Recent Happenings At Reuel Dairy Goats

(and some not quite so recent!)

Well here it is fall again in the Inland Pacific North West and as usual I am way behind the curve in keeping this site up to date (despite the urgings of a most patient and helpful web master) Spring was filled with kids and bottles and laughs and a whole lot of excitement as the kids arrived in a steady stream and the does revealed the udders that they had been developing thought the long and very snowy winter. Yes we set a record for most inches of snow in a season. It felt like we would never see the ground again by the time March arrived and we began to see a little dirt poke through here and there.  The kids kept us busy though and we knew spring had to be coming soon.  We ended up the year with 23 bucks and 25 doe kids born. On a sad note we lost a very promising 3 year old doe to a uterine tumor. Meka delivered 2 bucklings and 2 doelings with a lot of help before she died. One doeling survived and is thriving in our "Keeper pen"

May found us clipping and frantically preparing the herd for their June 6th Appraisal session.  The weather turned off HOT with temperatures in the 90's and the does relished their new hair cuts.  Appraisal day arrived along with a very cold front but all went well and we were delighted with our herd's performance.  Please see our Appraisal page for the results of our efforts.

June kept us out of trouble as we prepared for a trip to Sacramento for the National Show.  We got first cutting alfalfa in the barn, made arrangements for purchasing second cutting, planted a small garden and generally spent a lot of time cleaning kid pens and keeping the herd up to date on vaccinations and all the general management needs.

July we switched into high gear, made the final choices for the National Show string, clipped, trimmed feet, and generally tried to give the girls all the care necessary to keep them in good shape for their trip.  

Thankfully the truck and trailer performed flawlessly on this trip and we had no trouble either on the way down or the way home from the show.  We spent the night on the way down and back in fairgrounds along the way and were very thankful for our camper air conditioner.  On arrival we found our assigned pens, unloaded and set up, set up a mister for the does and turned on their fan and headed to the camp ground for a nice nap and eventually dinner before returning to the barns.  We were most grateful for that Air conditioning when we found the reader boards around the Expo Center reading 116 degrees. Sunday was plenty warm as well but the rest of our stay was a much more reasonable 90-95 and we really enjoyed ourselves.

 We were delighted to see one of our former 4-H members get second in the Intermediate 2 division of Showmanship (Alyxandra Hansen) and a current member get 3rd in the Intermediate 1 division (Molly Miller) and Mathew Miller placed 5th in the Jr division.  Alexandra went on to place 3rd in Judging and Management and Molly placed 5th. We are very proud of these kids and are looking for great things in their futures.  We would also like to give a great big thanks to Michelle Heino and her family for being our chauffeurs and running us back and forth to the campground.  Without her we would have been toast.... Congratulations too to Pheobe Heino for her first place in the Junior Showmanship division!  We also would like to thank Marshal Losey and his family for providing transport for a doe kid back to AZ after the show.

We had a wonderful time at Nationals, met a lot of very nice people and saw a lot of old friends.  The girls showed well and made us proud. The results of their National Adventure will be posted to the doe page as soon as possible. One highlight was getting to Meet Karen VonDollen who won the raffle kid that we donated to the 1999 Sacramento National show.  She is all grown up now and was showing some of the offspring from the doe that she won. What a delightful young lady and it was a treat to meet her and her family!

 August disappeared into the dust and heat and lots of work getting the last of the hay stored in the barn and picking up and stacking 160 bales of barley straw in the loft as well as preparing for one local Fair and getting that show organized then breaking out the clippers and getting the girls ready for their first show of the year well except for the few we took to Nationals. 

 An exciting addition to our herd arrived in August as we picked up CH Remuda Winter Constellation from Pat Lantz. We want to thank Pat for selling us this awesome young man. We are really looking forward to adding his genetics into our herd and seeing how everything works out. He is a real gentleman and a credit to Pat's herd.  See his picture and his daughters on our buck page.  Spring will really be exciting around here ...even more so than usual and we have chosen a number of does for his entertainment this fall.

 September and October find us headed to two fairs for fairly long stays and Sanctioned shows. The results of the the girls showing will be posted to the doe pages as we get them.  We really enjoy the fairs and look forward to seeing everyone and taking a little time to hang out.  They are a lot of work though and we really want to make a good impression on the public so it isn't really a vacation but it is a nice change of pace :-)

 Our young Rottweiler Puppy, Trampus, had his first Birthday on July 4 and is now tipping the scale at 140+ pounds. He is turning into a good dog but still has his puppy moments. Rosa is a tolerant old lady and still has him under her control.  We will add some new pictures soon.