We took the Sawfish goat herd to the Brooklyn Fair today and had a great day. Our friend Terrell Lavoie is the superintendent and we love supporting our friends. Things started off with Showmanship: Amanda took 1st in Intermediate with Sawfish AS Porsche, Quinn took 1st in Senior with Bitterblue’s LSD Phaylene, and Rob took 1st in Open with CH (pending) Majenli LK Carolina. Quinn took Best Overall Showman (limited to youth) and won a nice blanket, with Amanda Reserve champion.
Quinn’s prizeShowmanship ribbonsQuinn with PhayleneAmanda with Sawfish AS PorscheAmanda with Porsche
Lamanchas were a popular breed at Brooklyn. Sawfish AS Porsche was 1st under 2yo milker, CH (pending) Majenli LK Carolina was was first 3-5yo , and Bitterblue’s LSD Phaylene was 1st aged milker (we didn’t have a 2-3yo entry). Carolina took Best of Breed and Senior Doe in Show (winning us a second blanket). Lucky 4-Leaf E Red Hot Chili took 1st in 2-3yo milker Recorded Grade and Best of Breed for Recorded Grade.
In Juniors, Sawfish Chrysi took 1st in 4-8mo Jr Lamancha, Sawfish AS Tesla took 1st in dry yearlings, and Tesla was Champion Junior Lamancha. Sawfish Kipu was 1st 4-8mo Jr Recorded Grade and Champion Junior Recorded Grade. We had 4 daughter/dam combos with us and 3 placed in the top 6 of 16. We were 1st in Best 3 and 2nd for Git of Sire and Produce of Dam.
Overall, we were very pleased with the our placings and look forward to the next show on our schedule at Blandford.
Lucky 4-Leaf E Red Hot Chili4-8mo lamancha classSawfish AS TeslaSawfish AS PorscheSawfish QS Ferrari (left) and Sawfish AS Tesla (right)Sawfish KipuGit of SireEnd of show ribbons
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 first time to do LA and we had 3 other herds trailer to our farm to participate. Here are the results:
Can I just say crazy couple of baby goat weeks…We had 7 baby goats in mid March. Two from Tulsi, two from Carolina and preemie triplets from Jasmine.
On Monday March 18, Chili was giving me all the indications she was planning to out her babies, but she wasn’t due until Friday, so I left her out with the others. She is a drama queen goat, and doesn’t like to be isolated by herself.
Well, after morning chores I decided to check on her and then go deal with milk dishes. An hour later I came out to check on her and she had two babies on the ground already. An almost 9 pound buckling and a small 5 pound doeling. We named them Kauai and Kipu. Kauai got Chili’s frosted nose and ears, but Kipu certainly got her personality as she is a little diva already. Chili has been great settling into being a milking goat and is super easy to hand milk. She is still opiniated and will let us know if we forget to bring out the alfalfa.
Later that week, on Thursday, Rob and I had been invited to an equine educational evening sponsored by Flemings Feed. It was informational and dinner was great with some awesome desserts. We came home and went to check on Pepper in the barn, who was due Saturday, and low and behold, she had one buck kid on the ground and was pushing out a second! Pepper had eaten dinner on the stand 45 minutes earlier with the kids…
We named Pepper’s boys Principe and Palau. Our naming theme this year is Vacation islands.
Here are some pictures from the foursome being outside last week. The three boys are available as pet wethers, as is Tulsi’s buckling Trinidad, if anyone’s looking. Kipu is staying here.
PrincipeKipu in the pink collarKipu in frontKauai has the frosted earsKipu
Last Tuesday April 9 Phaylene, our aged doe, kidded with triplets. We had been watching her all day, but it wasn’t until we left the barn to have dinner that she decided to kid. We sent Amanda out after dinner and she called the house screaming “babies!”. There were two kids out and a third on the way. Two doelings, one buckling, all pretty small at 6.6-6 pounds. Phaylene did great and is already cranking out over a gallon a day.
Phaylene’s triplets
Quinn and Amanda named the kids Minna, Malta, and Mykonos (where Rob and I honey mooned). These may be Phaylene’s last kids depending on how she looks this year, as she is 9 years old, and Quinn wants to retire her. One of Phay’s doelings is likely to be available.
The current baby goat count is 14, with one goat left to kid.
Porsche is our last pregnant doe, due May 10, with kids from Fox’s Pride KS Smooth Swagger. Amanda is really hoping for a doe kid out of this breeding, as she doesn’t have one yet this year from her project does. Porsche is a yearling, and while we don’t usually breed our yearlings, Porsche was on the heavy side and plenty big enough at 110 pounds last fall. Keep your fingers crossed for her!
