Boys will be boys

We took several of the goats hiking (post to follow at some point) and this picture was just too good not to share. As it turns out the idea that boys cannot pass a stick without picking them up is not a concept limited to human males. Arabica (in the picture) had to grab a stick and play with it when he saw it! Such a clown!!

Katie and her Boys

Katie lying with "her" two boys in front of her



So anytime people tell me that goats don’t think or have feeling or anything like that I might bring this story up.



Katie is a beloved member of the herd. All but one of the full lamanchas born this year originated with her. In many ways she really is the herd matriarch for a good portion of the herd. However, she doesn’t usually make it on our show string. When we have lovely up-and-coming yearlings we want to take out, she usually stays at home. As a result, when a friend of ours asked to borrow a goat she was an easy choice. We thought of it as a 10 day vacation for Katie.


Katie did not feel this way. Outside of her herd she refused to eat and in a matter of 5 days lost almost 20 lbs. Poor Katie was so upset being away from her friends and most importantly away from “her boys”. After Argentina left to be a milker for someone else, we started putting Katie on the milkstand for Argentina’s two boys. Not the way we do it for the girls, but for the boys, it is not nearly as big of a deal. Soon the boys were so excited that they didn’t make it to the milk stand before nursing Katie out. Most does have a big problem with this, but not Katie, she just stood there waiting for them to finish. Then one day, I just opened the kid gate and they went running over to her (you could almost hear them calling in their high pitched voices “Grandma! Grandma!”) and like a perfect angel, Katie just stood there in the pasture letting them eat. Well that was that. The boys just stayed out with her from then on and “magically” her udder was completely empty.


Once she came home Katie was so glad to see those boys – I think she has gotten quite attached to them. Right away she took them back and went running over to the feeder. Within just a few days she had gain most of the weight back and was back to mothering the boys.

County Fairs

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind with one county fair after another. First we had 5 4Hers (and 5 goat kids) at our local San Joaquin County Fair. This was followed by taking our “show string” to attend Alameda county fair. County fairs are a lot different than standard goat shows (sometimes called “club shows”) in several ways.



First, you often stay there longer than at a standard show. Most club shows have you come in Friday night or Saturday morning and rarely stay past Sunday afternoon. During a fair you usually stay for the better part of a week.


Second there are rarely public (non-goat people) in attendance at club shows. Not that anyone should think of not coming to a club show who is interested in goats, I love talking to new people at goat shows, but a lot of questions you get at a fair you don’t get at club show. In fact I would say there are 3 popular questions that people ask at a fair.


1. They ask why we cut off their ears (the Lamanchas)? Sometimes the fair has signs up and sometimes we put signs up, but no matter what we do, we always seem to have that question posed to us. I suppose since dogs get their ears cropped the idea of cutting outer cartilage off of an animal’s ear is not that far off. And I feel like we should at least respect that they were willing to go out and get the right answer. Better that, then forever passing around miss information. We, of course, do not cut the ear off – they are born this way. Depending on the other animals around we may get asked if we cut their horns off too. If the only goats around are dairy goats (and they are all disbudded) then we only get that question once maybe twice during the full time there. However if there are other goats in the general area who have horns (either at a petting zoo, or at Alameda the breeding meat goats were nearby) then we get this question a whole lot more.


2. What are those things on their neck? Speaking of course about the wattles. Now to be fair, I think I would ask this question too. I mean, wattles are never seen in the pictures or models. Images nearly always show animal with a smooth neck. And since this is usually the only exposure people have had to goats, it is understandable that this question gets asked. We always try to let them touch the wattles (and most of our goats are totally willing to be petted) and it is highly amusing as people tentatively reach out and touch the goat’s neck. Somehow they are really worried that the goat is just going to turn and bite them I guess. Too bad no one shows pictures of goats not having top front teeth and that they are not going to bite anyone.


