After several nights of midnight barn checks, Glory finally delivered triplets on Sunday February 25th. Glory is an experienced mom and is doing a great job caring for the kids. These kids have Superior Genetics awards on both sides of their pedigree.
Mapleshade delivered buck/doe twins on Saturday morning, February 24th. The doeling was giving her first-time mom problems by trying to come into the world with her head tilted sideways. Poor Maple was doing her best but we finally had to push the girl back inside enough to re-position her head and then she came out okay with just a little traction. After that her smaller brother entered the world with much less drama. We are planning to retain a Xylo daugher this year, so we won’t be offering this girl for sale until all of the does bred to Xylo have kidded.
Amanda decided to deliver her kids ahead of schedule, and in the middle of the night. But I’ll forgive her the sleep deprivation she caused because she gave us two beautiful, blue eyed doelings. Unfortunately we lost a third kid when I thought she was done and ran in the house for more towels and she delivered one more but the sac didn’t break. A difficult reminder why it’s so important to be there when kids are born. Even 5 minutes can mean the difference between joy or heartbreak.
Thankfully the two doelings are doing well and Amanda is making plenty of extra milk so I’m excited to see what this lactation brings for her. We may be retaining one of these sassy girls as we would like to add another Casanova daughter to the herd.
Dolly delivered four fabulous kids for us on Sunday with two does and two bucklings. The birth went quickly and Dolly delivered all four with ease. The littlest boy, only 1 pound 14 ounces, needed to spend some time in the house getting warmed up then he was off to the races fighting for his share at the milk bar.
Penelope started off our kidding season on Wednesday about 6:00 p.m. with two boys and a girl. Kati midwifed solo and did a fabulous job getting the kids dried off and warmed up in the frigid 0 degree weather. Needless to say, the kids are spending a lot of time in their heat barrel.
I’m thrilled to announce that three of our does have earned Superior Genetics designations this year: Windsong, Champagne and Stormstruck. I’m so proud of the both the “girls” and all the work our family has put in over the years to build our herd into the what it is today.
We seek to improve our herd with every new generation and Cabochon Farm now has five Superior Genetics designated does and two bucks out of Superior Genetics does in our breeding program. Thank you to all of our customers who have made our success possible with their support!
The Superior Genetics designation indicates that the animal is in the top 15% (85th percentile ranking or higher) of their breed. To learn more about the ADGA Superior Genetics program and how the scores are calculated, visit Superior Genetics FAQs.
Clayton and I spent the Labor Day weekend showing some of the boys at the Boon Companions buck show in Sedalia Missouri. It was our first adventure with our newly acquired trailer – a 42′ toy hauler modified to be a “goat hauler”. The boys did well with Casanova placing first in his class under two judges and Phan Boy and Xylo both taking second in their classes. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of Xylo and of course since I was the one behind the camera, no photos of me either which is fine since Clayton is the more photogenic one. 
Amelia delivered her girls on Saturday, March 25th. She had triplets, but unfortunately one passed away to an apparent birth defect. The other two girls are healthy and thriving and Amelia is a very patient mother to them.
Champagne delivered triplets on the afternoon of March 12th. Kati was the primary mid-wife and she did a fine job getting all the kids off to a good start. Champagne is proving to be a good mom – attentive but not overly obsessed.
We’re excited to see how she does on milk test and are planning to retain a doeling from this breeding, but have not yet finalized our decision. We are limiting the number of kids we keep this year so our final choices will need to wait until we get the rest of the kids on the ground.
Amanda delivered a pair of buck/doe twins on March 8th. The kids were so eager to get into this world that they were both trying to come out at the same time. A little internal intervention (much to Amanda’s displeasure) got things rearranged so the kids could come in an orderly fashion. Both kids were good sized with the buckling weighing in at 3.7 lbs and the doeling at 3.3 lbs.
