Head Shot of Cherokee, the heaviest unofficial milker in Ohio

This is Cherokee, aka Grandma, taken probably the year before we lost her. I have other pictures of her body but they are not digital and I never seem to organize myself enough to get them somewhere to scan them.

She was a beautiful doe, with a champion body and an "old fashioned" udder. My hands couldn't take the milking. I had to have someone relieve me, milk her more and then I would finish her off.

So, if you want to see her pedigree, look up Natl. Trail WSWN Cherokee on ADGA genetics.

Best Oberhasli

For a while I couldn't quite make the seasonal adjustment from summer to autumn. It was so hot so long. This week we have finally got our 50 degree good sleeping weather nights and a few dry leaves are starting to hit the lawn. Pumpkins, gourds, mums decorate the yard.

And the bucks smell to high heaven.

Our new buck Pete is doing his buck job. He's in with the girls and I seeing him chasing one, then another. He's a busy guy. I haven't seen him actually breed any of them but I don't have to. I know he's doing his job.

On OberhasliTalk@yahoogroups.com recent we had a discussion about memorable Oberhasli goats we have known. I told the story of my first modern Oberhasli. I wanted to copy and paste it here but can't seem to find it. Airhead me must have deleted it. So I'll just tell it again.

In 2001 a really beautiful Oberhasli looking doe fell into my lap. She was half wild. Wouldn't come to me but would milk or lead nicely if I cornered her. At the time we had the goat pen (3 goats) under an apple tree on the east side of the house. We moved it because in the winter the wood stove smoke blows that way. Knowing that smoke isn't good for people I figured it couldn't be good for goats either.

Anyway, we called her "Grandma" and she freshened in the spring with twin bucks, a habit of Grandma her whole life, bucks, bucks, bucks, bucks, doe, bucks. Yes, one daughter in all those years we had her. The goats lived in a shed which was basically a large dog house. I drug my old milk stand out of my dad's barn and put it in the corner and started milking her.

She ate as much as she wanted basically. I milked outside. I milked by hand. If it was raining I didn't milk at all. Here's the neat part. The old girl started filling up the gallon ice cream pail that I was milking into. Then she filled one and part of another. Then at her peak she almost filled up two gallon ice cream pails, two times a day. Yes, that's almost four gallons of milk a day.

And I thought, man, these Oberhasli can really milk!!! That would be about 30# more or less milk and definitely in contention for breed leader, had we been on test. Well, she was a once in a life milker and that was her one glory year. She was a good milker, a persistent milker, but never milked her brains out like that again.

We tracked down her tattoo and the people were kind enough to give me her papers and transfer. Yes, she really was an American Oberhasli with a pedigree going back to some really great Seneca Valley lines and others as well. She was linebred on Seneca Valley Hedrick 20+ times that I counted. Her grandsire on maternal side was Barabbas, a well known buck in this area.

We lost her at 10 years old and even though she was always a free spirit, miss her terribly. Hubby especially liked to treat her. Her took her out apples, starlight mints, crackers, and other treats. In that way she was thoroughly spoiled. I should have called her "Beginners Luck."

Breeding Dairy Goats

Many people probably don't realize that dairy goats are seasonal breeders. They start coming into heat towards the end of August and on through the fall up through about January. Going into breeding season, the bucks are starting to go into rut, which means they get stinky and disgusting.

Although our bucks are sweet as they can be, there are times when you can smell them before you get to the driveway. A couple years ago we wouldn't have company or let anyone come over it was so bad. We sold a litter of pups and I drove them down to the truckstop and met people there in order for them not to come over.

Many people will hand breed their does. That means they have to recognize a doe in heat and then take them to the buck. This has never been a successful technique for me. When I have tried to do this I have missed a couple. So I pen breed. I put the buck in with the does I want him to breed and let them do their thing.

Choosing which bucks to use on what does is just your best hunch. In the past I have had older proven bucks and I pretty much knew what to expect out of their milking daughters. This year and last I have used young bucks with no milking daughters, just relying on their impeccable breeding and the quality of their dams.

Making hay.

Sometimes easy things get so hard!

Hay was in such short supply that this spring I bought a bailer. It's an old baler, but seemed to be well cared for. Bob went over it and greased it where it needed it, etc. But on one side the knotter isn't quite right and he can't seem to get it knotting like it should. So our first cutting of hay has wierd shaped bales or are just bale shaped with no strings at all. We just fed it up.

OK, so he found the son of a friend of ours who works on balers and asked him to come to the house and see if he could fix it. He came out but wasn't really much help. He only works on New Holland and ours is an IH. So now the dad is going to come out and see if he can remember anything about these old things. I forgot to mention that the baler was probably manufactured in the 1950s.

So, Bob went out to mow hay the other day and broke the mower. Mowers are very temperamental. Turns out a wooden slat, called the Pitman arm, was the wrong size and broke. The tractor supply wanted over $100 for essentially a broom handle. Bob got a wooden slat and has drilled holes in it. There was some play in the chain and he thinks he has that fixed.

He was raised on a farm and is used to constantly fixing and tinkering to get things done. It is very frustrating to me, not being mechanically inclined.

