Fair Skies Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats, Wasilla, Alaska

The improvement of mammary (milk production) genetics is vital to the success of our chosen breed.

For this reason, we are members of the Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) program. It is our goal to build a herd of does that can each produce a minimum of 1,000 pounds of milk per year by their second lactation. Root for us in 2009 as we freshen at least eleven does!

We test through Langston University's E (Kika) de la Garza Institute for Goat Research, with authorization to test all lactating does under the auspices of ADGA through the end of 2009 and AGS through the end of 2009. We have been testing since December 8, 2007 as DHI Herd #96007000, and prior to the establishment of our herd, our adult does were on test at SilverAurora. Heather is also licensed as a certified tester through Langston, license #847, effective through 2009. Additionally, Heather is working on licensing through Willamette's lab (pending) so she can test for others that do not use Langston. With this license she can test for other herds, but to avoid bias, she cannot officially test our own does or any does in which we have a pecuniary interest.

If you would like to join the DHI program on ADGA or AGS, feel free to contact us to set up an introductory meeting and schedule test dates for your herd. We're also happy to help with paperwork.

We would like to express our continued gratitude to all those that have assisted us in our testing program. We would especially like to thank Gail Putcher, AGS DHI Coordinator, and Penny Albert, ADGA DHI Coordinator, for their tireless efforts and endless patience with all our questions.

Ask us about our Dairy Herd Improvement incentive program! We may offer a credit toward a future purchase if you place and maintain your herd on test through the DHI program. And now DHI has more flexibility than ever, with several new, innovative testing programs.

Update!
We are so very pleased to announce the results of our latest milk test!

We are currently milking at least once daily with kids on full-time during the week and twice daily during the weekend with kids on for about 16 hours per day. This past week, however, we did not milk at all for several days, just letting the kids nurse full-time because Heather was in the hospital for two days. Now we're back on track and it looks like the girls didn't miss a beat. This evening we finished up a standard DHI20 305-day test for five of our does.

SilverAurora JT Villa Nova gave 1.5 pounds.
Nova is a very small second-freshener, six weeks fresh from a very hard delivery of very large twins.
Last milk test at two weeks fresh, Nova gave 2.0 pounds, 4.1% protein, and 5.0% butterfat.

SilverAurora TH Xbean gave 3.8 pounds.
Beanie is a first-freshener with twins still nursing. She is twelve days fresh.
This is Beanie's first milk test.

Sandy Hollow SS Butterscotch 3*D 3*M gave 4.1 pounds
Butter is a sixth-freshener with quads still nursing. She is seven weeks fresh.
Last milk test at three weeks fresh, Butter gave 4.5 pounds, 3.4% protein, and 6.5% butterfat.

SilverAurora TH Xtreme Grace gave 4.7 pounds.
Gracie is a first-freshener with twins still nursing. She is seven weeks fresh.
Last milk test at three weeks fresh, Gracie gave 4.1 pounds, 3.4% protein, and 4.1% butterfat.

SilverAurora JC WhisperSweetly 2*D 2*M gave 5.2 pounds, her highest ever on test.
Whisper is a third-freshener with quads still nursing. She is seven weeks fresh.
Last milk test at three weeks fresh, Whisper gave 3.7 pounds, 4.7% protein, and 6.6% butterfat.

Woo hoo! We broke the 5-pound mark!!! Last year Whisper's highest test was 3.8 pounds, which she matched on her first test this year at three weeks fresh. Her udder is spectacularly capacious, with extreme attachments and plenty of width. She has hands-down the nicest rear udder in the herd and we are pleased to see her udder is holding up to this heavy use.

We do have two bucks born to Whisper this year that we are evaluating. One will likely stay here until he is a yearling but the other may be available to just the right show home. The two does out of her set of quads are already taken. Likewise with Butter's kids, although we will wether both bucklings from that set. Nova's kids are both staying, both of Gracie's girls are already claimed, and we are evaluating Xbean's boys, but they will likely be available as wethers or stay here for evaluation. We will update the tables below as time permits.

