and yes, one of my better milkers EVER!!!! But I owned her half sister whom I adore. I've now seen Koko, grow up , freshen, and produce a beautiful buck kid for the Pecan Grove Farm.
Another twinge - yeah, sure but I couldn't have done what Pecan Grove did this year - they have Joie and Koko on 305 day test and both girls were in a few shows and proved that they could hold their own in a VERY competitive show ring ! I was even told by a breeder that Koko is possibly one of the best goats at Pecan Grove - that is my girl! I was even honored further by the fact that they kept one of Koko's sons and put my farm name in his registered name. The fact that they kept a first fresheners son, that was bred by my farm and is GORGEOUS to boot - wow, I'm honored! Go check out www.PecanGroveRanch.com and see Pecan Grove CBF Koko Vanilla Twister! He's a looker! I am excited to hear how both does do on 305 day test this year and I can't wait to see Twister's kids start hitting the ground next spring. HMMM - may have to get me one of those someday!

This spring's kids are growing quick - and I cannot wait to see what the 2011 kidding season brings with this year's generation of CBF goats. I have high hopes for CBF CS Hope Diamond, CBF CS Columbus, CBF CS Carbonado, All of which will contribute to the future of my farm or others.

We are also putting our herd on 305 day test this year. I'm excited to finally get that ball rolling as it's been a dream of mine for a long time now. I may look back wistfully at some of the hard choices we made over the past few years but I also am looking forward with hope to the accomplishments that God will bless us with in the near future!

HIppity Hooves GD Lucky Star

TADA! this our newest addition. I wasn't really thinking of adding any more does this year. YES, I actually had/have enough. But I got to thinking about breeding for a future buck. Just about everyone here is mostly related so I though, what could I do that would bring in some choice bloodlines that I could breed for future herdsire. I needed a great milker, or something from great milk lines. As luck would have it, Hippity Hooves asked me to come out and do their verification test. Yep, that was my downfall.
I already LOVE the Gideon daughter I already have and many of Gideon's daughters are already doing fantastic in the milk pail. Check out the daughters that JoyfulHearts Farm has or has sold!
And I now know what this little beauty is capable of because of the milk test. Lost Valley PG Bebe is a daughter of ARMCH/GCH Lost Valley KW Bridge's Burn 1*M/*D. (2009 AGS National Champion) I asked the Allen family if they were considering selling one of the twin does they got out of the pair. They were!
So this last month we brought home our newest little gem - Lucky!

I have a bit of a breeding plan for this little doe. It will give me plenty of time to use my Intrigue before Lucky's son will come in and be a 2nd buck for our herd. Thanks Hippity Hooves for our new little beauty!

As The Breeding Pen Turns - Part 2

I should know that taking pictures of your goats eating isn't a good idea. They wouldn't stand but if I hadn't fed them, they'd be in my lap instead! Oh well, The lighter doe is TinFays GD Cleopatra. She is the one who is Bred to Dragonflye USH Ten Zen. A baby from this pair will most like be retained by us. She is due on March 19 or 20th. Along with Miss Priss who was bred to Intrigue for Mini Oberhaslis on March 20th.

Here is a terrible picture of an otherwise beautiful doe. This is our CBF CS Paint Th'Sky with Stars. Stars, as she is affectionately called around here, is one of those girls that I just loved the minute she was born. Her dam, CBF Ent's Twinkle Lil' Stars is one of the does that I would have kept had my teen not been diagnosed with cancer last year. She earned her 2*D in AGS after being in milk for 18+months. That little girl can milk. We sure hope if she's bred she will follow in her dam and granddam's hoofsteps! She is bred to Intrigue for Feb 21 babies.

