ALL FINISHED!

Our kidding season ended with a bang with Crystal giving us quads. We had a great year and many beautiful babies all of which we are either retaining or are reserved (always nice). Another year with some great kidding stories under out belt. We can now focus on show and milk test. We’ll be excited to see everyone next month when show season starts! Looking forward to seeing all those new babies We have one more doe to kid in July/August then we’ll start breeding again for 2009. More updates coming soon!

Milk testing etc.

Now that we’re on our “short” kidding break, and Rainy gave us quads (that was exciting)- we finally got the does who freshened first on DHIA 305 day milk test. We were tested and tested another so far without any hitches. After testing another herd this morning, we headed off to the valley to purchase our long awaited doeling. After a great, relaxing Easter day, we headed back home to finish milk testing and enjoy the rest of Sunday. Alongside milking, feeding babies, and making soap, we’re looking forward to show season and reconnecting with everyone’s company we enjoy so much Keep checking the website for babies and ne updates-

Kiddings…

This year seems to have been a crazy but productive year so far. We’ve had lots of multiples and some oddly positioned babies as well. All have been healthy and bouncing off the walls not to menion I am in love with almost everyone’s conformation and want to keep all of them (only in a perfect world) lol. We have had to make some hard retaining decisions as to who to keep and who to let go. Some of our kids are so similar, we have to begin nitpicking down to the smallest difference in order to make our decision.

So far we have had twin bucklings who came easily, triplet doelings (one came with one leg behind), twin doelings (one of which gave us a very labored kidding), and quads (triplet does and a buck). So excited! Our next kidding start April 16 through the 22nd. Lastly we have another kidding in May and August.

Im looking forward to sticking our freshened does and some Jr’s on the show circuit this year

Check back soon for more info!

March Gymkhana

Oh so tired We enjoyed a fun, no-injury, nice gymkhana day today. Scooter was a COMPLETELY different horse. After putting her on “Regulate” (a herbal hormone aid for mares), her attitude changed completely. MUCH more focused, easier to work with, more willing to work, and no coming into heat at the sight of a new horse. Even though it turned horrendously cold by the end of the day (3pm), for the most part, we enjoyed the warm sunshine. I couldnt believe the difference in Scooter between the first gymkhana and today. It was like night and day. Didnt try to throw me (as much), was patient, and even satstill for the majority of the day. She’s still in the training stages (will be 3 in May) but is so much more advanced in her training (Kudos to me) thanks to her intelligence and brain, than many many horses I’ve ridden and worked with. I also worked her yesterday with some ground work, lounging, etc then rode her for a good hour. The attitude was very minimal. No sqealing, etc but she still has PLENTY of energy. Very thrilled Today, Karissa won “CLJH High Point” for the series. Her first belt buckle ever- what an exciting moment for her and Janie. Stormie and Willy did well also. Overall- it was a great day but I definately forgot how much more exhausted gymkhanas make me than goat or sheep shows. Was a good- low stress day though- Pic  below is of Scooter and I on a “training run”.

STORM BABIES

The storm hit fri mid morning/afternoon and would you know it we had our first kids during the WORST part of the storm Saturday night. Lina gave us two healthy but early boys with an easy kidding. She had them out and cleaned by the time I got to the barn wich was pretty fast! Dotty was in the barn with Lina (she was due the 25th) and wanted nothing to do with the action. Just hit in the corner. Her attitude didnt change today either. She kidded with 3 beautiful gold and white doelings during another hard part of the storm at about 11 am this morning. The first doeling came out with one leg tucked behind her so Dotty needed a little assistance getting her wiggled out. The other two came MUCH easier. Everyone is not happy and healthy. The babies and does are curled beneath their heat lamp in the stall.

OH! We also had the priviledge of using our new milk machine today!! What a life saver I’m much more fond of hand milking but Shane is a bit hand milking handicapped and it’ll definately help whoever is taking care of the girls when we’re away…

First 2008 Babies!!

We had our very first babies of the year although, they weren’t goats. Instead we had 2 beautiful Jacob lambs. Both are perfectly marked and out of wonderful bloodlines. Stormie decided to retain the ewe lamb and cut back on a couple other ewes since she likes to keep a small flock. The ram lamb will also be put up for sale with the 2 ewes but MY GOODNESS! So cute. Little balls of energy. Granted- when we visited, they were only about an hour old but were still hopping around in the sunshine. Pics are on our website under New Arrivals

Goat update: Dotty and Lina were put in the kidding pens today! Babies coming soon

Ski Trip!

