Wings & Caprines: 2018 NC State Fair

[Bruce]

Yep, SBC loves her Lilly.

 

[Ridgetop]

Wonderful pictures! Brings back so many happy memories! Love those LaManchas. Not sure which goat 1st large picture was - red goat Alpine ears - gorgeous udder!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU!!! WISH I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE TO WATCH!

 

[Southern by choice]

I want to say I feel so sorry for you but I really don't since I know you are enjoying it.

LOL Not sure about that.

Yep, SBC loves her Lilly.

She is rotten Bruce. Spoiled Rotten. NOT by me. I blame @Goat Whisperer and Littlest DD.

Wonderful pictures! Brings back so many happy memories! Love those LaManchas. Not sure which goat 1st large picture was - red goat Alpine ears - gorgeous udder!CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU!!! WISH I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE TO WATCH!

Thank you Ridgetop. It was probably the Nigerian we call "Peanut" Her name is Red Hot... her brother is Jalapeno' . She is Goat Whisperers.

I am very thankful. I do prefer the older style Lamancha. They were a medium sized goat. Not sure why everyone wants a huge large goat especially if that 180 lb goat can't make more milk than 140-150 lb goat. Just more to feed without the extra benefit of dairy. I do want to add a bit of height/length but don't want to lose the traditional style. Same thing has happened with the Toggs.

This year I am breeding for a lot of Miniature Lamanchas. I know if I breed std I will want to keep so many! With the miniatures I need a few bucks to retain and maybe a doe or two, the rest will be sold. Still waiting to move.

 

[Ridgetop]

I loved our LaManchas. They were medium sized - slightly smaller than the Nubians and like all goats had wonderful personalities.

I agree with you on size. The show breeders seem to want larger and larger show stock (sheep and dogs too) and many times lose the original benefit and purpose. Why put the groceries in a huge LaMancha, when a medium size LM will milk as much and cost less to feed?! Would love to have dairy goats again, but the workload is a killer. If we hadn't started small and then grown into our huge project over 16 years, we would probably never have experienced it. Now that we know how much work it is, not so sure we want to repeat it. But do love the dairy goats. I don't think I would like the miniatures - my back wouldn't take the bending over! Or milking those tiny teats for a couple cups of milk! We miss them though, and bottle fed kids are like little puppies!

 

[Bruce]

She is rotten Bruce. Spoiled Rotten. NOT by me. I blame @Goat Whisperer and Littlest DD.

Yeah we know you don't spoil any of your animals.


By the way, how is Rita?

 

[Southern by choice]

I loved our LaManchas. They were medium sized - slightly smaller than the Nubians and like all goats had wonderful personalities.

I agree with you on size. The show breeders seem to want larger and larger show stock (sheep and dogs too) and many times lose the original benefit and purpose. Why put the groceries in a huge LaMancha, when a medium size LM will milk as much and cost less to feed?! Would love to have dairy goats again, but the workload is a killer. If we hadn't started small and then grown into our huge project over 16 years, we would probably never have experienced it. Now that we know how much work it is, not so sure we want to repeat it. But do love the dairy goats. I don't think I would like the miniatures - my back wouldn't take the bending over! Or milking those tiny teats for a couple cups of milk! We miss them though, and bottle fed kids are like little puppies!

I hear you on the dwarfs. Although we have pretty good teat sizes on ours. We have brought in a buck that has very strong milk lines- his dam milked 7.2# , 6.8 # on 1st and 2nd tests as a 3YO. That is all I remember. I think they took her through Nationals and dried her off. Not sure but she might have made the elite list. The Nigies belong to GW.

You might like the Miniature Lamanchas though. I LOVE them. IMO they are the best for homestead milkers. Not short, not tall, they generally max out about 100-110 # but give 7-8 lbs average for a good milker as a 50/50 %. The minis are my pet project. It is funny how many Standard breeders and Dwarf breeders hate the mini program. The downside is it takes time to breed a really nice mini.
I think I have 8 -10 does bred for minis this year. I can't find good bucks that are from tested herds. There are some but shipping from West Coast is difficult. The other downside is the serious breeders that breed for improvement are far and few between. I have seen many more herds starting to milk test. The registry I work with is also developing an evaluation program, similar to LA. I figure why not just run several lines and then I can "make" my own bucks.


I know this is a crappy pic and she isn't full but this is Bingo a 1st gen 50/50.
Other pic is her and her dam at evening milking - great size, great teats, easy to handle. Great milk.


You are right- it is a lot of work. Very different when we just had a few goats and milked for us.