May 7, 2010

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!

CBF Ent's Whistlin' Dixie kidded

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.

Dixie Came Back for a Visit!

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

End of an Era - Maybe?

I made the difficult decision to sell Dixie and her babies this year.

This is probably one of the hardest decisions I've ever made - next to selling Dixie's mom Willow. Willow was our first Nigerian. I loved that doe - I miss that doe - her snippy attitude, her beautiful coat, Dixie looks a lot like her except in color but she even has her attitude! I went back and forth and I finally decided this line wasn't working as well for me as the other lines I have.

I fell in love with Dixie the minute I laid eyes on her impish little face when she was born. I couldn't sell her even though I'd made up my mind to. No, I ended up keeping both my does last year when i'd intended to sell one. Dixie has her mother's lovely udder, wide body, but has more angularity and dairy quality to her than her mother. Dixie surpassed my expectations when she won Jr. Champion at 6 weeks of age over several does much older than her. So, are you asking yourself why I decided to sell my darling Dixie? This year I came to the stark realization that i cannot milk 5 does. Not with all that is going on - Alyssa's cancer, My thyroid deal. Just isn't happening. I thought, for a while that when she kidded triplets that would be the icing on the cake - I should keep Dixie or one of her doelings (trust me - it's INCREDIBLY tempting) I am trying to justify. I still think - I should keep someone. But really I cannot do it right now. I milked the girls and since I will be doing the Lion's share of the milking this year I have to let the doe go who is the hardest for me to milk. As a first freshener - Dixie's teats are too small for me. "leave one of her babies on her and keep her" you say - ummm - 2 extra mouths to feed right now with medical bills looming (as my nephew likes to say "DARK CLOUDS LOOOOOMING!!!!!" said with an ominous voice)?

"Keep one of her babies then" you say. UMMMMM - yeah, that extra money would come in real handy this year to feed the rest of the herd. I already am keeping two babies I did not plan to keep - One for Alyssa and one because I'd really like to see what my next generation is going to be like . And Frankly I'm not even conviced I'll keep her but might have to because of the bad reaction she had to hornburning. So I'm kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. Willow was our first Nigie - the gal who got this love of Nigerians started. She is always going to have a place in my heart, as will miss Dixie - But sometimes you even have to let a good one go because of circumstances beyond your control. Willow is helping a new person start their herd of Nigerians - Dixie's daddy Entei is too, and NOW I guess it's Dixie's turn to do the same thing. It looks like she's sold. I know I'll cry when they come take precious Dixie and her son away but I also know that they will be starting a new herd for someone - I can't think of a better doe to do it than miss Dixie! These folks need a loveable sweet first goat and Dixie will be just that!!!!

Sigh. Thanks for listening.

For Sale - Wether

This is Tinker Bell's Brother (Piddlin acres H Calm the Storm X CBF Ent's Whistling Dixie) who currently goes unnamed. He is adorable and pretty friendly as well. I think he'd make a nice show wether for someone. He's very angular and nicely built. I do not sell bucks out of first fresheners so he is only available as a pet wether or companion to another one of our goats.

He is a Chocolate Pinto tho it's a bit hard to tell - looks black and white in this picture.

For Sale - Doeling

This little peanut is temporarily being called Tinker Bell due to her very small size. Despite her tiny stature, she is one of the widest babies out there in the back end. I so wish I could keep them all but I have to restrain myself. My daughter Aly picked out one she loves and I have my sights set on another doe (but that is another post)

Tinker Bell is a Chocolate buckskin with only a white topknot. She is out of CBF Ent's Whistling Dixie and Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm. Strait legs, Level topline and wide escutceon area is what I'm seeing out of this little doe - She is being partially bottle fed as her mom just isn't making enough for all three babies = She's a little fiesty thing tho, when the other mom's aren't paying attention she just goes up and nurses. PLUS she's getting 4 bottles per day. I believe she will make someone a very precious doeling with her fiesty attitude and she's a snuggle bug to boot!!!!

SOLD babies

Here are photos of the two girls who are sold. This is CBF TD SG Pepper. She is out of Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre *D and Piddlin Acres KR TapDance. She was born on March 22, 2009 and is a beautiful little black doe - The only white on her is on her head, frosting on her ears and muzzle. She's got a nice personality too and is very friendly!

This is CBF CS SG Ammi. Ammi is Cumin (are you seeing the trend? ) Their new herd is all being named after spices - too cool! The Ruiz family also purchased two does from PrairieWood - Nutmeg and ??? and the girls are very close in age so they will have a nice start to their little herd. HOW fun!

Ammi and Pepper are already bonding well. I am sure SR can't wait to get all her precious girls home. I am furiously working to get their paperwork done for both ADGA and AGS so they can be shown in the May Quad show. Just need a copy of Pepper's dad's AGS certificate and we will get this done in time to show.

Thank you again SR for giving our precious girls a good home!

CBF Ent's Whistling Dixie

Dixie got the mommie treatment today too - she wasn't as mad at me as Twinkle was but we found treasures today = Another nice little udder is in the making!!!!

