2012 Show Season

This show season has been an interesting one, in that there continues to be a shuffling of show dates and the not-happening of others we've gone to for several years.  The shuffling has to do with facility availability and the trying to avoid conflicts with State Fair (now in July instead of late August/early September), other shows that have moved, and the ADGA National Show.  I don't want to get too far into the weeds here on the details of the show moves as that would mean a post that appeals to about three people I know, and they are already well aware of what is going on with shows. What it meant for my show schedule was that I had five back-to-back weekends of shows I wanted to attend.  This can be a challenge, especially when there are does at home that need attending to, and I've grown used to having Andy at shows with me to help with the setting up, showing, and making sure that while I'm fussing over the does, I stay fed and watered.  This year though, he stayed home to take care of the farm so I could go to shows, and even got up in the wee hours of the morning to put coats on the girls so they wouldn't get chilled in transit, and helped me get everything loaded so I could get to the shows on time, which I really appreciated! 

The Plymouth show, which in the past had been either the last weekend of April or the first weekend of May, did not happen this year, which meant that the first show for the herd was the North Valley Dairy Goat Association spring show in Red Bluff.  While last year, we had to contend with temperatures in the lower 40's and high winds whipping through the show area, this year we had clear skies and temperatures in the low 90's.  The show was very well attended and the judges noted that attendance was up over last year- something the exhibitors were pretty well aware of since pen space was pretty hard to come by, especially for those of us who do everything at the last minute.

CRF Castle Rock Black Ice, made up to me for being a second freshening four year old by having an udder that looks like this:

I know, a black goat in low light- not the best picture, but it gives a hint at what a high, capacious, well attached udder she does have, which helped her easily go to the top of the line and win Grand Champion, Best of Breed, and Best Udder of Breed in the first three senior show rings.  Her younger maternal half sister, Castle Rock Snownamie went Reserve to her in one ring, her paternal half sister CRF Castle Rock Roxanne went Reserve to her in another ring, and Castle Rock Siren Song went Reserve to her in the third ring.  With the three champion wins secured, I pulled her from the fourth ring, where Siren went Grand Champion and Best of Breed, and Roxanne won Best Udder of Breed.  This was Siren's third champion win, which meant that I brought home two new finished champions after my first show weekend- a great way to start off the year!

The junior show was fairly good for us too- I took just two dry yearlings, Castle Rock Raspberry Beret and Castle Rock Sarandipity (a Saranade daughter), and both of them got their dry legs, and some good experience in the show ring.  I think I was as pleased as the new owner of Sarafim, a 2012 Saranade daughter, when she got a Reserve Champion win at the tender age of three months.

Snownamie was herd supervisor at REDGA

The following weekend was the Memorial Day show hosted by the Redwood Empire Dairy Goat Association at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

The view from our pens, and there's another half of the barn behind me.

It's usually one of the largest shows we go to, and this year was no exception, and there was an especially large Nigerian turnout.

After seeing this in the milkroom every morning,

Penny Wise rear udder

I decided to take SGCH CRF Castle Rock Penny Wise to the show for champion challenge.  In the first ring, she easily won Best of Breed, with the judge saying (and there were only two more breeds left to judge) that this was one of the best udders he'd seen all day.  I think I blushed.  Or was glowing. One of the two, as there is a very high level of competition at this show, since many breeders of National Champion goats live within an easy drive of Santa Rosa.  Penny Wise also went Best of Breed in the following ring, and Sarafina won a Reserve Grand Champion.  In the selection for Best Doe in Show, Penny Wise again got compliments from the judges who both said that she was quite competitive- it was a wonder my head still fit in the barn by the end of the day.

The junior doe show was not all we hoped it would be- the evenings cool down near the coast much more than they do at home, and my two juniors were freezing in the ring.  I kept their coats on while they were in between shows, but they only stayed normal looking for about three minutes, and then hunched up into shivering fur balls. Le sigh.  At least they got some experience being in the show ring, which is really what I'm after when I show juniors, so that was good. And there was the wonderful buffet and getting to chat with lots of goat friends at the end of the day to look forward to as well.

The second day of the show, Roxanne

CRF Castle Rock Roxanne

decided to unpack her competition udder from where ever she'd been storing it the first day of the show.

