CBF NIGERIANS

2012-01-26T14:52:00.000-08:00

sometimes during the winter I just like to take some time to reflect on the year that's behind and think about the year that might be ahead. Winter, the lull in goat stuff. Everyone is bred that needs to be bred, two more does will go in with their intended bucks but for now they are still enjoying being carefree babies. I still have two does milking which, compared to last year when we had no milk (really chaps my hide to feed 8 goats and get no milk) at this time. We also had no eggs last year at this time and this year we are steadily getting around 4 or more a day. I love thinking about babies that are coming but at the same time am grateful that there isn't so much work to be done right now......Just enjoy the slower pace of life on the mini-farm. I am dreaming right now about the garden for the year - what will we plant? Oh so many things on the list!!! I do see the green tops of the garlic planted in November peeking through the dirt. Lots of garlic. And because of the modern wonder of row cover - we are still picking a bit of greens and root crops. Not much but every little bit helps. yes, it's a little piece of heaven here at times. I love the work and fast pace but love the winter slow months too. Gives me time to catch my breath. Of course, there is soap to be made, some scarves to felt, maybe a little sewing, knitting, crocheting and finishing up projects that took a back seat to the business of babies, milking, and all that comes with that - cheese, soap, yogurt, canning, gardening etc.

Yes, I look forward to attending a few shows, being on 305 DHI for the 2nd year in a row and getting our herd Linear Appraised in Sept. I look forward to looking out my back window and watching this year's kid crops bouncing, playing, snuggling with their mommas....but for now I will enjoy the dreams, because the reality is that the insanity of it all is right around the corner, less than 2 months away.....

BABIES!

2011-11-30T18:50:00.001-08:00

One of my most favorite parts of goat ownership and breeding is babies in the spring time. Tonight I was able to take my two FF does in to our vet to get them ultrasounded. Last Straw Chattahoochie and CBF AGI Wish Upon A Star were both found to be pregnant. Chatty has one for sure and maybe a second and Wish has two for sure and maybe 3. Both does are due mid-march Along with Wishes Dam CBF CS Paint Th'Sky With Stars, who is already looking very pregnant so i'm thinking triplets. Stars is bred back to Intrigue and we already have two does reserved out of her. These babies are Wishes and her brother Captain. Seems like kidding season is sooooo far away but it will give me something to look forward to during the winter. Seeing those little goat bellies develop. Next into the breeding pen is Tirzah with Asher and then Ammi with Intrigue. That will probably be the last set of kids of Intrigue's here at CBF if someone buys him but we are really looking forward to his kids kidding this spring and seeing his grandkids!

Ironwoodranch A Good IntrigueS/B

2011-11-30T07:30:00.001-08:00

Now that our new buck joined our herd much earlier than expected, we are going to part with our dear Intrigue. I agonized over getting this buck - did tons of research and was looking for the right mix of genetics to add to our herd. At first i had reserved a kid from Agape Oaks because she has an incredible milking program and has the right mix of bloodlines I was looking to bring in but tragically they lost the herdsire I was wanting a buckling out of before he could breed either my first or second choice does. The search was on again. I just happened to stumble across a not so well known farm in AZ that just happened to have a similar mix of genetics and they also milk test and Linear Appraise (two things I really wanted to do here - we are now currently on 305 DHI and hope to add Linear Appraisal next year) So I contacted them and told them what I was looking for and they suggested a buck kid out of their doe who seems to be the best all around doe - Ironwoodranch SJ Pecan 2*D/2*M. That year she threw 2 boys and I had my pick of litter. In March, Intrigue joined our little herd. Since then, Pecan has earned her Superior Genetics title, as has Intrigue's grandsire (on both sides) Smarty Jones. That year she also tied for #3 on the Top 10 list milking 1334#s of milk and then made the top 10 list in ADGA as well also tying her herdmate Minnie. Intrigue has thrown some very nice kids not only for us but for a few other herds as well since we do allow a few outside breedings to folks whose does are tested. I've been very pleased with all that we've seen so far out of this boy and we don't even have a milking daughter yet. next year - we are hoping to have two: CBF AGI Wish Upon a Star And Last Straw Chattahoochie. (Sorry my pictures are so bad)

both girls have been shown and have done very well - neither one has placed lower than 3rd place. Very excited to see what Intrigue has done here. A daughter and son of his can also be seen at www.crazywisdomdairy.com (see Arctica and Buckwheat).
We are also looking to keep another doe kid out of Intrigue and CBF CS SG Ammi who came back to us after being sold as a 2 mo doe nearly 3 years ago. But we keep a very small herd and since I have 2 and will hopefully have another kid out of him and will be keeping possibly 2 grandkids, I am going to make Intrigue available in January. I am asking $400 for him which is what I paid for him as an unproven buck. If you want more information on his dam please visit www.ironwoodranch.weebly.com or his sire, please visit Snickerdoodle at www.pecangroveranch.com

A New Herdsire for CBF

2011-11-18T16:48:00.001-08:00

A few years ago I took a doe from a friend who was battling cancer. She was a sweet woman with a big heart who loved her goaties. Due to circumstances beyond her control the doe showed up here with soremouth. My herd was infected and we closed our herd until we were sure it was past. I agonized over whether to tell her but finally felt like I had to around the time I asked her permission to rehome her to a pet/retirement home.
The folks who have her love her and spoil her rotten! Despite my protests, she paid in full for a buck - literally the buck of my dreams. I got to pick the pedigree etc. Andrea passed away earlier this year never seeing her gift come to fruition. The breeder tried her best to deliver the buck I wanted but the dam wasn't wanting to cooperate with the sire.

Last night around 5 pm a friend of mine came here and dropped off one of the most beautiful bucks I've ever seen. The sire and dam I chose are present in his pedigree as Grandsire on dam's side and Granddam on sire's side. I feel doubly blessed as this beautiful buck was hand chosen by the breeder to represent her herd here in NM and paid for by a very generous lady who really didn't need to do what she did. I never felt it was her fault and KNOW she did not send a sick doe here on purpose. I have spent some time really getting a good look at this beautiful boy.

Welcome to our farm Double SunDog FN Brave Warrior (name to honor Andrea's brave battle with cancer - she may have lost the battle to cancer but I believe in the end she WON! ). He is out of Double SunDog ST Finn *S (Double SunDog TH Saturday *S X ARMCH Piddlin Acres PV Gretel *D) and Double SunDog CY Honey Pot (Ironwood Ranch JD Curly X Goodwood DFW City Slicker *D) All I can say is Thank you Kathryn Lewis of Double SunDog for breeding and choosing this handsome boy for our herd and Thank you Andrea Brewer for the gift of this amazing buck. I think he will stay here MANY years as herdsire for CBF. I am blessed!

2011-10-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

Here it is, middle of October and our herd is at the number I need it to be

in order to afford feed for the winter. Now, we are breeding.

Seems odd to cut our herd so drastically in order to INCREASE it! LOL.

This week Chattahoochi went in with MCH Lost Valley ML Asher while

CBF CS Paint Th'Sky with Stars went in with

the very handsome Ironwoodranch A Good Intrigue*S/*B

Stars breeding will be a repeat of what produced CBF AGI Wish Upon a Star (below)

and we already have two doeling reservations for this pair. This pair will also boast 3 Superior Genetics animals in their pedigree : SG Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre*D/*M, SG Ironwoodranch SJ Pecan 2*D/2*M and

SG Esperanza MB Smarty Jones +*B/+*S

Wishes also went to visit her intended out at Nizhoni's. Nizhoni's bred Nizhoni DW Tirzah

and SG Nizhoni's Joie De Vivre *M/*D (Stars - is Joie's granddaughter)

Wishes went to visit Esperanza BF Blue Sunfire.

This is a Smarty Jones linebreeding and should be super milky!

Right now - we are retaining all that result from this breeding.

2011-10-16T05:42:00.000-07:00

Recently CBF Nigerian said goodbye to some of our animals. This year, the parting was more difficult than normal. In reflection, I think it's because as we improve as a herd, I see more value in each animal and

when I am letting go of one these days, I'm letting go of something that I see merit in, not a

"cull" animal generally. But my perspective has changed a bit. We are letting go of some really good animals who are going forth and doing things we could not do here.

Like letting SG Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre *D/*M go to Pecan Grove -

she would not have earned her Superior Genetics title here because we have not

been able to Linear Appraise.

We just sent CBF CS Hope Diamond (above)

And CBF CS Special Dark Chocolate, go to Pixie Hollow Nigerians in Florida.

At first, it was really hard - these girls were supposed to help further MY herd but the more I thought about

it, what a great way to get my name out there! What if these girls do really well for Pixie Hollow?

So, Thank you Pixie Hollow for taking my precious girls!

We also let go of Cleo this year. Another difficult one to let go. She is a FF, with a stunning body and lovely udder. She has always done well in her classes and am pretty sure she could earn her milking stars.

But a small new herd wanted a really good doe, and I have her daughter and am getting the daughter of her half sister out of the same sire next year soooooo, I reluctantly let her go.

We are down to 9 goats - 7 does and 2 bucks. I'm really looking forward to seeing what next year brings for us. We are just now starting to breed the does and we are going to do 305 milk test again next year. I'd really like to do the Linear Appraisal if we can get a stop next year as well but we'll see if the money is there to do it.

A bittersweet day for me here at CBF - saying good bye to some great girls but looking to the future and what it holds........

FALL is here, Continued

2011-09-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

Breeding season will be commencing soon

The first doe to go into the breeding pen will probably be my first doeling of the year CBF AGI Wish Upon A Star. This is the first daughter of Intrigue's born here and I am super excited to see what she will do.

The most exciting thing for me is that we are breeding her to an outside buck who I think will be a fantastic match. IF her udder is what it could be, we are looking at keeping a buck out of this match.

Nizhoni's owns this boy, Desert Nanny BF Blue Sunfire.

I have had my eye on him for about a year now and while Im not fond of his color, I am fond of the udders he's throwing and his littermate sister Desert Nanny BF Blue Sunsprite is an amazing doe.

http://desertnanny.net/desertnanny_bf_sunsprite.htm

Along with her, Tirzah has a date scheduled with our own buck MCH Lost Valley ML Asher.

Asher finished in AGS this year, classified at 87.9 Very Good and

I think will be a great match for her. She is a good solid overall doe who has earned a

grand-champion title, reserve champion, Best Udder and Classified at 90.9 Excellent.

Asher has what I think she's lacking - uphillness. She has what Asher lacks - a nice rump. I hope this combo produces corrections in those areas.

Next on the docket is Stars - my beautiful Black and White Blue eyed doe from two years ago and dam to

Wishes. Because we like the cross so much (so did several other folks) we are looking at repeating the breeding. So Stars will go to Intrigue in a few months. A doe from this cross is already reserved.

At the same time as Stars we will be breeding a new little lady to our herd.

Last Straw Chattahoochi. She is also an Intrigue daughter who is joining our herd due to her owners downsizing. She is one of the 3 daughters Intrigue had this year - the last is owned by Crazy Wisdom Dairy

http://crazywisdomdairy.com

Taking this doe allows me to see how 2 of Intrigue's daughter mature and freshen this coming year before I make the mistake of selling the best buck I've ever owned.

I am debating whether or not to throw Ammi back in with a buck at this point in time or sell her as a show goat. She has a beautiful udder, nice build but I have a hard time milking her due to small teats.....

Decisions, decisions.

I will not be breeding Lisianthus or Marina this year but holding them out until spring to kid in September.

FALL is here!

2011-09-23T06:21:00.001-07:00

Fall is finally here

and with it so much going on at the Farm. Garden is winding down summer production and with it canning and freezing. There is a distinctive smell in their air - Here in NM that's usually the smell of Green Chiles Roasting but here on the little farmette, it is the smell that distinctly says - Breeding season is here - BUCK STINK!

It's also time for the Fairs. Above is the doe we have a doeling coming out of (we hope next year as this year she kidded triplet bucks) MCH Lost Valley TB Terebithia who finished at NM State Fair and is full sister to ARMCH Lost Valley TB Obie *D/*M. Now that the Fair is over, I can think clearly and start to plan a little. WE did have an unexpected kidding this year which also made it's little mark. CBF CS SG Ammi kidded with triplets and a lot more milk. Two of the three have already left for new homes (any one need a white buck or a sweet little pet wether?) and the last one I'd like to see go soon!

Ammi will be on milk test - last night she milked 1.7#'s Not too bad!

I like what I see in this girl. Straight legs, nice topline, long, dairy, sweet disposition and a very nice udder with TINY teats (not my favorite as I prefer hand milking)

I will probably put her up for sale in the spring because I have some nice girls with bigger, easier to milk teats. But I think she'd make a great show goat for someone who doesn't like to hand milk (Machine Milking would be easier) Plus she produces nice kids.

IF you are interested - please contact me at NMgoatgal@gmail.com

The next couple of weeks will bring updated website, pics of the girls and hopefully firming up breeding plans with the thought of having some nice girls in milk for Spring show season. Also we will start showcasing some of our handmade Goat Milk Soaps.

As usual, It's time to go milk!

Farm update.

2011-07-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

It is painfully obvious that I have not updated my blog in some time.

I cannot believe all that has happened in the last few months. As you all know, all of our does Kidded in Feb - March. We were blessed with a lot of does and only two bucks. Happily both boys got to stay intact and will be herdsires at two different farms. CBF AGI Maverick got to go to Milan, NM and CBF AGI Captain America got to go to Tularosa, NM.

In April we were blessed to have Ammi and Pepper return to the herd - sadly it was because their owners' dreams of a dairy were shattered when they could not find a well on their property in Fence Lake. All of the girls that are in milk are on 305 day milk test this year and I am happy to say that it is a real possibility that most of them could earn their milk stars in at least AGS this year. I think 3 have a real possibility in ADGA. It's been a lot of work but I think the effort will pay off in the long run. When we were blessed with so many does it was really hard to decide who we'd keep and who we'd sell. Doubly hard in that there isn't one of them out there isn't worthy of staying here and carrying on the herd name HERE. But I cannot keep them all. Our decision was made a little easier in that I already have Hope and Tirzah kidded 3 does who are the same breeding as Hope - because Hope is in milk, she gets to stay. I think all 3 doelings are finally sold but I sure will miss them. One of them, Fauna, is really close by so I will still get to see her often (YEAH!) Cleo's two girls were a bit of a harder choice but ultimately we chose Marina over Mew for really no other reason but preference. Both are lovely, correct doelings but I prefer chocolate to gold and white. Marina also took Jr. Grand Champion at the Quad show at the beginning of June which really made Suzy's day since she is truly Suzy's doe.

