Updated 28 July 2010

Reference Does

    SilverAurora XR Yakutat

    Fair Skies CC Zen

    Fair Skies WP Zamarra

    JT Villa Nova

    SB WaitingForMe 2*D 2*M

    Desertnanny Tequila Sunrise *D 1*M

Click here to see our Senior Does

Click here to see our First Fresheners

Click here to see our Junior Does

Click here to see our Wee Ones

   XR Yakutat
     ADGA appraised VVVV (Very Good) (01-05), young stock

Yakky - Thank you, Jessica, for choosing Yakky as a companion!

   2010 First Freshener
   Fair Skies WP Zamarra
     not yet appraised or classified

S: JC Wepeat *S *B
     not yet appraised, classified as 83.8 G+ June 2009
      SS: Jobi Cloud *S +*B
      SD: QSF DTI Patience *D 1*M AR2005 83 +AE+

D: TH Xtreme Grace 4*D 4*M
     ADGA appraised 86 VVVV (02-00), not yet classified
      DS: Jobi LA Thunder *S +VV 86
      DD: Jobi Plum

Zamarra's 5-generation pedigree coming soon.

   DOB: March 23, 2009

                                               High Milk Day: 3.5# 2010
     Current Lactation: D* / #M* / #F (%)* / #P (%)*
                                               *First lactation in progress

Zamarra - SOLD! Thank you, Daphni, for choosing Zamarra to start your herd!

Zamarra

2009 ANDDA All-American Intermediate Kid

   2010 First Freshener
   Fair Skies CC Zen
     not yet appraised or classified

S: MCH CH Sandy Hollow UK Chesire Cat *S *B
     ADGA Appraised 89 VEE (05-05), AGS classified 89.2 VG (05-05)
      SS: Rosasharn's TL Ukulele Ke'a +*S +*B
      SD: Piddlin Acres Charity 2*D 1*M AR1793 E

D: JC WhisperSweetly 2*D 2*M
     ADGA appraised 82 VVV+ (03-05), AGS classified 86.8 VG (03-04)
      DS: Jobi Cloud *S +*B
            ADGA Appraised VVE 88 (05-09)
      DS: QSF DTI Faith *D 1*M

Zen's 5-generation pedigree coming soon.

   DOB: March 21, 2009

                                               High Milk Day: 2.6# 2010
     Current Lactation: D* / #M* / #F (%)* / #P (%)*
                                               *First lactation in progress

Zen - SOLD! Thank you, Heather, for adding Zen to your herd!

AR Status: pending
AR#: N/A
Freshenings to date: 1 as of 2009
Date of last freshening: July 17, 2009
High milk test day: 2.6# in August 2009
High protein test day: 5.5%
High butterfat test day: 8.4%
Best SCC test day: score of 2.9
High milk lactation: 499#
High butterfat lactation by weight: 33#
High protein lactation by weight: 24#
Best SCC lactation: score of 2.0
Lifetime milk production on test: 549#
Click here for lactation records

Say ItAin'tSo - SOLD! Thank you, Karlene, for adding SaySo to your herd!

This little one has quite the personality and the piggy voice to match. The photo above shows her in mid-July 2009 as a first-freshener. She gave us a cute little single doe by Wepeat in early July 2009. Here are a few shots of her udder just 1 week into her first lactation. This was the first time we'd pulled her kids to bag her up and she gave us a pound that milking and 0.9# later that evening for a total of just under 2 pounds in one day. Not bad for a first-freshener with a single at only a week fresh.

Here are some shots of SaySo's udder at 4 weeks fresh. She gave just under 3# per day for a while before dropping off. She's now on an extended lactation (over 305 days) and still giving around 2# per day.

Her udder texture is like milking a bag of silk! Now we know why her breeder loves her mother so! Still, we'd like to see an udder that is higher up into the escutcheon with a strong medial and better lateral support. We'd also like to see teats more correctly aimed down rather than peeking out, but her overall placement is not bad and we expect it will improve as the edema resolves and the medial becomes more apparent later in her lactation. We like this udder texture so much that we already placed a deposit for another Say What? daughter from My Kids Farm.

To give you a better idea of SaySo's general appearance, here's a cute shot of SaySo learning to stand and pose for conformation evaluation as a doeling - look how loooooong!