Lactation records for our does
Doe	Freshened	Age at Kidding	Dry	Lactation	Days in Milk	Milk (#)	Butterfat (#, %)		Protein (#, %)
*Butterscotch (3D 3M)*	3/20/09	69 months (5.9)	*	6	23*	87*	6*	6.5%*	3*	3.4%*
	5/23/08	59 months (4.11)	1/23/09	5	246	623	46	7.4%	26	4.2%
	6/8/07	48 months (4.0)	2/22/08	4	260	459	33	7.2%	20	4.4%
	8/7/06	37 months (3.1)	3/12/07	3	218	434	38	8.8%	21	4.8%
	7/2/05	24 months (2.0)	11/24/05	2	146	257	22	8.6%	11	4.3%
	9/16/04	14 months (1.2)	4/15/05	1	212	380	28	7.4%	19	5.0%
Lifetime to date*					1,105*	2,240*	173*	7.7%*	103*	4.6%*
Incomplete - Lactation in progress Bold text indicates doe met or exceeded qualifying level for dairy stars. Qualifying for both ADGA & AGS is shown as indigo. AGS only is shown as pink and ADGA only is shown as peach.*
Butter has already earned her dairy stars in both AGS and ADGA. In her last complete lactation (2008), she qualified again on milk poundage and butterfat for AGS, as well as butterfat and protein for ADGA. She was very close to qualifying on poundage for ADGA but we bred her back a bit sooner than last year and so dried her up early to prepare her for her spring 2009 kidding. Butter's sixth lactation is off to a roaring start! She kidded with live quadruplets (two bucks and two does) on 20 March 2009. On her first test of the freshening on 11 April 2009, she milked 4.5# at just 22 days fresh! We couldn't even completely empty her udder so we know she has much more to give and we are confident this will be more evident when her kids are weaned in a couple more months. Last year, we thought Butter was too fresh to test on June 12, 2008, so we didn't milk her out for the test. However, we sent in a sample out of curiosity and Butter gave us a whopping 10.11% butterfat and 3.51% protein from her right teat and 8.94% butterfat and 3.59% protein from her left teat! No wonder her kids are growing so big so fast! On July 13, 2008, Butter posted her all-time high milk on test at 4.5#!! We're so proud of her and now we are kicking ourselves for not doing a one-day test! Unfortunately, after a week at the Fair only milking once daily due to showing commitments, our whole herd's production dropped way off. On November 8, Butter milked 1.4# milk, posting 10.8% fat and 6.3% protein, with a SCC score of 5. That butterfat would have been Top-10 worthy and may have even been the highest ever recorded on a one-day test!! Darn it! Next year we will have to plan better to help keep production up while we are showing. This is where the kids will come in, quick, short nips to keep the udder from overfilling and to keep the supply up over time. Of note, for our July test, we also sent a sample taken from each teat separately the day after official milk test, just for our own information. Interestingly, the left teat was 3.69% protein and 9.79% butterfat while the right teat was 3.57% protein and 10.53% butterfat. WOW! We aren't sure why these figures were so different from the official test samples (her butterfat was MUCH higher in these unofficial samples) but it is interesting, nonetheless. Perhaps it is because we milked right into the extra sample vials instead of milking out completely and mixing the whole amount to take a sample.
Doe	Freshened	Age at Kidding	Dry	Lactation	Days in Milk	Milk (#)	Butterfat (#, %)		Protein (#, %)
*WhisperSweetly 2D 2M*	3/21/09	37 months (3.1)	*	3	22*	68*	5*	6.6%*	4*	4.7%*
	4/22/08	26 months (2.2)	1/26/09	2	280	650	39	6.0%	29	4.5%
	7/17/07	17 months (1.5)	before 11/3/07	1	110	196	9	4.6%	9	4.6%
Lifetime to date*					412*	914*	53*	5.8%*	42*	4.6%*
Incomplete - Lactation in progress Bold text indicates doe met or exceeded qualifying level for dairy stars. Qualifying for both ADGA & AGS is shown as indigo. AGS only is shown as pink and ADGA only is shown as peach.*
WOOHOO! In her second lactation (2008), Whisper produced enough milk, butterfat, and protein this lactation to earn her dairy stars in both AGS and ADGA! She will soon be officially known as SilverAurora JC WhisperSweetly 2D 2M!!! We bred her back a bit sooner than last year and so dried her up early to prepare her for her spring 2009 kidding. Whisper's third lactation is off with a bang! She kidded with live quadruplets (two bucks and two does) on 21 March 2009. On her first test of the freshening on 11 April 2009, she milked 3.7# at just 21 days fresh! We couldn't even come close to completely emptying her udder, due her strong ability to retain milk for her kids, so we know she has much more to give and we are confident this will be more evident when her kids are weaned in a couple more months. Whisper's first test of her second lactation (2008) was strong too at 3.8# in May 2008. We were really kicking ourselves for not doing a one-day test! On July 13, 2008, Whisper posted 3.2# on test so she was holding pretty steady for volume. We're so proud of her! Unfortunately, after a week at the Fair only milking once daily due to showing commitments, our whole herd's production dropped way off. On November 8, Whisper milked 1.5# milk, posting 7.2% fat and 5.8% protein, with a SCC score of 7. Next year we will have to plan better to help keep production up while we are showing. This is where the kids will come in, quick, short nips