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The
Home Pasture |
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2009 - The Year of the
Matron
A GOOD SOLID MOTHER is the
foundation of any herd. This
widely accepted bit of
old-fashioned wisdom
certainly makes sense to us.
We have declared 2009 to be
THE YEAR OF THE MATRON at
this ranch. We looked around
to analyze how many mature,
proven mothers we have to
work with, and here are some
of the ones we found. Most
of these pictures were taken
in the pasture in December
where they have been living
with no supplement except
salt blocks all year long
during what the television
says is one of the worst
droughts this area has had
in more than fifty years.
Fortunately our ranch seems
to have fared better than
that statistic indicates,
but we have certainly had
very little rain this last
year.
Some of these lady goats
were put with a billy for a
month and got a small amount
of coastal hay during that
time, but that's all the
extra care they have had.
When we see what good
condition they're in that
makes us happy because it
tells us that they are
thrifty as well as being
proven producers of top
quality kids. They all have
a very strong mothering
instinct and give ample
milk. These are not all the
mature nannies we depend on,
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TWO HONEY GIRL
DAUGHTERS
Hundreds of Honey
Girl descendants
have passed through
our pastures. In
fact almost every
Boer goat we own has
Honey Girl somewhere
in its pedigree. But
Time has taken away
almost all of her
own daughters. It is
our very good luck
that these two
nannies are still
with us and are in
our active herd.
Every Honey Girl
daughter has been a
source of really
valuable kids.
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Icemagic
is from
Honey
Girl and
Liveoak |
Flame
is from
Honey
Girl and
Rainey,
who was
the son
of
Honey
Girl's
sister
DSM
Wobbles |
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THREE
SISTERS
FROM
SNOWSPARK
AND
LIVEOAK
Snowspark
is an
own
daughter
of Honey
Girl who
was born
to her,
not to a
recipient
nanny.
The sire
is Billy
Bob.
Snowspark
is still
with us
but very
old so
we are
letting
her eat
and doze
in the
sun.
During
her long
career
she has
given us
a steady
supply
of good
kids,
including
one of
our all
time
best
billies
-
Rawhide.
We feel
fortunate
to have
these
three
good
daughters
in our
pasture. |
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Snowfire
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Westwind |
Snowrise |
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THREE RAWHIDE
DAUGHTERS
The legacy of
Honey Girl through
Snowspark continues
with these three
nannies that we
consider among our
very best. Her son
Rawhide was a fuzzy,
loveable little
billy who grew up to
be one of our most
important sires. He
was from Liveoak.
The mothers of Baby
Girl and Stormrise
are Honey Girl
daughters from
Rainey (a Wobbles'
son), and Mary Kay
is from a Honey Girl
granddaughter, Red
Star. The mother of
Red Star (Red Wing)
is a sister to
Paintbrush and
Rainsong.
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Baby Girl -
Paintbrush |
Mary Kay - Red Star
(Zorro- Red Wing) |
Stormrise - Rainsong
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FOUR
MORE
NANNIES
THAT WE
REALLY
LIKE
In
common
with all
our
other
goats
they
have
Kaptein
and
Tobias
in their
pedigrees. |
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Adena
- from
Adena
Brew and
Liveoak
We
love the
way this
young
nanny
looks
and plan
to use
her all
we can.
Adena
Brew is
the
sister
of
Tobias,
and
Liveoak
was his
son, so
this
nanny is
a
product
our
favorite
line-breeding
combination-
one step
down and
one step
over.
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"Chaka-Tobe"
- from
Chakatta
and
Tobias
She
combines
genetics
from two
of our
favorite
goats.
Chakatta
gave us
our
beloved
Honey
Girl and
was also
the
mother
of
Wobbles
whose
kids we
have
used
with
Honey
Girl's
to
produce
top
notch
goats.
Tobias
passed
on
valuable
traits
for
width
and meat
through
his sons
Liveoak
and
Buffalo,
our most
valuable
foundation
sires.
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Merridew
- from
Tobias-Eve
56 and
Alazan
Merridew
is the
nanny
who
claims
any kid
who is
born out
in the
pasture.
She lets
the
mother
feed it,
but she
bosses
both of
them. We
hope she
will be
so busy
with her
own kids
this
year she
won't
interfere
with the
neighbor's
child.
Laughing
at her
funny
idiosyncracies
doesn't
make us
forget
that she
is an
extremely
good
nanny
who
carries
strong
heredity
from the
Tobias
family.
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Rain
Lily -
Rainsong
and
Buffalo
This
little
nanny is
one of
our
biggest
treasures
even
though
she is
small.
She
never
quite
got the
chance
to grow
big
because
she
started
giving
us good
kids
when she
was very
young
and kept
right on
bringing
forth
top
quality
kids
every
year.
One of
her very
best is
Redrock,
a son
from
Alazan. |
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Paintbrush, Inc.
in the "Any Minute
Now" maternity pen. |
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left to right: Mistymoon
and Paintbrush
herself (both bred
to Geronimo)
and Moonripple, bred
to Redrock in hopes
she'll make more
kids as good as
Sundark.
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