Category Archives: goats

Sawfish Lamanchas 2025 Linear Appraisal

This afternoon we were a host herd for linear appraisal (LA). If you aren’t familiar with the LA program from ADGA, you can read about it here. This was our second time to do LA and we had one other herd trailer to our farm to participate. Here are the results:

GoatDOBScore
CH(pending) Majenli LK Carolina2/20/2021EEEV90
Sawfish QS Ferrari3/16/2023EEVV89
Sawfish AS Porsche2/18/2023VEVV88
Lucky 4-Leaf E Red Hot Chili3/12/2022VVVV87

We are absolutely thrilled with our results and extremely excited about Carolina hitting 90 and Ferrari’s score as a first freshening 2 year old. This program is a great asset to helping with breeding plans and affirmation that our breeding program is doing what we want.

CH (pending) Majenli LK Carolina – 2025 Big E

Big E 2025

Another exhausting but amazing 4 days at the Big E has come and gone. With Quinn aged-out of 4-H, Amanda is the only youth left showing goats. Adding to the madness, I (Rob) returned from a work trip at 1130 on Thursday and we (Rob and Amanda) headed up to the Big E at 1 that afternoon. The Eastern States Exposition (aka Big E) is the defacto New England State Fair and this dairy goat show is the culmination of the show season for youth from the 6 New England states. I am part of the show committee assisting with the planning and execution as well as chaperone for some of the youth male participants.

Amanda took 6 goats to show in the youth show, but only 1 milker. Porsche is Amanda’s milker and showmanship goat because Amanda loves her, but Porsche hates her job. She is hard to clip and kicks HARD when you try to do anything to her back legs. Porsche also hates when the judge tries to touch her. Friday included the fitting and showmanship competitions where Amanda was in the 2nd oldest group of 13 youth; she placed 6th in both fitting and showmanship.

Sawfish AS Porsche – Best of Breed

On Saturday, the breed classes were judged. This is a youth show and most breeds don’t have a lot of competition, although lamanchas are starting to become more popular. Of note, we get to see CH (pending) Majenli LK Carolina’s 2023 daughter and granddaughter who are in Maine at this show each year. Sawfish AS Porsche took Champion and Best of Breed Lamancha in the senior show and then Sawfish Bon Bon took Junior Champion Lamancha where Amanda had 4 of the 5 in the lineup.

As always, it was a busy weekend and Amanda ran out of gas at times. But a quick nap ringside gave her enough of a recharge to keep going. Since Amanda no longer has Quinn to hang out with, she spent more time with the other exhibitors and started building the stronger friendships this event is famous for.

After the youth show ended on Saturday, some of the goats left and others started moving in. Rob headed home for the night to get more goats and Amanda slept in the barn with other exhibitors. The quick turnaround at home had me back in Springfield by 7 am Sunday with our pens loaded up with most of our herd. Anna didn’t join the showing because she now has a job and had to work (but that’s a different story).

Sawfish AS Porsche took first in her age group, but didn’t win overall. CH (pending) Majenli LK Carolina was 2nd in the Champion Challenge/Best of Breed lineup.

The real magic happened in the junior Lamancha show. There were 13 junior Lamanchas representing 7 different herds. When we got to the champion lineup for junior Lamanchas, the Sawfish herd had 3 of the 4 first place goats and Sawfish Bon Bon was chosen as Junior Champion out of the youngest age group. This earned her restricted leg. Of note, her aunt, Sawfish QS Mina, did the same thing at this show last year.

While Fox’s Pride took the Best Junior Doe in Show award with a very nice Nubian (even if it does have long ears). Bon Bon got a lot of looks from the judge before it was said and done. In the end, Amanda won Premier Lamancha Breeder and Premier Lamancha Junior Exhibitor.

Since we were at a nice venue and had the girls out, we took some updated pictures to share. That concludes our show season and we are excited to get started with breeding. Stay tuned for the release of our breeding plans.

Blandford Fair Goat Show 2025

Another weekend, another goat show. Today, (9/1/25) we went to the Blandford, MA Fair. We attended last year for the first time. While this show is a 2 hr drive away, it is sanctioned and it’s nice to see a few different herds than some of our other shows. Here are our results under judge Ed Cavanagh:
Best of Breed Sr Lamancha – CH (pending) Majenli LK Carolina
Reserve Champion Sr Lamancha – Sawfish AS Porsche
Champion Jr Lamancha – Sawfish Chrysi
Reserve Jr Champion Jr Lamancha – Sawfish Apple Fritter
Champion Record Grade – Lucky 4-Leaf E Red Hot Chili
Reserve Champion Jr Record Grade – Sawfish Kipu

Amanda was able to get some practice in for showmanship before the Big E and took 2nd of 10 in her class. Our friend Terrell came along to help out and spend the day visiting. Overall, it was a long day but the weather was great and we had fun.

