Donna, from Dandridge, TN

[Donna R. Raybon]

Grew up with poultry and cattle. First dairy goat came home from Paul Fox's Foxwood Nubians in 1991, Simple Life Kasey. Joined ADGA and Safehaven Nubians came to be. Paul Fox and Mark Cobble (Cobble's Valley) have both been good friends and helped our herd better itself with wonderful genetics. Many of Mark's GCH's go back to GCH Safehaven Elwood's Diva, a doe I bred years ago.

Spent years with Polled Herefords (sweet, calm, don't milk worth a darn so calves are light weight), Black Angus ( a bit fiesty, but milk and raise off a heavy calf!!), Jersey and Holsteins. Also had Katahdin sheep and Border Collies which we really, really loved. Raised GPs and miss them a lot.

Eastern Tennessee has been my family home since first land grants awarded back in 1700s. I have lived elsewhere (Indiana, Colorado, and Georgia) but returned home in 1990.

Age has forced some downsizing so now only the poultry and goats. But, I do relief milking for Blackburn Jersey farm as needed. We milk about 30 head in a two at a time parlor. LOVE my girls!!!! Poultry wise I have Black and Blue Copper Marans (Bev Davis via Julie Akers) and have a just added a Greenfire BCM rooster for next years hatch. DH has English Buff Orpingtons, too. Also an assortment of hatchery Easter Eggers, Barred Rocks and Sumatra hens. All are kept safe and sound by George, our LGD who is half GP and half Anatolian.

Garden, milk, make cheeses, cook, can, etc...... next spring hope to get back into Khaki Campbell ducks and Roman Tufted geese. Had woterfowl for many years and enjoyed them greatly. That is for next spring.

 

[animalmom]

Welcome! Glad you found us.

Would you do us a huge favor and put your general location (like Eastern TN) on your profile? That way if you ask a question folks might be able to tailor the response to your area instead of just very generic responses. Please and thank you.

Oh, we love pictures so feel free to post pictures with abandon!

 

[RollingAcres]

Hello and welcome to BYH. Glad you joined us!
We have 1 dog(not LGD), 2 hens(1 Easter Egger & 1 Rhode Island Red) and 2 cattle(Red Devon). We are first time cattle owners for almost a year now. Guess I can also add you to my list of people to ask questions regarding cattle.
Like @animalmom said, we LOVE pictures!

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH Donna, from NE TX! So glad you joined us. There's a wealth of info, knowledge and experience shared in the multitude of threads. Browse around and see what interesting stuff you can find. By all means post away when the desire strikes you, especially if you have questions (provide as much detail/info as possible and pictures truly help)... With all the great folks here, generally someone will respond in no time at all. Please make yourself at home!

 

[Southern by choice]

Welcome to BYH!

Your Nubians in your avatar are lovely!
Paul and Mark have lovely animals! Very nice people. Only talked in passing at shows with Paul and via phone with Mark.
Do you show?

 

[Donna R. Raybon]

Thank you! Stick with a line, prove a buck, cull ruthlessly. Yes, Paul got me started back in 1990 and I have known Mark since he was in high school. We quit showing years ago due to cost, disease risk, and having a hard time finding anyone to care for what we left at home. Mark bought and finished Safehaven Elwood Diva and has many of her offspring. She descends from Simple Life Farm Deborah Kense.

After we quit showing we continued LA for many years. I learned more from one LA session than all the years of showing!!! Also did HES before Harvey quit and that was really neat to pick his brain.

I started four does, two purebred and two American. Culled ruthlessly based upon personality, LA and production. Ended up with the Americans being the best. Purebred were Simple Life Farm Kasey, Simple Life Farm Deborah Kense and Americans were Foxwood Flash's Annie and Little Shepherd Belle Star. Used a lot of bucks from Paul and Mark as well as Patti Dean. I REALLY miss Pattie, she was such a good person and really helped me a lot long before I ever bought my first goat from her. Her genetics were rock solid and awesome.

Am down to only nine does and a buck from Mark. Had seven bucklings and two doelings with one more yet to kid this year. All are by Cobble's Valley Geneson Jeeves (barn name is Fuzz Butt) He goes back on dam's side to Simple Life Farm Kasey, who was my very first dairy doe. So that is a fun thing to know the line goes full circle. I will try and get pictures and post of everyone.

 

[Southern by choice]

That is pretty exciting. We really don't do much with the Nubians. We happened upon "Ruby" and brought her home. We weren't looking for a Nubian. Ruby is out of the J-Nels line. I am sure you remember J-Nels Gumdrop. That is Ruby's grand-dam. We ended up bringing in a buck from Frog Flat... he is also a grandson of Gumdrop. So we did line breed and have kids this year from that line. Last year our Frog Flat buck was too immature so we used Woest-Hoeve Blue Print (*B SGCH Iron-Owl Bluebeard X Woest-Hoeve Princess Sela). We kept the doeling and it is nice because we can breed her to "Olaf" (frog flat). My DD wants to do more with the Nubians. Ruby is retired as of this last kidding. We have Blue-Belle and Black Jade. We brought in a J & M Hideaway doe, picked her up when we went to the NCDGBA show. I do love our few Nubians but I am a Lamancha girl at heart.

We are doing LA this year. Hopefully. We just received the paperwork and have to have it back in by the 15th. Seriously? I really think 2 weeks would have been more appropriate.
That is what everyone says- they learn more from LA than anything. Although apparently last year there were a lot of people very upset.

There are so many nice herds out there now it really is pretty cool to see so many.
It is all fun but at the end of the day LA scores, ribbons, test etc mean only so much to me. I still enjoy my homestead goats and love to sit in the field and have them climb in my lap and give kisses and hugs. That is the greatest joy still.

I have a fascination with cattle! I am somewhat mesmerized by them. I will never have any, but I enjoy looking at them. They are just such massive animals, and IMO beautiful. Truly amazing creatures.

I miss my KC. I really loved them. Great ducks for sure!

 

[Hipshot]

More than lunch has time to read . welcome from Middle Tn. post some Marans pictures . I need new blood Are you on BYC too?

 

[Hens and Roos]

Welcome glad you joined us!

 

[Donna R. Raybon]

Thank you all for a warm welcome!