Anyway, I would recommend this for other goat people who are having trouble getting enough hay locked in the winter. Buy yourself a baler and make it yourself. That way you won't have to sell goats or horses that you would rather keep.

Several people have called us this year to bale hay on their property as an alternative to them mowing it. Obviously this is because of the high cost of lawn mowing gasoline. We have just taken these jobs when they are close. However, I really think there may be some business opportunities for someone who wants to take this on. In the past we have had to go halves with landlords or bought the hay from them. This way you are getting the hay for just what it costs you to make it. Actually you probably could charge them since you are doing them a service.

Speaking of that Bob says we still have at least $1 a bale in it just due to the gas it costs to run the machinery.

Finally got a good rain last night and this morning. Bad for making hay but great for the garden and pasture!

Oberhasli Breeders of America

For people who raise Oberhasli dairy goats or just people interested in Oberhasli, there is a breed association call for short OBA. OBA was founded from the very people who worked so hard to get the breed out of the alpine herdbooks and established as a separate breed.

The website is Oberhasli.org. One of the Board of Directors is currently in the process of updating the website. On the website you can pay you annual dues by Paypal, which is the way that I do it.

I have the privilege of being on the Board of Directors for the past two years and I'm again running for office. Please vote for me if you are already a member.

If you're not a member, go pay your dues and sign up. There are many special programs that recognize outstanding Oberhasli for both show and milk. We have a very informative newsletter that is sent out several times a year.

Right now a fundraising auction is being planned for OBA. It is on the website cometothefarm.com. Please consider donating or if you see something you like be a bidder or better yet a buyer.

We need feedback about the OBA, so please feel free to leave a comment. What do you like, don't like, would like to see done better?

Tonka Tails Court Jester, the Bizmark of the 2000s

This is *B Tonka Tails Court Jester. He is arguably the most influential buck of this decade. And he figures prominantly in the pedigrees of elite animals in the breed and in my own herd as well.

The founding buck of my herd: *B FDF-Pleasant Fields Solaris was the last son of two time national reserve champion in the '90s, GCH Destiny Farm Souvenir *M 91EEEE. The sire of Solaris was a grandson of Tonka Tails Court Jester.

My new buck, *B Heaven's Hollow Pistol Pete is grandson of Court Jester as well. His sire White Haven Sousa 92EEE is a Court Jester son.

On their website Dauberts a few years ago mentioned that they still had Court Jester but he appeared to be sterile. That must not have been the case because he sired more kids in the last few years, including a spotlight animal. When someone on OberhasliTalk asked about a picture of Court Jester, Dauberts made a rare post and said that he is still alive and looking great. That was about this time last year. I sure hope he is still alive and kicking. Jester was collected and there is still some semen around that people are using from time to time on their best does.

Just as an example or two, here are some winning animals at 2008 nationals and how they are related to Court Jester. Ober-Boerd Jayda was the eye popping gorgeous yearling daughter of Tonka Tails Tipperary Prince, a Court Jester son. A CJ 3year old daughter was 14 place, SG Tonka Tails's Jester's Vanity. First place 4 year old was SGCH Tonka Tails Violet of Toulouse (a former National junior champion) is a grand daughter out of SGCH Tonka Tails Jester's Mischief who is a high scoring excellent doe but I'm not sure of the score right now. There are more; these are just a couple.

These are my observations and opinions. If you want to agree or disagree or if you know of an euqlly influential buck compared to Court Jester, please post a comment I would love to read it.

Cabbage Leaves!

This is the time of year my goats are the most happy. The neighbor is starting to cut cabbage every morning and then every afternoon, my goat/pigs get a nice pile of cabbage leaves and a few cull heads of cabbage. My neighbors are a family farm, Osswalts (Ohz-walts) and they grow acres of cabbages, more every year. It is a very prosperous farm. Cabbage leaves are my goats' favorite goody and they eat a lot of them, let me tell you.

We park the farm truck at the end of their conveyor belt. The waste cabbage and leaves goes out the barn and into the truck bed. We bring it home late afternoon, dump it and I feed it to the goats two or three times a day. And we take the truck back over and park it for the next day's leaves.

This works out well for both of us. My goats get the added food, obvious benefits for me. Mr. Osswalt doesn't have to dump the leaves in the field and let them rot. OMG they smell like... well, you can imagine. And when they rot they get slimy. Yuck. Much better to put the leaves through goats.

I fork leaves into an old fashioned metal bushel basket and empty it over the fence or into feeders. That way I can keep track of how much I'm feeding. I have several of those hard plastic dark green kids' wagons which are filled up and parked outside the cattle panels. I carry the bushels of leaves and dump over the fence, fill up wagons and even a tote or two. The idea is to get them spread out enough that even the smaller ones can get what they want.

(Jill, Petey loves leaves and he makes sure he gets his fill. By the way, he has had a little bit of a runny nose. You were concerned with the AC at the National Show and I guess it got to him a little, but he is eating good and no temp.)

They still have hay free choice and get feed once a day instead of twice a day, but they will be fat and happy the rest of the year.