Goat shows – Heath and Brooklyn

Last Sunday (8/17/25) we headed to the Heath, MA Fair for the first time. They have an ADGA sanctioned show we wanted to check out and we really enjoyed this event. Amanda was headed to camp in VT, so Anna had to drive her and didn’t get to the fair until ~2:30. Luckily, our friend Hillary was having some goat show FOMO and decided to join Rob with 8 of the goats. Here are our results:
Best of Breed Sr Lamancha – Sawfish Porsche
Champion Jr Lamancha – Sawfish Apple Fritter
Best of Breed Sr Record Grade – Lucky 4-Leaf E Red Hot Chili
Champion Jr Record Grade – Sawfish Tiramisu

We definitely plan to return to Heath next year.

Today, (8/24/25) we went to the Brooklyn Fair. This event has become our local favorite at only 20 minutes up the road. Here are our results:
Best of Breed Sr Lamancha – Majenli LK Carolina
Champion Jr Lamancha – Sawfish Chrysi
Best of Breed Sr Record Grade – Lucky 4-Leaf E Red Hot Chili
Champion Jr Record Grade – Sawfish Kipu
Best Sr Doe in Show – Majenli LK Carolina
Best Jr Doe in Show – Sawfish Chrysi

We didn’t get as many pictures because when you have 10 goats and only 3 handlers at a small, fast paced show, you don’t stop to take photos.

Next weekend we are headed out again!

Windham County 4-H fair 2025

On Thursday evening Amanda and Quinn went to set up at the 2025 Windham 4-H Fair. Quinn is now aged out of 4-H but still stays involved and helping out.

Friday afternoon Amanda and Quinn drove the goats over to the fair and checked them in. Amanda brought 6 goats. Amanda was also the super intendant for the goat show this year.

Maternal sisters Porsche and Apple Fritter

Amanda stayed at the fairgrounds in a tent next to the goat barn and her leader Bailey’s camper.

Saturday morning brought the goat show. Amanda had asked Melissa Ferguson, a 4-H leader in Hartford County and fellow goat breeder at White Birch Acres to be the judge for the goat show. The goat program in Windham County is very small and most of the goats at the fair were ours. Amanda was the single senior goat showman, and as such won her class. Carolina was best senior doe in show and Kipu, our recorded grade yearling, was best junior doe in show. The goat show concluded with a crash course in goat showmanship lead by Melissa, sharing most of our goats with other 4-Hers learning about goats and how to show them.

Saturday afternoon brought horse showmanship in hand. There are not enough horse kids in Windham county to warrant a full blown horse show (nor are there funds for the insurance required),but there was a small in hand horse show and Amanda brought Mojo to participate. He did great, except in the last class when he spooked or got too excited and tore away from Amanda. We think he may have gotten stung by something, there were ground wasps around. Amanda earned a reserve showman in horses.

Saturday afternoon after the horse show Amanda tried foxhunting with the amateur radio group that had set up the activity at the fair. She also participated in the obstacle course and the Battle of the Barns.

Sunday morning brought Premier showmanship. Amanda earned a spot due to being the Goat senior showman. Premier is a competition where all of the species showmen show ALL of the species. So there were 7 kids showing dairy cows, beef cows, rabbits, goats, sheep, working steer and horses. The best overall showman wins premier showmanship.

Amanda did her best, but had some challenging animals in a few of the events. Overall, she had fun and it was a good experience.

Sunday afternoon brought the Award Ceremony. Amanda found out that she had won Premier! She was so excited, but had not expected it with having a few more challenging animals to deal with. Overall, it was a fun, good time, tiring, and exhausting weekend.

Nutmeg Classic 2025

On Saturday, Rob, Anna and Amanda attended the Connecticut Dairy Goat Association’s Nutmeg Classic ADGA show. It was a cool rainy kind of day and it poured for four days in the week leading up to the show making show prep a little difficult. Chili got a tick bite that swelled up and required treatment and everything was wet. But we persevered and loaded up 4 milkers, two dry yearlings and 4 baby doelings.

Amanda did showmanship and placed third in a large class. She is continuing to make progress on fitting her goat better and better. Amanda has been working hard on Porsche’s udder and back leg sensitivity and has started to be able to touch and move her rear legs. The judge touching the udder is still a work in progress. Amanda has used clicker training to reward Porsche for behaving and it is working.

There were two rings, and recorded grade goats were right before lamanchas in both. The judges were Ed Jodlowski in ring 1 and Will Pearson in ring 2.