Thus equipped, she went Grand Champion in both rings, and even beat Penny Wise for Best of Breed in one of them.  I was also pleased when Roxanne's two year old daughter, Annika, went reserve in the second ring.

The following weekend was the Spring Show hosted by the lovely people of the Humbolt Dairy Goat Association, which I've gone to for the past couple of years, but was just unable to go to this year.  I was so sorry to have missed it- if you can make that show, it is well worth the drive.  The host group is made up of some of the nicest people in the state and clearly work hard at putting on a good show and making new exhibitors feel welcome.

June 9 found me in Stockton at a show put on by the Delta Dairy Goat Association at the Stockton Fairgrounds.  I wanted to fill my tub with lotion and soak in it after being out in the constant warm wind that blew all that day, but besides that, it was a nice three ring show.  At the REDGA show, ADGA had not sent any Best of Breed ribbons, and the Stockton show received no Reserve Grand Champion ribbons, leading one to start wondering if there's a black market for ADGA rosettes.  My guess is no, but when you go to two shows in a row that are missing ribbons, you do start to wonder.

CRF Castle Rock Brie VEEE 90, who I sold last fall, did very well for owner Krystal McGuire, going Grand Champion in two of the rings, and Roxanne went Reserve in two of the rings.  One of Roxanne's 2012 daughters, Castle Rock Royalia, got a junior Grand Champion win, as did one of CH CRF Castle Rock Irish Cream's 2012 daughters- Castle Rock Irish Coffee, making owners Carol Morgan and Heather Manzo (respectively) very happy campers.

The last show I got to attend before a break until August shows, was the Watsonville show put on by the Central Coast Counties Dairy Goat Association. I haven't been able to attend for a few years, and was surprised to see that the move in show date seems to have made the show smaller than in past years, which was really too bad since small shows don't cover show costs.  But, I was happy to be at the coast, especially since it was not as warm as home, which hit 110 degrees, though quite tired since Linear Appraisal was the Friday before the show.

Roxanne went Grand Champion in the first ring, finishing the quest for that third leg towards her permanent championship.  Castle Rock Snownamie went reserve in the first ring, then went Grand Champion in the second ring, with Saranade coming in reserve to her.  In the junior show, Castle Rock Roufus Treepie took a reserve win, and seems like she may be getting a hang of the whole showing thing.

When I go to shows, one of the expenses to consider is housing- if I camp, it doesn't cost as much as a motel, plus I don't have to drive to and from where ever I'm staying.  Lately, it's also been the only way my backpacking equipment gets any use.  However, camping does have down sides, such as proximity to Nubians who have a tendency to bleat all night.  And, as soon as the first person drives up to the fair grounds, usually around 6am, the entire barn full of goats greets that person, which makes "sleeping in" (all the way to 7am!) nearly impossible.  This weekend though, I was not worried though because I was so tired from a week of clipping goats for Linear Appraisal in 100+ degree weather, staying up late to finish clipping, getting up early to prep for Appraisal, then up early again to drive to the show, that I probably could have slept through anything.

Sarafina trying to sneak into my tent when she thinks I'm not looking

The second day, Snownamie won another Grand Champion leg, with Sarafina again going Reserve Grand Champion.  Treepie won Junior Grand Champion with Castle Rock Selenehelion behaving herself just barely well enough to get a Reserve Junior Grand Champion win.

So, all in all, it's been a good show season for me so far.  It's been a good show season for someone else as well.

Come again?  I don't recall leaving the property.

As many people know, I don't like showing bucks, preferring my boys to prove their worth through their daughters.  As of the Watsonville show, CRF Castle Rock Guy Noir now has four finished daughters- SGCH CRF Castle Rock Penny Wise, GCH CRF Castle Rock Black Ice, GCH CRF Castle Rock Roxanne, and CH Sly Farms GN Catalina; CRF Castle Rock Brie just needs one more Grand Champion win to become his fifth finished daughter.  So proud of my big stinky fella, even if he is the arch nemesis of my Stella-Bug.

I cannot believe you would mention us in the same sentence. Hmph!

