Kyrstyn and KC bring home top honors from the Boonville Fair

Congratulations to Kyrstyn and KC for their recent wins in both Obedience and Showmanship at the 2014 Mednocino County Fair and Apple Show in Boonville, California. Kyrstyn says all the credit goes to God and KC and she was just along for the ride but what she isn't saying is that for the past 5 years she has been the sole trainer of KC and their win is due to the incredible bond the two of them have. Well that, and many hours of work.

 

Kyrstyn, KC, and Susan G. (judge) of Classic K-9

 



 Thank you to the amazing sponsors at the Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show too. Kyrstyn and KC came home with a beautiful bag sponsored by Yokayo Veterinary Center and it was full of toys, and grooming supplies and the neatest cloth travel dishes. Thank you to BR Pets, It's a Pet Thing, and Mendocino County Farm Supply for filling this beautiful bag with so many toys and treats; it was like Christmas in September!
 

Kyrstyn showing off the beautiful bag sponsored by Yokayo Veterinary Center.


Kyrstyn went on to compete in Small Animal Round Robin where she placed second. Nice job for her first time ever being in Round Robin!

Congratulations to all the 4H and FFA memebers who completed at the Mendocino County Fair whether they went on to Round Robin or not they are all amazing people and it shows in all they do with their fellow competitors and their animals.

 Now if only I could remember to bring a good camera and not try to take photos with my phone.

Congratulations to Aubergine!

Utterly Blessed Aubergine won Senior Grand Champion then Best of Show at the Nevada County Fair, in the youth show, this past weekend. Then she went on to win Senior Grand Champion in the open show.

Congratulations to Liz Smith of Mini-Ridge-Top Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats of Nevada City, owner of Aubergine.

 

Aubergine as a dry yearling.

 

Need I say more ...

Kynnedy's Mug

Last year we were fortunate enough to have two junior does win Grand Champion at the Redwood Empire Dairy Goat Association, goat show.

 

 

This year as we were preparing to show Kynnedy was looking at the coffee mugs and she said, "I will only be happy if I win a coffee mug." As I surveyed our competition I said, "Hmm ... well you'd better tell that to the goats ... on second thought you'd better bring that up with God, because I think he is the only one who is going to be able to help you with that request."

 

Well, as it turns out it must have been God's will too, because not only did Kynnedy get one coffee mug but she got a second one to match. I guess we can both drink our coffee in style now.

 

 Now Kynnedy has decided that getting a new coffee mug each year at REDGA would be a good goal. So, here's to a new mug next year ... maybe even two!

Oh to be a cat ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eggs-ceptional!

And I thought I was busy!  Last night I didn't collect the eggs. Look what was waiting for me tonight.

 

 

A Doe Year?

Nutmeg and Flip Flop both had their babies last night. Flip Flop had triplets, 2 does and 1 buck and I was thinking how wonderful that was because Liberty also had 2 does and 1 buck. So when Nutmeg went into labor and had two does I was in the mind set, as she had a third baby, that it would be a buck, but it was a doe!  Wow, maybe it is going to be a doe year. I wonder, has there ever been a doe year? (Meaning more doe births than bucks). Hmmm, I'm probably getting ahead of myself here as we still have seven more does to freshen this spring and then two in the summer. Oh well, it is all good when the babies and their dams are healthy, but just because it is fun to speculate on a doe year I will tally the current baby count at our farm for 2014. 

Doelings = 9 / Bucklings = 2

Update 5/4/14 ~ The spring part of our kidding season is over now. No other does are due until late July. The current counts are tied ~ 15 bucks and 15 does!  Wow ... crazy how our opening season numbers have changed. But, we can't complain at all. We have 30 beautiful babies that are all healthy and that is what is most important. Thank you Lord for being with us throughout this spring's kidding season and helping each birth to be a success.

 

Flip Flop's babies ~ 4 hours old.

 

Nutmeg's babies ~ one hour old.

