Jackpot!

Triplet does for Rose x Country Magic Arcturus. While its irrelevant due to a closed herdbook, these girls are 75% registered bloodlines. Born February 18th, on day 147. 1st – 3lb 4.5 oz 2nd – 3lb 4.1oz 3rd – 3lbs 7oz Rose’s labor was not typical in our experience, very silent and hard to read. Her ligaments had been lax and difficukt to find for more than a month (her dam is the same). She maintained a very open appearence in the back and and basically dry birthed as all kids were born sack in tact (poor girl!). She presented a golf ball sized mucous plug and was off to the races. This girl sports a gorgeous udder and this is her first full freshening due to losing kids early last year. We are excited to get her on the milk stand and see what shes all about.

2018 Testing Results

I have been mulling over how to approach the subject of our 2018 testing. I always planned to be open on the matter, however I have fought with myself about how to go about it. After much thought and discussion, and at the risk of losing future buyers, I have decided on public transparency, not transparency made on inquiry.

**This does NOT effect past buyers**

Here are our results!

We are proud to say our original stock is all CAE clear, and we will maintain those girls (Arcturus, Daisy, Dot, Gracie, Poplar, and Rose) as our foundation herd at this time.

In the fall of 2017, we were excited to aquire a small breeding herd of Mini Manchas. Their breeder contacted us a couple months after delivery to inform us the dam of all the does tested positive for CAE. Testing revealed one of the yearling doelings, Ruby, was positive, a complete surprise as she was young and had no symptoms. Upon learning this result, a few phone calls were made and, ultimately, Ruby was removed from the herd and harvested for meat. The other girls (Saffron, Winnie, Josephine, and Clementine) as well as the buck who is not maternally related (Jasper), though negative, will be shipped to the sales barn next weekend in an effort to keep our herd clean. While these girls may NEVER test CAE positive or become symptomatic, we have chosen to cull them.

We are confident this decision will have minimized exposure in the rest of the herd, as none of the mini manchas had freshened or were being milked, the primary vectors for CAE spreading. From research, its a fragile virus outside the body and we are not worried about having inadvertently contaminated our property or buildings.

While this decision will set us back financially as we likely will not break even, it has opened new doors for us and we are restructuring our mini program to become MDGA registerable. We hope to have our first registered La Manchas arriving this summer, and are on a couple waiting lists on the Nigerian front.

We hope prospective buyers will appreciate our transparency on this matter and do what it takes to make an educated decision about how they will handle the disease should they ever have a positive result. Remember: negative results only show an animal is negative the day the test is taken and CAE can sit dormant and undetected for years (and possibly a goats entire life). We spoke privately with several breeders who have encountered the disease and methods of disclosure ranged from none (cull and say nothing) to full transparency and everywhere in between. We are grateful to those who spoke candidly and privately with us to help us determine what was the right decision for us.

Please see our new Policies tab for more information on our culling practices going forward. They are modled after the Maedi-Visna program in Ontario for CAE. Feel free to contact us with any questions. If you are currently in contact concerning being interested in future breedings and no longer wish to be, please send us a note through facebook and we can remove you from any notification lists.

Heres to a healthy kidding season and some gorgeous, healthy (maybe female!) kids.

A temporary resident

Who would have thought a bottle calf could have a positive influence in so many ways?

Several days ago, an unexpected proposal came across through text message; a neighbor with cattle wanted to know if I would be willing to bottle feed a late calf if he supplied the milk replacer. While inexperienced in bottle feeding calves, I jumped at the opportunity as I have been telling him for years to get in touch if he needed help with something like that.

So arrived our temporary resident, a freemartin hereford cross heifer I have dubbed Heiferlump.

Shortly after she got here, a nasty necrotic wound was discovered. Our best guess was a coyote got a good bite or two in on her before she was discovered. The wound was scrubbed and cleaned of flies and maggots, sprayed with an antibacterial insect repellent and packed with petro-carb. She waa given some antibiotics and electrolytes were added to her milk.

Her first couple nights were dodgey, and I found myself packing the 2 month old boy child into the moby to check on her and offer the couple drinks of electrolyte packed milk she would swallow.

Now, however, I am nearly tackled upon my arrival to the pasture, and every time I am certain she will break my foot as she spins around me with excitement; she is eating grass and drinking 3 full liters at each feed. To my amazement, this exuberent calf has piqued the curiosity of our dexter heifer, Dezzi, and within a couple days has afforded me the opportunity to hand feed her some beans and even get a couple strokes in on the muzzle. Because of this, her mother Star, has discovered her own passion for beans and has decided I am a little more interesting than before.

Because of Lumpy, I am on the search for a registerable bottle dexter heifer, and I am determined to find one. There is something enchanting about a bottle calf that goat kids lack, and i love the bond so quickly formed. I dream of walking out to the pasture in the spring mornings to find my children laying on the cow reading to her as she rhytmically chews her cud. I am not looking forward to the day our guests time here is over. By the there will be that inevitable love, and my heart will ache as she steps onto the trailer and disappears in the dust cloud of our grid road.

For now though, I will enjoy draping myself over her back and petting her after she is finished her bottle, and I will revel in the excited moo before she skips and flips her back end as she races to see me.