3. The third question we get CONSTANTLY is “where are the pigs”. I have no idea what it is about pigs that everyone wants to see. Is it because they are in story books? Or is it because they are so unusual? I have no idea. I personally do not find them all that fascinating but someone does I guess! Most fairs have a rotation of animals (if they are large enough) so that livestock – things that go to market like market lambs, market hogs, and market steer usually come in during a different time than the dairy animals I always feel bad that I have to tell them there are no pigs around.


Please don’t think that I don’t like answering questions. I love fairs because you get to really brighten someone’s day by letting them get close to the livestock. Nothing can beat pulling out a goat kid from the pen and letting a human kid really pet or hug the goat. Personally I feel a deep connection with the fairs because that was when I first encountered goats and really for a child living in a major metropolitan area, where else would you encounter them? Without our local county fair, I can’t even imagine where I would be in life. You never know what little thing will change you life…

Watsonville 2011

Watsonville is another of my favorite shows. Maybe it is time to be honest – they are all one of my favorites. However Watsonville always lands right into the middle of the summer. Right about the time when it is reaching 103° in the central valley, right about that time when you think you are going to die of the heat – we head to the coast for a weekend vacation.



A few years ago when we really started to get serious about the goat breeding (after we were both ready to work hard with our breeding program) we started to notice we began moving up the line. Going from the bottom half to the middle third of the line. This year I am happy to say that few exceptions we stood at the top ½ of the line consistently. The Lamanchas are very competitive in that area and it felt great to get three of our girls in the champion line-up. Berkeley, our rising star of the show, took 2 reserve grand champion awards. Bolivia stood at the top of her class and looked lovely in the champion line-up. Bamboo took a reserve champion in the first ring and then earned her dry leg with a grand champion win in the second ring. Biscotti was the big surprise – we added her in the last ring to make up for pulling Bamboo out so there would be enough goats to make the win count. As the only jr kid, she won her class, however I was stunned when the judge decided to go down to her for the Grand champion. What makes her win even more ironic is that she was for sale all weekend!


The young yearling milkers did respectable with Arizona standing at the top of her class or near the top in all the classes. Keegan also did very well standing second to the doe who went Grand Champion in the AOP division.


Overall we had a great few days getting away from the heat and hanging out on the coast.


Next adventure is taking the Lamancha does up to a show in Oregon. The first out of state show exhibition in the history of the Cadence herd! Exciting!!

Katie and her Boys

So anytime people tell me that goats don’t think or have feeling or anything like that I might bring this story up.



Katie is a beloved member of the herd. All but one of the full lamanchas born this year originated with her. In many ways she really is the herd matriarch for a good portion of the herd. However, she doesn’t usually make it on our show string. When we have lovely up-and-coming yearlings we want to take out, she usually stays at home. As a result, when a friend of ours asked to borrow a goat she was an easy choice. We thought of it as a 10 day vacation for Katie.


Katie did not feel this way. Outside of her herd she refused to eat and in a matter of 5 days lost almost 20 lbs. Poor Katie was so upset being away from her friends and most importantly away from “her boys”. After Argentina left to be a milker for someone else, we started putting Katie on the milkstand for Argentina’s two boys. Not the way we do it for the girls, but for the boys, it is not nearly as big of a deal. Soon the boys were so excited that they didn’t make it to the milk stand before nursing Katie out. Most does have a big problem with this, but not Katie, she just stood there waiting for them to finish. Then one day, I just opened the kid gate and they went running over to her (you could almost hear them calling in their high pitched voices “Grandma! Grandma!”) and like a perfect angel, Katie just stood there in the pasture letting them eat. Well that was that. The boys just stayed out with her from then on and “magically” her udder was completely empty.

Katie relaxing with her boys

 Once she came home Katie was so glad to see those boys – I think she has gotten quite attached to them. Right away she took them back and went running on to the feeder. Within a day she was looking better and within a week she had gained the weight back. I think she just missed home and “her” boys