This was our second year on DHI which has been a long time goal of mine since we got our first goats. To date we've had MANY of our girls earn their stars/ARs in both registries (both in our herd and those we've sold to others) This past year we also participated in our first Linear Appraisal through ADGA, another long time goal.
I am so pround of our little doe Chatty - she completely wowed me this year earning her Star/AR in both registries as a FF. At 273 DIM she gave us 654lbs of milk 35 lbs of Butterfat and 27 lbs of Protein. She also scored an 86 on ADGA Linears. I just adore her sweet personality too!
Another doe of ours was doing fairly well milking (Valley Flowers Lisianthus) but she kidded in Aug and I bred her in Dec so she didn't quite get in enough time or milk to earn her stars. I have no doubt that given more time she would have earned hers in at least AGS. I was recently contacted by someone who had placed a deposit on another doe but had to back out last year who wanted a Bred doe - proven (more or less) to join their herd and be shown by their kids. Only 2 does here fit the bill for their request and I couldn't part with Chatty, so Lisi is heading to Colorado, bred to Flat Rocks Earl Grey for May kids. I hope she does really well for them.
This year we were able to work off Breeding fees to use on a few of our does. The Buck we chose is a beautiful, well built buck from Hill Country - MCH/CH Hill Country DAX Stitch *S. Stitch is sire to our Lily and Grandsire to Lisi and is now bred to Chatty, Dickory, and Marina. We are so excited for kidding season!!!!!! We hadn't planned on having a buck but we were also presented with a deal we couldn't pass up - a Buck for 8 scarves (Thanks Flat Rock TX herd! - Sunni Milligan) We jumped on it and brought him in and bred him to the other 3 does - Lily (Obviously we couldn't breed her to her dad!), Lisi and Peachy.
As you can probably tell there are some new names in the bunch as well - so to update you all - here's how it all happened. In May our queen bee and main milker kidded a single, double teated doe kid. She also wasn't hardly milking and I needed the milk. So I contacted a herd we've admired for a long time - just so happened she was willing to sell us Seldom Herd Dickory - daughter of a long admired doe, and sister to a doe who had beat us at Quad two years ago with the doe I was looking to replace. We jumped and we are eagerly awaiting her first kids around March 1.
Lily is another doe we view as a gift! Christine at Valley Flowers allowed us to have her in exchange for working on her website which we are doing currently after having some serious computer problems for several months. (Yes, we will get it done!!!!!) Lily is about the sweetest doe (besides Chatty) and pretty to boot - daughter of Stitch and we are looking forward to her first kids in March as well.
Well, that's about the long story short and I am hoping that we can continute to update this Blog more often.
Thanks for being patient with us and checking back with us!
2 comments:
Now you have ME going! If I'd ever been allowed to finish school, I would have gone further with the extra 5 years to specialize in breeding. I hope you keep updating with the details on results for all the vision!
Happy for YOU, for gaining opportunities to gain the lines you're looking for through siblings! Keeping my fingers crossed for ya'!
I have no schooling in this area other than 10 years of trial and error (trust me, more error most of the time but there were trials as well!) Some of my errors were stubborness and unwillingness to see what was right in my face, some were outside influences beyond my control but I can honestly say, I'm LOVING what I'm seeing now and working toward my goals (LA, DHI, etc.) has given me valuable insight - Go for your dreams!!!!!!
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