Tiny Colors Farm

Please check back here for news on our non-Nigerian does; the Saanen, La Mancha, Nubian and Alpine members of our milking herd.  We don't have many but they are a vital part of our herd and we love them.  Annually we have large-breed and cross-breed (with Nigerian) babies available for brushing, pet and milking herds - please contact me before babies are born if you want one with horns left on for brush clearing.  Due dates will be listed as well as bucks bred to.

UPDATE 7-21-08:  I've listed some of my non-Nigerian does on the Sr. Doe and Jr. Doe page for now, so I could at least get some pictures onto the site for y'all.  I will eventually either consolidate the pages or move the non-Nigerian doe information back to this page but for now check out the updates on the For Sale, Sr. Doe and Jr. Doe (and Buck) pages for today's information.

As of today (July 21, 2008) we currently have:

2 Nubians (Delilah and Eleanor)
2 Alpines (Jasmine and Daisy)
1 LaMancha (Emily)
1 Nubian / Boer cross (Cinder)
5 (yes, that says FIVE) Saanen does and 2 Saanen bucks NOT counting the Saanen doeling that is still on her mother and will be weaned and sent back to the breeder

this doesn't include the three doelings by our Saanen yearling buck Vista's Heir Apparent (Old English Emperor x Vista's R2D2) that we've kept so far, although with the addition of JarJar (a Saanen FF) we've decided to sell at least one and probably all three of the new does; Saalpine doeling (solid white and HUGE) out of Vista's Jasmine (Alpine, solid black, by MC-Webster-Acres UFF-DA BOY x Wildrose Way Savanna), a Snubian doeling out of Delilah by Harry and a small-but-loving Saamancha doeling out of Emily by Harry. 

Of course we LOVE our big girls and want to keep our herd at a size where we can really focus on each goat and make sure we can evacuate everyone safely if / when the next wildfire blows through here. 

Yep, much to my chagrin (and hubby's delight - he loves the extra milk) I've acquired yet another Saanen.  This time it's a beautiful doe named Vista's R2D2 and she's bred to a VERY nice buck, Carol Mann's Old English Emperor and due any moment now (April 26th, 2007).  She arrived last month and really settled in nicely.  She and Tessie are fast friends and should provide us with the extra milk we want for cheese and soap-making.  And I'm crossing my fingers for a BUCK out of her so we'll have those nice bloodlines to continue here in our herd with our other Saanen does.  R2 has her ADGA Milk Star as well as 4 or more years of being Jessica's showmanship doe under her belt and was only offered for sale (trade for a Nigerian doeling) because that family is moving from large breed goats to the smaller and more urban-friendly Nigerians as their primary breed.  Watch here for updates on her kids and if we get the boy we want as well as a doe or two.  Any EXTRA boys or girls will be for sale, if anyone is looking to add these nice bloodlines to their herd as I do not think I'll be moving into breeding Saanens, I just want to freshen my does with a nice buck so the kids can do well elsewhere.  And I'll get pictures up eventually, I promise! UPDATE 7-21-08: R2 gave us a perfect pair of babies last year, one doeling we've retained (so far - email me if you're interested in her) Vista's Royal Salute (Sallie) and a buckling we've also kept in our buck herd, Vista's Heir Apparent (Harry).  Harry has given us one nice kid crop and will be used again on some of our large-breed girls, Sallie will be bred this fall to (I am hoping) Old English Jack's Son, if I can figure out how to get her up there at the right time.  R2 is still in milk nicely after more than a year and looks to continue for at least another year of milking through.  We've also acquired her 2006 daughter Vista's JarJar, also a daughter of Old English Emperor, and while I'm not thrilled with her teats (they're small for her breed and she's not yet learned to relax and let us milk her easily so I don't know if her orifices are too small or if she's just trying to hold back on her milk - we'll wean off her twins and update everyone in a week or so because I think she's just clamping down) I am willing to give her a few months before I make a final decision.  Of course I also have JarJar's twins, the doeling to go back to the Vista herd and the buckling to be kept if Harry is sold or sold if Harry is kept.  I'm thinking I will sell Harry and give his nephew a try.

Well, not two weeks after swearing to my husband that we were absolutely DONE with adding to our herd until the 2007 kidding season started, I went and added a full-grown (and I mean HUGE) Saanen doe in milk.  Yep, big, beautiful and just super-sweet, Katz Tessie is now our 11-yr-old son's new best friend on the milk stand.  Frankly it was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up but isn't that always the way it works?  Tess last freshened back in April of 2006 and is still giving us more than a gallon a day after being here a mere three days; her previous owner for just a week or so was not an experienced milker and before that she was at a place that only milked her once a day, so I can't wait until she's not bruised and is back up to the twice-a-day milking we do here.   Much thanks to Jeannie for mentioning her situation, for Debbie for helping with the correction on the paperwork and to Hawthorne's Country Store for their participation.

