If you want easy births, this is the girl for you. For the third year in a row here at Fair Skies, Butter kidded completely unassisted. The first year it was twins, last year it was LIVE QUADRUPLETS by Wepeat, a very beefy boy. Delivering quads were no small feat as the total birth weight of all four was an astounding 14 POUNDS for this small, normally 70-pound doe! She had them delivered, cleaned off, standing, and nursing without any help from us whatsoever. Now that's a doe any breeder can appreciate! This year we watched her deliver a large set of twin girls without any help.

Butter is definitely our herd queen and she sets an excellent example for the younger does in the herd. She is such a good mother that she is always in with our first-fresheners at kidding time. Butter ensures the babies are cleaned off, standing, and nursing in short order so we rarely need to assist anyone here. Last year we watched her help Gracie deliver twins and when Butter was done cleaning them up, she had all six kids nursing on Gracie (her own quads included)! With a doe like this in your barn, you never have to worry about a neglected kid!

In her first set of AGS Classification and ADGA Linear Appraisal in summer 2009, Butter earned high marks for general appearance and mammary system, with excellent ratings for dairy character and body capacity. Butter needs improvement in her feet (very spread toes) and teat placement that is more correctly underneath the udder rather than out to the side. We'd also like to see better support and blending for her very softly-textured udder.

This doe would rather put her energy in the milk pail than her own body, so since she joined our herd, we've worked hard to maintain her condition as she improves her capacity. Although her medial has become even more apparent with maturity, we saw a dramatic shift in the overall shape of her udder in her sixth lactation (2009). In 2009, her quads put a great demand on her udder and she was all too happy to oblige. You can see in the photos below how her udder dropped with age as she carried more and more milk. She is a rather capacious doe, producing 4.5 pounds per day at her peak (over 1/2 gallon), so she really needs to call upon those attachments to support all she produces.

Butter's 2008 udder (twins)


Butter's 2009 udder (quadruplets), 4 weeks fresh, 12 hours milk (left) and 3 weeks fresh, just 9 hours of milk (right)

With a soft, pliable udder and ample teats, Butter is a pleasure to milk.  However, we would like to see slightly larger orifices, better internal attachments, and teats that are placed more correctly underneath her.

In her prior lactations, Butter was milked only once daily and she was never asked to milk for a full 305-day lactation. As such, her production volume was relatively low, but she was very consistent. Butter is already a star-doe in both AGS and ADGA Advanced Registries (AR1849) and her records confirm our experience with her very high butterfat (typically around 7% or higher).  In her fifth lactation, Butter posted her highest butterfat ever at 10.8% on November 8, 2008!  She's no slouch at volume, either, and in July 2008, she posted her highest volume ever at 4.5# in 24 hours on 305-day standard DHI test (Code 20)! She matched this again on her first test of 2009, the first full lactation she was ever asked to complete. Although she remains easy to milk, we're hoping the bucks we've paired her with have produced mammary systems that are more closely and tightly attached, particularly internally. In 2010 we began freshening our the first of Butter's daughters and we're seeing some positive improvements!

Pedigree/Genetics: Butter's dam, Piddlin Acres Shades of Neon 2*D 1*M, was AGS 2006 One-Day Test #9 High Milk with 4.4#.

Butterscotch is linebred on Piddlin Acres ShortChange *S (MCH Twin Creeks BH Bay Watch *++S x MCH Piddlin Acres Doe 'C' Doe) and Piddlin Acres Concerto (MCH PGCh Piddlin Acres Blue Thunder +S VG x Tupence Minuet E VG) (four generations back).   Additionally, her maternal grand-dam, MCH Piddlin Acres Neon Moon *D E, was linebred on Woodhaven Farms Moon Dancer *D (Storybook Zoser x Storybook Nefertiti).   Others in her background include:

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%)

Matching her appearance and history with genetics like these, it's easy to see the origin of Butterscotch's serious production capabilities and strong, correct structure.  Click here to view Butterscotch's five-generation pedigree and summaries of some of her ancestors' more notable accomplishments..