 

Libby's 2014 babies

Miss Liberty had three beautiful babies last night. I think they are the most beautiful babies that have ever been born at our farm but I'm partial to loud colors and chamoise with random white coloring and dark buckskin with random white. Liberty gave us a little of both. OK, really it was God who designed them and Liberty just took very good care of them for the past 149 days. Thank you Lord and Libby.

 

 

My Administrative Assistant

Slipping Through the Cracks

     Bear with me, this is one of those 'trains of thought' that takes a few twists and turns but it does arrive at a point.
     Those of  you who read this blog know that I have a favorite blog. It is written by Baby Belle of Herron Hill Dairy and it is called "This Goat's Life", (http://goatcentral.blogspot.com/). This past Tuesday, Baby Belle wrote about "Blue Monday." Apparently, Blue Monday is the saddest day of the year. The term Blue Monday, was coined as being "the date calculated by using many factors, including: weather conditions, debt level (the difference between debt accumulated and our ability to pay), time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and feeling of a need to take action." Someone decided all of these factors make up a specific formula that can pin point the saddest day of the year. Typically Blue Monday occurs in mid to late January. OK ~ really ... Someone decided there was a mathematical formula for this? I'm just not even going to go down that path.  
     This year the formula determined that Blue Monday fell on January 6th. That alone is extremely sad as it fell on the same day as the Epiphany this year. The Epiphany is a celebration held on January 6 in honor of the coming of the three kings to the infant Jesus Christ. Obviously, for those of us who love the Lord, this is the last day in which we would ever consider to be Blue Monday. The word Epiphany is also defined as a moment in which you suddenly see or understand something in a new or very clear way.  A light bulb moment. There is a lot of irony swirling around this whole incident. Keep reading.
     Blue Monday was in fact a day of true sorrow at Herron Hill Farm and no one was probably thinking of the three kings or even the baby Jesus because as Baby Belle told us all, it was the day that, ironically, Monday, the yearling doe, delivered her baby way too early. Too early to have finished developing inside the womb. It was heart breaking to read and I wept and I wanted to drive right up to Washington and hold her and feed her lots of goat cookies and just be with her. She has a wonderful farmer of her own, she doesn't need me at all but still this is what I was feeling and I carried this around in my heart for days.
     On Thursday night, Star, one of our first goats, starting talking. She is not much of a talker, except at kidding time, now that she has learned not to scream for grain at the top of her lungs. In fact she is down right quiet most of the time. So when she started talking and talking I took notice. I had estimated that Star was due to have her babies on February 21st or so. Instantly I thought of Monday. I'm a very positive person by nature but a true hypochondriac when it comes to our animals. Other than her talking, nothing seemed amiss. I told myself I was just over reacting and I tucked all the goats into the barn for the night. The next morning, Star was arching her tail, a sign of pain in most cases when it comes to goats, and she kept stretching. She didn't want to eat. She walked outside with the other does but then came right back into the barn and made a little goat nest and lay down. Oh no, was all I could think and I didn't know what else to do. I moved Star to one of the kidding stalls and waited. I wept. I told Star how very sorry I was and that I would be there for her. I kept thinking maybe she is just tired and she is trying to get the babies into a different position. Maybe she was fine and that I was just being an idiot. I could feel a baby moving but I knew that it would not survive being born five weeks early and if Star were to go into labor then it would not survive. My brain was searching for some other possibility. Perhaps one of the bucks was able to breed Star through the fence. I write every breeding down. I searched and searched through my calendar and my goat notebook. Nothing other than Star being in with a buck on September 20th. The babies must be coming five weeks early. I gathered the birthing kit and several clean towels and waited.
     Well ... Star delivered two beautiful doelings, both are healthy and to term. I can't remember her being bred in late August, even though I looked through many emails that I had exchanged with a wonderful person who had planned on buying Star. I had mentioned in one that I was planning on breeding her "any day", that was in early August. Obviously I went through with that plan but writing it down on the calendar must have slipped through the cracks of life.
    I wish I could share one of these little babies with Monday so she could have a little baby to love but then again I guess that is just a crazy human way of thinking.  Well, this crazy human's way of thinking anyway.

     Thank you Lord.