We had our first C-Section in 8 years of raising Nigerian Dwarf Goats. Brush Creek Olive, one of the last of the Brush Creek line kidded without difficulty last fall. This year a large buck kid was presenting side ways and I could not move him back to bring forward. I could feel the back bone and ribs. Took her to a local Vet who could not reposition him either. Fortunately the Vet was a young, new Vet to the area and he was a large animal and goat Vet. Olive lucked out that day.Olive has recovered completely and we have dried her off to rebreed this fall for 2013 kids. We also have Olive's mother Brush Creek Charlies Angel who is 10 years old. We have a daughter from Angel sired by *B Lost Valley PS Superb *S. We have one other Brush Creek doe. Her name is Brush Creek Liz. Liz has just finished earning her milking stars and has one ADGA leg towards her championship. She is 8 years old and LAed 85. Not to bad for the old gal.
Brush Creek Liz pictured to the left.
We are milking along and are working on our 2013 Breeding Scheule. We will be freshening a bunch of first fresheners, so it will be a chance to get kids from outstanding milking lines at reasonable prices. We still need to clip and photograph our young bucks and post them on line. To much to do and so little time.
We have just purchased our first French Black Copper Marans chickens and are enjoying the wonderfully rich dark chocolate eggs they are producing. One of my Black Cochin Bantam hens, broody as ever, is setting on 6 Marans eggs. She is soooo happy! Those little hens are amazing and the best moms too!
Put together a Hen Condo to get the chickens off my goat hay. They love to roost on the hay, which becomes their poo place. These coups always look larger then they actually are. This will accomidate probably 6 chickens as long as they are let out daily to graze. Three large chickens in the pen area including the Rooster they look cramped. The nest box has two nests, that is nice and the pan comes out to clean the house.
Our lovely UDiamond, Diamond for short has earned her Superior Genetic's award. Her full name with titles is SGCH Rosasharn GX UDiamond *3M, 4*D,+DAR. She earned her Grand Champion title in March of this year and earned her milking stars last fall. The Superior Genetics is a combination of LA scores and milk production. The doe must rank in the top 85% of the breed listing in order to earn this award. Diamond's daughters Oldesouth Black Diamond and Oldesouth Diva Diamond will be freshening next spring. Diamond's son *B Oldesouth Cognac Diamond *S, *DS will be one of the bucks we will use this fall for next spring's kids. Her 2012 son *B Oldesouth ZV Marque *S will be covering a few does as well.This fall SGCH NC Promisedland Rain-Beau (photo below) will be kidding to CH Gypsy Moon Sudoku *S. Oldesouth Blue Amber 2*M, 2*D, 2+DAR (pending) will be kidding as well to Sudoku. We are excited about these breedings, will be some fantastic kids with MILK and CONFORMATION!
Rain-Beau is one of the most beautiful does I have seen in the Nigerian Breed. She has a perfect udder, teat placement and she can milk! She is a sweet heart and super easy to milk. We milked her from May until a week ago. It took us some time to dry her off. She is due to kid the end of September first week in October. We have measured her when the DHIR supervisor came to do our Verification test. She is within standard and we are considering showing her as a Champion Challenge this fall.
Below is Rain-Beau from the rear with a lovely high udder. Rain-Beau's kids are spoken for for 2012, a buck and a doe will be retained.