Chili, our Recorded Grade, Lucky 4-leaf E Red Hot Chili, placed first in ring 1 and was Grand Champion and Best of breed. She was placed first for her mammary, her udder is definitely her strongest asset. It is glued on, very symmetric and milks down really well. In ring 2, Chili went Reserve. Unfortunately, though, grades didn’t have the numbers for sanctioning. Her clip job was a hack job as we didn’t think we would be able to bring her, but then her bug bite got better. Note to self, clip with a #4 or 5 next time and do it all at one time. Chili still knows how to shine.

We brought two 2 year old lamancha milkers. Sawfish AS Porsche, a 2 year old second freshener, and Sawfish QS Ferrari, a 2 year old FF Phaylene daughter. They both did well, Ferrari was third and Porsche sixth in ring 1 and Porsche went second, first udder in her class and then Reserve in ring 2 (she had filled more by this time). Ferrari was 4th in her class in ring 2. Ferrari was commended on her udder structure, nice fore udder and symmetry.

Carolina, our (forever pending) champion doe, Majenli LK Carolina, went into both rings as a champion challenger and placed second each time.

For juniors, we brought two dry yearlings, and four kids under 3 months. Kipu and Tiramisu, both Chili daughters, showed first in the recorded grade classes. Kipu was VERY naughty. In the line up in ring 2 she was so naughty Rob had to step in after she knocked Amanda to the ground. But, she won grand champion in both rings. Unfortunately not sanctioned due to low numbers, but she looked fantastic. Tiramisu was cold and unhappy being away from her friends, and was not walking well in the ring. She placed second to an older February kid. Note to self, maybe work with the kids a little bit before taking them to a show, and do not ignore the dry yearlings all winter.

In the junior lamancha classes we brought Sawfish Chrysi, Carolina’s dry yearling daughter from last year and Creme Brule, Apple Fritter, and Bon Bon. Bon Bon was the youngest at only 5 weeks old. Chrysi was very naughty as well and did not cooperate at all, constantly trying to free her head and jump. She placed third in the dry yearling class. No pictures of the littles because we were all in the ring with them. Apple Fritter placed first in ring 1 and C.B placed first in ring 2. Bon Bon was third and fourth respectively.

Overall, we were happy with the outcome of the show. I think we need to work on timing our udder show fill better and do more work with the wild and unruly ones. We came home with some ribbons and some home work to do.

Kidding is DONE!

Bali a week ago.

Last Tuesday our last goat to kid went into labor. It was Sawfish QS Bali. Bali is a really cute loudly colored black and white yearling doe. I found her a little warm and uncomfortable on Tuesday afternoon, pawing lightly and panting slightly, so I moved her into our kidding stall in the barn. I left to get a few things at Tractor Supply and a few other errands and told Amanda to keep an eye on her.

Before I got to TSC, I got a text that Bali had discharge. By the time I was checking out, there was a doe on the ground. When I got home (Tractor Supply is 4 miles away), Bali delivered another doe. Double pink! And quick nose n’ toes deliveries. I’ll take that any day from a yearling! Rob was also home (I did not just leave Amanda to handle Bali) and Q had come home from school just in time to deliver baby number 1. Baby number 1, the chocolate sundgau was named Chocolate Truffle and weighed 8 pounds. Baby number two is a broken black and tan doeling with the cutest head. She has been named Eclaire and weighed 7.8 pounds.

Bali did great and gave me 6 cups of colostrum. Sunday am she milked 10 cups. Her udder looks cute with teeny tiny teats though. They have been elongating each day. Bali has been upset about her babies being gone, but I think she is starting to get over it now and she is eating better than she did at first.

The kids are doing great. Due to the weather Saturday, they have stayed inside a little longer than most and are quite sociable at this point. A few of the kids are leaving this week, which will make room for Truffle and Eclaire to move to the baby barn permanently.

Bali was bred to Apollo and their planned pedigree is as follows: https://genetics.adga.org/PlannedPedigreePrint.aspx?SireNum=L002384545&DamNum=L002377682

Bali needs some calories, but is otherwise doing really well. I think the decision to breed her last fall was a good one.

So, now we have 6 doelings. Now we have to decide which 4 get to stay. Impossible task! If you’re interested in a doe kid, reach out. We are unlikely to decide until sometime in June, but if there is an awesome home available, we may be swayed earlier.

Ferrari’s kids

Sawfish Bon Bon, newly born.