Look at how pretty this little doe stands. OH that reminds me - I measured the girls today too and I got 18 inches for Dixie, 20 inches for Twinkle and a little over 19 inches for Joie - DON"T grow any more Twinkle!!!!!!

OH, Nice little udder bump. I cannot wait to start milking these girlie girls and see how they produce and how milkable their udders are. I forgot to get a pregnancy bump picture of Dixie but she's growing WIDER - But no one in my herd is as wide as JOIE - She's HUGE!!!!

K is for KIDS and KIDDING SEASON

Kidding Season is bar none my favorite time of year here at CBF Nigerians. I love seeing each new kid make his or her entrance into the goat kingdom and I so love eating breakfast while watching the kids all play, running, bounding,jumping and cavorting around. NOTHING is as cute as a baby Nigerian. These triplets are out of CBF Seredipidy's Laikla and CBF Entei (Stinker Belle, Wendy and Peter Pan residing at Camino Allegre)

This is Malina aka Twinkle Lil Star. She is here at CBF getting geared up for her first kidding.

This is Shakespeare - cute little wether who went to a 4H family here to show.

Dixie - princess of the universe (LOL!) She is quite content after having her fill of milk and a good soft bed to sleep in. Dixie is one of our most playful goats here at CBF - even now with her pregnant belly she is often found on the slide or little climbing toy. She'll probably be up there playing with her kids when they come!!!!

Two of the Triplets (Malina makes 3) This is Crash and Racer who now reside at Lauging Orca Ranch as Mudd Pie and Moon Pie. I so wish I could post more baby pics - I have tons. But these will have to do until kidding commences at CBF (March 1, 2009 is our first due date!)

Our philosophy here is to be there in case we are needed but we prefer a pretty much hands off approach. I stay in the kidding barn until the last baby is cleaned up and I can get their bellies done (dipping cords) and I make sure they are nursing well then it is time for momma and babies to bond. Of course we can't help but be out there as much as possible, who can resist lavishing attention on these adorable babies!!!! AS such, our dam raised babies usually wind up being more like bottle raised spoiled lab goats. Oh well, I can think of worse problems to have.

Thanks for peeking at last years kidding season- come visit us again in March - May when our babies all show up for spring!!!!

D is for DIXIE

This pretty little Doe is Dixie - she is out of our Foundation dam El Cerro Wind in the Willows who we parted with this year (that hurt!)to a sweetheart - Janice.
Dixie is only one of two daughters and so far a keeper. She's beautiful!

At 6 weeks Dixie (AKA: CBF Ent's Whistling Dixie) won Jr. Champion at the March Mini Madness Goat show in Albuquerque, NM - my favorite comment by the judge was "sometimes good things really do come in small packages" I knew that when I first saw her precious little impish face when she was born.

See - how could anyone deny that this is the cutest little goat EVER

she just stole my heart. I was only planning on keeping one doe this year and ended up keeping TWO.

This is Miss Dixie now - at almost 11 month old and about 8 weeks into her first pregnancy - she still has the cutest face of all of my goats. Of course we are praying for doe from all of the girls (except the Alpine - we want boys there!)

I am just starting to see a little bit of a baby bump (not that you can tell in this picture since she's eating - haha.

Dixie is the culmanation of several of our breeding decisions (and some rather painful partings as i've had to sell her sire and her sire's dam to make room) We hope that Dixie throws us some fantastic milking babies and that she lives up to her older sister's example - a milking star as a first freshener!

Show Results

The show was Crazy - I ended up going alone with my oldest daughter. The gal who was going to ring steward was sick so I didn't show but one goat and my daughter and my niece who came showed all the goats. It was two and a half hours but we made it.
Results:
Nizhoni's Joie De Vivre*M - 4th
Nizhoni's BB Shihara's Mace - 4th
CBF Ent's Whistlin' Dixie - 6th
CBF Ent's Twinkle Lil' Star - 2nd
Flying Goat Jazzy Blues - 1st
DesertNanny JK Blue Cap'n Kidd - 1st.
Congrats to Flying Goat Annabelle (Jazzy's littermate sister) for taking Jr. Champion (owned by CKR Pygmy)
Congrats to Phantasma MD Tiara Dream for taking Sr. Champion (owned by Prairie Wood Ranch) and
Congrats to Prairie Wood Pinnacle Blue also owned by Prairie Wood Ranch - he is now a finish Champion in both ADGA and AGS.
Thank you to Judge James Haught for judging our show.

CBF Ent's Whistlin' Dixie - Jr. Grand Champion (AGS)

This is our little doe Dixie who we took to the show so my 4 year old could show and to get some "show experience" . Little did we know our little Dixie Darling would come home with a 2nd in the morning show (to our new buck's sister Flying Goat Annabelle)

and 1st plus a Jr. Grand Champion! In this case, Good things came in a small package - we NEVER expected to even be in the top of the class with the second youngest doe there - the youngest doe - Dixie's half sister CBF Ent's Twinkle Lil'Star didn't do as well but we still adore her - her mom is terrific and a great milker so she's still a keeper in our minds!

Dixie is out of CBF Entei and El Cerro Wind in the Willows. Thank you Valerie for picking our little Dixie for Jr. Grand! We just thought she might be something special when she was born.