2011 Spring Kidding for CBF is done!

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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.