Hope kidded a single buck kid so no choices to make there. Lastly Stars gave us 1 doe, 1 buck and since I was wanting to keep an Intrigue doeling - she's it. She also did well at the Quad - she took 1st and 2nd to Marina.

We did have one surprise this year. When we got Ammi, she left her kids, herd, home and owners all in one day, she was terribly depressed and lost a lot of weight. Because of it she also dropped milk. She started here milking 1.6# per milking and went downhill. Then, she started eating again and started to get somewhat pudgy but her milk kept dropping. I wormed, I supplemented, I milked her and added some herbs to increase her milk all to no avail. Well, about 3 weeks ago, walking behind her I thought....hmmm - she looks pregnant but NOOOOOO! I contacted the previous owners and they didn't think so either but she LOOKED pregnant. So we ultrasounded her. Oh yes, she's pregnant. I ultrasounded her and the vet said she is not less than 90 days which would mean she came to me bred and had good reason to dry herself off - it's time. He also said there were at LEAST two in there. I guess we will know for sure in about 2 months time. We really do not know her due date but at least we know the sire since the previous family only had 1 buck - Lost Valley PAR Pepe Le Pew *S. I wish Ammi had the chance of earning her stars but she will go right onto milk test with me after she kids. I think she'll have her stars by the end of her next lactation. I believe all kids will be for sale as I wasn't planning on keeping any more this year and I have (I HOPE) a doe coming in a month from Nizhoni herd.

Very excited about that kid! She is a cross between Lost Valley TB Terebithia and Lost Valley ML Rigley. That should be an incredible doeling if we get a doe out of the breeding. But tha will probably be in our next update!

Storm's Daughter's - Part 2

2011-05-08T15:50:00.001-07:00

This could be titled - "The UDDER view" haha! Anyway. In dairy goats, it kind of becomes all about the udder at a certain point....with a buck - seems to be one thing we goat folks look at. What does the buck's dam and sister's udders look like? What about his daughters. And while this is only 3 daughter's of Storm, I can honestly say - what it looks like only tells half the story - you need to have more of a hands on approach!
NONE of Storm's daughters have the same udder (at least not the way it looks. None of them even have very big udders. But I can see that they could easily have them with subsequent freshenings. One thing I can say about their udders is that each one is an improvement somewhere from their dams udders. This and the top picture are CBF CS SG Ammi. Her udder is softer than her Granddam - Willow. She has the same small teats but as far as milking her goes she is waaaay easy. Her udder is so soft. I milked her dam for a very short time - Dixie and from what I recall - it is easier than hers as well. She has good MSL and Lateral attachments - I'd love to see bigger teats and better foreudder extension.

Hope is one of my favorites. She has the good Foreudder attachement, is snuggly attached and fills out that escutcheon very well. She also has a very soft udder and wonderfully plumb teats. But they stick out to the side some. I kind of hope that when that udder fills out next year that it will push the teats down a bit.
Stars. This udder doesn't look big and for her size - it really isn't but I can tell that there is a lot of capacity there - if she had triplets or more - watch out world. There is plenty of room for expansion - her teats are nearly ideal in placement, has good foreudder extension but could use some lateral. Her escutcheon is a bit on the narrow side but most certainly she is an improvement on her dam and granddam!Like all of Storm's kids so far that I've milked it is butter soft and milk just flows out of her.
I am so excited to see what next years' kiddings with these girls are like. I think it will be even more exciting than this years for me. Not to mention I will get to see an Intrigue daughter freshen as well. It is so much fun to see what your breeding program is doing.

Storm's Daughters

2011-05-07T20:35:00.001-07:00

For two years I have been waiting for this year - I have 3 of Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm's daughters in Milk here at CBF Nigerians. I really was hoping to have this last year but it just didn't happen! I freshened Stars (out of CFB Ent's Twinkle Lil' Star 2*D)

and Hope (out of Nizhoni's DW Tirzah) and just was blessed to get CBF CS SG Ammi (Out of CBF Ent's Whistlin' Dixie) back from the Ruiz's.
Ammi is the only 2nd FReshener but one thing I am really noticing about Storm's girls is that they are consistant. They aren't huge milkers (though I don't usually expect First Fresheners to be huge milkers) but they are very level so far and have very little fluctuation in their milk amounts from day to day.
and I really like what Storm as done in other areas as well. His daughters are typically long, have level toplines,have good strong legs and feet - very straight.They are also very dairy - having good bone structure and ribbing. I am excited to see how the girls do with another freshening and some maturity but so far - I'm not at all unhappy by what I'm seeing. Even though Storm has moved on to work in someone else's herd (Nizhoni's) I am sure glad he was here for two years and that his wonderful genetics have worked so well for my herd!

Life on the mini Farm.

2011-04-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

there is never a dull moment here at CBF. It's always something - changes, chores, happenings. Yet, at the same time there is always some comfort and familiarity in the routines of the day. I am not big on winter and despite the insanity of Spring - Fall - I enjoy it. Recently I found that some lovely folks who had bought two of my does a few years back ran into a few walls on their "homestead" and sadly had to give up their goats. Since two had my herdname I brought them back - albeit somewhat temporary! CBF TD SG Pepper

is a daughter of Nizhoni's Joie De Vivre*D/*M out of Piddlin Acres KM Tapdance and CBF CS SG Ammi (means Cumin) daughter of CBF Ent's Whistlin' Dixie and Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm.
Neither girl had been milked but they were in milk, and came without babies. SOOOO, they had to endure a crash course in becoming milkers! While neither girl has just completely embraced the whole milker thing wholeheartedly - they are actually doing pretty good at it. Pepper is going to go to a new home in the next month and for now, Ammi is staying. Both girls are showing me that they are doing what they were bred to do - MILK. For that I'm happy. Right now we are milking 6 does. 2 are for sale/sold and eventually

We will be down to 4 milkers and a few babies (we hope!!!!) YES, for anyone wondering - we still have several wonderful babies for sale!!!!!
And because we have such an abundance of milk - we are back to making soaps, yogurt and cheese (CHEESE GLORIOUS CHEESE!!!) Something I was REALLY missing those cold winter days without a milker. For those who don't know the story, Priss, our main milker just decided to dry up one day in Oct. (all other goats already dried up) and wouldn't get pregnant so we had to wait until the Nigies freshened in Feb. It was a REALLY long wait! We are now down to Nigies only!
And if our milk abundance wasn't enough, the feathered friends have also stepped up to the plate and graced us with an abundance of eggs as well. Nothing better than farmfresh eggs! And they are beautiful to boot. We are also slowly getting our garden started and PRAYING the cold (unseasonably for NM in April) doesn't damage any fruit trees!!!! Thanks so much for visiting us for an update on our little goat/chicken/veggie farm.

Come back again soon - there's always something going on here!

CBF Nigerians welcomes new herdsire!

2011-03-24T12:00:00.001-07:00

About 2 years ago - when NM hosted the AGS Nationals I was offered a doe Lost Valley TR Esther pregnant to MCH Lost Valley Malachi. As much as I wanted that doe, we were in the middle of Alyssa's treatment for cancer.I just did not feel like it was a prudent time to be buying a new goat. Later, I found out that Hippity Hooves bought Esther (YEAH!!!!!) who kidded in August with twins: Asher and Naomi. They offered Asher to me as buck kid but then changed their mind which was fine.
Well, circumstances have a way of changing and Asher came available recently and while I wasn't looking for a new buck - the situation and time was right! Asher is now ours. WE really appreciate the Allens/Hippity Hooves giving us another chance to own this gorgeous buck. He brings together some of our Favorite Lost Valley lines (Zinfandel, Kingwood and Malachi) as well as one of my all time favorites: Twin Creeks BH Baywatch ++*S!

I am really looking forward to seeing what this boy can bring to the table for our herd.

Last Kids of 2011 - Cleo/Ten Zen

2011-03-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

This is Cleo just prior to kidding. Cleo was bred to Rosasharn's USH Ten Zen from Crazy Wisdom Dairy. She showed signs (or so we thought) on Friday of kidding but then abruptly changed her mind and we saw nothing until Monday. On Monday late afternoon she began contracting again and 6pm she had her first and judging by the size of that kid - I was sure she was done. Well, we quickly figured out that indeed she was not as she literally popped out a tiny doeling nearly half the size of the first born.
Right now, this is CBF TZ Itty Bitty Mew as her little Maaa sounds more like a mew! She is so tiny and cute but a little feisty thing!!!! I think it was good that momma waited as I think Mew needed a few extra days growth before she was born.
Here is first born, Dark Chocolate and white, CBF TZ Marina. One of these girls will be retained and the other one sold. We are also considering selling Cleo. Not because we don't like her, we do but we just want to make room to keep some more does with our herdname and right now I have 3 doelings owed to me......YIKES. I wish I did not have to make these choices but living on half an acre dictates that we keep our numbers small but we will not make a decision on this for a few more weeks.

2011 Spring Kidding for CBF is done!

2011-03-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

Well, this last month has been a whirlwind for us. We've had one kidding a week and obviously I am behind. On March 11, 2011 Nizhoni's DW Tirzah and Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm welcomed triplet does into the world. They are all 3 beautiful and very different. These 3 are full sisters to CBF CS Hope Diamond. This is 3rd born CBF CS "Toffee" A very flashy chocolate broken buckskin doe. She is the longest/tallest of the bunch and the most outgoing but by far the least friendly. WE are working hard to help her to realize we aren't here to thwart her fun filled days!!!!
Next up is the first born CBF CS "Special Dark". A very dark chocolate Chamoisee. YES, she looks black. She is not. She is wonderful all around and probably has the greatest width of the 3 girls. I really like her build and she reminds me a lot of why I kep t her sister, Hope. IF I was to keep one, this is the one.

But, alas, I have Hope and I am not going to hang on to Special Dark - no matter how tempting it is.
Last of all, but certainly not least is middle born and beautiful little CBF CS "Karmel Kandy" She was small at birth and was really hard to tell how lovely this doe really is but she's grown and matured a lot in two weeks showing me what a nicely built little doe she is. She is a light chocolate buckskin with blue eyes and a great personality. She has taken to the bottle very well and is very independent! All 3 girls are available to go to new homes upon weaning or as bottle babies. We are asking $325 each. Tirzah is milking between 1.6 and 1.8#s once a day and is on official 305 day test. She will be shown at Spring Fling, Quad and July show in hopes that she will follow in her dam's hoofsteps (MCH/CH Esperanza SJ Patience) We believe she can do it and earn her star this year. Buyers can name the girls, their names are temporary but of course if you want to keep their names we are fine with this. I will raise the price on these girls if their dam does well unless someone gets a deposit in before this happens! Tirzah already took Reserve SR. Grand as a FF last year.

Shaved Udder Pictures for Carol

2011-03-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

Here is Stars with her backend, legs and udder all shaved for showing in 2 weeks and for milking without getting loads of hair in the milk. YUCK!
Here is what she looks like from the side. You can see the udder much better without all that hair in the way. Less chance of nasty things falling in your milk.

CBF CS Hope Diamond X Ironwoodranch A Good Intrigue

2011-03-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last night at about 6:30pm Hope kidded with a singe HUGE blue eyed Flashy buckskin buckling. I was really hoping if she had a single it was a doeling but alas, NO. He's a handsome little guy and I hope he will make someone a nice wether pet.
I was NOT thinking of doing it but now that she's kidded a single buckling - Im thinking we may breed her back when we breed back Stars in April for fall kids.

This boy is extremely well built and lovely so she will be re-bred to Intrigue. I may pull this guy and bottle feed him to make sure that Hope's udder stays even. I hate to do it but I'd rather do it than have her udder uneven. Will be watching her the next day or so to see if he nurses both sides or not.

Chickens

2011-03-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know this blog is for my goats but really, I have to give some light to the other productive animal here at CBF Nigerians. Chickens. While they don't produce precious bouncy baby goats, an abundance of milk that can be made into: ice cream, soap, cheese, yogurt etc. they still are a part of the productive team here on the mini farm. When we moved into our first house, the ex-owners left us two gifts, their beautiful Black lab (who they told us they were leaving for us) and 2 chickens which they did NOT tell us about. Now, being that I was a Country girl wannabe raised in the city I had NO previous experience. I still giggle about my first experience of discovering our two Older than the hills but still laying occassionally Barred Rocks. I heard strange noises and called hubby about the noises. He told me to investigate. I did and found these two girls wandering the property. OKAY - I had no idea what to do with them but quickly found out and we fed them and found little treasures in the hut built around the well pump - EGGS! A neighbor told us that the chickens had been there for a loooong time and were quite old. Well, I didn't care and we quickly added to the flock - Araucanas, Wyandotts, Hamburgs, and Buff Orpingtons. Just before moving here we lost our whole flock save 2 to dogs who dug into the pen off the ditch. I just didn't have the heart to replace them - yet. But about 4 years ago I got the itch to raise farm fresh chickens and eggs again and the new flock was born. We've added different breeds and are trying to raise an egg/meat flock now. NOT all of them are but still we've had fun trying out different girls.

This morning I found a great article and this weekend I was informed that Albuquerque NM is the Urban Chicken capitol of the US. Apparently raising chickens in Albuquerque is BIG!!! There have even been articles written in the local paper. Personally I'd like to see Albuquerque step up to the plate and allow urban goat keeping too (Nigerians are NO BIGGER than an Australian Shepherd and are usually less noisy!) 2 does per family could keep a family in milk, meat and dairy products and really be an asset especially for folks with food allergies! Since us goat breeders cannot sell the milk to these folks, it would be great for them to have them!

Nothing more fun than having your morning coffee complete with fresh goat milk creamer while watching the bouncing babies play!

But I digress, back to chickens! Anyway, I found this great article this morning thanks to a fellow facebooker who posted it and I think it is awesome!!! Whether you are an urban chicken farmer or farm that raises chickens for eggs and meat or just someone THINKING about it. Here it is:

http://blog.mcmurrayhatchery.com/2011/02/22/7-reasons-to-raise-chickens/

So get out there, build a coop and enjoy your chickens and your farm fresh eggs!

