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Two New Champions

Nigerian Dwarf, Cabochon Amanda, wins Grand Champion at Little Falls, MN goat show

We are so very proud of our girls’ performance in the first show of the 2016 season at the Little Falls, MN Goat Show on June 4th.  Both Amanda and Windsong earned a Grand Champion and Stormstruck came home with a Reserve Champion. There was a great turnout for the show with 24 entries in the Nigerian Dwarf Junior show with about the same in the senior show.

It was chilly, rainy day with a stiff wind so the goats were pretty cold and not particularly happy. We had clipped the week ahead of time when the weather looked like it was going to be warm. I’ll have to make a note to leave them fuzzy next year! We waited until the next day to take their pictures so we’d have sunshine for them pose with their ribbons.

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Cabochon Amanda earns a Grand Champion as a dry yearling
WindsongGCH Little Falls 2016
Cabochon AR Windsong earns her first Grand Champion as a senior kid
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Stormstruck brings home Reserve Champion from the Little Falls, MN Goat Show

In addition to Amanda and Windsong, we brought one other Junior, Josephine, who placed second in her class of six. The poor little thing spent most of her day wrapped up in Clayton’s coat to keep her warm while waiting her turn in the show ring. Really wish I had gotten a photo of that! 🙂

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Cabochon PB Josephine placing second in Intermediate kid class at the Little Falls. MN Goat Show.

We brought three senior does in milk: Stormstruck, Glory and Taffy. Stormstruck and Glory each placed first in their class under different judges with Stormstruck going on to win Reserve Champion and Taffy placing second in her class of yearling milkers.

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Stormstruck in first place and Glory in second place in the three-year-old milker class.
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Taffy in second place in the Yearling Milker class
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Kati showing Amanda to her Grand Champion win
Photo of Cabochon PB Josephine
Josephine, her royal cuteness
Amanda & Windsong Champions
Clayton & Kati celebrating their wins – happy to be out of their show whites and back in farm clothes

 

 

Daisy’s Doeling

Blue eyed buckskin doeling

Daisy kidded on April 30th with a large (4.3 lb) doeling. We had to pull pretty hard to help get her out but once out she proved to be quite healthy and alert. Daisy recovered quickly too and went right into new mother mode without skipping a beat.

Photo of Nigerian Dwarf kid nursing

As you can see, she has stunning blue eyes and and a beautiful colors.  This is the first Ziggzag daughter so far and she’s quite the little darling. I can’t wait to see more of his kids.

Photo of Nigerian Dwarf goat baby with blue eyes

Photo of Nigerian Dwarf kid with blue eyes

 

 

Glory’s Buckling

Glory gave us a big, beautiful, blue-eyed buckling late in the evening (9:40 p.m. to be exact) on April 25th.  Glory doesn’t believe in letting you know that she’s close to delivering so it’s a bit nerve wracking when she’s due.  About the only sign she gives of impending labor is loosening ligaments, which I’m sure she’d find a way to hide if only she could!  Much to her chagrin, the final barn check for the evening caught her laboring so we all settled in to wait.  The birth went smoothly and little guy was up and trying to nurse within 10 minutes of being born.  He’s such a nice boy, we’re planning to keep him a buck.

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Taffy’s Kid

Taffy presented us with a cute little Chamoise buckling on April 13th about 5:30 PM.  Luckily we were there to help because the little guy had one of his front legs tucked back and mom appreciated just a little bit of help in getting him out.  Taffy is proving to be a very attentive mom and we’re happy with her mothering skills. The little guy already has a home reserved as a pet wether and he certainly enjoys people and being held. We all know the highest goat wins and being held by a person automatically makes you the tallest goat in the kid pen!

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Sunshine’s Doeling

Sunshine delivered a sweet little doeling on Tuesday April 5th. I had been advised by Sunshine’s previous owner that Sunshine was secretive about kidding and she proved true to form. Clayton checked on her after school and there was no sign of impending labor. Two hours later, Sunshine was napping with her dry, content baby tucked against her, with a smug look as if nothing had happened.

I finally found time to get some photos of this long, dairy girl playing outside in our lovely 70* weather. We’ve nicknamed her “Lopsy” after a friend. I think it suits her for now. We’ll see what ends up on her registration papers!