Hopefully, I'll have more good show news in August or September...the next goat show we go to will probably be as spectators at the California State Fair, since Nigerians still aren't included in Dairy Week.

Glamour Shots

One of the most time consuming things to do during kidding season is to get good photographs of kids, both so new owners can pick which one they want, and/or so I can post them to the web site on the For Sale page.  We usually have to wait until the kids are hungry enough for a bottle, since just putting them on the ground and pointing the camera at them results in a lot of pictures that look like this

Or this

They never stop like this and look at the camera, they always stop and look away

And sometimes this

What the what?!

Not all that helpful in convincing anyone that these kids have a bright future in the show ring.  So, we wait until afternoon feeding time and use the bottles to get them to stand still so they look more like:

 But we also get some shots that don't make it on the web site

I've got milk where now?

And, of course the head shots

Look! It's the new face that the Got Milk? campaign has been looking for!

 

You gettin' all this? That's right, I got the baby blue eyes goin' on!

Oh, you done looking at my brother yet? No one is as good as he thinks he is.

Num, num, num, num

Now I'm ready for my close up...

Apparently, this one has heard you have to be "hungry" to make it in pictures.  Should I tell him it is a metaphorical hungry, not a literal one? 

So now that we have their head shots, all we need is an agent for them to make a go of it in Hollywood.  Stick with me kids, and you'll go places!

So punny it hurts, right?

Linear Appraisal 2011

I meant to write about Linear Appraisal earlier in the year, but often the work of farming keeps me from writing in a timely manner about the farming. If you need a primer on what Linear Appraisal is, I wrote about it here.  You can go ahead and read it.

I'll wait.

In 2011, Northern California was scheduled to have its normal appraisal sessions in September and/or October.  Since I had freshened 42 does starting in early February, and was on the fence about several of them, and because I wanted to use LA to help me decide who could stay, and I was not about to milk all of them until the fall, I had to schedule a special session.  This allowed me to have my appraisal session in May instead of October, but that convenience does cost a good deal more than being a part of the regular schedule.  On the other hand, milking ten more does than you would like for an extra five months isn't free either.

The session was scheduled the one free weekend I had in May, with two show weekends before and two show weekends after.  Several of the does had already been clipped for shows the previous weekends, though we still had upwards of 20 does to clip in about four days leading up to the appraisal.

Before

We were fortunate to have help once more from friends Amanda, Jenn, and Rebekah in getting the rest of the does washed and clipped in time for appraisal.

After

One of the things that finally sunk in for me this year is just how much harder appraisers are on first freshening yearlings than they are on any other age group, and that one should not expect even her first freshening two year olds to all appraise at the top of the scale.  In short: I've adjusted my expectations.

One of the does I was really looking forward to having reappraised was Penny Wise, since I was somewhat depressed about her 82 as a two year old first freshener.  As a second freshener, her udder really filled out, looking well balanced and capacious- her udder looked so good that I decided to take a chance and keep a buck out of her for myself and for those people wanting to breed their home milkers to a buck who would get them better capacity.  But, because I had some lingering doubts, I sold her other two bucks as wethers- my philosophy being: I generally don't take chances with bucks, but if I do (see Guy Noir), he's going to stay here and mess with my breeding program, not someone else's.

Penny Wise, sired by Guy Noir

The appraiser took one look at her udder as she was walking away and said "that's an excellent mammary system!", and I heartily agreed with him.  She scored a VVEE 88, which was a huge relief to me, and gave me the confidence to take her to REDGA the next weekend.  There, she easily won grand champion three rings in a row.  Woot!  A long time Toggenberg breeder came over to ask me about Penny Wise at the REDGA show and to offer congratulations, so I asked her if she could believe that Penny Wise had scored an 82 as a first freshener.  She said that an 82 is really pretty good, especially if the doe is developing well.  I was a little surprised, and asked a few more breeders about linear appraisal scores, and it turns out that I was being way too hard on my first fresheners in the past.  Lesson learned-- it's always nice to find out that I can be more relaxed about things.

Overall, my three year old second fresheners (and the one three year old first freshener cough*BlackIce*cough) did well, mostly scoring in the 86-88 range, and I was happy with my first freshening yearlings and two year olds who scored in the 82-86 range.