Starting tomorrow I am going to try to post about some of the different breeds we raise and why, complete with pictures. Wanna learn more about chickens? Stay tuned! OH, that is if we don't get pre-empted by the birth of bouncy goat babies that are due - TODAY!!!!!

2011 Kids are Here!

2011-02-21T06:53:00.000-08:00

CBF CS Paint Th'Sky With Stars kidded around 6 am on sunday February 20th 2011 with Beautiful buck/doe twins out of Ironwoodranch A Good Intrigue *S/*B

They are both very nice looking kids (yes, I am biased!) with what appears to be good conformation and dairy character. I was debating whether or not to keep a doeling from this kidding until I saw her and the answer is YES! I have to keep one of Intrigue's kids this year and I think this little darlin' is it.
Brother, The one in back with the big white splash is a buckskin blue eyes and lots of white is very nice. I cannot wait to see what Stars' udder/attachments and his conformation are like to be able to decide if this boy might be buck quality or not.
Doeling, whose name is CBF AGI Wish Upon A Star is a tiny little chocolate buckskin with white splashes on both sides mixed with spots.
Both kids remind me a lot of what Stars' sire Piddlin' Acres H Calm the Storm throws but they have their sire's head, and outstandingly sweet personalities and we hope much more!!!! Only time will tell. This is a great start to our kidding season here at CBF. We are looking forward to 3 more sets of kids in the next month so check back often.

We will also post updated pics of the kids as they grow and mature as well as dam's udders and updates regarding their milk tests as we will be starting our testing for 305 in ADGA/AGS next month. The First show of the year is March 26th and we will be showing: CBF CS Paint Th'Sky With Stars, CBF CS Hope Diamond, Nizhoni's DW Tirzah and Hippity Hooves GD Lucky Stars. Tirzah will be Classified by Tim Flickinger at the show as well as she is the only doe who qualifies for the classification. We will be trying to get shaved pics of all the does and their full udder shots at this show as well.

IF you would like to talk to us regarding one of our breedings, please feel free to contact me at NMgoatgal@gmail.com

READY for kids!

2011-02-18T09:56:00.000-08:00

The last of the shots, wormer and hoof trims have been given. It's hard to believe that in about 1 Month we will have 4 sets of kids on the ground and be done with spring kidding season. Udders are starting to form and you can tell some of the girls are getting really uncomfortable (Tirzah - who is HUGE - I'm thinking triplets).
Most of them are spending a lot of time laying around, panting and

being a bit cranky at each other but I guess that is to be expected. Monday is our first due date so I'm sure we will have baby announcements SOON!

2 Weeks and counting!

2011-02-09T07:44:00.001-08:00

we are approximately 2 weeks away from the first babies of the year. Never before in my life have I been this excited about our babies. It's funny, I am always excited about our babies but it seems that these little ones really are special to me for MANY reasons. About 5 years ago, after doing a ton of research and knowing what bloodlines I wanted I bought Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre *M/*D. as a 2 month old kid. Joie really is our foundation doe.

I like her so much, I ended up with her 1/2 sister a few years back - Nizhoni's DW Tirzah who will be 3 this coming year. Joie had a rough birth her second year - 1 doe/2 bucks and the doe came breech - all I could see was a tail and butt! I pulled her and fell in love. That was CBF Ent's Twinkle Lil' Star - I kept the only two girls I got that year - Twinkle and her 1/2 sister Dixie. The following year my daughter was newly diagnosed with cancer and I was faced with some rough decisions. I knew I could not milk that many girls so I parted with Twinkle and Dixie even though I did not want to and kept one of TWinkle's twin does: CBF CS Paint Th'Sky with Stars. After we sold her, Twinkle went on to earn her milking star in AGS. Twinkle also milked over 18 months as a First Freshener. Last year, Stars did not end up getting bred and it has been a rough process. NOW she is finally bred, and with our newest buck's First kids of the year.
Ironwoodranch A Good Intrigue *S/*B came to us last year after a LOT more research and searching for just the buck! WE had settled on another pair from Texas but through some very disappointing circumstances (for the breeder and for me) that fell through. But we found Intrigue. Intrigue's dam Pecan is probably Ironwood's best all around doe. She does well in the showring, milks well and has scored well in her Linear Appraisals. As a result of the Ironwood ranch's hard work, Pecan was honored with the Superior Genetics title along with her herdmate Minnie. this is the first group of Nigerians to have earned the title through ADGA. We got Intrigue last year and I am sure glad I did - Pecan's kids this year have been sold since before she got bred. I would have had no chance!!!! I have high hopes for Intrigue and Stars' kids and for Intrigue and STars. WE are looking to earn milking stars though 305 day testing (hoping that Stars will be our first 3*D in AGS) I would really like a doe kid to continue the line. But if she doesn't have one for me we will re-breed her to Intrigue again.

I am also very excited to see Stars' udder as she is the first of my Storm kids to freshen here at CBF. Hope is the 2nd. Other of his kids have freshened, just not here for me. Sooooo, these kids kind of are our 3rd generation of homebred kids who can carry on the torch for CBF Nigerians.

It has been a long hard road for us over the past few years but God has blessed us abundantly through the trials as well.

Update on CBFNigerians

2011-01-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

There has been a flurry of activity here at CBF Nigerians lately. We are about 1 month away from kidding. Tomorrow is the 21st - officially 1 month until CBF CS Paint Th'Sky With Stars is due to kid. We drew blood from the 4 pregnant does on Monday and got it sent to WADDL for our annual CAEs. I also got most of the hooves trimmed, worming done and began giving the pregnant does (Stars) their shots. I cleaned pens and braved the stink and got Intrigue's worming/hoof trims done. He's such a great boy, I got him all set up and hubby took an updated picture of him. He stands sooooo nicely. I hate showing bucks but if I have the money, I may have to go ahead and show him in March. It's hard to tell through all that hair, but he sure is maturing nicely. I believe Stars is to have his first set of kids - there is another doe who got bred around the same time so it's hard to tell who will go first (Halona, the other doe, resides at Last Straw Nigerians in Belen). This time of year is so exciting as a lot of folks have begun their kidding already and it makes me a bit impatient for our little ones to come. Also, after getting the news about Pecan being one of the first group of Nigerians to earn the Superior Genetics title in ADGA, I am really excited to see what this boy can do in our herd.

Last snow of 2010.

2011-01-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

WE got snow. The poor little goaties did not like it at all but the rest of us enjoyed the 2 hours snow until it melted. Which was quick! My kids (2 legged) are all bummed because it didn't snow more and they didn't get enough, nor did it stick around long enough for them to even play in it.
But,Im so glad we had a bit of snow before we said goodbye to 2010!
Happy New Year from the gang at CBF Nigerians!

More Great News regarding our buck.

2010-12-20T07:41:00.001-08:00

Our little buck Ironwoodranch A Good Intrigue *S/*B 's dam Ironwoodranch SJ Pecan 2*D/2*M made it to ADGA's Superior Genetics list for 2010. Exciting because this is the first year Nigerians are included in the SG program and she earned it through her herd participating in the 305 day milk testing program as well as Linear Appraisal program.

She is one leg away from being a permanent champion also so her SG status can be upgraded once she earns that leg.
WE sure are happy with our stinky little guy! he's bred several of our does and several outside does now for spring 2010 babies. WE really are looking forward to seeing what his kids do this coming year and the years to follow. Thank you so much Ironwood Ranch for our Intrigue. He is a little treasure for us and will be happy to use him for the years to come!

There is also a possibility that a new buck will join our herd this year. His Granddam is Pecan's herdmate Minnie who also made it to the SG list. I won't say much more until this new little guy comes to join our herd as he isn't even born yet. Minnie is also tied with one other doe for the highest milk quantity on a one day test at 7.0#s. NOT that I want that much milk but the genetics are there to sustain a good milking herd of Nigerians.

I think we have a lot to look forward to in 2011 and beyond thanks to the addition of some excellent animals joining our little herd. Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! See you and your herd in 2011. PS - we are currently updating our website now. Check soon for breeding page updates as well as the arrival of new kids starting in Feb 2011.

More Farm photos

2010-12-13T15:36:00.001-08:00

Here is little Lucky, the smallest member of the herd. Hippity Hooves GD Lucky Star is the daughter of beautiful little Lost Valley PG Bebe (a double Kingwood bred doe and daughter of ARMCH Lost Valley KW Bridges Burn. ) and Rosasharn's HB Gideon *S/*B . She is possibly the sweetest little doe I own. I love her calm personality.
This is lovely Cleo - half sister to Lucky out of Gideon and Nizhoni's BB Lila Fay. Lila was a mega milker but didn't particularly care for being handled or milked. WE do hope that Cleo is not following her momma - she doesn't appear to yet! She is also very calm and laid back and lets us handle her very easily. I cannot wait to milk her. She is bred to Dragonfly USH Ten Zen (Rosasharn's Ushikai and Twin Creeks BW Pacifica). We hope that Zen will be a good balanced linebreeding for our little Cleo.
Cleo and Hope playing . I love watching the girls play and have fun together. When I'm out there they usually just sit in my lap but today they did go off and play some. It will be fun to see a whole new generation of kids playing out there this spring......in the meantime I will treasure days like today where I can go out and spend some time giving scratches and enjoying the beautiful day!

Farm Photos.

2010-12-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

It is an incredibly beautiful day here in NM. As much as we need the precipitation right now I am grateful for the balmy 60* weather. I had a chance to just go sit with the girls and give everyone some love. Well, except poor Intrigue here who is a tad stinky and peed on. But hey, he's doing his job as a buck so I'm not complaining too much. I cannot get over how much this boy has grown. Right now two of my does and 3 outside does are due by him from Feb - May.

Here is my beautiful little Hope - she is bred to handsome Intrigue for March babies - March 1st-ish. She is out of Nizhoni's DW Tirzah and Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm.
Here is momma doe Tirzah just hanging out. I love this beautiful doe, right now she is probably my top doe. Her daughter looks just like her only a bit darker chocolate chamoisee. I can't wait to see the mother daughter udders here. Tirzah is due about 10 days after her daughter and Tirzah is re-bred to Storm. So anyone wanting a Tirzah baby can get a preview of what to expect!

I can't believe it's November!

2010-11-19T06:21:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-06T11:40:00.001-07:00

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

2010-11-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-06T06:51:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-11-06T06:19:00.000-07:00

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........

Been too Long!

2010-10-04T21:00:00.001-07:00

I realized just recently it's been waaaay too long since I post last. I guess I've been busier than I've ever wanted to be. A good busy but still busy. So I guess I'll just hit some highlights of what's been going on here. First of all - harvesting. Yep - harvesting and canning and cooking all the yummy foods from the garden has been a priority. Still not done but winding down - finally! We have harvested and canned or frozen: pesto, chile, jalapenos, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, peaches, etc. Secondly I've been critter sitting almost nonstop for about 4 or so weeks. I enjoy it but it does take it's toll and I'm tired - really tired.

I have a break for a few weeks now which is good.
We also had a bout of soremouth. NOT a fun thing to go through, especially the pen cleaning and care of the "sick" animals. Thankfully this was an extremely mild case, we are done and still in the process of cleaning pens (burning and bleaching and resanding the floors of the stalls) between rains. Hard to burn things that need burning when they are soaking wet! See the picture above - that was the morning after a 2 1/4 inch rainfall in one evening. In NM that is 40% of our annual rainfall - in one night. I had a bunch of NOT happy goats. I wasn't exactly excited either having to wade thru muck and mud to feed.

Now that we are done with that, we have turned our attention to breeding or at least attempting to breed. I like my babies in feb/march so we are now in full swing.

Assuming all is going according to plan (does it EVER???)

we have Stars bred to Intrigue and hopefully due Feb 21st, Hope bred to Intrigue and due March 1st, Next to go is Tirzah who is going back to Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm for babies due around March 6 - 8th and lastly will be Cleo who is going to visit Dragonfly USH Ten Zen for babies on or about the 20th of March. She will be it until fall. We would like to show in March and then again for the Quad show in June. We are also planning on going on the 305 day testing as long as the folks who agreed to get certified do. Looking forward to some great Nigie milking next year.

I know that's not all that's been going on but it's late, I'm tired and have my usual early morning schedule. Will also post an update on Alyssa soon as I know some of you who follow are probably wondering how things are going with her as well.

Camino Allegre DD Brisa

2010-06-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here is our newest addition - Camino Allegre DD Brisa. Her sire is CBF TD DareDevil. I reluctantly sold him last year but now am glad I did! Camino Allegre showed him at Quad and he won Reserve Grand Champion. He is a one year old and is out of

Nizhoni's Joie De Vivre *S/*D and Piddlin Acres KR Tapdance (TX Twin Creek's KM King's Ransom and MCH Piddlin Acres SC Bobby Sox *D)
Brisa's Dam is a doe we owned for a short while (my son's show goat) but sold to Camino Allegre when my son decided he wasn't going to show. Her name is GreysNGoat's Zelda. Zelda is now owned by The Feathered Goat Farm in Sabinal NM. She is milking about 22 oz once a day. Her kid's will all be weaned next week sometime. she had triplets. One doe is being retained by TFG and the buck kid is available for sale!

The best news EVER!

2010-06-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

Today, after 2 months of driving back and forth to ABQ, we finally got results from all the tests.

Alyssa has had CT Scan, Bone Density, Echo Cardio, Pulmonary Function, and Labs. ALL ARE CLEAN and yes, Dr. Winter said we could wait for 6 more months before we have to go in for another CT. THAT is the best news EVER!!!!

He said she looks good and he was so glad to see her having a great time at camp two weeks ago. He said it is nice to see these kids being kids instead of green, barfing and feeling ick after a few doses of their toxic cocktail to kill the cancer. He also said he isn't going to make her do CTs once a year because he's not a huge fan of the major doses of radiation they have to undergo so after one more year of Clean Scans he's going to have her only do yearly XRays as they deliver a much lower dose of radiation than the CTs.

We must have the worlds GREATEST Dr.!!!!

YES, tears are flowing - major tears of joy!!!!

WHAT A DAY!