Our continued goals with Butter are to produce robust kids that excel in production capacity, endurance, and conformational correctness; exhibiting high-quality dairyness, length, heart-girth, and bone. Although her personality more than makes up for it, we'd like to see tighter feet, a wider chest floor, higher thurls, a mammary system that is more tightly internally attached, better teat placement, and more length and refinement. We'd also like to avoid a wry tail, which was barely noticeable in Butter but very slightly apparent in one of her 2008 kids.   So far, Butter has produced for us some exceptionally long kids with outstanding bone by Chesire and great width by Wepeat. This year she gave us twin does by Zeppelin/ We would like to continue this trend with our future buck selections, but we'd like to see kids that are a bit more dairy like their dam and wider in the chest floor and pelvis than the pairing with Chesire produced.

JC WhisperSweetly 2*D 2*M
   ADGA appraised 82 VVV+ July 2009
   AGS classified 86.8 VG June 2009

WhisperSweetly

Born a quintuplet (!), Whisper is a sweet, gentle girl that enjoys moments of quiet affection. This doe is somewhat of a chameleon, as one moment she can look quite attractive, and the next she can roach her back and look totally different. The photo above is about as nice as we've ever seen her look. We commend Whisper for her wide hips, thurls, and pins; open ribbing; long, lovely, graceful neck; and dishy, feminine face. However, Whisper is here as a brood doe for her milk production and to help us evaluate what traits our bucks are best at influencing. Whisper needs improvement in her feet (spread toes and poor rear hooves that lay over), rump width, teat placement that is more correctly underneath the udder rather than out to the side, overall rear udder support, a smoother shoulder and elbow, higher thurls, and less meat in the udder.

ADGA Linear Appraisal History For: SILVERAURORA JC WHISPERSWEETLY - D001383808 (PB Doe) Linear Traits

LAYear

Age

Stature

Strength

Dairyness

Rump Angle

Rump Width

Rear Leg Side View

Fore Udder Attachment

Rear Udder Height

Rear Udder Arch

Medial

Udder Depth

Teat Placement

Teat Diameter

Rear Udder Side View

2009

03-05

15

26

31

24

20

26

30

23

18

15

25

08

08

26

The data listed above are raw field scores. All previously reported measurements have been converted to the linear scale of 0 through 50. Trait scores on the USDA site may be different due to adjustment factors used in the evaluation process.

Structural Traits

LAYear

Age

Head

Shoulder Assembly

Front Legs

Rear Legs

Feet

Back

Rump

Udder Texture

General Appearance

Dairy Character

Body Capacity

Mammary System

FS

2009

03-05

V

V

V

+

A

V

+

V

V

V

V

+

82

Miscellaneous Codes

LAYear

Code 1

Functional 1

2009

03-05

Spread toes

Yes

By far, Whisper's best traits are exemplified in the production of her mammary system. Although it is meaty and less than ideal in structure and support, it is amazingly capacious. The pictures below show her second-freshening udder in 2008.

Whisper's 2008 udder (triplets) just 10 hours after we pulled her triplet bucklings for her first milk test of the year

Although she is clearly over-uddered here, these pictures were taken when she was six weeks fresh and carrying just 10 hours of milk! We had pulled her triplet bucklings for her first milk test of the year and found a very FULL, very FIRM udder so there was no way we were going to make her wait the last two hours before milking her out! That day she milked 3.8 pounds!

Whisper has already earned her dairy stars in both AGS and ADGA, but she has shown tremendous improvement in capacity this lactation. In 2009 with quads, she posted a new personal best of 5.2 pounds on test, which she repeated on her first test of 2010 with triplet does! In 2009, Whisper's medial became more apparent and her escutcheon seemed a little higher and wider than we saw in 2008. The pictures below again show her overuddered at 4 weeks fresh carrying just 9 hours of milk (left), and then a more reasonable fullness at 4 months fresh, carrying 12 hours of milk (right).

     
Whisper's 2009 udder (quadruplets), 4 weeks fresh, just 9 hours of milk (left) and 4 months fresh, 12 hours of milk (right)

As you can see above, her rear udder dropped considerably since she freshened in 2009, indicating a lack of attachments for that portion of the structure. This is an excellent example of why you may have to wait until the second or third freshening to truly evaluate a doe's mammary system! Whisper was appraised after the last photos above, so her LA score reflects the dropped udder.