SaySo hasn't quite figured out the whole standing still and standing straight thing yet. Here are a couple of shots of her giving our kind handlers a hard time at the 2008 dairy goat shows sponsored by the Alaska Mini Goat Cache, Alaska Dairy Goat Association, and Alaska State Fair in Palmer. Robyn McBride, Charles Pribbenow's son, and Judges Considine and Repp were very forgiving of her antics.

Photos by Mark Simpson Photography

    JT Villa Nova
     VVEV (appraised dry as a junior), not yet classified

S: Jobi Tuxedo *S

SS: Jobi Jolly *S HES: 89.2
SD: Jobi Misti 2*M 2*D AR1623 HES: 88.3 VG,

D: Jobi Chance *D 1*M AR HES 88.0 (88 88 88 88)

DS: Jobi Chase *S
DD: Gay-Mor's Dandy Kolumbine

Click here to view Nova's five-generation pedigree

DOB: November 4, 2005
Original breeder: Suzanne Nevada, SilverAurora, Wasilla, AK

AGS Registration #: D-33933
ADGA Registration #: D1384266

AR Status: None
AR#: N/A
Freshenings to date: 2 as of 2009
Date of last freshening: March 24 2009
High milk test day: 2.0#
High protein test day: 4.1% (on a 2009 AGS One-Day Test Nova actually posted 9.2% but she was mostly dry)
High butterfat test day: 5.0% (on a 2009 AGS One-Day Test Nova actually posted 11.7% but she was mostly dry)
Best SCC test day: score of 5.8
Lifetime milk production on test: 117#
Click here to see Nova's lactation records

Disbudded/dehorned
Height: 19.25"
Actual coat color: Black with white splashing
Ears: erect and frosted
Muzzle: splashed and lightly frosted

Nova's prior owners at My Kids Farm showed Nova in 2007. At the 2007 ADGA/AGS Alaska State Fair in Palmer, Alaska, Nova took Grand Champion Jr. Nigerian Dwarf Doe under Lynn Flemming! We've also been told that when appraised as a dry junior (young stock) in 2007 (ADGA Linear), the appraiser commented that he felt she showed a lot of promise in her foundation. Nova was shown under five judges in 2008. She really hates to be touched so setting her up in a pleasant stance for judging is a real challenge! Her placings in 2008 definitely reflected her attitude toward posing. We've been working with her and we expect tremendous improvement in 2009.

JT Villa Nova

This is a really good shot of Nova, courtesy of her prior owners at My Kids Farm.

Here's a more recent snapshot we took of Nova while she enjoyed a romp around the yard earlier this fall (2008).

Nova is a beautiful doe that just hates to show off. If we could only teach her to set up without touching her! She has one of the best uphill stances and level toplines we've seen in person on a Nigerian Dwarf doe, but she doesn't stop there. We really admire Nova's beautiful length, width, and breadth, wide open ribs, and a strong front assembly and we are quite pleased with her overall balance.

We're told that Nova had a bit of a rough start. She lost the tips of her ears to frostbite as a wee one but still managed to earn her jr. show leg as a long yearling in 2007. When it came time to breed, she had difficulty conceiving during her first several cycles, probably due to her VERY quiet heats. Finally, as a first-freshener, she delivered twin bucklings in May 2008. Then came disaster with her first introductions to the milk stand, where she strongly objected to being handled and refused to stand quietly. After a few days of wrestling, she was relieved from the milk string. After that fiasco, she stubbornly resisted taking back her twin bucklings for nursing and thus, quickly dried up. This combined with a disagreeable attitude toward her caretakers earned her a spot on the sale list at My Kids Farm where we scooped her up hoping we'd just lucked out to find a diamond in the (crabby) rough.