2010-06-05T18:24:00.001-07:00

Today was one of those days you are glad it's over but it was full, in a good way. I found out today that CBF Ent's Twinkle Lil' Star (here is her Jr. doe picture) is officially a 2*D with AGS. Twinkle is CBF's 2nd doe to earn her milking star thru AGS.
Today was the first day of the SWDGA Quad show. Our CBF TD Daredevil won a Reserve Grand Champion today. He is the brother of CBF TD Kokoro Kiseki. The beautiful doe I posted recently. He is also the sire of Camino Allegre DD Brisa.

And we came home today from a rather full day to a little gift. Thank you Coral for dropping this drop dead GORGEOUS doeling for us. I'm a little sad because she's a single. I was hoping for twins so I could keep one but if I want to feed the herd this winter I'll have to sell her. I'm so bummed. This is the last doe kid out of Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm. She definitely looks like a Storm kid (bears a strong resemblence to Dixie's doe Hershey and CBF CS Chocolate Truffle from last year. ) Coral has a gorgeous udder with LOVELy attachment front and back. Really haven't been able to check side yet but I'll get that later. I also got my precious daughter back from camp today. That was icing on the cake for sure. AAAAH, this is one of those days you sit back and go "it's all good, Thank you LORD!"

Exciting News from Arizona

2010-05-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

First of all I need to thank Ironwood Ranch for sending me these pics. They have been fantastic not only in letting us have our little buck Irondwoodranch A Good Intrigue*S/*B. but have kept us informed about all sorts of happenings that relate to our herd. This is the gorgeous dam to Intrigue (or 'Trigue as he's known around these parts). Pecan now has two legs toward her MCH and has pretty much been commended for her LOVELY udder by every judge she's been show under this year. She was #4 in the nation in AGS for milk production, butterfat and overall on 305 day test.
The Lovely Pecan's udder (rear view)
Also, earlier this year I sold one of my favorite does - CBF TD Kokoro Kiseki to Pecan Grove in AZ. I sold her thinking I could breed my Tirzah to Koko's dad this year but it wasn't until after I sold her that I found out Tapdance had passed away. SAD day for me.

Especially after seeing this FF udder of Koko's. An improvement over mom's udder whose udder isn't horrible so I'm pleased. She kidded two bucks out of Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm this year.
But I think she sure matured out as a very very nice doe. NOT disappointed by her at all.
This is Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre *D/*M. Joie was 2nd in the Memorial day show behind Agape Oaks Fire Hazard*D/2*M AR, also owned by Pecan Grove who would have been nearly impossible to beat. Hazard also tied the record in AGS for 1 day test Milk Production at 7.0#s.

Thanks again Ironwood Ranch for keeping me up to date on all the happenings in AZ and sharing these great photos!

Introducing Camino Allegre DD Brisa

2010-05-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

I traded Feathered Goat Farm a buck for a doe of choice. I was going to wait until next year but then, this little doe was born. AAAAH, it was love at first site.

MY plan this year was to breed my lovely Tirzah to Piddlin Acres KR Tapdance but he passed away this last winter. I was heartbroken as I had sold all the offspring of his I had thinking I'd get more. I did sell Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre *D/*M's 2009 buck kid to Camino Allegra to use on all their does. They in turn decided to get out of Nigies for the most part and concentrate on Nubians and Boers so they sold 4 pregnant does to Feathered Goat Farm. LUCKY ME!!! This doe is out of CBF TD Daredevil and Grey's N Goats Zelda. Brisa looks a lot like her lovely Auntie Kokoro Kiseki who now resides in Arizona at Pecan Grove Ranch. I will be doing a post about my beautiful Koko later but had to share our newest addition - she's only 2 weeks old now. Her littermate sister is already sold but her brother is still available if anyone is interested.

Shaved some goats just to see!

2010-05-29T18:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a shaved picture of little Hope. Wow. What a lovely doe under all that lovely soft hair. BUT what really surprised me was her color. She looked like a regular Chamoisee under all that but now she looks ALMOST like a carbon copy of her dam.

and Granddam. She also sort of cooperated with the picture session which is nice since the last time I tried to set her up she just turned into jelly and flopped onto the ground. Maybe she realized we weren't actually trying to kill her. Also - it's apparent she eats well. NO, I don't think that was ALL body capacity - she's just a piggy!
I think we need to learn to use the zoom on the camara a bit but here's a nice butt shot of Tirzah - er ah - ESCUTCHEON. Any way - she's not full but still she's so pretty all shaved up.
That's my pretty girl. I sure do adore her. She has been a real blessing to my herd and I'm enjoying milking her and having her daughter around.

Flowing with Milk AND HONEY

2010-05-29T05:24:00.001-07:00

So yesterday I was planning a day in Albuquerque and woke up to a sick child. Bummer - so we have to stay home. I did my usual things, and later in the afternoon Hubby calls and says to me

So, what would you say to getting a beehive tonight. I have been dreaming of a beehive for YEARS! As a matter of fact before all the does began kidding - I recall saying to hubby - if we have another good doe year I'm going to buy a beehive set up. ( UNfortunately, it has NOT been a good doe year - byebye Hive) So of course I said A HIVE? When, Where, HOW?
One of the student who works for Hubby, his parents are beekeepers and avid gardeners said they wound up with too many hives and bees. So After Hubby and student were talking about gardening, goats, etc., talked to his parents and they offered us a hive and the bees they ordered but because they had eaten all the honey in their shipping container had to be released last night.
Soooo, Hubby's student employee and his dad (very sweet folks by the way) came down, set up the hive, talked to us about how to keep the hive. WE loaded them up with soap, homegrown apple chips, goat cheese and homegrown lettuce plus some herbs
And NOW we have a real beehive with bees in our garden - a DREAM come true at last. Isn't that so cool?
Here's Hubby with his thrown together bee suit (that's a lingerie bag on his head - INGENIOUS!!!!! LOL!) He said he's heading to Hay's Honey Farm today to see if we can get some used equipment - smoker, bee helmet and gloves. Otherwise - guess what hubby is getting for father's day?

OH, we can't harvest for a year but that's okay - we will spend a lot of time dreaming about all the fun things we can make out of the wax and honey (soap, candles, ornaments, use it in other products........)

Daredevil, Stars and other musings from the Hobby Farm

2010-05-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

So over the last few weeks I've been trying to decide if my Stars was pregnant. The consensus is, that she is not - she's due June 22 and there is NO UDDER.

I wanted to go take her back to Jazzy Blues but my time right now is pretty limited. Then, I started getting pictures of the udders of Joie's 2009 set of babies. And the kids from Joie's buck kid CBF TD Daredevil) from last year - out of Tapdance who is now passed on.
My desire was to breed Tirzah to Tapdance this year but after finding out he had passed away......and after seeing Daredevil's kids.......and after discovering that Stars wasn't bred.....I took Stars to visit Daredevil. So NOW I hope I will be seeing some Stars/Daredevil kids in October.

This is a close linebreeding on Joie who was my Supermilker so I am really looking forward to these kids. A little side note here: Stars' dam, Twinkle Lil' Star has now been in milk over 400 days.....she was just bred so we will look forward to seeing her second freshening shortly before

Stars kids if she gets bred soon.

2010-05-16T16:32:00.000-07:00

What do you do with a Fridge full of goat milk? Make CHEESE (and soap, and yogurt, and, drink it!) so I wanted pizza and we made mozarella and someone asked me to post directions with pics! Here it is!
Take 1/4 C. Cool water and add 1 1/4tsp citric acid (Hoeggers goat supply and some health food stores carry it) and add it to a large stainless steel pot. Add 1 gallon of fresh goat milk to the pot and bring to 88 deg. F. Remove from heat and add 1/4 C of Cool Water with 1/4 tsp rennet (again hoegger's or a cheese supply company will carry this) Stir in well. Let sit for 15 min. Cut the curd and then let sit for 10 more minutes. Immerse in a HOT bath for 35 minutes.
Drain the curds in cheese cloth for about 15 minutes to let all the whey drain off.
Heat in Microwave for 50 seconds and use a spoon to begin stretching the cheese. after about 8 minutes, reheat for 25 seconds and continue stretching until you can handle the cheese with your hands and stretch more!
We use our mozarella for many different things - crackers with cheese and salami, pasta salads and PIZZA of course!!!! Nothing better than fresh, homemade mozarella.

Back in Business!

2010-05-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

Our milk supply was quite small and most of my soaps have sold but we are back in business. Miss Priss is milking 1/2gallon plus once a day and Tirzah is milking about 3/4 quart 2X a day so I'm making soap and cheese. Here is my first batch of soap out of the molds.
This one is Gluten/Wheat/Corn Free Lavender with a slight purple tint from Mica.
My kitchen smells so good!
I also just made a batch of Cucumber (this one is not gluten/wheat/corn free.) The soap will be ready for sale in about 4 weeks. IF you would like some - get your orders in now! The gluten/wheat/corn free soaps don't last. Neither does the cucumber scent for that matter.
G/W/C Free soaps are $6.00 a bar and the Regular bars are $5.00 a bar. They are over 4 oz each. Some smaller bars are available. Next batch is G/W/C Free Lavender Peppermint.

Perfect Mozarella and Tirzah.

2010-05-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

My beautiful Tirzah has been in milk now for a little over 2 months. She has dropped some from the last time I weighed her milk but that was my fault. I separated her son from her because he's a bit of a randy little fellow and was irritating the girls in the pen with them so i began bottle feeding him. But Hope was really only nursing off of one side while the other side was dropping. When I noticed the drop finally I separated Hope off as well and began milking 2X a day. I am slowly bringing Tirzah back up but I did weigh her milk yesterday and the amounts aren't as horrible as I expected. Yesterday she did 1.3 and 1.4 lbs of milk in her am and pm milkings. NOW, to put all that milk to use.......

I stayed up WAAAAAY too late but for good reason.

I made PERFECT Mozarella cheese. Oh my what a rush! I really do enjoy making cheese.

I want to learn to make lots of different kinds of cheese but so far I can only boast 3 - Chevre, Mozarella and Ricotta. I've made Feta twice and it only turned out good ONCE! Lame. It's funny what little things get you excited.

We are 3 weeks away from our next kidding - Coral. Keeping fingers and toes crossed for twin doelings. Still am unsure if Stars is Pregnant or not - she sure doesn't look it but I never saw her come back into heat. I am thinking about sending her blood in (with Corals) for CAE, CL and pregnancy testing. (I'll skip the preg test on Coral though, she is very obviously pregnant!)

If she's not - she's got a hot date with the new buck.....

SWNDGC Milk Test in Edgewood.

2010-05-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

May 7, 8th of 2010 I was honored to perform my first milk test ever as a certified milk tester through Langston DHI. Wow was that every fun. We tested 17 does.

What a way to start my "career" LOL!

Several herds were there being tested, and several more folks showed up to lend a hand and help. We had a potluck Friday night and Dan made his awesome breakfast burritos Saturday morning (Thanks Dan!) and it was hosted by Prairie Wood Ranch in Edgewood. Some of the does were really good - and some required a lot of "wrangling" to get them milked. But all in all I do think we will have a few stars out of this group! Will post when I get official results for everyone!
YES, it really did take 3 folks to get this doe milked. She sure is a pretty doe though. She just earned a leg toward her permanent Ch. at the last show.

I hope PrairieWood keeps her in milk for the June show so she can maybe finish.

May 7, 2010

2010-05-09T06:26:00.000-07:00

Today as I headed out to the canyon to perform my first milk test (as an official tester) I stopped by the Dennison's place who bought two of our does last year and bred one (CBF Ent's Whistling Dixie) to our Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm. I got to see Chocolate Truffle (see here) pregnant with my hopefully future doe out of MCH Lost Valley ML Nekoda *S).
And two of the cutest babies. Wow did Storm and Dixie do good. This is Karmel. a Lovely little blue eyed chocolate buckskin.
and Hershey and lovely dark Chocolate Chamoisee doe with white belt. Oh my goodness are they both lovely does! Congrats Dennison's we'll be waiting on pins to hear about your next two kiddings (Prairie Wood Memo *D/*M X Rosasharn's HB Gideon *S/*B - yes ! buck kids from this breeding will have their *'s inherited!) and CBF CS Chocolate Truffle X MCH Lost Valley ML Nekoda *S/*B. It looks like you are off to a great start on your little herd of Nigies!

Alyssa Update.

2010-05-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was another very interesting Hospital day for us.

Our first appt was at 8 am (that's what time I usually milk goats - hah!)

to get her IV in and her labs drawn. While we were there they informed us that our insurance wasn't going to cover our CT scans. OH! Great! Sooooooo we went anyway and at the last minute were informed that no indeed - we'd have to wait until June for them to cover the CT scans.

So we had 3 hours before our next appt - which was at 1pm for a DEXA (bone density) scan.

Alyssa got a new bathing suit for Camp Enchantment (Camp for Kids with Cancer) which she goes to at the end of the month. We also have more tests on May 20th which include the ECHO and Pulmonary Functions tests. Then we should be meeting with Dr. Winter for our next move (game plan?) Oh, and this month is CLIFF's Amusement Park. The kids are sooooo looking forward to this one.....I guess you could consider it a perk to having a kid who had cancer (thanks but I'd skip Cliff's and Cancer if I could!) if there is such a thing. HOPEFULLY I will remember to get pics this year but I'm not counting on it. I am the milk tester for SWNDGC One Day Milk Test and will be driving back and forth to the canyon on top of going to Cliff's , I am not counting on having my brain fully functional.....But it will be a fun FULL weekend!

TinFays Cleopatra Home At Last!

2010-05-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

Cleo finally got to come home. She's weaned and is here making friend's with her new buddy Hope! It has been really hard to wait for her to be weaned and come home but here she is!
No updated photo shoot would be complete without our mandatory butt shot - I mean Escutcheon shot!
Look at that long strait back and neck! She looks like a little deer wandering around the goat pen. And wow is she uphill like her beautiful sire Gideon. LOVELY angularity and the dairy character is all there.
Cleopatra is a wonderful collection of some wonderful Bloodlines that all sort of fall into my herd very nicely and she brings in some much desired bloodlines that I have admired for a long time now! She has the Peaceful Voyage and Baywatch from her Dam's side along with some of my favorite Twin Creek's and Piddlin Acres animals which is already in my herd through Storm, Joie and Tirzah. And she brings in the Rosasharn's bloodlines through her Sire - Rosasharn's HB Gideon *S *B. There are lots of milking stars, *Sire's and Dam's and around 10 ARMCH's. Including Rosasharn's TL Arwen, Tiger L, Elfin, Buckwheat Honey, and Eclipse and Goodwood WaterLilly, Kauri Tree and Tom Thumb.