The real highlight of the day for me was when Alum Root and her younger half sister Blizzard both ended up with scores of VEEE 90 on appraisal.  They are both granddaughters of my much-loved and much-missed doe Sara, and the first Castle Rock does to score 90s on appraisal.   Because I think very highly of Sara's daughters, granddaughters, and even some great granddaughters, it is especially nice to get independent verification of their niceness. 

Blizzard looks much happier in real life

I was also very pleased that Purple Rain scored VEEV 90- the second year in a row she's gotten such a high score. 

I was allowed to have the does milked out before they got final mammary scores, allowing the appraiser to really get a good idea of texture and capacity.  Many of our does scored E (excellent) in the mammary category (this is not to be confused with the E in the final four-letter score), and the appraiser told me that he gave more Es for mammary in my herd than he'd given out the previous year for all breeds.  There were quite a few more excellents at this session than there had been four years previously during my first LA session, which can be seen as an indication that the herd is moving in the right direction.

Overall, it was another good session, though with so many does to appraise (three sheets worth!), it did take quite a bit of time.  The appraiser even asked me if I didn't want to take a break and get off of my feet for a while, but I told him I'm pretty used to being on my feet for the vast majority of the day.  Had I not had extra help from friends, it would have been a much longer day, since others were there to observe and to get animals out of the barn and put them away when they were done.  Oh! And to milk (thanks Amanda!) before the girls got their final, final scores.

In looking over all of the scores for all of the categories and comparing them to the 2010 appraisal and the 2008 appraisal, I like the direction that the scores are moving in as the herd evolves.   I'm already looking forward to our 2012 appraisal session...I should say, I'm looking forward to seeing the scores, not so much the washing and shaving of all of the senior does again!

Linear Appraisal 2010

So, before I got distracted with telling y'all about the PUPPY, I had given a summary of how show season was going up to the first weekend in June. The weekend after that, I had Linear Appraisal, which is sort of a big deal, as it is a really good source of information.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Linear Appraisal, a short explanation:

When we go to a show, our goats are judged against the other goats who are also at that show. If lots of really good goats show up and we win, then that's great. If not so nice goats show up and we win, well, that doesn't tell you all that much about the quality of our goats- but the win counts just as much as it did over the goats that were really good. During Linear Appraisal, goats are measured against a score card by a very experienced judge who has also gone through extensive appraiser training. There are several linear traits that are scored on a scale of 1 to 50 with 1 generally being way too little of the trait and 50 being way too much. Depending on what your breeding goals are, generally scores in the 25 to 35 range are the the target you are aiming for.

In theory, Linear Appraisal (LA) is an objective measurement which can give you an accurate picture of how a given animal looks based on the scores. In theory, all appraisers are the same in their scoring. We've noticed that there is more of a difference between appraisers than we thought there would be, and unfortunately, some appraisers consider themselves to be "tougher" than others, which sort of goes against that whole "objective evaluation" that is supposed to be the point of LA. In spite of this, during the two appraisal sessions I've participated in, I've learned a tremendous amount. Both times, appraisers have pointed out some trait I had not really been paying attention to. It's very nice to have a fresh set of eyes look over the herd since I can get a bit of tunnel vision- I either get so fixated on one great trait that a doe has that I ignore some other issue that she has, or I have a soft squishy spot for a doe and am more forgiving than perhaps I should be about her structure. It doesn't happen all that often, but it is good to have another evaluation of the herd from someone who is not emotionally attached.

An Appraisal session is somewhat different from a show. We still wash and clip all of the does so they will be looking their best, and we try to time things so that the does will have 12 hours to bag up. The appraiser comes to our farm instead of us going to them, and unlike a show, where we set the does up, the does are just supposed to walk naturally on a lead. The appraiser is able to spend several minutes with each goat that is being appraised, which is more time than judges get at most shows.

All does who have freshened are to be presented for appraisal and it is up to the appraiser whether they will excuse any given animal if they are not feeling well, or if the doe is dry. A couple of our does were excused- Mouzza had come down with a high fever just a few days before appraisal and was still recovering. Raven took all of 2010 off, having not freshened this year, Honey Child had just freshened, and Tuscan Sun was still two weeks from freshening, so those does were not appraised.