On April 3, her due date, Ferrari went into labor. I separated her into a kidding stall and about an hour into active labor things stalled. I called Rob for him to come home, because I was alone, and I needed to intervene. She was pushing and not making progress. When I tried to feel what was going on, there was nothing presenting. I gave her some additional calcium and kept watching her until Rob came home. We went in, and found her first kid upside down with only one foot presenting. We put in a call to our vet after trying to locate a head, but managed to snare a head with the kid puller before she called back. There was a lot of blood and we were concerned. We pulled the first kid, a 9 pound doe kid. A second, 9 pound buck kid, soon followed on his own. Again lots of blood. Babies were ok, but we were unsure about Ferrari, she seemed in shock. A uterine tear was high on our list of possible outcomes. We brought the babies inside and got some colostrum milked off, unsure if Ferrari was going to make it. She was eating and drinking, but very sore and kind of quiet.

Ferrari passed her placenta and we threw the book at her with some TLC and antibiotics, and she seems to be recovering. She milked 8 pounds on her first milk test, two weeks fresh, and her udder looks nice. Still working on putting some weight back on her.

The babies were named Bon Bon (doe) and Fudge (buck kid). This breeding combines our Phaylene line with our Carolina line, crossing Phaylene’s daughter with Carolina’s son. We look forward to seeing Bon Bon mature in our show string this year. She looks a lot like her grandmother, wide in the chest and rump, but longer and with more angularity in her rear legs and a more uphill build. Fudge is a broken sundgau with white on his poll and he will join Porsche’s black son Macaroon in our grow out pen this year and we might even use him on a yearling this fall.

Here’s a link to the kids pedigree: https://genetics.adga.org/PlannedPedigreePrint.aspx?SireNum=L002377681&DamNum=L002291974

With the nice weather, our other baby goats have been enjoying some time outside in the baby goat pen. Below is a video. Apple Fritter, Camellia’s daughter rules the roost. Wait for her to appear at the end of the video:

Next, and last to kid, is Bali. She is due this week. She was bred to Apollo. We are hoping for an easy delivery and a healthy mama and babies. Bali is carrying twins. Her yearling peanut gallery also wanted to be in the picture! Don’t worry, Bali was baby clipped after this picture. She turned into a yak this winter.

Milk Test 2025 #1

This year we are participating in Milk Test with our goats. That means we will have days throughout the year where we record the weight of milk produced by each doe and send samples of their milk out for testing. The test includes % butterfat, % protein, somatic cell count, and other parameters. If the production is high enough over the documented time, the goats will earn milk stars. Prior to this, we have only participated in 1-day milk tests as part of the 4-H Big E goat program. Anna and Rob both got certified as testers and we are doing “Owner-Sampler” testing which means we do our own weighing and milk sampling. We will have a verification test at some point where another tester comes to our farm.

So, here are the results from today. The “DIM” column is days in milk.

Tesla is a first freshener but has been combating mastitis. We hope her numbers will continue to improve. Ferrari is really impressing us as a first freshener. Camellia had an aborted lactation last year, so we were pleased to see her full potential this year. Overall, we are quite happy with our first results.

Chili and Carolina Kid

Chili started us off on the tail end of our main kidding frenzy last Sunday with triplets. She had two bucks, one black with red, and one black with tan, and one little chocolate doe. They weighed in at 8, 7, and 5.6 pounds. Chili looks great and her udder has increased in size this year, she is really putting in the pail!

Chili a few hours before kidding.

Chili’s kids have been named Biscotti, Tiramisu(doe), and Cannoli.

Carolina went into labor on Monday evening and delivered a large 9 pound single doe. We were concerned she had slipped her pregnancy earlier this spring because she was not very large. I guess she was just hiding that one little doe in her big body (Carolina is 160 pounds plus). We named the doe Creme Brulee, or C.B. for short. C.B. is a light chamoisee color and will likely clip a little darker and look more brown. But she is adorable here in this baby coat.

Creme Brulee

The kids are now a week old and have been disbudded and are transitioning to the lambar buckets. It’s no secret that Tiramisu is “mine” and C.B. is Rob’s favorite. They will both be nice does.

Tiramisu pedigree: https://genetics.adga.org/PlannedPedigreePrint.aspx?SireNum=L002384545&DamNum=L002232082

C.B. pedigree:

https://genetics.adga.org/PlannedPedigreePrint.aspx?SireNum=L002384570&DamNum=L002158268

We have two more goats due to kid this year. Next up is Ferrari with a due date of April 3. She is bred to Sawfish Crete, Carolina’s son, so expect some black and tan goats. Bali is our milking yearling this year, she is due at the end of April, carrying twins by Blue Farmhouse Apollo. Fingers crossed for at least one more doe to keep, but time will tell. Most of all we want easy nose n’ toes deliveries and healthy mamas and babies. And maybe some color babies from Bali…

Bali October 2024