Nova came to us dry in mid-2008, so you can imagine just how excited we were to see her freshen in the spring of 2009. We've worked with milkstand divas before (and had success) and our herd is still small enough that we have the time to dedicate to coaxing Nova to cooperate. Luck has been on our side as something just seemed to click. Even from the first day, Nova has been quite affectionate toward Heather. Within a few days of her arrival at Fair Skies, Nova was already gaining trust and willingness to let us touch her and inspect her udder and teats. Even then, we could at least tell she has large teats with matching big orifices that will be quite easy to milk... as long as she continues to stand quietly for us! After a week or so, she was willingly coming to the milk stand for treats. Now she enjoys a short stay on our laps and will even sit contentedly chewing her cud, as long as the other does and kids aren't climbing over her too much. This year she freshened with the most adorable twins. Despite a rough delivery for this small doe, she gave us healthy kids and fed them up well. She was easy to milk and even joined our DHI test string, as expected. In June, however, she fell ill, possibly a residual effect of the difficult delivery and we weaned her kids to help her health. She dropped a considerable amount of weight and dried up. She's been under the care of a trusted veterinarian and we're hoping for a strong recovery (thank you Dr. Teresa Beck at North Star Animal Hospital!). We'll keep polishing this gem and see just how well she will sparkle for us.

Nova's 2009 udder (twins), 3 weeks fresh

Pedigree/Genetics: Nova is linebred on Gay-Mor Berry's Jetstream ++*S (four generations back) and Jobi Chase *S. She comes from some other very respected lines, which include:

Dav-Lyn Piddlin Acres Victory,
     Victory is ARMCH Willows White Light'n +S E x Willows Toodle Lou

Jobi Pansy 4*D AR1628 HES: 89.85 E,
     Pansy is Jobi Swirl *S x Jobi Faith 3*D

Jobi Misti 2*D 2*M AR1623 HES 88.3 VG,
     Misti is Jobi Hershel *S x WGF Millie *D AR1533

Jobi Patches 2*D AR1490,
     Patches is Goodwood Q Marina x Piddlin Acres Dainty *D

and Gay-Mor's Dandy Kolumbine
     Kolumbine is High Acre Halftone's Jim Dandy x Gay-Mor Al's Heather 2*D AR1442 E

Nova kidded with live twins by Yowza *S *B on March 24, 2009! Nova had a very difficult kidding as she managed to push her very large buckling out head-first and lodge him squarely in her pelvis before calling over the monitor for help. We rushed out and repositioned the boy so she could deliver him rear-feet first and out he came with his sister to follow shortly thereafter. After tending to Nova for a few days, she recovered but hasn't produced what we had hoped. We ended up weaning her kids and drying her up due to illness and she is under the care of a veterinarian. We're still trying to strike the right balance with Nova so she can live up to her full potential. Her kids are adorable, but due to their mother's late blooming, we are retaining the doe for evaluation and wethering the buck. We're hoping both will grow up to exhibit better rear feet, more bone, higher thurls, and a deeper chest floor than their mother.

On 3 October 2009, we made the very difficult decision to euthanize Nova. Never fully recovering from an e. coli infection of unknown cause, her health had waned since kidding in the spring of 2009. We're awaiting liver analysis results from WADDL to provide us with more information on Nova's condition that her body had so much trouble fighting. We miss Nova very much and each day we will count our lucky stars that we have her beautiful daughter, Fair Skies YZ Zvonari, to remind us of our sweet Nova. Our thanks go out to Dr. Beck for her tireless efforts to assist Nova in her final months.

    SB WaitingForMe 2*D 2*M 79 +VEA
        (Appraised the day of her first freshening, not classified)

S: MCH GCH Twin Creeks WB Sebastian Bach *S +B VEE 90 Excellent

SS: MCH Goodwood Weisbaden +*S E
SD: Ponders End Araina *D VG

D: Tupence Ginger Snap *D 1*M AR1868

DS: Tupence Journeyman VG
DD: Tupence Pecan Sandy E

Click here to view WaitingForMe's five-generation pedigree

DOB: February 19, 2006
DOD: March 3, 2009
Original breeder: Suzanne Nevada, SilverAurora, Wasilla, AK

AGS Registration #: D-32598
ADGA Registration #: D1383815

AR Status: 2*D 2*M
AR#: 2192
Freshenings to date: 2 as of 2008
Date of last freshening: June 9, 2008
High milk test day: 4.7# on July 13, 2008
High protein test day: 5.3%
High butterfat test day: 9.0%
Best SCC test day: score of 4
High milk lactation: 534# in 207 days
High protein lactation by weight: 22# (4.1% average)
High butterfat lactation by weight: 36# (6.7% average)
Lifetime milk production on test: 941# in 457 days
Click here for lactation records

Disbudded/dehorned
Height: 19.125" at withers in 2009
Actual coat color: Brown and black San Clemente (buckskin)* with white splashing
     *Actual coat color differs from AGS and ADGA registration papers
Ears: erect and very lightly frosted
Muzzle: splashed with white

Waiting was shown under five judges in 2008. Waiting's best placings in the does in milk ages 2 to 3 years classes were second out of eight under Marie Layman, second out of ten under Heather Arts, third out of eight under Rusty Repp, and first out of nine under Daniel Considine.

