RIP Jewel and Root Beer

I thought I should dedicate this post to two of our best does that we have sadly, recently lost. Both animals have majorly contributed to our herd and have left us a lot to remember them by.

Jewel with her Best Doe in Show trophy

This is Jewel (4/15/06-12/9/10), a NDG Doe. In her life time, she has produced 7 kids total; 2 bucks and 5 does. All have excelled during shows and have been highly complimented on. Jewel herself has been to 8 shows. Here is a list of all of her major wins:

7 x Sr. Champion

7 x Grand Champion Nigerian Dwarf

1 x Reserve Best Doe in Show

1 x Best Doe in Show

1 x Best Udder in Show

As you can see, Jewel has a pretty good show record. The judges really did love this girl! Now with her gone, it is up to her 3 retained daughters to take her place in spotlight.

This is Root Beer (5/2/07-1/17/11), a dark caramel pygmy doe. She has produced 2 bucks and 2 does total.  Both does have done superb in the show ring and we are very excited to see both of them mature. Roo has been to only 2 shows, but she has done well. Here is a list of her wins:

1 x Sr. Champion

1 x Grand Champion Pygmy

It may be a short list, but it is still one to be proud of. We dearly miss Roo, but we hope to improve on what she has given us. 

Jane

Jane (about 5 weeks old)

Jane is a beautiful dark gray agouti pygmy doe born on 5/9/09. We were surprised and a little disappointed to find a gray agouti kid when both of her parents had been dark caramel agouti (brown), but she made up for it in conformation. In August of 2009, she went to her first show and came home with a Reserve Jr. Champion award. As she matured, we became even more excited to take her to a show in 2010. In August 2010, we too her to the same show as the year before and she won Jr. Champion. The judge loved her!

Jane (now)

Below are her parents. They are both great examples of the pygmy breed and they defiantly brought out each others strong points which you can see in Jane. Once again, where did she get that color?

Jane's Sire, Pogo

Jane's Dam, Root Beer (deceased)

Now, Jane is bred to our other pygmy buck and is due Late May. We are very excited to show her as a senior doe and see what she produces.

Frankly My Dear (Frankie)

In October, 2009, we finally bought a NDG (Nigerian Dwarf Goat) buck, and am I happy we did! At the time we bought him, we had mostly pygmies and we weren't completely sure what to look for when buying a buck. Also, it didn't help that he was in his winter coat, but we decided to give him a shot. We bred him to our nicest NDG doe and the kids were born on May 1st, 2010. Both were the same color as Frankie and had his blue eyes.

In August, we took the girls, Timber and Topaz, to the county fair, not really sure what to expect. Show night came and both sisters did well. Timber was the favorite of two and the judge loved her! She said that if Timber had been a senior doe, she would have been the Best Doe in Show.

The picture above does not show Frankie off very well, we hope to get a new one soon, but you can see some of his strong points. He has great dairy character, leg angulation, and body capacity. He is strong on his feet and has great milking lines in his background.

Photo From Maplewood Hilltop

This is Frankie's sire, Wood Bridge Farm Wewillywinkle. His sire is Rosasharn UMT Pippin *S *B and his dam is Wood Bridge Farm Viola Lolla.

Photo From Maplewood Hilltop

This is Frankie's dam, Maplewood Hilltop Gold Nugget. Her sire is Rosehollow E Colt 45 and her dam is Moon Spinner's Aspen Gold.

We have three does bred to Frankie this year and we are super excited to show his kids as senior does in a year.

2010 Kids

This past year, we had 22 kids born. Out of the 22, we have retained 8 does. I figured that since they are the future of our herd, I should write a little bit about each one.

This is Topaz, a beautiful, tan NDG with blue eyes born on 5/1/10. She has a lot of dairy qualities with great milking lines behind her. At one of the fairs, she won 1st place in her class, and then won Jr.Champion. We are very excited for this girl to freshen when we can show her as a Sr. Doe.

Meet Timber, the full sister to Topaz. She is white with tan stripes and blue eyes. She has been highly complemented on by the judges for her dairy character and her strong legs and feet. The judge told us that if she had been an older doe, she would have the Best Doe in Show. We can not say enough about this girl!

This goof-ball is Layla, a gray agouti pygmy doe born on 5/4/10. We kept her because her full-blooded, sister, Jane, has done extremely well in the show ring. It was a good choice. In a class of seven other does her age, Layla came in first with flying colors. We are excited to see her mature.