Oh-what a fun weekend. We stayed at the Grand Sierra (used to be the Hilton) hotel in Reno. We ended up taking Button with us and stayed in one of the marble remodeled suites. So nice. I dont think I can stay in a regular hotel room after that We joined a bunch of friends to celebrate Jarreds bday for the weekend. We drove up Fri, kicked back and shopped Sat then skiied/snowboarded all day Sun then came home today (Mon). Very fun but exhausting. I was so glad I decided to ski with Melissa instead of snowboard with Jarred, Shane, and Amanda– ESPECIALLY after watching them hit the snow about 20+ times. Skiing came much easier. We visited the new Cabelas also (WOW). On the way home today- we stopped and let Button play in the snow by Donner Pass. She LOVES the snow. I think she’d go crazy if we lived in it. Will post pics soon! Off to unwind

Another Long Trip

We decided to make a “quick trip” this weekend before the girls began kidding to pick up a camper shell we desperately needed for the truck and 2 Sr. does. We found the camper a couple months ago but decided it was too far to drive all the way to Las Vegas (espeically with the gas prices) for just a camper shell. THEN I just so happened to find two Sr. Does down that way as well. So- the guy in Las Vegas still has the camper and we made the trip. Figured we may as well get all the traveling out of our systems before we begin kidding again (although Im still recovering from the November trips) and we still have to travel to Reno next weekend (friends bday). Overall- the trip was fun and long. We stayed at a great hotel in Las Vegas after we picked up the shell and picked up the girls in the morning before heading home. Next weekends blog on our ski/snowboarding trip coming soon as well as a bunch of bumps and bruises (first time snowboarding).

INJURY

After the gymkhana- I pulled Scooter out to find she was definately favoring her hind leg. Which ultimately meant “STALL REST”. Neither her or I were thrilled about the subject but neither of us could afford her injuring it worse in the pasture or her and another horse getting into a tiff. We have a layup extension off the barn which is a 12X20 ft 3 sided stall. Works great for injured horses b/c they can still move around but cant get into trouble. I pulled in the driveway yesterday to find my incredibly board filly kneeling under the gate to retrieve any stray blades of grass she hadn’t already cleaned up and half the barn siding popped of the nails. WONDERFUL! She lies around in the pasture all day but of course all her cooped up energy has to go somewhere. I HAD to find something to passify her. Got her a peppermint lick- Nothing- no interest.  Of course the local feed store which had 5 Jolly balls last week was now out While in Ukiah today- I picked her up a pink Jolly Ball. Talk about a play toy. Phew! Hopefully it will keep her occupied. When I shut off all the lights this evening- I caught her bucking and kicking in her stall at her new ball! Maybe it’ll keep her attention off the barn wall

2.5 weeks until we kid! I’ll keep you posted Im excited to use our new milk machine! Im SURE Shane is going to be thrilled to not have to hand milk this year….

Feb Gymkhana

Oh- what a day! Its been a long time since I’ve acctually “pushed” a horse through events. We used to gymkhana all over the state but after Tommy retired, we had young horses to start instead of training for gymkhana. The morning started off with a bang. I walked out to catch Scooter and load her in the trailer. She normally runs right up to me when I call her, but stood at the bottom of the pasture holding her rear leg up… “Great”. After much coaxing, she walked up the hill just to show me she “somehow” (God only knows what she did) injured her rear leg. I pulled her out just to make sure. No cuts but was a bit swollen, but I definately did not have time to coddle her and wrap it until after the gymkhana. After I let her back out into the pasture, she took off running and bucking! If I didnt see her leg for myself, I would have thought she was a huge Faker. She’s definately smart enough to be and we’ve had horses who’ve been fakers before. To make a long story short, I ended up riding Stormie’s new horse Penny- after calling her to tell her what happened. When we arrived at the gymkhana, Stormie’s 3yo mare (who Karissa was riding) WOULD NOT get out of the trailer. She had turned herself around in the rear slant when Stormie when to pull her out. She refused to jump out and would not turn back around to back out. After a quick arguement, getting my hand split open-blood everywhere, and her being VERY persistent about needing to back out but couldnt turn back around, we cracked the second divider open just enough to where Willie could quickly back out so we had a little more room to turn around. Thank goodness Willie loves to go for trailer rides and is very obedient. Needless to say, she finally had enough room to turn back around and back out. Penny, Willie (Stormie was riding), and Janie (Karissa was riding) all did very well considering it was trying to snow and everyone’s horses were acting silly b/c of the weather. PHew! What a day. It got over early before the worst of yesterday’s storm hit. Our next horse event is a team penning event Feb 23rd, then the last of the winter gykhana series March 2nd, and another team penning event Mach 15th. After that- theres a few gymkhanas throughout the summer but then the sheep shows and goats shows take up the majority of the weekends over late spring, summer, and fall.