Pedigree/Genetics: We were mostly interested in Whisper for her capacity. She has linebreedings on Gay-Mor Berry's Jetstream ++*S, Gay-Mor Reggae's Nestle Quik 2*D (AGS All-Time Breed Leader for Highest Lifetime Milk Production, 1997 with 64#), WGF Millie *D 1*M (AGS All-Time Breed Leader for Highest Lifetime Milk Production, 2004 with 7,460# in 1,952 days), Piddlin Acres Crown Royal, Willow Creek Tin Lizzie, and Dav-Lynn Piddlin Acres Victory.  Whisper's dam, QSF DTI Faith *D 1*M, was one of her prior owner's most prolific milkers, posting in the AGS top ten for milk production at least 5 times between 2005-2006.  Additionally, Faith's full sister and kidding mate, QSF DTI Patience *D 1*M, posted AGS 2006 One-Day Test #1 High Milk (tie) with 6.8# and at least seven other top ten awards between 2005-2006!  There are far too many high milkers to list here but you can see their names and summaries of some of their more notable accomplishments on Whisper's five-generation pedigree.

Whisper gave us triplet bucklings in 2008 by Xudan. We tried again and ended up with live quadruplets by Chesire in 2009, two of which were beautiful doelings! In 2010, Whisper gave us triplet does by Yu'Pik Me. We continue to strive for kids that exhibit slightly more bone, stronger feet, and elbows that lie more closely against the barrel. For does, we're also striving toward better laterals and teats that point more correctly down, as well as improved rear udder height and less meat in the udder. In general, the does by Chesire had decent structure overall, but both freshened in late March 2010 with very disappointing udders overall. The capacity isn't terrible for 12-month-old first-fresheners (one with a single doe, the other with twin does), but the structure of each leaves much to be desired.

    TH Xtreme Grace 4*D 4*M
     ADGA appraised 86 VVVV July 2009, not yet classified

     S: Jobi LA Thunder *S +VV 86
        SS: Jobi Levi *S *B +VV 84
        SD: Jobi Aida 3*D 1*M

     D: Jobi Plum
        DS: Jobi Jet *S
        DD: Jobi Cherry 2*D 2*M

Click here to view Gracie's 5-generation pedigree (coming soon)

DOB: July 18, 2007

AGS Registration #: D-42852
ADGA Registration #: D1420052
AR Status: 4*D (AGS) 4*M (ADGA)
AR#: 2316
Freshenings to date: 2 as of 2010
Date of last freshening: March 19, 2010
High milk test day: 6.5# on May 1, 2010
High protein test day: 5.7%, 2009
High butterfat test day: 9.0%, 2009
Best SCC test day: score of 2.7
High milk lactation: 857 in 305 days (1st lactation)
High butterfat lactation by weight: 46#, 5.4% 2009
High protein lactation by weight: 34#, 4.0% 2009
Best SCC lactation: score of 4.9
Lifetime milk production on test: 1,120# in 349 days
Click here for lactation records

Disbudded/dehorned
Height: 20.625"
Actual coat color: Chocolate Light Belly
Ears: erect and lightly frosted
Muzzle: lightly frosted

Gracie may be a late bloomer, but wow has she blossomed! In the June 24-25 Summer Solstice Shows, she earned high compliments from Judges Gary Whitehead and Keith Harrell and took more than one Best Udder in Class, a Best Udder in Breed (ADGA), a Best of Breed (ADGA), and a Grand Championship. In shows, she's been highly praised but all judges have noted that she needs a slightly more prominent medial suspensory ligament and a little better dairy character. More detailed show records coming soon.
2009 ANDDA Res. All-American Under 2 Yrs. In Milk

Gracie's kids were just entering the show ring in 2009 and her junior daughter, Fair Skies WP Zamarra, took first out of a large group of 0-3-month-olds under Judge Jean Lucas, May 31, 2009. Zamarra went on to earn 2009 ANDDA All-American Champion Int. Kid.

TH Xtreme Grace

In her first ADGA Linear Appraisal in summer 2009, Gracie earned high marks for general appearance, dairy character, body capacity, mammary system, stature, strength, dairyness, rump angle, and udder depth. As noted on her recent LA, Gracie needs improvement in her feet (spread toes), rump width, medial suspensory ligament, teat diameter, and teat placement that is more correctly underneath the udder rather than out to the side. Despite good marks for rear udder height, rear udder side view, and foreudder attachment, we'd like to see better support and blending. We'd also like to see improved udder texture that is less meaty. This doe also tends to lead with her rather prominent shoulder, so we're looking to produce more dairy character in her kids.

