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. 

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

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!

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.

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

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

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!