This is Calypso, a dark caramel agouti pygmy doe born on 5/14/10. She is such a tiny girl, making her a perfect pygmy. She is very cobby and correct. She didn't have much of a chance in the ring this year because she was in her "ganggly teenager stage" during the fair, but I'm super excited for this year!

You will probably recognize Leslie, a dark caramel agouti pygmy doe, from yesterday's entry who was born on 5/29/10. When she was born, there was no way I could sell her. Not only is she a pretty girl, but she has great lines behind her and I have high hopes for her. She has been to one show and has already won Reserve Jr. Champion!

Fantasia, another dark caramel agouti pygmy doe with white, is one of the prettiest pygmies ever born on the farm. She was born on 6/12/10. Both of her parents are small with correct pygmy conformation, so I am very excited to see how this girl matures.

Pistachio Dream, a flashy buckskin with white NDG, born on 11/17/10, was the result of an accidental breeding, but possibly one that will turn out to be a nice breeding. She is super dairy and is strong on her feet with great leg angulation and a nice top-line.

Lastly, we have Paisley, from another accidental breeding born on 12/2/10. She is beautiful in her buckskin with minimal white coat and her ice blue eyes. Both of her NDG parents are great examples of their breed, so we decided to retain her to see if she could mature like them. I'm anxious for her future.

Karma

Because there are not many new things going on here at the farm, I will start introducing some of the goats. Today I will show you my personal favorite and my baby, Karma.

Karma was born on 5/2/08 during my first year of 4-H. We had always had the goats, but this year, I was going to pick out one of the babies born and raise it for my project. I knew Karma was going to be that goat as soon as I saw her. Even as a day-old baby, you could tell she was going to be a champion, and she was.

Karma's Sire, Sterling Silver

Karma's Dam, Oreo

When we matched up Karma's parents, we expected a nice little kid or two, but never did we expect to get one as nice as Karma. The two of them proved to be a great breeding pair, both making up for each other's faults and producing a champion. 

In late August of 2008, I took Karma to the county fair (and this is no small fair either) for the first time. She was four months old and everybody loved her. She was a favorite of the goat barn, but we had bigger goals for her to reach. I remember feeling butterflies in my stomach as I rushed to get dressed in my show whites, wondering how my little Karma would do in the show ring, and oh man, was I in for a surprise! That night, my four month old pygmy goat came in 1st in her class, and then went on to win Jr. Champion. I was so happy for her, thinking that was it for the night, but then I was called back into the ring for one last class; Best Doe in Show. I looked at my mom who warned me that she was so young that there was no way she would win, but that didn't bother me. I had already done well enough. 

Our competition was a beautiful pygmy doe, and the judge carefully studied each animal. Then she made her decision; Karma won Best Doe in Show!

Karma with one of the many ribbons she won that night

To this day, Karma is still a favorite of the judges, and is still my spoiled little brat. In December of 2009, she was bred to our nicest pygmy buck and on 5/29/10, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Leslie.

Leslie, 1 month old 

(see any family resemblance?)

Now Leslie gets to start a story of her own, and she is off to a great start, already have winning a reserve Jr. Champion. Leslie has a lot of weight to carry, but I'm not worried...

Our Very Own Blog

 "Joni"

A NDG doe born this year here 

at Calico Patch Farm

 I have been toying with the idea of making a blog for our pygmy and Nigerian Dwarf goat farm for quite awhile now and I finally did it. I figure that with kidding season coming up, now is a great time to get it started and get our name out in the blogging world so that when babies are born, people will be updated much faster.

A little info about about us; we are located in Northwest Pennsylvania and have a herd of around 30 goats, mostly pygmy and Nigerian Dwarf, but we have a few other breeds mixed in. We strive to improve the two breeds by obtaining quality animals. Each year around the end of November, we evaluate each doe and breed her to the buck that will improve any of her short comings, making outstanding kids. Breeding season has recently ended and our first doe is expecting on April 25, 2011. Kidding season is a big time around here. We keep anywhere from 2-7 kids a year and the others are put up for sale as either pets, 4-H projects, or sometimes for breeding stock. Then in mid-August, we take selected goats to the county fair. In the past 3 years, we really have cleaned up! We have won awards like Jr. and Sr. Champion Pygmy, Grand Champion Pygmy, Jr. and Sr. Champion Nigerian Dwarf Goat (NDG), Grand Champion NDG, Best Doe in Show, and Best Udder in Show. 

My sister and I raise these goats for 4-H and have lots of fun. If you are thinking about joining 4-H or getting goats, go for it! You won't regret it!

Feel free to stop by our website and check out our goats and up coming kids!
http://www.calicopatchfarm.com/