So, how did we do?

Overall, I was fairly pleased.

*Ahem*

I should amend that. After letting everything percolate for a few days, I was pleased.

At first, the two scores of 82, earned by SkyRocketGilia (Lia) and Penny Wise stood out since 82 was lower than I was expecting from those two. I think in the back of my mind I had thought, going into the session, that I would be getting rid of any animals that had scored that low. But then I also realized that no one was going to force me to sell those girls if I didn't want to, and I believe that another freshening will do them some good. In Lia's case, the appraiser said that her udder held a lot of promise and would only get better with subsequent freshenings.

Once i got over being hung up on those two, I was able to focus on some of the brighter spots. Our second freshener, CH Algedi Farm H Purple Rain, had our high score of VVEE 90. CH-MCH Castle Rock Alum Root once again scored an 89- VVEV, and the appraiser said that she missed getting an E for mammary because her medial suspensory ligament was too strong and starting to affect capacity. I was surprised by this since our last appraiser indicated that he thought Nigerians as a breed really needed stronger MSLs and had said Alum Root was almost perfect in that category. CH CRF Castle Rock Blizzard scored a VVEV 88 and CRF Castle Rock Bay Berry earned our second E for mammary with a VVEE 88.

To get an overview of does in the herd, I made a few lists of the traits that I want to continue to focus on, and the does who had the strongest scores in those areas. A second list was made of the does who were weakest in those areas to help focus on who needs help and where. Traits where the herd is fairly strong, such as foreudder and MSL were not included since we're doing just fine there and don't need to focus much on improvement. I did include rump angle, rump width, rear udder arch, teat placement, and general appearance. Three does consistently floated to the top of these lists- Purple Rain, ARMCH Lost Valley TB Infinity 4*D, and Blizzard. The two bucks that I retained from my herd this year are out of Infinity (Bentley), and Purple Rain (Tanzanite), so I was happy to see that. I've also decided to retain a buck out of Blizzard next year- something I might have done this year if that had been an option, but we got twin does instead.

Our appraiser kindly allowed us to milk out most of our does before giving a score for udder texture. Just about all of the does we milked out earned 'E's for udder texture. It's nice to see the work we've done on udders show up in the scores.

We were very lucky to have several helping hands on deck who were able to help with bringing does out of the barn for me to handle and then to put them back when they were done. Rebecca, Jenn, Justin, and Sarah (who milked the girls by hand for me!) were so very helpful- I do recommend participating in LA, but I do not recommend doing it alone!

To sum up: if you can- participate in LA- I see something new in my herd every time I do. If you really listen to your appraiser, and ask good questions, you'll definitely learn something. I am already looking forward to next year and seeing how the herd does-- especially when so many of my first fresheners from this year will have another freshening on them!

California State Fair

I am a huge fan of going to county fairs, possibly because I grew up going to the opening day of the Alameda County Fair every year. This is (or was) one of the best county fairs in the state, and we went despite living in a different county (which had one of the lamest county fairs and therefore will remain unnamed).

As much as I like county fairs, nothing can quite compete with going to the California State Fair at the end of the summer. My first memories of the place are from showing dogs there when I was in 4-H, and the "pet-friendly" motels we stayed in the night before the show (the cigarette burns in the mattress, the algae in the shower). I am still trying to figure out exactly where on the fair grounds we showed the year my friend Leanne's dog went jumping into one of the water features during off-leash obedience. Did I mention the dog didn't know how to swim? And you know that 4-H kids have to show in all white? Good times, good times.

My parents entered several of their miniatures and various hand crafts that my mom made, and they won a Golden Bear trophy one year. But over the years, especially since we moved to Vacaville, we have gotten to know the Cal Expo grounds as though we lived there, and I suppose when you add up the days we've spent on the grounds, we probably have spent at least a couple of months wandering the grounds.

Nigerian Dwarf goats have been showing at the State Fair for the last seven years, and unfortunately the show has been getting smaller and smaller- as has fair attendance. Part of the drop in attendance has to do with school starting earlier and earlier in the year, making it harder for families to get to the fair. But we enjoy going and even when we haven't been able to show, we have been able to drop by for a visit with our friends who are showing. After the Saturday to Saturday stay at the Cal-Expo grounds required by the ADGA national show, we looked forward to a relatively short four day stay for the State Fair.

