Cabochon Farm

Marceline’s Girls

Posted on March 5, 2017October 10, 2020 by admin

Marceline made me late for work on Monday. Let me take a moment to express my gratitude for having a job that allows me to call in late due to “Early Morning Goat Birth”.

Marcy hadn’t shown signs of imminent labor so I was surprised to hear the tiny bleats of a new-born goat coming from her stall when I checked the barn before leaving for work. I looked over the door to see two recently delivered kids and a rather confused Marcy who didn’t know quite what to make of the newcomers. Once we got the family moved into private quarters, Marcy settled down and her mothering instincts kicked in just fine. She’s proving to be a very conscientious mother to her twin doelings.

Penelope’s Mini-Alpine Girls

Posted on March 5, 2017October 10, 2020 by admin

Penelope broke the 2017 trend toward boys by giving us 3 beautiful Mini-Alpine doelings on Sunday, February 26th about 5:00 p.m. All three are healthy, bouncy kids.

These girls are are destined to be family milkers, bringing together the best from the Nigerian Dwarf and Alpine breeds.

The chami girls – chamoisee in front and chocolate chamoisee in back

chocchamiweb — Chocolate Chamoisee doeling

Glory’s Twin Boys

Posted on March 1, 2017October 10, 2020 by admin

As I was working in the barn on Saturday, I noticed Glory hanging out chewing her cud all alone. She seemed to be in the mood for conversation, so I told her how excited I was for her kids and, if she didn’t mind, I’d like two girls and a boy. That’s when she stood up, turned her back on me and went outside. I think that was her way of telling me she didn’t take orders. But I can’t complain because she delivered big, healthy twin bucklings on Sunday, February 26. They weighed in at 4.5 and 4.92 pounds–little monsters.

Both of these boys will be future herd sires and with a Superior Genetics mother, I’m expecting great things from them.

Chocolate buckling with blue eyes. This little guy is long and sharp. — Chocolate buckling with blue eyes. This guy is long and sharp.

buckling2web2 — This chocolate buckskin is a pretty boy with lots of width

Chloe’s Triplets

Posted on February 20, 2017October 10, 2020 by admin

Saturday was a beautiful sunny, warm, almost 60* February day in Minnesota….perfect for spending time in the barn waiting for a doe to kid. While the rest of the girls were lounging in the sun, poor Chloe was locking in a birthing stall inside. But I like to think she was too preoccupied to notice. 🙂

Chloe delivered an adorable set of triplets on Saturday, February 18 at 3:15 pm. She delivered all the babies easily and the whole family is doing well.

Chloe's First Buckling — Buckling 1 – spots and cuteness

Buckling 2 – a mini-me look-alike of his mamma

Doeling - looks just like her daddy, Xylo. — Doeling – looks just like her daddy, Xylo.

Dolly Twins

Posted on February 5, 2017October 10, 2020 by admin

Dolly delivered buck/doe twins on Saturday, January 28th. She had a easy delivery and both kids were up and about very quickly. We’ve been waiting 3 years to keep a doeling out of Dolly so this little girl will be retained. Her brother is a very sharp, dairy buckling that will be sold as a herd sire. He’s just a ball of fluff here in the baby photos but he’s looking fancier every day. I might be tempted to keep him myself if I hadn’t already retained a buckling from Dolly last year.

dollywbucklingweb — Dolly’s 2017 Buckling

doeling2web — Dolly’s 2017 doeling – retained

doelingnursingweb — Dolly’s 2017 doeling getting her first good drink

Hurricane’s Boy

Posted on February 5, 2017October 10, 2020 by admin

Hurricane delivered twin bucklings on Saturday, January 28th. Unfortunately, one of the boys was a very tiny 1.2 pounds and despite our best efforts he didn’t survive. But big brother is doing well and Hurricane is showering him with plenty of love and devoted attention, much to his frustration at times.

Quintuplets for Stormstruck

Posted on February 4, 2017October 10, 2020 by admin

It’s often hard to balance raising livestock with working a full time job and never more so than during birthing season. It’s always best to be nearby in case a doe needs help delivering or a baby needs help getting started, especially when it’s January in Minnesota. So this year we are inducing our does to deliver a day or two early so that we can be there to attend the births. We induced Stormstruck one day early and I’m so thankful we did because she gave us our first set of quintuplets on Friday January 27th about 5:30 p.m. when we could all be there to help.

When there are that many babies, it’s not unusual for them to be tangled up and for the doe to need assistance. We helped pull a couple babies and spent a lot of time helping to get everyone dried off and warmed up. The babies were all a good size ranging from 2.7 – 3.7 pounds with four boys and a girl.

So far Stormstruck has been nursing them all with no problem although we will be teaching them to take a bottle so that we can supplement any that seem to be lagging behind as they grow.

missyweb — Missy, the sweet little doeling

tippy — Tippy, nicknamed for the white tip on his tail

footsieweb — Footsie, nicknamed because he spent his first few hours fascinated with boots instead of his mom

whitetailweb — White Tail, because when you have 5 babies and you’re trying to figure out who’s who, naming them after their markings seems like a good idea!

missy-diamond-web — Diamond (he has white diamonds on each side) outside the heat barrel with Missy looking on

Countdown to Kidding 2017

Posted on January 26, 2017October 10, 2020 by admin

It’s looking a lot like kidding season! Stormstruck should be the first to deliver, followed closely by Dolly and Hurricane. I thought I’d share a couple photos of a very pregnant Stormstruck with those of you who are eagerly waiting with us…

taffy-windy-stormsturck-nibbles — Taffy, Windy, Stormstruck and Nibbles. Stormstruck is often found leaning against her mom, Nibbles, for comfort these days. I’m sure she’ll feel better when she can lie down comfortably again!

Merry Christmas from the Farm!

Posted on December 22, 2016October 10, 2020 by admin

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season!

A special thank you to Tractor Supply and NorthernLite Photography for the Santa photo!

Superior Genetics Awards for Glory & Nibbles

Posted on December 19, 2016October 10, 2020 by admin

I am delighted to share the news that both Glory and Nibbles earned a Superior Genetics designation this year!

The Superior Genetics designation indicates that the animal is in the top 15% (85th percentile ranking or higher) of their breed according to the Production/Type Index (PTI) ranking. There are two separate PTI ranking lists: PTI 2:1 which emphasizes milk production and PTI 1:2 which emphasizes type/conformation. I’m especially thrilled that both Glory and Nibbles qualified on both lists with Nibbles coming in at an astounding 94th percentile (top 6%) on production.

And while we’re celebrating the achievements of these special does, I’d like to note that we now have two bucks out of SG does: Sweet William out of Glory and Xylo out of SG Pocket Sized TB Xara from Honey Meadows farm in New Jersey. We are expecting great things from these boys as we seek to improve our herd with every new generation.

To learn more about the ADGA Superior Genetics program and how the scores are calculated, visit Superior Genetics FAQs.