CBF CS Hope Diamond

2010-05-02T20:58:00.001-07:00

This is my little beauty! Well, actually she belongs to my daughter and I. I like this little doe more and more every day and she is really beginning to tame down. Tonight she would not let me get pictures as she decided she wanted me to pet her instead.

IF I had to choose which does to keep and I could only keep one - She'd be it. But, alas, I don't have to choose!
With her dam, Nizhoni's DW Tirzah. It will be cool next year when they both freshen and I can get side by side udder pics of these two!
There is the princess. I am beginning to think this doe isn't black and brown but brown with chocolate brown points. I think I'll know when I shave her but unfortunately it looks like we are having another bout with winter weather (despite it being MAY 1). I won't be shaving her yet.

CBF Ent's Whistlin' Dixie kidded

2010-04-17T19:33:00.001-07:00

Got a call from the Dennison Family at about 7:10 pm - Dixie kidded with
twin does! They are sired by Piddlin Acres H Calm The Storm.
One twin was chocolate with white and the other was a buckskin with blue eyes and a white topknot. Congrats Dennison's on a terrific start of your kidding season
and way to go Dixie & Storm. that brings his doe/buck count to 4/3. I know of only a few more does due to him in the next few months and then a bunch in fall for his new owner - Nizhoni's Nigierian Goats.

Now we are waiting anxiously to hear news from Fence Lake - The Ruiz family is expecting
babies out of CBF CS Ammi and CBF TD Pepper in the very near future. These are sired by Lost Valley JL Pepe Le Pew! As well as their other 4 does from Prairie Wood Ranch.

TinFays1 Cleopatra

2010-04-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Here is our pretty new doe kid - she's still with her mom at my friend's house but I finally got over there for pics. She's such a pretty little doe but these pictures just aren't good. This is Cleo with her sister Neffi (Nefertiti)
Here is her from the back
And a little better view. She is incredibly long and dairy - really a beauty! I can't wait to bring her home but not until she's weaned.
About 1 more month and she can come home. She took a 2nd and 4th in her first show in March
in a fairly large class (around 8 - 10 does).

Darkwind Goats BlueDenimCoral

2010-04-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

This doe was a bit of a sleeper in my herd. I wasn't really fond of her at first.
I thought she was short bodied and funny looking. As she matures, I'm not so sure she's an ugly goat anymore. I think she's got a LOT of dairy character. and her body capacity is pretty nice for such a petit doe. She has a lovely long neck and is very angular. She is due in a little over a month (June 5th).
See the tiny little udder forming (you can click on the pic for a larger view) and she's looking like she has halfway decend attachment - I am hoping she will throw some girls for me.

MILK!

2010-04-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

It appears that little miss Tirzah is finally coming to terms with being a milk goat. I had to take Carbonado off of her and move him to the buck pen with Intrigue because the two boys were harassing all the girls mercilessly (BUCKS -OYE!!!!). I am bottle feeding Carbonado part time and leaving Hope with mom. This is the amount of milk I got this morning!

Yep folks, that is darn close to a quart and the baby was only off of her for 10 hours. I am pretty pleased with this girl - I cannot wait to milk test her in July but am seriously wishing I'd gone ahead and signed up for 305 day testing (I did not for 2 reasons - my milk tester forgot to re-certify and I thought it was going to be too stressful to milk test when most everyone I was freshening was a FF !) Lessons learned - I will not make that same mistake again next year!

CBF CS Luffy (or whatever his new owner names him)

2010-04-11T17:35:00.001-07:00

Here is the new kid on the block. Last night at about 9:15 Skye had a single buck kid. Darn if he isn't one of the cutest little buck kids but alas - he will be a wether.

I really like his coloring and pattern a lot! He is a stout little fellow - very well formed overall but a tad short bodied. He looks like he's a buckskin with white overlay. /Welcome to the farm Luffy!

I think we are going to have more babies!

2010-04-10T17:41:00.001-07:00

After watching Skye for nearly a week now -(maybe she is....maybe she isn't.......maybe she is........) I think we are going to have babies this evening. She has uddered up and her tailhead is mush.
Yeah, she filled up her escutcheon pretty well didn't she. And I did see some mucus on her vulva and she's panting pretty hard, picked at her food a bit tonight.

YIPPEE - more babies!

These are the twins from last weekend - Two boys from miss Priss the Oberhasli and her Beau the Kinder goat - Ray. Their names are Teriyaki and Ramen. I think we are going to be back in the milk this coming weekend! YEAH! I will be making tons of soap and yogurt and cheese and! I love SPRING!

CBF CS Hope Diamond

2010-03-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

Here is little princess Hope. Check out that topline and angularity!

She is just beautiful. And wild as a March hare. I tried to set her up to get pictures and she's just drop to the ground. I've decided to put the babies slowly onto a bottle (not going smoothly). Her and her brother just run and play all day long. Although i wish they were friendlier I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoy the two of them running around my backyard playing. It will be a pity when they have to get seperated. Poor little Hope will miss her brother when he has to go in the buck pen. I do hope we have another baby girl here soon she can play with as Skye is due this coming week as is Miss Priss.

Tirzah's babies at 1 month old.

2010-03-29T09:02:00.001-07:00

CBF CS Carbonado at one month old. As we were out taking pictures of the goats yesterday I came to the stark realization that Carbonado a)isn't black and b) is a real pill. He did not want to cooperate at all during out picture taking session and since we were out in the sun I got a real good look at this boy. He's about as dark chocolate brown as you can get. A dark dark chocolate brown Chamoisee is what I was looking at. I am sooooo amazed and blown away. I REALLY want to keep this boy but not sure WHO I'd breed him too and I normally don't keep FF's buck kids intact so I'm going against what I believe is a good idea if I do. Since he's chocolate brown not black the situation I had for him did not pan out and I am now in a pickle. Because I thought I had a situation for him, I already registered him as buck!

ACK.

FInally pictures of Tirzah's Udder

2010-03-29T08:57:00.001-07:00

I finally got pictures of Tirzah's udder at 11 hours full. I am super excited about this doe's FF udder. I cannot even believe how lovely and well attached this udder is. I am sooooo glad I am keeping her daughter for this year and am considering keeping her son intact (thought not really sure who I would breed him to yet) LOL!

Show Wins

2010-03-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here are our two newest Reserve Champions: Nizhoni's DW Tirzah who took Reserve Champion to NOW MCH/GCH Prairie Wood Tiara Star under judge Anna Thompson Hajdik. Tiara is a 3rd Freshener and a LOVELY doe to place behind. Tirzah is a First Freshening 1 1/2 year old so we see good things yet to come with this doe. She was dairy shaved for the show so these pics still aren't as good as they could be
But you can see what a lovely doe she is. She has tons of body capacity. Also her udder is empty right now so I'll have to get a full udder shot tomorrow morning before milking also.
And our other reserve Champion Junior doe is CBF CS Paint th'Sky With Stars. She took this honor under Judge Scott Horner of TX. He said he really liked her LONG body and she just had the most dairy character in the class with her thin dairy skin and flat bone. OH YEAH! She is Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre *S/*B 's granddaughter. Of any doe in my herd she has the most of MY breeding in her. Her dam JUST missed earning her *'s as a FF doe and Twinkle has been in milk for over a year now. She is with some wonderful folks, the Ohlers. I cannot wait to see what she does for the Ohlers herd this year. WE are just happy we got to keep this lovely doe kid out of her before we sold her last summer

The other two goats who were shown yesterday were Ironwoodranch A Good Intrigue *S/*B our buck who took 1st/2nd and our newest doeling TinFays1 Cleopatra who took 2nd and 4th.

They are both very young and we weren't expecting BIG wins on them but we are happy with how they did and got some great comments on both of them.

Coming Soon!

2010-03-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I had NO intention of buying another doe but sometimes, something comes your way you just can't pass up.....could you pass this up?

Dam is out of MCH Steele Ballew's Blue Bayou who is the Sire of 2008 ANDDA All American Grand Champion Lost Valley BB Lilo 3*M/3*D, Maternal Grandsire of 2009 AGS National Champion Sr. Doe ARMCH/GCH Hill Country KW Bridges Burn 2*D/1*M. Sire to Steel Ballew Lantanna *D and 3X Best Udder.

Oh wait - It gets better!

Sire, Rosasharn' HB Gideon *B/*S is out of Rosasharn TF Honey Bear *B/*S and ARMCH/GCH Rosasharn TL Arwen 8*D/2*M VEEE 90. And I could go on and on about these two but what you see speaks for itself.......

And I'm no fan of Gold Goats but in this case - well, I'm making an exception!

IF my goal here at CBF is to breed and raise milking goats who can show.....sometimes we have to jump at a chance when it presents itself! Oh, I forgot - I'm not going to tell you anymore but may give a few more "clues" before I unveil our newest doeling!

She's BACK!

2010-03-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

CBF Diamond in the Skye came home. Skye was Joie's first kid. She singled that year after being bred to PrairieWood Dreamweaver. Skye was a farm favorite and I never wanted to sell her. She is, in particular, my 6 year old's favorite. But Skye was born with a little teat defect and I made a mountain out of a molehill. I was going to butcher her but a dear friend said she was willing to take a gamble on her since she loved Dreamer's kids a lot (she'd had 2 already and was buying another one - she later wound up with Dreamer, when he became available. I let her have Skye and Skye has been in Southern Colorado as the spoiled PET of my friends. Well, after about a year in their herd, they decided to "just see" what would happen if they bred Skye
She had two of the nicest kids my friend has ever had. My friend kept the buck kid intact and the doe is one of her favorite does of all times. These two kids were born to a buck, Diamond, who is out of MCH Steele Ballew's Blue Bayou (to see some of his kids check out Lost Valley's website). Unfortunately my friend lent Diamond to another friend that year to breed some mini Nubians and he was lost to a Mountain Lion. Well, My friend has a terrible disease that is slowly taking away her ability to go out and be with her animals and she is beginning to disperse her herd. She asked if she could give SkyeSkye back to Suzy. I said yes, after seeing her two kids, I am SURE my vet's first opinion is correct - the teat defect is a fluke, not a genetic thing. These two kids of Skye's are gorgeous with perfect teats. I know all the goats in Skye's pedigree well and none of them have it either. So, we are welcoming back CBF Diamond in the Skye pregnant with kids from PrairieWood Darkwind Onyx. Onyx is a Racketeer (see Prairiewood's website) X MK Timnah son. Dreamweaver is the son of PrairieWood Calico and MCH PrairieWood Pinnacle Blues. (again, See Prairie wood's website). Because Skye is out of who she is out of we should be looking at some super milky genetics here and it is a pleasure to see what Joie's most mature daughter can do on the milking stand. While this little teat thing will keep her out of the winner's spot in the ring, it will not keep her from starring on the milk stand. She also is a very sweet natured doe. We will not be keeping her kids this year and she is due sometime in April IF anyone is interested in a kid from this breeding please let us know - they will not be priced at $300 but probably closer to $200 or so. If a buck is born he will be wethered and I would give the wether to whomever bought a doe if one is born.

My Review of 8 lbs Food Grade Sodium Hydroxide Lye Micro Beads - 4 x 2lb Bottles

2010-03-12T17:59:00.001-08:00

Originally submitted at Essential Depot

Sodium hydroxide / caustic soda pels / micro beads / lye food grade 8 lbs (4 x 2lb Bottles)

Excellent Service and Product.

By NM Goat Gal from New Mexico on 3/12/2010

Pros: Good Value, Easy To Use

Best Uses: Weekly Use

Describe Yourself: Budget Buyer

My Beauty Routine Takes: 10 Minutes

We make our own Goat Milk soap and were thrilled with Essential Depot's excellent product and customer service. We received the product in 3 days. Their product pricing and customer service sure beat out the local place we were buying Sodium Hydroxide and that is RARE! Thank you Essential Depot!

(legalese)

Ironwoodranch A Good Intrigue S/B

2010-03-12T08:21:00.001-08:00

One of the problems with buying a buck kid who is incredibly friendly (he was the farm favorite and everyone handled him a lot at Ironwood Ranch) is they are extremely hard to get good pictures of! Intrigue would much rather sit in my lap than

let me take a good picture of him.
So here are a few not so good pictures of him but at least you get an idea of what this beautiful boy looks like! OF course he'll pose a little for some bottle milk! Here you can see a bit of his angularity (yeah, it's not easy snapping a picture and holding the bottle at the same time but it got him to stand a little and not jump in my lap)
He found an empty bottle in the barn (must have fallen out of my pocket while I was feeding) and was trying desperately to get something out of it.

But it did give me a chance to snap a few pics of him unposed. He's got a lot of body capacity at 2 months old (He'll be 2 mo old on Monday).

As you can see (he was very busy eating) he has very straight legs. And I've watched him walk away a few times and he tracks real straight as well. We are very please with Intrigue. I am looking forward to showing him at the March Spring Fling Double show at the end of the month.

Update on Kids and Tirzah!

2010-03-11T18:15:00.000-08:00

Yep - another butt shot of a goat. I am super excited about the attachment on this doe - this is Nizhoni's DW Tirzah, who is about 1 1/2 years old and a FF. This udder is NOT full at all. She has had babies on her all day long and it still looks nice - small but nice!
And the front attachment is very smooth - the "bump" you are seeing is actuallya crummy shaving job on my part! I hope to get that udder shaved better and a picture of it FULL when I milk her. We did attempt to do a little milking training today with her and suffice it to say it was a rodeo - OY First Fresheners! But her udder is nice and soft and easy to milk! WHEN SHE IS JUMPING ALL OVER THE PLACE!
Here is her doeling, CBF CS Hope Diamond, at almost 3 weeks of age - I thought this doe was bit short bodies when she was born - I take that back. I think she was small and bunched up and now that she is growing she is longer than I thought she was. MUCH longer!
And big brother here is mugging for the camera - HE's so cute and also very nice looking - sure wish I could justify keeping this little man in my herd. I'm trying to work out something with a friend where she can lease him for a year or two and then I'll bring him home and use him in a few! I don't normally even think of keeping a buckling intact from a FF but Tirzah is meeting/exceeding what I was looking for.
And this is the new Herdsire who wasn't cooperating for pictures AT ALL He would not pull his head out of the feed bucket for pics. He's actually WAY more handsome than this picture shows but anyway...more pics of the little guy next time (plus I have some fun news regarding some of his relatives to share then )!

