Thank you for your interest in our herd of Purebred Nubian (and a few LaMancha!) Dairy Goats. Along with my husband Scott, I maintain a small, productive herd on our 80 acre farm in Alexandria, Minnesota. We’re located on a beautiful section of land with rolling hills, silver maples and large ponds. It’s hot and humid in the summer, bitterly cold and snowy in the winter…but we love it here!

     We began raising and breeding dairy goats shortly after receiving a Saanen doe as a wedding gift. Although she is no longer with us, it didn’t take long for her to instill a true love for these amazing creatures. Our focus has always been to breed elegant, balanced animals that are strong in general appearance with well attached mammary systems who also have the ability to produce offspring as good as or better than themselves in those areas. In addition to correct type, we select for long, level lactations with high components, good health and easy going, friendly dispositions. We are very proud of the progress that our herd has made over the years.

    We had another very successful show season in 2007, adding two more animals to our permanent championship lineup; GCH Lakeshore Farms Hot Gossip 4*M and GCH Lakeshore Farms Wild Affair 3*M. Eleven other individual animals also earned championship legs during the show season. At the 2007 Minnesota State Fair, our herd was once again named Premier Nubian Exhibitor, making this the fifth consecutive year we have received this honor. One of our does, GCH T-G-F Conquest Royal Godiva 4*M, was named Grand Champion, Best-Of-Breed and Best Senior Doe in Show, while GCH Blissberry Hummin’ Ruth 3*M was Reserve Senior Champion with Best Nubian Udder and Blissberry Wild Topaz was Junior Champion and Kastdemur’s Terracotta was Reserve Junior Champion, all at the 2007 Minnesota State Fair. We also exhibited the 1st place Breeder’s Trio, 1st place Dairy Herd and 1st place Dam & Daughter. One of our senior herd sires, *B Kastdemur’s Full Monty, had the 1st place Junior Get-Of-Sire.

    In July of 2007 our herd traveled to the ADGA National Show in Gillette, Wyoming where they competed at their 4th National Show. We couldn’t be more pleased with how the does performed. Our National Show highlights included: 3rd place Three Year-Old – SGCH Blissberry R Rockin’ Robin 2*M, 5th place Five & Six Year-Old - GCH T-G-F Conquest Royal Godiva 4*M; 6th place Five & Six Year-Old – GCH Blissberry Hummin’ Ruth 3*M; 4th place Senior Yearling – Blissberry Wild Topaz; 6th place Senior Kid – Blissberry FM Aruba; 13th place Senior Yearling – Blissberry FM Rockstar; 13th place Junior Kid – Blissberry FM Vera Cruz and 14th place Junior Kid – Blissberry SM Notorious. Another big honor was having our own homebred doe, SGCH Blissberry R Rockin’ Robin 2*M receive the 2007 ADGA National Show Highest 305 Milk and Highest 305 Butterfat awards, while herdmate, GCH T-G-F Conquest Royal Godiva 4*M was awarded the 2007 ADGA National Show Lifetime Milk and Lifetime Butterfat awards for the third time. In addition to these individual awards and placings, we also exhibited the 3rd place Nubian Dairy Herd.

    The debut of our very young LaMancha herd at the 2007 ADGA National Show was exciting to say the least! We were thrilled to be able to own and exhibit the 2007 ADGA Reserve Junior National Champion and 1st place Intermediate Kid, Kastdemur’s Break On Through. Standing right behind her in 2nd place in that Intermediate Kid class (with an honorable mention by the judge) was Kastdemur’s Tongue Twister. Our third LaMancha entry, Kastdemur’s Shiraz, was 4th place in the Junior Yearling class. These guys are so cool, so much fun, way smart, and they’re pretty too! If this is any indication of what the future holds…we’re in for a wild ride!

     We have participated in Standard DHIR testing for the past seven years and we are very pleased to have had all of our mature does earn their milking stars. We also have quite a few animals that have milked over 3,000 lbs and have several who received breed leader recognition this year. Another performance program that we participate in is Linear Appraisal. This year we had four senior does and one buck receive scores of EX90 or higher, giving us an overall herd average of 88.8 including all senior does and bucks. We currently have a total of twelve animals residing in the herd with final scores of EX90 or above. We have always felt that dairy goats can truly do it all, milk, show, appraise well and produce...and our girls seem to be proving that it can be done.

     Herd health and management has always been a top priority for us. Our animals are fed premium quality dairy alfalfa, as well as home grown grass and oat hay, in addition to a 16% dairy ration. We also offer loose minerals, sodium bicarbonate and sea kelp free choice. Our animals are dewormed twice a year, vaccinated with CD/T, given supplemental copper boluses and BoSe regularly as a source of selenium. During kidding season, we monitor expectant does with the use of several barn cameras installed throughout the doe barn. We also attend all births and promptly remove kids as soon as they are born. Our kids are raised on a strict CAE prevention program and penned separately from the adult goats. As a prevention for coccidiosis, Decox-M is added to the kids’ free choice pasteurized milk. The herd is also protected by our Livestock Guardian Dogs, Lily and Diesel.

     We hope that you will take a few moments to become better acquainted with our herd, and as always, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.