August, 2010: Ok, I’m getting a little better, I think ...the last update on this page was last fall and this one is in mid summer so I guess that is an improvement.  As usual we are all caught up in the joys, frustrations and work that summer brings.  We started kidding on Feburary 4 this year and delivered our last kids just after midnight early on May 18. It was a really great kidding season with the delivery of an unprecedented 6 sets of beautiful, big and healthy quadruplets. You can imagine how fast the workload increases when the kids are arriving in batches of 4 at a time. :-D We managed quite well and so did the kids. There is a running narration of our kidding adventures in the section entitled “Kidding Log”. We plan on doing that again this year and hope you find it amusing and educational.

 June arrived and with it the return of a spring show in Spokane. We were delighted to have the opportunity to show the girls this close to home and promptly entered a nice show string. The does and kids did very well and we are looking forward to attending next spring’s show! The show committee did an awesome job and we are well aware of the work that putting on a show like this entails. Thanks for a great job, guys!

 July was filled with the usual summer barbeques, hay stacking, and management chores that fill our time. We had the heartbreaking experience of watching our beautiful, big and active replacement kids begin to waste away for no apparent reason, they ate hay, refused to touch grain and declined at an alarming rate.  Fortunately a call from another goat breeder nailed down the problem and prompt treatment has turned them around. There is a species of lungworm that doesn’t need a snail or slug host to infect the goats and while our kids are in a dry pen separate form the does apparently they were infected. I can only surmise that the deer brought them into our pastures.  A simple treatment with Ivermectin at 3 times the cattle dosage for 3 consecutive days quickly turned them around and they are gaining fast. 

 August is the month that we are scheduled for Appraisal and there is a local community fair that has a Sanctioned show  we are planning to attend so the whole herd is being clipped and having feet trimmed for the big days. Fall will find us at Spokane Interstate Fair, Central Washington State Fair and then a trip to Tucson to the convention  and Black Mesa Ranch in October. We are looking forward to our all to short Vacation in AZ and hope to see lots of new faces at Convention. We will post pictures and Appraisal scores on the page of that name as soon as Appraisal is finished.

 On a much sadder note we said good bye to two much loved and appreciated members of our farm family. First our 12 year old Rottweiler Rosa finally came to the end of her long and helpful life. Rosa was a wonderful herding dog and needed little encouragement to bring goats or cows to us when asked.  She was a loyal and loving companion and we miss her.  Then at the end of July we said a fond farewell to our old and much loved and respected herd Queen, GCH Reuel Zif’s Blue Zina.  Beans, as Zina was affectionately nicknamed, was a fine and dignified old lady that was a quiet and strong influence on the daily life of the herd.  The does have been somewhat unsettled without the quiet presence of Zina but all will eventually settle out as a new herd queen emerges.