Follow the links below to see two of Waiting's 2008 triplets by Xenya *S *B:

Fair Skies XK Yantarni and
Fair Skies XK Yu'Pik Me *S

Starting their show career at the tender age of just 10 days, Waiting's 2008 kids are well on their way! Yu'pik Me placed first out of four bucks under three months of age under Marie Layman at the ADGA/AGS Summer Solstice Show in Wasilla, Alaska! WOW! A few weeks later, Yantarni placed second out of seven does under three months of age under Daniel Considine at the ADGA Alaska State Fair Show in Palmer, Alaska! Additionally, more than one judge has complimented Waiting's kids on their correct stature, especially with regard to their feet, pasterns, and legs.

SB WaitingForMe

Below is a snapshot of Waiting, taken early June 2008 after a fresh spring clipping. She is VERY pregnant here - in fact, she kidded with live triplets to Xenya *S *B just 36 hours after we took this photograph!

Waiting, pictured just 36 hours prior to her second freshening, June 2008!

And here she is just 10 days later at our first show of the summer.

Yes, this doe screamed, "Look at me!"  Affectionately dubbed our little "RC Cola Girl" due to the unusual markings on her right side, she was inquisitive and talkative, always curious and ready to go.  Waiting hated to wait for anyone.

We were really excited about this doe. Waiting was a strong, confident doe that exhibited wonderful length, generous rib spacing and correct angling, tight shoulders, elegant neck-shoulder tie-in, graceful neck, ample brisket, and a long, flat bone pattern. Top it all off with a beautiful head that carried an excellent ear-set and a strong jaw and we had a knock-out of a doe.  Waiting was solid but feminine, with strong feet and legs and a proportionate, yet deep heart girth.  This girl was a good mix of refinement and strength, with a overall level topline and rump, a correct tail set, and good width from hips to thurls to pins, as evidenced by her ability to deliver her first 2008 doeling rear-end breach with legs tucked under.  Easy birthing is definitely something for which we strive so we were pleased that this confirmed our thoughts on selecting this doe to begin our herd. She was appraised in 2007 as 79 +VEA (ADGA Linear) the day of her first freshening.

Her breeder had this to say about Waiting: "Yes, we were waiting for Waiting for a long long time. Ginger [Waiting's dam] is plain stingy with doelings. Waiting is very much like her mother in appearance, a lovely broken buckskin, with a sparkle in her eye and a certain bounce to her step. We like this doe, she's an improvement on her dam in that she is more dairy like but still retains the width and depth that we like to see in a strong doe. Her full sister in the Winterhaven herd is a joyful girl and a fabulous mother, as well as a good milker."  Her breeder also recently retained another gorgeous full sister to Waiting, Xtinker, from whom we are awaiting a doeling for Summer 2009.

Waiting's first-freshening udder was beautiful, with good medial cleavage, large teats, and large orifices. It was no surprise then, that Waiting was awarded her dairy stars from both ADGA and AGS on her first lactation, despite milkings just once daily!  It's always difficult to judge a first-freshener's udder, especially when they have not likely reached their full potential due to once-daily milkings during the better half of her first lactation at her breeder's home.   Still, there was a lot here we liked and we saw great improvement after her second freshening, as we expected. We were especially pleased with the positive changes in Waiting's foreudder and escutcheon. Her first kidding was twins (2007) and her second was triplets (2008). On July 13, 2008, on Standard DHIA 305-day test (code 20), Waiting posted her all-time high milk on test at 4.7#!

Waiting's second-freshening udder, 2008.