As The Breeding Pen Turns - Part 1

changes changes. That seems to be the story of my herd. I hope these changes are all for the good of the herd but as usual, NONE were easy. I think long and hard about breeding...what buck would go well with what doe for the desired outcome. Who would complement who and why? This year (2010) wasn't a good year for us really as we had a lot of boys born and just didn't have the income to do what we wanted to do, not to mention we had some setbacks (2 months PLUS lost to soremouth, a double teated doeling, no money to show and most recently our Oberhasli just up and dried up leaving us high and dry this winter since she was supposed to be milked through until the Nigies began kidding in spring) Also a doe that was supposed to be bred not being bred.
All this going on sure made me think long and hard on my goals for the herd and what would help us to accomplish this. This little beauty (CBF CS Hope Diamond) was a huge highlight for us. She is the first daughter to Nizhoni DW Tirzah (Joie's 1/2 sister) and I am SMITTEN. I love this doe and if she has as lovely an udder as her dam and milks as well. I'm thinking we've got a good think going on. So, back to breeding. As most of you know - we brought in a lovely new buck this year from Ironwood Ranch. We hope he is going to put some super correct and very milky kids on the ground. This year he was bred to Stars (CBF CS Paint Th'Sky with Stars) and CBF CS Hope Diamond. We will retain one doeling out of one of the girls.

All others will be for sale. IF both breeding took, we are looking at babies (Star/Intrigue) on February 21st and (Intrigue/Hope) March 1, 2011.

Last but not least is Tirzah. I thought about breeding her to my handsome Intrigue but loved the kids I got out of Tirzah and Storm so I took my free breeding from Nizhoni's who now has Storm and repeated that breeding.
Intrigue (shown here) also was to be bred to TinFays Cleopatra this year but an interesting offer was made - a trade. Jennifer of crazy wisdom dairy (www.crazywisdomdairy.com) asked if I'd consider a trade breeding. HMMM - why the heck not? So she bred one of her does to Intrigue and I bred Cleo to her buck Dragonfly USH TenZen.

He's a smaller buck but of Rosasharn's breeding and also carries the Baywatch lines I so like. I hope we get a doe as she will be retained here. Zen is the daughter of TwinCreeks BW Pacifica and Rosasharn's Ushikai who is distantly related to Cleo through the incredible Rosasharn's TigerL. This should be a very interesting cross and I am super excited about seeing what we get. We are expecting babies from this pair around March 20, 2010.
Trigue has also dates with a few other outside does this year. I can't wait to see what he produces.

Other news - we sold Brisa, not really because we wanted to but a situation presented itself and I still have my trade from The Feathered Goat for a doe as I let the sale be theirs. I know that I will have a ton of choices next spring or even the following year . I have one MORE piece of news but she gets her OWN post but first - I need pictures!!

Update on Life.

I know it probably hard to believe but I've been BUSY! So of course have been scarce from blogger-land. I am hoping with the advent of colder weather, I will have more time to be indoors and on my blogs a bit more! LOL.

I know it is hard to believe that there is actually more to life than just my goats but indeed, lately, there has been. what with holiday season rapidly approaching, I am busy working on projects for arts N crafts shows as well as orders. Here is one I'm working on now - 2 felted stockings for a lovely lady in Tennessee who ordered them. I have two more (alpacas) to do after these are done and off to TN. Also I've been spinning and sewing but you'll have to go check out my Fiber Phanatic Blog for those updates.
Last year in Oct. we were able to visit our dear friends the Joyce's in Dallas TX as part of Alyssa's Make a Wish Trip. This trip was a huge blessing to us as we have hardly gotten to see them since they moved away. This year we volunteered with Make A Wish to help bring blessings to other critically ill children. We spent a morning at the Balloon Fiesta in ABQ, NM selling calendars and programs to raise money for Make A Wish! What a blast that was.
Soap making. Oh my have I ever been making (and selling) soap.

Somedays it's hard for me to believe I get anything done,but make soap. This week I will be labelling and packing up soaps that are already sold. lLet the Christmas season begin. (And please, Lord, help me keep up!)

Also, I have pink hair now. Not completely pink, but am now sporting some racy pink stripes for a dear friend. She decided that (after being diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer) she wanted pink hair before it all fell out (remember Alyssa wanting red hair before it all fell out?) So a huge crowd of us got together at her house and we had a PINK party. about 25 of us got "PINKED" to support her. We also had a fun Tamale making party. About 4 of us got together with kidlets in tow and made tamales. Really was a BLAST!

Now, Im sure you are thinking - but what about the goats? What's going on with the goats - afterall, this is the CBF Nigerian blog. Well, sorry, you'll have to wait for that one as I have a LOT to update about the goats and thought that deserved it's own entry! Tune in next time for

As The Breeding Pen Turns........