UPDATE 7-21-08:  As of today, Tessie is STILL milking through, well past two years after her last freshening she still gives us more than 8 pounds per day IN ADDITION to letting all the babies nurse off her as their mothers wean them.  Next weekend we pull the babies into the weaning pen (and take the yearling does out to their own pen to prep them for breeding season) and then we'll see how much milk she gives us but I am more than thrilled to have her in my herd and she's a forever-keeper.  I do think we'll go ahead and breed her to Vista's Jedi Master (pending) for March or April 2009 babies because I'm hoping to get a nice daughter out of her but shhhh! don't tell her that or I'll get triplet bucks or something like that (grin).

And, no, she's not eating those poisonous plants, she's looking OVER the 6.5' fence at the neighbor's dogs.  Shown here 1 hr. after milking out.

Ok, so right now our big girls are:

Delilah, first of the non-Nigerian does, she is a beloved daughter of Noodles (mostly Nubian, a touch of Nigerian) and Sammy (all Nubian) and has given us to date a singleton Mini-Nubian doe who went as a pet milker and two Mini-Nubian wethers the second freshening who are both FFA companion animals for Nubian does.  Delilah is pretty but leaves something to be desired in the udder; tons of milk, very thick and creamy BUT her teats are large and, well, leathery and with smaller orifices so while she's not as bad as her mother (that's like milking an old leather shoe) she isn't my favorite goat to milk and will be taking her mother's place over in Therese's herd within the next year, once we have our other big girls producing enough milk to replace hers.

Delilah graced us with yet more boys that are for sale - two adorable mini-Nubian wethers just bouncing off the walls looking for a brush-clearing or pet home!  The boys are being disbudded tomorrow (April 27th) so if you want them for a rural brush herd with horns ON, be sure to contact me today!

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Daisy - a registered American Alpine, beautiful cou blanc, has a really nice udder and is still in milk, just bred to George, a very nice unregistered Alpine buck at Therese's.  Daisy is friendly and very pretty, has great dairy character, probably will never see the inside of a show ring even though we purchased her to be my son's 4-H goat (he's no longer in 4-H).  I like the shape of her teats, would love to see more capacity but as a FF she had just a singleton Mini-Alpine so perhaps with more than one and larger breed babies she'll produce more?

Update:  Daisy gave us two nice George (Alpine) bucklings that are for sale - both are just as pretty as Delilah with George's lanky, tall build and sweet personality.  Ben and Franklin are both for sale ($100 each - get it?) and will be disbudded on April 27th so if you want them for a rural brushing herd and want horns left ON, be sure to contact me in a hurry!

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Jasmine, half-sister to Daisy and also registered American Alpine (with ADGA), this jet-black big beauty also has a nice udder, also had a singleton (by George) and has very large but shapely teats and produced a lot of very nice milk last year.  She has just one sparse spot of white on her face, two adorable wattles and threw an equally-solid baby so we'll have to see what she and George come up with this time.  She and Delilah and Daisy are all due to kid in late April / early March, 2007.

Update:  Jasmine gave us a singleton again this year but a GIRL and with a bit more white including a white patch on one side that has a circular black dot in the center, leading us to jokingly call her "Doughnut".  This girl will most likely be for sale and SHOULD have her mother's and her father's other daughters' fantastic udder with very milkable teats and that nice milking personality.   Like all of her sire's kids, she is lanky and tall and very well-built, quite long and just looks like she will be a great production doe.

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Wild Sadie Lady (aka Sadie or Lady) - registered American Saanen from MJ's Midstokke herd, small for her breed and probably for her age, bred to a Mini-Mancha from Therese's herd (Half-Pint) for May 2007 kids.  We're hoping for great things from this one, our first Saanen and our attempt to increase our milk production despite giving up the high butterfat of Nubian and Nigerian.  Sadie also has cute wattles, is bright white as the standard calls for and I'm hoping for nice milk production next summer.  If she doesn't reach full Saanen size we'll continue to breed her to miniature or Nigerian bucks but I do hope to breed her to a purebred Saanen if she acquires the necessary safe size.

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and we have two does here that are boarders, here for a few months to be bred and to await permenant living structures at their owners' home and then they'll leave and their offspring will come back to live here:

Eleanor, a registered Nubian from the John Doe's herd, going to be small and not necessarily up to Nubian standards but we just adore her and so do her new owners.  Eleanor was a bottle baby and so is in your pocket from the time you enter the goat yard and that is what these people just love about her.  I expect nice milk production from her, bred to Half Pint and due in May, 2007. 

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Emily, unregistered purportedly full-blood La Mancha but very tiny, very seal-like and very jet black with horns that say she's the 20 or so months old she's supposed to be instead of the 7 or 8 months old her size led me to believe she was.  I have fallen for this girl, who came very skittish and now will eat out of my hand and let me handle her quite a bit, although she does still run from just about everyone else.  She is nothing short of gorgeous and I didn't used to like that earless look.  I will be keeping her babies (by Half-Pint, the mini-mancha buck) and am hoping that her owners will trade me her for one of Eleanor's babies, so they end up keeping two or three goats and Emily ends up staying here with me and with her offspring.

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