I'm in LOVE!

2010-03-02T07:41:00.001-08:00

I am just LOVING these babies and Tirzah is such a good mommie!
The width and strait legs in these kids is stunning!
and I tell you this doeling is one of the prettiest we've EVER bred.
And little buck love isn't half bad either - my hubby keeps telling me NOT to castrate him but he doesn't understand. I would love to keep him a buck - I just don't keep bucks out of FF does (no matter how pretty her udder is - and boy is it pretty! AS is her dam's udder ) But I don't exactly have folks lined up to buy bucks (does yes, bucks no - and the doe I have is sold and this little girl is a KEEPER!)I am just praying we fine good pet homes for these 3 precious wethers! And that my hubby would understand how we do business around here! NO bucks this year.

Tirzah Kidded!

2010-02-28T14:58:00.001-08:00

Tirzah decided she wanted to kid with a full audience so in the middle of Dear Hubbies Birthday party - Tirzah had twins. We got one doe and one buck.

They are BOTH blue eyed and absolutely beautiful!
The black one is the boy and the Chamoisee is the doe. YIPPEE!!!!

Ironwoodranch A Good Intrigue S/B

2010-02-25T16:05:00.000-08:00

Just received two new pics of our new herdsire - He just looks better and better to me! We will be heading to Tucson next Sat to pick up the little guy and to drop off some goats that are heading that direction.
I really can't wait to get the little man home. And am even more excited about using him in the fall! I know this means some changes in the herd. Ones that make me very sad yet very happy at the same time. The next time you see pics of Intrique will be when we

get him home.

Thank you Ironwood and Pecan Grove for helping me to make this happen.

Joie and Storm's babies are two weeks old

2010-02-17T08:54:00.000-08:00

well, the babies are now two weeks old. Growing fast and won't stay still so getting good pics is nearly impossible. This group of babies are the sweetest babies I've ever had. I really am enjoying spending time with them. OF course, that friendliness also has it's drawbacks - hard to get pics when they are snuggling in your lap - AH the bliss!!!!
the only shot of Tinkerbelle since she spend nearly the whole photo shoot in my lap. She loves to be scratched and her shoulders. She stands real still and in show stance with her eyes closed. I need to bring an assistant to get the pics while I'm scratching!
Magellen is probably the least friendly but still, he will take a break from playing to get some lovin'. Actually he's friendly enough, just BUSY!!! He's definitely living up to his name - he is the explorer of the crew - always busy poking his nose somewhere!!! Funny, when he was born I didn't think much of him but he's turning into quite the good looking little guy. He's got great body capacity and seems to have the nicesest chest. He even looks to have good length though his brother still has him beat there!
None of these pics really captures how good looking Columbus is. He's really got a long body, nice width between the hocks. Good dairy character and angularity.

A tad narrower than his brother but still not bad and a nice long neck and legs. All the babies have nice strait backs and from what I can see so far good feet and legs.
As I was sitting out in the pen playing with the babies I noticed that with two weeks until kidding Auntie Tirzah has a nice start to her FF udder.

I think this will be a lovely udder but darn, I have to wait about 2 more weeks to see it.

Susanna and I want to keep a doe kid from Tirzah and Storm so we are hoping she gives us

CBF CS Evangeline(Suzy's name for this doe kid)

Finally a Picture of CBF CS Tinker Belle

2010-02-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

This little miss is so hard to get a picture of because she never stops moving!!!! FINALLY I got one. It's a MIRACLE!!!!

She's a pretty little thing and soooo sweet.

Introducing....Our new Herdsire!

2010-02-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

We have made a decision on our new buck. His name is Ironwoodranch A Good Intrigue *S/*B. Out of Ironwoodranch SJ Pecan 2*M/2*D and Ironwoodranch SJ Snickerdoodle *S/*B. He is linebred on the Smarty Jones lines.

I Chose Ironwood Ranch after another buck I really was hoping for didn't happen. Ironwood Ranch has done a phenomenal job with their herd; They Linear appraised and Pecan appraised at 92. Pecan also just finished her 305 day testing through ADGA and AGS and milked around 1334#'s with 6.1% butterfat. She is a beautiful doe who just

has what I would like to breed into my herd. Pecan kidded with two bucks to choose from and this little guy just stood out for me. So - HERE HE IS!!! We should be going to AZ to pick him up in about 5 weeks. I cannot wait!

DA Boys!

2010-02-04T06:47:00.000-08:00

Here are pics of the Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre*M/*D and Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm babies. This is the only picture of the girl in the last batch of pics that is EVEN halfway decent - she's the dark buckskin standing next to momma. The little guy there is the Chocolate and White buck kid who is temorarily named Magellen. He's a hoot - he's the most playful, independent little guy.
Here is Magellan (front) and Columbus (back)
And a great topview of Columbus. Columbus is looking to be a very nice buck kid - he's LOOOOONG and extremely angular. Legs for days. He also has a nice wide rump and nice topline. IF someone wanted a nice buck kid out of a great milker - he'd be the one I'd choose, unfortunately for Magellan - he is destined for wether-hood! But He will make a great pet for someone I'm sure. I hope I can get some good pics of Tinker Belle this am. Tinker is the name the folks who are buying her want to name her so Tinker Belle it is!

CBFNigerians presents the first babies of 2010

2010-02-01T14:25:00.001-08:00

Kidding season 2010 started today - 8 days early with triplets from Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre *D/*M and Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm. This one is a Black and White blue eyed buck kid who is very nicely built - One of the nicest I've seen so far. We are calling him Columbus until her finds his new home.
This is a chocolate and white brown eyed buck kid who will be wethered. He is just not as nice as his brother or sister - smaller, shorter bodied but CUTE CUTE CUTE. Alyssa named him Magellan
And here is the doeling - She was very obviously the first born and is a beautiful dark buckskin with blue eyes and a darling white topnot! Congrats Tracy on your new doeling!!!!

INTRODUCING....our new Gluten Free Soaps.

2010-02-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

Due to my husband's severe gluten/wheat and corn allergy we decided to reformulate our soaps. We are introducing a line of soaps that should not cause allergies for those folks with skin sensitivities and allergies. WHY gluten/wheat and corn free? Well, your skin is your largest organ - it absorbs that which is put on it. Therefor, for those with allergies and sensitivities they are absorbing through their skin those elements that are in the soap/lotion etc.

These soaps are formulated with food grade palm oil, coconut oil, olive oil, grapeseed oil. and canola oil and of course our homegrown saponified goat's milk. They are very hard soaps and should last a long time in the shower if they don't sit in water. I will only use essential oils in these soaps or no scent at all and NO colorants although most of the colorants I use are all natural - mica powders/cocoa/fruit fiber etc.

We are happy to help out those who have allergies and sensitivities by reformulating our soaps. IF you would like to purchase our Gluten/wheat/corn/colorant free and/or scentless soaps - please email us at NMgoatgal@gmail.com Special orders take up to 4-5 weeks. The first batch of soaps are Peppermint/Lavender using to best quality Essential oils - 4 bars are available now at $6.00/bar + Shipping ($5.00 for 4 bars of soap)Each bar is between 3.5 and 6 ozs.

Winter at CBF

2010-01-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Occasionally, we are treated to the rare delight of SNOW here in the desert. This year we were all hoping for the proverbial White Christmas. It snowed before Christmas but was gone by Christmas. Yesterday, we actually saw white.
It was a pretty wet snow so we saw more puddles than the white stuff on the ground but we were willing to take what we could get! At one point the ground really was white. *you can barely see the white on the trampoline*
And yes, even a little white on the ground. Of course the goats think the evil white stuff would melt them! Other news of the day - Stars came home - we think bred to MCH Flying Goat Jazzy Blues *S/*B. I used to own this little guy and have come to kick myself a few times for passing him on due to his rather obnoxious habit of singing to the girls ALL NIGHT LONG (which is really obnoxious when you only have a 1/2 acre) But i have to give a GREAT BIG HUGE THANK YOU to Prairie Wood Ranch & Lora Kniffin for graciously giving me a free breeding for passing on this phenomenal buck to them! Jazzy Paternal Grand Dam is the awesome PrairieWood Player *D/*M who was Number one doe about two years ago on the Top 10 list for One Day milk tests. Jazzy and Stars share a Grand Sire: MCH Lost Valley Orion*B/*S so we are looking forward to some excellent milk/show babies sporting the beautiful black and white coat and blue eyes of their parents. Also: MORE new news regarding the new buck from Arizona - Ironwood Ranch said that it is highly probably that Ironwood SJ Pecan would be in the Top 10 for Milkers on 305 day test for 2009. KUDOS to Ironwood and Pecan for their achievements . I"m HONORED to be getting my new herdsire Ironwoodranch A Good Intrigue *S/*B from you all! Thank you!

*upcoming events to look forward to - Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre *M/*D is due to kid in about 2 weeks.

Surgery is scheduled

2010-01-22T15:07:00.000-08:00

It appears that we are scheduled for 9:20 am on Monday morning. That means I have to get a move on Monday morning EEK! Well, all of us really. Mornings around here are chaos since no but yours truly is much of a morning person. Should be fun.

GREAT News!

2010-01-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

Today was the Pre Op appt for Alyssa's port removal. Of everything we've gone thru this year this is one of the most looked forward to events. This means the Oncologist feels comfortable that we will not be doing any more treatments! Alyssa has been in remission for over 6 months now and we hope we are done forever with Chemo and Radiation! The port makes it easier for the Dr.s to access her often and not have to stick her in the arm constantly! Her port removal is scheduled for Monday January 25th, 2010. We aren't even 1 year out from her diagnosis and here we are! God is GOOD!

Choices Choices!

2010-01-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

They are Finally here - the long awaited birth of the new buck from Ironwood Ranch. Ironwoodranch SJ Pecan *M/*D (AR) and Ironwoodranch SJ Snickerdoodle *B/*S gave me two choices of bucks. They were born about 1 week ago.
This little guy is Buck #1 and is Chocolate and White. the little guy above is Buck #2 and is colored like his momma Chocolate buckskin with random white. Although - I'm not looking at color! I am asking for as many opinions of the two as I can get - soooo here goes - please feel free to comment on the boys and tell me who you'd choose and why?

BTW - for anyone who wants MORE information - here is a link to momma's page

http://ironwoodranch.weebly.com/pecanspage.html

This doe is phenomenal and is related thru her dam to my Nizhoni's DW Tirzah.

Goat Milk Soaps.

2009-12-17T14:09:00.000-08:00

One of the things we do around here to make some extra hay money for the goats is to make and sell Goat Milk Soaps. This is a batch of curing Cucumber Soaps. We do several scents here at CBF. Thanks to our girls who work extra hard to provide
fresh creamy milk for our table and our soaps we are able to make soaps nearly year round.
Typically we sell out during christmas season though I am making batches continually so will have soaps shortly again. Our scents include: Lavender, Lavender Oatmeal, Lavender Eucalyptus, Spice (Cinnamon/Clove/Nutmeg), Cucumber, Jasmine Green Tea, Clary Sage Flax, Tea Tree Oil, Pure and Basic (no scent/no colorant), Strawberries N Creme. We are planning on coming out with some new soaps in 2010. One thing we will be doing is a Gluten free/Corn Free soap. A person request from Dear Hubby who is gluten intolerant and has a corn allergy. Did you know that your skin absorbs what you put on it? So folks with sensitivities can have reactions to the things they put on their skin!!!! YUCK! We also use all natural ingredients in our most all of our soaps including Mica for colorants and mostly essential oils. WE do use a few "scent" oils in our soaps so if you choose one of those scents - they aren't all natural! Please bear with us as we transition to even better ingredients. Because we care about what YOU put on your skin!!!!

Update on new buck!

2009-12-14T06:59:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, we have a new buck on order from Ironwood Ranch.
He is due in Jan (out of Pecan and Snickerdoodle) or Feb (out of Minnie and Jed)
We have been getting updates periodically from the Carpenters about the goings on there
and I get more and more excited by what I'm hearing. First, All of their does have earned their AR through I believe both ADGA and AGS. Minnie and Pecan both milked over 1300#'s of milk on the 305 day test this year.
Minnie and Pecan are both 1/2 sisters to Tirzah's Dam MCH Esperanza SJ Patience.
I also found out that Smarty Jones - Patience dam just became + *B thru ADGA and earned his AR herdsire designation as well which will make my buck's sire a *B/*S, and because Pecan has her * - my little buck will also have his * designation as well. Also, IF Jed's dam, Ice Sculpture, gets tested and earns her star (which the Carpenter's are sure she will) then Minnie and Jed's buck kids will also receive their * designation . No matter which way you cut it, this is great news for CBFNigerians. Oh, our 3rd choice doe is due this week. I highly doubt we will get one out of Gingersnap BUT it will give us a good preview of what we may get this year.
Congrats to the Carpenter's and the Ironwood Ranch goats who have worked hard this year!

Alyssa Update/Hana Update

2009-12-14T06:44:00.000-08:00

Well, we've been getting some good news on the medical side of life. Alyssa just completed her 3rd set of "CLEAN" scans and is officially at 6 month in remission. They will be scheduling her port removal soon and then we have another set of scans in March. Dr. Winter is very happy with her progress and so are we! PRAISE GOD!

For those of you who have been praying for Hana Allen, she is home finally after 2 months in Cincinatti OH. Unfortunately it does look like she may have to go back for more surgery but we are praying hard her bladder recovers and doesn't need the augmentation afterall (for more reasons than one ;0) ! As of right now she has had some post surgery deterioration and her Dr. is thinking more surgery is needed but they will have some testing done locally to determine where her bladder is at then go from there - in the meantime, Hana is home with her family and getting some recovery time with her loving family and in her familiar surroundings.

Another update on a few of our organizations of the week - Children's Cancer Fund of NM recieved a $200 donation from Bosque Farms 4H club - Thank you ALL for your generosity!!!!
The money will be used to buy toys for their toy box at the hospital. This box provides new toys to be giving to kids when they go to clinic for treatments and appts. They also give toys to siblings. It really makes getting those treatments a little easier!