to keep the udder from overfilling and to keep the supply up over time. Of note, for our July test, we also sent a sample from each teat separately the day after official milk test, just for our own information. Interestingly, the left teat was 3.6% protein and 4.84% butterfat while the right teat was 3.57% protein and 6.28% butterfat. We aren't sure why these figures are so different from the official test samples (her butterfat was MUCH higher in these unofficial samples) but it is interesting, nonetheless. We had some other interesting results with regard to LACT (Lactose), SNF (Solids Not Fat), TS (Total Solids), and SCC (Somatic Cell Count). We believe this information may play a helpful role in our herd management and we definitely believe it is worth the $1.15 per sample to send in an extra vial for each teat and get this data in return!
Doe	Freshened	Age at Kidding	Dry	Lactation	Days in Milk	Milk (#)	Butterfat (#, %)		Protein (#, %)
Villa Nova	3/24/09	40 months (3.4)	*	2	19*	31*	2*	6.5%*	1*	5.3%*
Lifetime to date*					*	*	*	*	*	*
Incomplete - Lactation in progress Bold text indicates doe met or exceeded qualifying level for dairy stars. Qualifying for both ADGA & AGS is shown as indigo. AGS only is shown as pink and ADGA only is shown as peach.*
Nova is a second-freshener in 2009. She kidded in late March with twins (buck and doe). Although she had a rough delivery that set this lactation off to a slow start, she is picking up speed now. On her first test on 11 April 2009, she milked 2#, actually increasing from the morning milking to the evening milking. We can't wait to see how she progresses!
Doe	Freshened	Age at Kidding	Dry	Lactation	Days in Milk	Milk (#)	Butterfat (#, %)		Protein (#, %)
Xtreme Grace	3/23/09	21 months (1.9)	*	1	20*	66*	3*	4.5%*	2*	3.0%*
Lifetime to date*					*	*	*	*	*	*
Incomplete - Lactation in progress Bold text indicates doe met or exceeded qualifying level for dairy stars. Qualifying for both ADGA & AGS is shown as indigo. AGS only is shown as pink and ADGA only is shown as peach.*
Gracie is a first-freshener in 2009. She kidded in late March with twin does and we are really pleased with her production. On her first test on 11 April 2009, she milked over 4# but dumped her afternoon bucket when she was startled by a loud noise outside. With the structure of her udder so far, we aren't worried, though. We are confident she will have another amazing test and we can't wait to put it on the books, especially since the next day she gave 3.4# WHILE feeding her kids full time! WOW!
Doe	Freshened	Age at Kidding	Dry	Lactation	Days in Milk	Milk (#)	Butterfat (#, %)		Protein (#, %)
*WaitingForMe (2D 2M)*	6/9/08	28 months (2.4)	2/4/09	2	241	588	40	6.8%	25	4.3%
	7/17/07	17 months (1.5)	3/22/08	1	250	407	27	6.6%	18	4.4%
Lifetime to date					491	995	67	6.7%	43	4.3%
Bold text indicates doe met or exceeded qualifying level for dairy stars. Qualifying for both ADGA & AGS is shown as indigo. AGS only is shown as pink and ADGA only is shown as peach.
Waiting earned her dairy stars for protein & butterfat in her first lactation (2007)! In her last complete lactation, she qualified on milk poundage and butterfat for AGS, as well as butterfat and protein for ADGA. She was very close to qualifying on poundage for ADGA but we bred her back a bit sooner than last year and so dried her up early to prepare her for her spring 2009 kidding. Waiting posted her all-time high milk on test at 4.7# (July 13, 2008)! Yippee! Now we are kicking ourselves for not doing a one-day test! Unfortunately, after a week at the Fair only milking once daily due to showing commitments, our whole herd's production dropped way off. On November 8, Waiting milked 1.7# milk, posting 8.4% fat and 5.3% protein, with a SCC score of 5. Next year we will have to plan better to help keep production up while we are showing. This is where the kids will come in, quick, short nips to keep the udder from overfilling and to keep the supply up over time. Of note, for our July test, we also sent a sample from each teat separately the day after official milk test, just for our own information. Interestingly, the left teat was 3.1% protein and 9.87% butterfat while the right teat was 3.14% protein and 8.81% butterfat. WOW! We aren't sure why these figures are so different from the official test samples (her butterfat in these unofficial samples was MUCH higher) but it is interesting, nonetheless. Perhaps it is because we milked right into the extra sample vials instead of milking out completely and mixing the whole amount to take a sample.

Please note, our January and February 2008 milk tests gave us some unexpected results, which we suspect were caused by a processing error at the laboratory. We have also learned that the same error is suspected in another herd tested and processed at the same time in February. Despite several requests for investigation into the matter, no explanation was available from Langston. This issue affected all three does' 2007-2008 lactations, but we do not expect the error made a significant difference in the calculations because these tests were done very late into their lactations and shortly after, the girls were dried up to refreshen (and thus restart calculations).