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Family
News |
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The 7A+
Extended
Family
members
are a
busy
bunch, and
sometimes
they
share
pictures
and
reports
of the
latest
news
with us.
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Family News -
Spring 2008 |
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From Good News Farm in
Somerton, Arizona |
CHRISTMAS IN MAY!
Seven A Plus received a
delightful surprise from our
good friends of many years,
Colleen Scott and her
daughter April Fair who have
Good News Farm in Somerton,
Arizona. A friend of theirs
hauled a very special nanny
to us. Can Quest is from
Can-Can, one of their many
Permanent Grand Champions,
and has in her background
the first goat April and
Colleen bought from us–
Sackett, the beloved
"Marshmallow Monster."
We are delighted with Can
Quest. She is such an
elegant, long-bodied,
feminine lady, but don't let
her fool you. She does have
just a touch of tomboy
behind that innocent face.
Right now she is carrying
out a special assignment
that none of our goats can
do. Because Colleen and
April dehorn all their goats
Can Quest is just right to
become the close friend of
our little bottle deer, Pet.
Pet grew up with two bottle
billy goats; all three of
them born much earlier than
the other babies. The boys
had to go when they got
weaned, but Pet is lucky
because our new goat doe can
become best friends with our
deer doe. No horns to knock
her around with when she
gets cross. That way Pet
will always have someone she
knows close by to help her
adjust to her confusing
deer/goat lifestyle.
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Our beautiful
new doe, Can Quest.
This is one nanny we
will call a "doe." |
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Here are the two
does sharing a
cluster of leaves.
Can Quest will be a
sister for our
bottle deer, Pet,
who would have a
lonely and confusing
life otherwise. We
need to keep Can
Quest in a
restricted area
where she won't be
exposed to twin leaf
senna, and we want
to let Pet grow big
before we give her
the freedom to
wander and jump
fences with the
other deer. We think
Pet will always come
back to Can Quest
after she after she
spends some time
around the deer. |
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Jerry and Frances Nix – just
up the road from our ranch,
near Rocksprings
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Many generations of
baby goats have
enjoyed romping on
the monster rocks
that are on the Nix
ranch. Notice that
circle of bare dirt
tromped out around
the rock. |
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Remember when Miss
Mary was sitting on
a rock playing like
she was Queen Mary?
Now she has a real
life role as Mama
and looks very
pleased with the
job. |
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The VanderMartins - near
Buffalo, Texas |
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Fred and Gwen VanderMartin
bought some young goats at
our Tyler sale and were good
enough to share the news of
this year's kid crop with
us. Fred writes a newsletter
that you should ask him to
share with you also. He
passes on the regional news
about meetings and
activities in the East Texas
area, but he also talks
about the meat goat industry
in general. You would
benefit from the
industry-wide and
pasture-wide observations in
Fred's e-mail newsletter.
As a sample of the larger
picture he urged producers
to lobby for rules that
would let goat meat be
shipped between states.
Presently foreign countries
can send in goat meat to the
United States with little or
no inspection, but states
cannot cross the border to
the next state with this
product unless they meet
unrealistic standards. Fred
is a lawyer so can analyze
those laws better than we
untrained people can.
Below you can see a sample
of the observations that
Fred and Gwen make in the
pasture. This was an e-mail
to us, but in his
publication he also mentions
common sense ways to set up
your herd with a profit in
mind. Notice that in this
message he mentions what can
be a real problem; stranger
kids robbing milk from an
inexperienced mother. Also
he and Gwen are making
muttons out of almost all
their little billies to take
advantage of the wether
market.
The following is a quote
from Fred's e-mails:
"7A+ Anacacho is the
daddy of Penny's babies.
His Sire is Traildriver
and his Dam is Rainsong.
Talkeetna is the other
buck we have. His Sire
is DSM Snuffy and his
dam is Icemagic. The
Momma is 7A+ Penny King,
her sire is Rawhide and
her dam is Muscadine.
She's a popular Momma
around the babies
because I think she is
too generous with her
milk. She is a first
time mom and becomes
confused when a bunch of
kids surround her and
some of the little
freeloaders try to get a
quick snack.
"Both bucks have
produced many males that
will make some
impressive show wethers.
At this time we will be
leaving only two single
birth bucklings intact.
Both have a wide base
and a good loin that
carries back to the
hindquarters and were
sired by Anacacho. At
this time Gwen and I
have 41 kids on the
ground with 2 death
losses. My dear,
darling, long suffering
wife that is burdened
with a large herd and
one hard headed old
billy goat (yours
truly), is very
impressed with the
babies that both bucks
have produced, with a
high ratio of bucklings,
which we were hoping
for, as all of the
counties except
Freestone Co. have their
youth livestock shows in
the late winter-early
spring and we hope to
sell them to the show
folks."
And one more quote from Fred
that all of us goat people
can identify with:
"They say that dogs are
man's best friend, but
the originator of that
old saw never raised a
herd of nanny goats."