Light the Night/Lymphoma & Leukemia Society - We did the walk this past fall and through all of our generous family and friends raised nearly $1800.00 I know that LLS does research on new medicines that have helped the survival rate for blood cancers go way up (Hodgkin's Lymphoma has a survival rate of 98% right now!) and they also provide stipends for families of cancer patients battling blood cancers to help defray the costs of medical treatments etc. YOU all deserve a big pat on the back and we can't thank you enough for your generosity!

Bittersweet year for CBF Nigerians Ahead

2009-12-08T14:50:00.001-08:00

As an animal owner there is nothing more pressing than finding good homes for those you can't or don't keep. After a lot of thought and sleepless nights I have decided to sell both Joie and Kokoro. It wasn't a decision I came upon lightly and really did not want to make but I really feel, with the crossroads I'm at in the herd and in my life I did finally decide to sell both girls. I did not think it would happen quickly at all but it happened much faster than I thought. Thankfully, both girls are going to what sounds like and incredible home in March. As much as I adore Koko, her pretty markings, her beautiful face....

It is Joie that I will miss the most. Joie has been and really is a very special doe for us. She has provided us with a lot of learning, wonderful babies, A TON of milk and she just is my Joie. But alas, I am going in a little bit different direction than I originally thought. Yes, we are still going to be concentrating on milk of course !!!! But when I began shopping for a new buck in spring we thought we were going one direction - a direction where Joie would have stayed here, but because that buck fell through and another buck is in the making (literally - he is due either the beginning of Jan or Feb) I felt the better choice was Joie's half sister Tirzah. I would like to keep a lot of babies this year with our herd name as well and in order to do so, minimizing my stress levels and given our very limited amount of space I needed to cut my numbers somewhere. I only kept Kokoro because I thought my older daughter was getting back into showing and now she's not wanting to show so Koko was an obvious choice.

I know there will be a lot of tears this spring as Joie moves on to help a new herd get underway and I will miss lovely little Koko running around the goat pen. I do thank the folks who are buying Koko and Joie for giving them a wonderful loving home to go to. I hope Joie will be a joy to you as she is to me and I hope Koko fits into your herd and provides you with lots of ribbons, and milk for your herd. On a more positive note - we sold Joie's first daughter to a friend in Colorado - this doe was a favorite of my daughter Suzy - and due to health issues they are havng to cut down on numbers therefor Skye will come back to join us here at CBF. I don't know if this is wise but Skye has always been Suzy's doe even after we sold her so I know that maybe this doe is meant to be back in Suzy's hands so Suzy can start her own herd of Nigies. Our Colorado friends are keeping Skye's doe kid and buckling from this year so I guess that's the way the ball rolls.....Welcome back Skye.

Dixie Came Back for a Visit!

2009-11-19T16:36:00.000-08:00

If you have visited our website recently - you may have seen the cutest goat EVER as our Home page Mascot! I sold little Miss Dixie to the sweetest family and they brought Dixie over to visit our local StudMuffin (Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm). She is hoping for a repeat of this year: 2 does and a buck (who is now a wether and lives with the same family) Or....even better....3 doelings?

I still think she is CUTE!!!

Look at that beautiful mug. She isn't quite in heat but is due in the next few days and she's NOT happy being in with the buck - well, maybe she isn't happy being away from her little herd (She IS the queen you know!) We are happy to have Dixie back even for a short visit - can't wait to see what she produces for the D Family

Hana Allen

2009-11-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

We have been getting regular updates from Heather on her daughter Hana. It appears that things are going much better and Hana is doing very well. They were released from the Ronald McDonald House after they performed a surgery to remove Hana's ureter catheters which apparently were causing both the leak and the bladder spasms. It wasn't a scheduled thing but a frustrated mom who is concerned about her child's pain and discomfort moved mountains.
Thankfully the Dr.'s listened to her and they got this child in a place where she isn't miserable.
The next surgery is scheduled for Dec.1, 2009 and at this time will remove the rest of the tubes from Hana, do a minor fix up job on something and then HOPEFULLY after healing up Hana can go home. The Allen's have met a lot of really wonderful folks at RMH and the hospital and thankfully family members have been able to go to Ohio to help Heather out. Her hubby was there for the first couple of weeks, then Heather's sister came for several weeks and now their eldest son is there helping out. Hana is in much better spirits now that she isn't being plagued by those aweful spasms. Because of the Allen's, my next Organization of the week will be Ronald McDonald House (after I do some research!) even though we didn't use them it is apparent that they are a blessing to families who are dealing with very ill children and bring relief to their families in the form of a safe and often less expensive place to stay with a much nicer atmosphere than a hospital.

More Breeding News.

2009-11-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

Dreams coming true! I had Tirzah in with Storm for 5 weeks in April/May and then again for a week recently and miss Tirzah wasn't cooperating AT ALL.

Finally, after a friend brought her doe over to breed to Storm, Tirzah decided he might be a stud muffin after all let him breed her. WE have had a sonogram confirming she is pregnant (about 40 days) now. This has to be one of my most waited for freshenings. We owned Tirzah's mom for about a year and she did not like us. We traded her (MCH Esperanza SJ Patience - she should be in the archives from 2 years ago) for 2 doelings and Tirzah was one of them. I had to wait a while for her but she was worth the wait!!!! I love this little doe. Her due date is Feb 27 (DH's birthday!)2010 and we are keeping a doe kid form this pair if we get one. Storm usually throws triplets and Tirzah was one of triplets so I'm hoping.....

Joie is also pregnant and looking so already - she usually throws me triplets. She is also bred to Storm so I have hopes there as well! Joie is due Feb 5th. I am looking forward to a bunch O little chocolates this year! We now have everyone we are breeding for spring kids. WE are now taking reservations on Joie's kids (we aren't planning on keeping any this year as we have several already and I want to keep some from other does this year) and I will take 1 verbal doe reservation on Tirzah in hopes that she'll throw me 2 does this year.

Joie may also be for sale when the babies are weaned. This will be a VERY hard decision for me as Joie is a foundation doe and one of my favorites but we seem to be at a crossroads in our herd. Needing to keep the herd small and wanting to keep several babies this year with our herd name on them.

Other breeding News: After a lot of thought and consideration we have decided we will no longer breed for Oberhaslis or mini Obs. We are keeping Miss Priss until she should leave us (probably not soon - she's only 5 this coming year) and breed her to a Kinder buck for meat for our family. Because Miss Priss has a few glaring conformation flaws (underbite, horribly attached udder and funky back hooves that require a lot of care) we decided it really isn't worth trying to breed her to sell quality Oberhaslis or Minis. We decided this was the best compromise for our family and for our customers. I do know where to get some decent Oberhaslis and Mini Oberhaslis so if you are interested email me - NMgoatgal (AT) gmail.com and I will gladly help you find one if that is what you want.

Last bit of News: We are buying a new buck. I had my heart set on a buck kid out of Agape Oaks Nigerians. Pam is awesome and has put together a wonderful herd of milky and show quality does and bucks. She has done an excellent job of proving her herd through 305 day testing (milk), Linear Appraisal and showing. I am super duper impressed with Pam's herd and when she bought a new buck this spring I knew I had to have one of his kids. After a lot of thought and conversations with Pam I settled on a few excellent choices but then tragedy happened. Ghiradelli died and several of the does I wanted the buck kid out of weren't settled by him. When I found out he was sick I began looking for a back up plan and found a few herds that met my requirements but still held onto hope that Mica or Catie were bred to Ghiradelli before he passed. Pam was super kind in letting me have a buck if the girls were bred despite so few being bred to him before he passed. When Pam let me know Mica and Catie were not among those bred to Ghiradelli I began talking with the other herds. I have settled on Ironwood Ranch.

I think that they have worked incredibly hard on their little herd and I'm am just as excited about working with them as I was with Pam at Agape Oaks. They have done Linear Appraisals, 305 day milk tests and do show their goats and have some nice genetics going on in their herd.

After talking at length with the Carpenters, I have settled on a buck kid out of Ironwood SJ Pecan2 *D/2*M and Ironwood SJ Snickerdoodle *S or Ironwood Ranch SJ Minnie and Jedidiah. The buck will inherit his star if he's out of Pecan and Snickerdoodle. Probably will get one eventually if he's out of Minnie and Jed. These pairs have already proven themselves and their genetics are wonderful. Like with Pam I know I am probably getting a buck with lovely conformation who is carrying some very milky genes! You can see them at http://ironwoodranch.weebly.com

Thank you Ironwood Ranch and Agape Oaks for working with me. CBF Nigerians is excited about bringing in this new boy when the time comes. Part of me wishes I could have had them both but that was not to be.

Day 4 - Six Flags! and Day 5 - back home.

2009-11-10T17:36:00.001-08:00

seeing the Joyce's was the point of our trip but of all the activities, I think Six Flags was the highlight. I hadn't been to Six Flags since I was about 11 years old - BOY has it changed. There were a few rides there from when I went as a child: Parachutes, Crazy Legs (seen here) Shock Wave and Judge Roy Scream. We did go on a few of these for Nostalgia's sake.

But really, nothing beat most of the new rides and of course, I was so busy riding rides - I didn't take pictures. Silly ME! this is the Superman (one I did not ride)
so I took pics of those riding it - Nik, Alyssa, Marissa, and Aaron. Yeah, I know you can't actually see them - but they are there in that little car!!!!

Oh, here are the parachutes. But the best ride of all (which I did NOT get a picture of - was the Batman. the Titan was pretty awesome too. I would ride them all again and then the ones I didn't get to - Tony Hawk's Big Spin, Texas Giant, Boomerang, Log ride and a few others. Darn those one hour waits - Plus, some of us wanted to ride Batman again. YEP - we closed down the park and next time (if we ever go again) we are going when it opens instead of piddling around in the morning and not making it there until almost noon!
We could have ridden at least two more rides for crying out loud!!!!!

Day 5 - this was our last day in Texas - I really wanted to go out and meet Pam Ebert of Agape Oaks where I was hoping to buy a buck from this year but alas it was not to be. The Joyce's Son, Conner, had a playoff game and we wanted to go watch. I guess ya just can't get everything in on one little trip! It was, all in all, a wonderful trip. Thank you a TRILLION to Make A Wish
for making this wish of Alyssa's come true - We were all blessed beyond measure to go spend 5 days with our dear friends and get to do some "playing" while we were there. Something we could not have done on our own. Thank you, Thank you, Thank YOU!!!!

Day 3 - Medieval Times and time with friends.

2009-11-10T17:14:00.000-08:00

Well, on day 3 we went to our friend's the Joyces' again - here is their house. They are renting and it's is a nice home in Grand Prairie. We spent most of the day hanging with the Joyce's (OH how I miss our regular days hanging with them!!!!) Then in the evening we went to the Medieval Times. NOW - silly me - I forgot my camara when we went to the Medieval times show. So of course - No pictures. But wow, the horses were so beautiful and well trained. I wanted to take the Friesian home in my suitcase but Alas, they wouldn't give him to me and really, I couldn't fit him in (over the weight limit for Southwest - SIGH!) It made me miss my horses a little bit. Well, a lot. Especially Ransom the dressage horse. Maybe someday.

Last of Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm babies for 2009

2009-10-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

Well, they are finally here - Apparently we got the due dates wrong on Greys N Goats Zelda because she kidded the same time and within the same hour as CBF Serendipidy's Laikla who both belong to Camino Allegre. I got a call today say they had 5 babies - 3 girls and 2 boys born between 11pm and 12 am. WOW!!!! Here is one of Zelda's twins (2 does and one is for sure blue eyed!!!)

Here are Laikla's triplets - 2 boys and 1 girl. The girl has blue eyes and they are all very close in Color to Grandma Willow! (Willow was our first Nigerian doe) All of them look like they are nicely built and both momma's are sharing duties - they are both feeding all 5 babies and apparently Laikla did most of the cleaning!!!! (LAZY Zelda!)

Here is the blue eyed doe kid out of Zelda. Both of Zelda's does look like spittin Images and I think they are the only ones named - Marilyn Monroe and Audry Hepburn. CUTE - Congratulations Camino Allegre on your awesome kid crop for the year!!!! And way to go Storm, Zelda and Laikla!

Las

Dallas TX Day 2 - Make A Wish

2009-10-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

Day 2 we spent the day with the Joyce family - partly at their house and partly driving around parts of Dallas unknown - we did not get lost - just missed the exit we were supposed to take. That evening the Make A Wish folks scheduled us to be at Dave and Busters which is sort of like a cross between the best Hamburger Joint you've ever been to and a Pool Hall AND an arcade (guess what the kids liked best?)

I could be wrong but the Dance Dance Revolution was a hit despite no one was very good at it. We had no idea how bad at it we were until we saw a couple do it who were incredible. Yeah- Not this girl - I dance like I sing - VERY BADLY!!

BUT - the highlight of the evening I think was the ride in the Limo to and from Dave and Busters. OH YEAH!!!! The kids loved the ride in the Limo and some of us loved it because we did not have to drive in Dallas !

See the stretch Limo? We were going in style!!!!!! Thanks Make A Wish and to the Limo company that provided the ride! It was AWESOME! I also need to thank the manager at Dave and Busters who covered ALL the meals so all we paid for was the tip and a few of the fun cards (like credit cards so you can play the games) YOU all ROCK!!!!

Day 1 Dallas Texas - Make A Wish

2009-10-20T06:38:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday Oct 14th we got up VERY early, got breakfast and ran off to the airport to catch our 8:10 flight to Dallas TX on Southwest Airlines. We made it more than on time and had to wait at the airport for 2 hours. We arrived in Dallas Love Field around 10:30am. Picked up our rental Van and then headed for the hotel. We stayed at the Westin Galleria - here is a view from the outside - it is attached to a very large mall - the Galleria which has a skating rink on the bottom floor (big hit with the kids and YES - I forgot to get pics)

Here is a view from our hotel window - we stayed on the 15th floor and had quite the view of the city. Couldn't see much the day we got there as it was foggy and rainy. But it cleared up on Thursday!

Another view of the freeway and city as far as the eye could see - I guess I had no idea how HUGE Dallas was. It makes ABQ look TINY!

This is a picture of Downtown Dallas from the van - sorry it's a little blurry but it was the only time I could get a picture of Downtown. We didn't get near Downtown except the night we went to Medieval Times and I forgot my camara!