Pedigree/Genetics: Waiting is lightly linebred on Goodwood Alamo Messenger ++S (five generations back) and she comes from some other very respected lines, which include:

Ponders End Araina *D VG
and MCH Goodwood Weisbaden +*S
     Weisbaden is Gay-Mor's RA Kingwood ++*S x Goodwood Bejou Merry 4*D
     Kingwood is Stonewall's Raising Arizona x ARMCH Goodwood Trillium *D, AGS 1998 #7 High Butterfat with 39# (4.5%)

Click here to see Waiting's five-generation pedigree and summaries of some of her ancestors' more notable accomplishments.

Tragically, we lost Waiting to an aortic aneurysm in early 2009. We were fortunate to be with her when she passed so very quickly, but we were unable to save her kid. With just a few weeks from her third kidding, Waiting was carrying a single chocolate buckskin buckling by MCH Sandy Hollow UK Chesire Cat *S *B. Now more than ever, we are looking to the 2008 kids we retained by CH Xenya *S *B, Fair Skies XK Yantarni and Fair Skies XK Yu'pik Me *S.

    Desertnanny Tequila Sunrise *D 1*M
     85 V+V+ ("stale udder"?), not yet classified

S: Twin Creeks DJ Hornblower*SE

SS: Rosasharn's TL Don Juan *S *B
SD: Twin Creeks BW Hope Floats 5*D VG

D: Twin Creeks WB Bavarian Rain

DS: MCH Goodwood Weisbaden +*S E
DD: Ponders End Araina *D VG

Sunny's five-generation pedigree coming soon

DOB: March 15, 2005

AGS Registration #: D-_____
ADGA Registration #: D1356795

AR Status: *D 1*M
AR#: Need to check paperwork
Freshenings to date: 3 as of 2008
Date of last freshening: December 20 2008
High milk test day: Need to check paperwork#
High protein test day: Need to check paperwork%
High butterfat test day: Need to check paperwork%
Best SCC test day: Need to check paperwork
Lifetime milk production on test: Need to check paperwork#
Click here to see Sunny's lactation records

Disbudded/dehorned
Height: 20.375"
Actual coat color: Buckskin with white splashing
Ears: erect and lightly frosted
Muzzle: solid

Sunny's prior owners showed Sunny in 2006. At the 2006 Alaska State Fair ADGA Show in Palmer, Alaska, Sunny took Grand Champion Jr. Nigerian Dwarf Doe!

Tequila Sunrise - SOLD! Thank you, Anne, for adding Sunny to your herd!

This is a great candid of Sunny from August 2007, six months into her first lactation. This photo shows how correct Sunny is even when not posed. Of note, this shot was taken a month after her first ADGA Linear Appraisal. By the official doe pages, her prior owners reported Sunny was producing 2 pounds per day (then about halfway through a 302-day lactation). So, we're not sure why they reported she had a stale udder for that evaluation (at just 5 months fresh).

The photo below is a more recent shot of Sunny from July 2009. Here she is standing with a couple of our July 2009 doelings. Sunny gave us a striking single doeling by Xenya in early July. At only 2 weeks fresh in this shot, she had been milked out just a few minutes prior, so what you're seeing in her udder here is mostly edema. You can see that the udder today, during her fourth freshening, doesn't look a whole lot different than it did two years prior during her first freshening.

The first two photos below are some shots I took of her udder just before milking her out and turning her out into the field for the shot above. You can see a decent structure with good foreudder blending, but a lot of edema and not much capacity at this point. This was the first day we bagged her up after kidding and she gave us 1 pound at this milking and another 0.8 pounds that evening, which was a great improvement over the prior weeks when we had to supplement her doeling with a bottle.

Sunny's 4th-freshening udder (single doe), 2 weeks fresh, July 2009.


Sunny's 4th-freshening udder (single doe), 3 weeks fresh, July 2009.

The three bottom shots above show Sunny's udder a week later (3 weeks fresh). Now that the edema is subsiding, we're seeing a bit more capacity, a nice medial suspensory ligament, and plump, easy-to-milk teats. Her latest milkings have been around 2.5 pounds per day so we are seeing continued expansion. However, the udder is now even lower.

We'd like to see a rear udder that is more securely attached laterally and held higher up into the escutcheon. We'd also like to see teats that point more correctly down than out, but we do like her medial and her teats are adequately sized with open, easy-to-milk orifices. Sunny moved on to another herd in early November 2009.

Pedigree/Genetics:
Sunny's five-generation pedigree and summaries of some of her ancestors' more notable accomplishments coming soon.