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Exploring the new playground
Exploring the new playground

 

Momma Sunshine
With Momma Sunshine
What a sweet face
What a sweet face!

Mini Alpines!

Penelope delivered beautiful twin doelings on Sunday, March 13th around 9:00 p.m.  She had been pawing most of the day so we knew she was going into labor and were able to be with her when she delivered. Both girls were up and nursing in record time and after a little first-time mom confusion, Penelope quickly figured out her role in this adventure and settled in to be an excellent momma.

Photo of Alpine doe with mini alpine kids

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We are excited to venture into the world of mini Alpines and will most likely be retaining one of these girls to see for ourselves how they live up to their reputation for being exceptional homestead milkers with the richer milk of a Nigerian combined with increased production from the Alpine. But they are both so darned cute it will be hard to choose which one to keep!

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Photo of mini Alpine doeling
Baby goats make even the most atrocious barn fashions look cute!
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She’s a little princess and she knows it!

Chloe’s Triplets

Chloe delivered an adorable set of triplets (two doelings and a buckling) around 2:00 in the afternoon on March 8th. The kids all got daddy’s color, Chamiose, but they are all look very different. It took several tries to get good photos of these little cuties, but I think it was worth the wait…

Chamoisee Nigerian Dwarf Doeling
Doeling #1
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Doeling #2
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Buckling
Chloe with and her girls
Chloe and her girls

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These lucky siblings all get to stay together when they move to their new home. They have a bright future with a young 4H family interested in producing their own milk.

Hurricane’s Boy

Hurricane kidded early in the morning, luckily before anyone had left for work or school because her little boy was chilled through and had to spend his first several hours in the house getting warmed up and bottle fed to make sure he survived.  (Many thanks to an understanding boss and the ability to work from home while tending a baby goat.) He had a bit of a rough start, but it has made him quite the affectionate little snuggle bunny. He will pester and paw until you pick him up and then he’s content just to lie in your arms for however long you’re willing to hold him.

While he’s a full week younger and smaller than Dolly’s boys, he keeps up with their shenanigans whether he’s outside playing in the snow, or chasing around in the barn. He’s gotten the nickname “Mouse” because he seems so small compared to the older, bigger boys.

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Mouse-w-Cretin

Stormstruck’s 2016 Doelings

Not to be outdone by Dolly, Stormstruck also kidded exactly on her due date. Because the (human) kids had an early school release day, Kati was able to attend the 1:30 birth of her goat’s doelings. Everything went well and the kids were up and nursing quickly.  Stormstruck gave us a pretty light buckskin with white and a sweet dark chocolate with a bit of white as well.

 

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Kati is thinking of keeping this chocolate girl so for right now we’ll list her as retained.
Stormstruck's buckskin doeling meeting one of Dolly's bucklings.
Stormstruck’s buckskin doeling meeting one of Dolly’s bucklings.
Stormstuck's chocolate doeling exploring the shovel.
Stormstuck’s chocolate doeling exploring the shovel
The best part of baby goats is the snuggling!
The best part of baby goats is the snuggling!

Dolly’s On-Time Triplets

For the second year in a row, Dolly delivered right on her due date. I wish they all did that! Dolly was also very cooperative in that she delivered at 2:30 in the afternoon instead of the dreaded 2:30 a.m. delivery. Both Kati and Clayton were home from school just in time to oversee getting the kids cleaned up and make sure they were nursing well.

Dolly gave us all bucklings this year and I think we might be saving a couple as buck prospects.

Buckling #1 is a flashy buckskin with white overlay. We’ve nicknamed him “Ovaltine” because he has a perfect oval on his side and he is the color of chocolate milk. B1Web

Buckling #2 is an equally flashy black and white boy with moon spots. He’s discovered the joy of jumping and is almost impossible to get a photo of because he’s always launching himself into the air as soon as you try to take a photo.B2CloseUpWebBuckling #3 is a very dairy buckskin with moon spots. His color is more subdued than his brothers but he makes up for it with his sweet personality and his refined dairy character.B3Web

Here’s a few bonus photos just because they are so darned cute…

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