Been too Long!

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

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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.