If you would like to receive
Fred's newsletter, here is
his email address:
clwyer@gmail.com
This is a picture they
shared with us of Penny
Knight and her two billy
kids..... |
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It looks like Buffalo Bob
standing behind his mother
Penny King has taken on the
duty of Rear Guard stationed
there to fight off the
neighbors who have heard
that Ms. Penny is generous
with her milk. |
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Dream Acres Boers – Athens,
Texas |
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Judy Hill sent us these
pictures. We love to hear
from Judy because they treat
their goats so well. The
Hill family have managed to
gentle down so much the four
goats they took home with
them several months ago it
just amazes us. Soon they're
going to pick up two more
nannies and another billy to
take back with them to East
Texas.
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That boy is barely
taller than his
goat, but look how
in control and
businesslike he is.
This picture of
Corbin and Rock
Solid epitomizes the
biggest contribution
that Boer goats can
make to a family.
When three
generations share in
the fun of goats it
brings a family
together and gives
them memories for
the years to come. |
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When Talladega went
to East Texas he had
never been handled
and certainly could
not have been caught
in the pasture. Now
Mike can give him a
chest rub any time
he wants to.
Talladega has just
received a short
haircut which
probably feels good
in this hot Texas
weather.
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These three nannies
are the ones Judy
bought earlier. Not
one had ever been
handled, but they're
all three gentle
now. And the one
closest to the
camera has shown
problem solving
ability that no
other goat has
demonstrated in our
experience. The
girls were shut away
from the hay bale
overnight by a horse
panel fence – bars
that started little
more than a foot
from the ground. The
next morning
Popourri was eating
from the hay bale.
Mike thought he must
have failed to tie
the gate well. He
moved her back with
the other girls and
had hardly turned
around before she
flopped flat on her
side and began to
wriggle like a snake
to pass under the
panel! |
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Stoney Field Boers –
Thurmont, Maryland |
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Behold the Maryland
Twist! In this
picture taken on his
3-month birthday,
Rising Sun has a
longer and fuller
twist than many
billies months
older. His mother is
a 7A+ nanny from a
Honey Girl daughter
and a Wobbles son.
His father is that
great big old Jerry
whose picture is in
Mark Spalding's
section of the
Extended Family
page. We have been
trying to get kids
from Jerry and our
nannies here by
means of artificial
insemination for two
years without any
luck so far. When we
look at how good
this kid is we are
even more frustrated
at our lack of
success than we were
before. |
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Rising Sun looks
good from every
angle. |
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Hill Boer Goats |
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This is an interesting bit
of family news that we would
like to share with you the
way it came to us. We
appreciate so much the
kindness and thoughtfulness
of Jim Hill of Hill Boer
Goats to let us know about
one of our babies that left
here five years ago. As you
can see from the pictures we
remembered the billy and his
mother with affection. This
is an e-mail we received
November 11, 2007. It was
from Jim Hill from
Lowmansville, Kentucky. We
had met him at the Jackson,
Kentucky, show in September
of 2007. He showed two
nannies there who both did
very well.
Hi John and Cathie,
Well, I've waited until
today to write you and
tell about 7A + Nueces.
I waited to see if he
would pull through. You
sold him at your
Kentucky 2003 sale. He
was one year old at the
time. He's a Liveoak
son. His mother is 7A +
Wampus, a Cloud
Dancing-DSM Huggy
daughter. In early
October a friend called
and told me that a 7A+
Buck was for sale. I
called and got an
appointment to see
Nueces on October
7th.The lady told me he
was going to Richmond's
stock sale if not bought
that week. Oct 7 was on
a Sunday. I had already
decided to buy him.
To make a long story
short, he is doing fine.
He's eating Honor Show
Goat feed with a little
sweet feed mixed in and
Orchard grass hay. He
has his own lot and
stall. He and I both
feel he deserves it. His
chest is filling out and
looks as if his rear end
is getting some meat
back. Last week he bred
two of the does I showed
at Jackson. Both does
are long and big. One,
Chloe, was Reserve
Champion in the Senior
Division and the other,
Bubbles, was third in
the 16-20 class.
I'm also retired and
only attend the small
shows, with the State
Fair being my largest.
Thought you would like
to know. 7A + Nueces
says "Hello"......Jim
Hill
Jim mailed us a picture
taken on Nueces' sixth
birthday so we could see how
well he was doing. As all of
you who love goats realize
it is a real comfort to know
that someone is taking such
affectionate care of one of
your baby goats. What a
great kindness it was for
Jim to make such a very
special gesture - taking a
picture on his birthday! And
the news also came along
that Nueces' daughter from
Jim's show winning nanny
"Bubbles" was born on Easter
and is named "Nueces'
Bonnie." Now we can watch
the show lists for Bubbles
and Bonnie, truly glamorous
names
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Wampus and 3 wet
babies |
Nueces 6th
birthday |
We sent Jim this picture of
Wampus and three wet new
babies that we thought
included Nueces. When you
compare the shape of the red
on Nueces' face in the
picture taken on his sixth
birthday and the baby facing
the camera in the newborn
picture you can see that we
did indeed find the picture
of Nueces' first birthday. |
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More Family News - Winter 2007»» |
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