After we got to the hotel and got settled in (we had two attached rooms with 1 King bed and 2 Queens) It was very nice and the kids all took turns spending the night at the hotel and the Joyces' house. The Joyce's came to join us and we spent the afternoon/evening at the mall walking, talking and mostly window shopping as this mall is a bit on the swanky side for us Country folks (Stores like Saks Fifth Avenue/Norstrom's and Louis Vuitton were in this mall) We did go out to dinner at a BBQ place nearby which was nice.

For those who were wondering...

2009-10-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

For those who were wondering about Hana Allen - she's doing well. She is through surgery and is now nearly at 1 week post - op. She is managing things pretty well but there are some prayer requests from the family - 1. Hana is having bladder spasms from the surgery which are extremely painful! please pray they subside soon. 2. Please pray her recovery continues smoothly and uneventfully - they are beginning to remove her from tubes/pain meds etc and she was actually up and walking for the first time today. 3. Pray that Heather is able to manage her duties solo until her sister gets to Cincinnati on Wednesday as Heather's hubby had to return home. 4. Pray that no one else at home experiences any more issues! Two of Hana's siblings experience broken bones recently and their chores have been done by others' They are deamed healed and back to normal chores and school but really, they don't need any more issues!!!!! Yep, she's still my HERO!!!!

Organization of the Week

2009-10-19T07:23:00.001-07:00

Our organization of the week here I have been saving for some time.
It is Make A Wish. Most everyone has heard of Make A Wish. They are an organization
dedicated to granting wishes to children who have Life Threatening Diseases.
Because Cancer is life threatening, Alyssa qualified. She floated around several ideas but finally settled on going to Dallas TX to visit our best friend's the Joyce's. We are all glad that was her wish. We just spend 5 days/4 Nights in Dallas TX visiting the Joyces' and having tons of fun in and around Dallas.....For the rest of the week I will try to highlight the Dallas trip on the blog so those of you who follow Alyssa here can see how her wish went. I Thank Make A Wish for their awesome work in putting together a wonderful wish for Alyssa that blessed our whole family.
I think the Joyces' enjoyed it too! It was pretty awesome seeing a nearly nonstop smile on Alyssa's face for 5 days. I think everyone enjoyed themselves right to the last day!!!!!

Breeding Season is Here!!!! Want some Chocolate?

2009-10-05T08:19:00.001-07:00

Breeding Season has gotten off to a start here at CBFNigerians.
Storm has been ready to go since August. Seen here after getting shaved for Nationals. He's not so clean shaven and nice looking now. Storm AKA Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm (Piddlin Acres BZ Hansel X Piddlin Acres PV Tansy) is our current herdsire who gave us several beautiful does this year (see CBF CS Paint Th'Sky with Stars on our website http://www.cbfnigeriangoats.com/)

First doe in the breeding pen was Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre *D/*M(Nizhoni's PV Desert Wind X MCH TX Twin Creeks KM Fairytale Princess). Joie will be due February 5th. she typically has triplets. Storm threw a lot of triplets. I am hoping for some blue eyed chocolate triplets PREFERABLY DOES!!!!

After a rough start we were able to breed Nizhoni's DW Tirzah (Nizhoni's PV Desert Wind X MCH Esperanza SJ Patience) to Storm as well. Tirzah did not like Storm at first and would lay down if he tried anything with her but when another doe came for breeding she decided that she liked him afterall coming into a strong heat. Her due date is Feb 27 or 28th (we will be watching her for going back into heat just in case) Again, we are hoping for some Blue eyed Chocolate Colored Doe kids from this pair as well. IF you are looking for some Chocolate to add to your herd, that milks well please let us know and we will put you on our list in case we have some does to sell. I will be keeping a doe kid out of Tirzah this year if I get one but the rest may be for sale. I am not taking reservations at this time but will put names on a list for doe kids out of Tirzah or Joie and buck kids out of Joie ONLY - no other buck kids will be available this year since the rest of my does are first fresheners.

Hana, My Hero!

2009-10-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

I decided I need to honor people in my life who show me how to live with HIS strength and grace.
My Hero today is Hana. Hana is 6 and is adopted from China like my own precious daughter.
Hana came here with some very serious health issues and has undergone several surgeries for her medical condition...Hana leaves to Cincinnati on Wed for another surgery. If you met Hana, you'd never know what she has been through, what she has to endure daily to keep her from getting sick. Hana does not let her medical condition stop her from being sunshine to those around her. Her smile warms the room and she is a delight to be around (acually, her whole family : Mom, Dad and 4 brothers and sisters are a delight to be around!!!!) She doesn't complain but makes the best of it and really, so does her wonderful family. Hana doesn't let her medical condition limit or define her - she makes me realize that limitations are not obstacles!!!!Hana - WE are praying for you and for your upcoming surgery little girl - know that we look forward to when you get back from Ohio and we can see you again!!!! May God rain down His peace and grace on you and your family during this difficult time.

Light the Night Walk - BEAUTIFUL!

2009-09-27T17:42:00.001-07:00

After about 2 months of fundraising for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society we finally went on the "Light the Night" walk. Team Blue Skies met at the Gardeschwartz Jewish Community Center along with probably several hundred other participants. Donned our Tshirts, received lit balloons, listened to music, herd several speakers talk about their battles with a blood cancer, watched the students of Baila, Baila dance studio
dance and chatted!!!!

Then we walked.

This is our HONORED team member wearing her survivor shirt and trying to light her survivor balloon. I can say - I walked for her - because I'm so grateful that she is fighting and surviving this battle. She is my little hero. It brings tears to my eyes because I am a selfish person. I don't want to loose my little girl (or any of my kids for that matter) but I know that this battle is a hard one and I wanted to do a little something to make the battle a little light for other families who are facing this diagnosis with one of their loved ones.

And despite all the fun, this seemed to be the highlight of the evening - The BATMOBILE!!!! I heard a rumor that this is the REAL Batmobile. And my kids were so excited!!!!!!!

If you want to donate to the walk - there is still time. LLS is still accepting donations for Light the Night until January 31, 2010. You may visit out team website or contact me for donation information - and to all of you who donated - THANK YOU!!!! Team Blue Skies raised nearly $1500.00....YOU all are awesome and I know many families will be blessed by your generosity!

3 More of Storm's Daughters

2009-09-22T06:57:00.001-07:00

This week I was able to get pictures of 3 more of Storm's daughters as they were going to State Fair and were all clipped and show ready. These are his 3 daughters owned by Camino Allegre (two more does there are due this week!) This one is Camino Allegre Rogue - a Chocolate colored doe with white and some tan on her legs and belly. She is out of Camino Allegre Wendy

This lovely little girl is Camino Allegre Star who is one of twin does out of Camino Allegre Tinker Belle.

This isn't the best picture but this doe is by far the best out of the triplets (she looks like she could be a twin to our doe CBF CS Paint Th'Sky With Stars. They are both blue eyed black and white does. Her name is Camino Allegre Storm. Storm is a gorgeous doe with lots of capacity, dairy character and length of body. Nice strait topline and legs. Storm did a good job on his does and we are thrilled to hear that Storm took 2nd behind Hippity Hooves NK Wendy at the State Fair Youth show! All these does go back to our Willow's first daughter CBF Serendipidy's Laikla. Laikla has definitely laid the ground work for a nice herd for Camino Allegre and we are proud of her and the Sedillo family for ALL of their hard work over the past few years showing and breeding.

They are selling Tinker Belle, Wendy and one of the triplets (not sure if it is Rogue or Star) but if you are interested in a nice show doe out of good milk lines one of these does might work for you. Please contact me to put you in touch with Camino Allegre if you are interested in one of these lovely does.

Rain, Rain.....

2009-09-17T15:07:00.001-07:00

Living in NM we don't usually get a huge amount of rain every year. Going into Sept. we were still below normal for the year. So, I usually don't get real excited if the weather forcast says it's going to rain - here, that usually means we get enough to make dust stick to cars. My goats have been chanting "rain, rain go away come again - NEVER" this week as we have gotten a lot - really, we might have hit normal. Here are the babies peeking out of the hut to see if the rain has stopped.

And the adults, standing under the lean-to checking out the puddles.....which there are a lot!!!!! They do not like getting their princess hooves wet you know!

Some of the rest of us LOVE it when it rains here. If we don't get any more rain tonight or tomorrow (it is in the forcast) this will all be dry by tomorrow probably.

I see that starting Sat we should get sunshine again. I, for one, will be sad to see the rain go but I know my goaties will be so happy when it dries up.

Medical Update

2009-09-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

Today was a whirlwind trip to the hospital for a whole slew of tests. WE made it!!!!
Our first appt was in Peds Onc. for labs and port access - we were 5 min late due to weather beyond our control and that made us almost late for appt 2 - EchoCardiogram in the Children's Hospital, thankfully that test went on time and was fairly quick which made us on time for Appt 3 - Pulmonary Function Test - that was interesting and at one point the machine wouldn't work for the test, so we moved to another machine and it wouldn't work either, then they had to call someone else in to troubleshoot the machines. After about a 40 minute wait they got both machines working and were able to complete the 4th breathing test. Just in time to run downstairs for her CT scan. WE were done by 1pm. I think that was the fastest we've ever been through the hospital for all her tests. We weren't sure we'd make it home before 5 but we did! We were on the way to my Aunt's to pick up the other 2 kids and were just behind a big accident (Dodge Stratus' don't win in fights with Hummers) and got delayed. Thank you a ton Auntie J for taking care of the kiddos today!!!! Sure made it a much easier day.
We will have results of all of Alyssa's medical stuff on Sept 28th. when we meet with her Peds Onc. Dr.

Thank you!

2009-09-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

I was just left a comment by Naimhe at AllThingsGoat.com so I visited their site - TOO COOL girls!!!! I love your site and am excited that CBF Nigerians has a new friend on the internet.
Thanks!
Also wanted to do a few more Thank yous for those who donated to our LLS Fundraiser walk - WE MADE IT!!!!! Thanks to donations from G & G, Jaramillo's, Stricklands, Schwirtz', Thomsen's, and K. Partington we hit the $1000 goal we had set when we started this adventure. We are not going to turn down other donations of course so if anyone else wants to donate - LLS would love to have the donations! For those of you who hadn't followed the story, LLS was an organization that really helped us out as we worked through Alyssa's battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This Thursday she has follow up tests and then we will get results on Sept 28th.
All I can say is Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who were so generous and supportive of us as we went through Chemo and Radiation treatments, for all the prayers, donations, meals etc. I felt almost guilty asking for support on this LLS walk but reminded myself - we aren't raising funds for ourselves, we are raising funds to help the hundreds of thousands of families who will face this rather nasty diagnosis of cancer, who will weep tears of fear because a loved one is facing the fight, I don't know where we will be in this battle two weeks from now - I feel as though we are balancing on the razor's edge. Not a day goes by that I ask if we will be back in the battle or if we are one step closer to being considered survivors. No matter what - this battle would be harder to fight if it weren't for great organizations such as LLS, Children's Cancer Fund of NM, and many others who we've featured on this blog. AND all the individual friends and family members who have rallied around us to walk us through this, pray us through this and love us through this. We thank you and LLS Thanks you for all of your generous donations to this walk!!!!

Road Trip!

2009-09-09T17:18:00.000-07:00

So, when Alyssa was done with Chemo and Radiation we told he we'd go somewhere and do something so this Labor Day we decided to go to Madrid, NM. I hadn't been there in about 11 years and Alyssa likes places like that! On the way, we decided to stop at Tinker Town Museum in Cedar Crest, NM on the way. Tinker Town was definitely a hit.

This Museum is chock full of wonderful collectibles, miniatures - animated and non- animated, memoriabilia and other goodies! I don't think we saw everything there is to see but we sure had a good time. This is a tiny wishing well - the wheel does turn.

Tinker Town is owned by Carla Ward who I used to ride with at North Valley Farm back in my hunter-jumper days - seeing Carla was GREAT! Brought back a lot of memories. This Museum has also expanded a ton since I visited here last (I think Alyssa was like 2 or 3) and it was neat to see old favorites as well as a lot of new fun stuff. My favorite was the room with all the circus stuff in it!

We were all serenaded by the automated Jug Band and by Otto the one man automated band.

and you can't forget about all the walls that were created using bottles - this could seriously be designated a "green" museum!!!!!

Next time I'll put the pictures up from Madrid but not tonight! too much work to do to get ready for the Fiber show (see http://FiberPhanatic.blogspot.com for lots of Fiber goodness)

2009 CAE test results - All Negative!

2009-09-03T17:12:00.000-07:00

For the 5th year running CBFNigerians is posting that all our adult breeding stock is CAE Negative. I called WADDL today to pay for my tests and they said my results were in - we are
all negative. So Storm, Joie, Tirzah, and Miss Priss were the only goats currently over 6 months of age that got tested. I still need to test Kokoro, Stars, and Coral to make sure they are - since they are all out of CAE neg. mom's I have no doubts that they are fine. We are really starting to get excited about breeding season now. I also learned that my new digital scale for milk testing is in and calibrated and I can begin Milk Testing other herds. NOW, I need to see if I can afford to 305 day test my herd next year - I sure hope I can! It would be so exciting to be able to begin to get AR designations on my doe herd. I also am waiting on pins and needles in hopes that our hay comes in before the rain from the Hurrican off of Baja comes in.......I was hoping today but didn't get the call - I hope he calls tomorrow morning so we can get our hay done before it rains. Oh, and tomorrow is our 16th Anniversary - WOW!!!! What an incredible 16 years we've had - I won't even begin but seriously - WOW!!!!
Well, off I go to get dinner fixed.

Alyssa Update.

2009-08-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

I know we haven't had one of these in a while (and probably won't until after Sept 28th) but here is an Alyssa Medical Update: We have follow up tests which include a CT Scan, An Echo CardioGram, Labs and a Pulmonary Function test as well as a Port Flush scheduled for Sept 17th. We have the Follow up appt with Dr. Winter, her Ped. Oncologist on Sept 28th. I am asking for everyone to pray for Alyssa's tests to all come out clean. That is the only thing I REALLY want/need for my birthday so please pray the L*RD will provide! Thanks to everyone who continues to keep Miss Alyssa on their prayer list. WE still feel that our L*Rd is holding us up through all of this.
Thank you to all of the folks who have donated to the LLS Light the Night walk including S. Traeger, S & N. Hopfauf, the D. Family and more! All of you are awesome and I cannot tell you how much we appreciate your support on Alyssa's behalf.