So, the first day we get to drive onto the grounds with our animals, the UCD vet students check the animals for obvious disease, then we unload gear, animals, check in with the fair staff, they check tattoos on the animals, and then we get our credentials (so we can get back onto the grounds if we leave), then park, then return to actually set up our pens and get the animals settled in.

When we get to the livestock barn, the pens look like this:

Add one signifigant other, put up a few decorations, win a few ribbons, and the place starts looking like this:

There, much better.

One of the interesting things about being at the fair is getting to see the other livestock, and talking with the people who have other types of livestock. The cattle people don't really talk to non-cattle people...and they're too busy constantly washing off and blowing out their cattle to talk. The angora goat people were pretty friendly, the pygmy people are starting to recognize faces and warming up to us a little (it's only taken five years, but let's not rush into anything, m'kay), and the Boer goat people mostly stayed outside.

We met some new faces

Oh Hai! Have we met?

Colored Angora

White Angora-

Pygmy Buck

This is the time of year when all of the bucks start to get a little oderific, but with the pygmy bucks keeping all of their hair on, man howdy! Do they ever stink!

Just for a little size comparison, here's a 2 1/2 year old Boer buck (Boers are a meat breed) and our Mr. Lincoln (1 1/2 years) checking each other out. Mr. Lincoln's back barely comes up to the Boer's belly.

The third and fourth day of the fair (the show days), we picked up some ribbons. Raven did well:

Once Ina Blue Moon did even better:

Full results, first day:

Grand Champion Doe in Milk and Best Udder: Castle Rock Once Ina Blue Moon

Reserve Grand Champion Doe in Milk: Cloverdale YJ Blue Raven

Reserve Grand Champion Dry Doe: CRF Castle Rock Rella

Grand Champion Doe of the day: Castle Rock Once Ina Blue Moon

Reserve Grand Champion Doe of the day: Cloverdale YJ Blue Raven

Mr. Lincoln got second in his class, which was fine with me considering I only entered him in the fair because I knew that was the only way we would get an updated, shaved picture of him on the web site. I don't usually show bucks these days, but figured what the heck. He started getting really stressed after the first show, which was completely my fault. I realized at the fair that I had never taken Mr. Lincoln off the farm, and making his first experience a four-day, away from home show, was not a very good move on my part. Probiotics, electrolites, fresh hay, and a sign explaining to visitors that he didn't feel like visiting helped a little, and I pulled him from the next day's show.

Second Day's results:

Grand Champion Doe in Milk: Cloverdale YJ Blue Raven

Best Udder: Castle Rock Once Ina Blue Moon

Grand Champion Doe of the Day: Cloverdale YJ Blue Raven

All in all, pretty good considering we only took two does in milk, two dry does, and one buck. One of the things we were much more watchful about than in years past was making sure that the general public generally did not touch our goats. This sounds awful, I know, but we really did not want to bring home any exotic diseases, and people who go along touching various animals are unknowingly passing around all sorts of bugs. We were surprised that quite a few groups of animal science students came through the barns and every one of the students were touching every one of the animals. I would hope that the teachers would have explained at least some basic bio-security information to the students, but we were not so lucky.

Oh, and I finally tried a deep fried Twinkie. I've been saying I would do it for years, and then kept backing out, because really- $4!! for a Twinkie!! seemed a little expensive, even by fair-food standards. This year, curiosity finally got the better of me. It was good- probably the best way to eat a Twinkie if you have to, but not something I will be seaking out again.

We had plenty of time to check out "The Farm", the displays of beneficial and harmful insects (I tried to memorize them ALL), and the Nursery- where little baby farm animals are born and on display, and spent lots of time in the County Building to cool off since end of August + Sacramento = HOT.

There are rumors that the fair will be moving to July to accomodate school schedules next year, but there are all sorts of other activities that have to be taken into account- horse racing, vendor schedules, other big fairs, etc. Whenever it is, I'm looking forward to the next one!