Darnit, none of our photos of Gracie from our first show of 2009 (Jean Lucas, ADGA) turned out! Gracie took first place and best udder of the milkers under 24 months (four entries). She was a first-freshener with twin doelings by Wepeat, kidding unassisted on March 23, 2009. In 2010, she kidded with live quads (three bucks and a doe), again, completely unassisted.

I have only a few shots of Gracie, but we'll work on getting better photos this year. Here are a few from our July 5, 2009 ADGA show (Whiteside).

Photos by Mark Simpson Photography (c) 2009

Here are a few close-ups of Gracie's udder:

Gracie's 2009 first-freshening udder (twins), 3 weeks fresh in 2009, please excuse the quick and sloppy shave job!

Gracie's 2009 first-freshening udder (twins), 4 months fresh in July 2009

Gracie's 2010 second-freshening udder (quads), 2 and 3 weeks fresh, respectively, in April 2010
Just a couple weeks after we took these photos, Gracie posted 6.5# on official DHI monthly test!

Gracie's 2010 second-freshening udder (quads), June 2010

The photos above show that Gracie still had quite a bit of edema at 3 weeks fresh. Now that her udder is less swollen, it has settled a bit lower in the escutcheon but remains well-shaped. We agree with the judges that have evaluated her udder, all saying she needed a better medial and a higher rear udder. We'd also like to see better foreudder blending and larger teats that point more correctly down, with a setting more underneath the doe for ease of milking.

WOW, WOW, WOW! Gracie posted over 4# on her first milk test and her second was 4.7# (more than 1/2 gallon in one day) her first freshening, but on the first test of her second freshening, she posted 6.5#!!! No wonder her kids grow so fast! Last year one of her does weighed in at 24# at just 12 weeks of age!!

    TH XBean 3*D 3*M
     ADGA appraised 89 VEEV July 2009, not yet classified

XBean

Photos by Mark Simpson Photography (c) 2009

The shots above are from our July 5 ADGA show (Whiteside). I have only a few shots of Beanie, but we're working on getting better photos in 2010.

Beanie's 2009 first-freshening udder (twins), 2 weeks fresh, 12 hours milk


Beanie's 2009 first-freshening udder (twins), 3 months fresh, July 2009

Beanie's 2010 second-freshening udder (triplets), 8 weeks fresh, 12 hours milk


Beanie's 2010 second-freshening udder (triplets), June 2010

In her first ADGA Linear Appraisal in summer 2009, Beanie earned high marks for general appearance and mammary system, with excellent ratings in dairy character and body capacity. She also earned strong ratings in stature, strength, rump angle, rear udder arch, foreudder attachment, and udder depth. As noted on her recent LA, Beanie needs improvement in her feet, rump width, and higher thurls. Despite strong marks for rear udder height, rear udder side view, and teat placement, we'd like to see better rear-udder support and teats that are more correctly underneath the doe's udder rather than on the side. Beanie has exceptionally soft udder texture so we're definitely wanting to watch the integrity of her attachments so that her udder doesn't stretch and drop below ideal. She's a very consistent milker with steady capacity, but we're concerned she's already losing her overall integrity. We'd like to see better rear and medial udder support, better blending across a smoother topline, a stronger chine, as well as a better ear-set.

The shot below was taken by Mark Simpson Photography at the Alaska Dairy Goat Association's 2008 ADGA/AGS Dairy Goat Show at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. This is the class in which Beanie took Grand Champion Jr. Nigerian Dwarf Doe over 18 other does and then Best Junior Doe in Show over a total of 68 does entered in all breeds (Toggenburg, Alpine, Nubian, All Other Purebreeds, Grades, Experimentals, and Nigerian Dwarves). Thank you, Judge Daniel Considine!

Photo by Mark Simpson Photography

AR Status:
AR#: N/A
Freshenings to date: 2 as of 2010
Date of last freshening: April 14, 2010
High milk test day: 3.8# in May 2010
High protein test day: 4.6%
High butterfat test day: 6.4%
Best SCC test day: score of 2.1
High milk lactation: coming soon
High butterfat lactation by weight: coming soon
High protein lactation by weight: coming soon
Best SCC lactation: score of coming soon
Lifetime milk production on test: coming soon
Click here for lactation records

Another diamond in the rough and you know how we can't resist those! Ida is just settling in with us but is already well-behaved on the milk stand and taking a shining to both of us. We'll report on her progress throughout the year. Here are some shots of her udder taken mid June 2010 after a few weeks on our farm.