Friday, June 14, 2019

Mayfly x Moonstone Doe Kid For Sale


We have two new kids here on the farm, born Tuesday evening.  Buck/doe twins.  The buck is sold, but the doe is available.  I only have this photo of her so far, but this weekend if the weather cooperates, we will try to get them out on pasture for a while and get some good photos.  If you're interested in this little one or any of the other goats you see here let me know and we can talk.  I love talking goats, and will work with you to get you as much information as you need, and welcome your prearranged visit to our farm as well.
I am in the process of trying to sell my little herd, and keeping only 2 does (because who can live with NO goats?? :)
I am most interested in helping someone start with goats if they're interested in my little herd as a whole.  I have books, medications, milking stand, buckets, etc. available as well as knowledge to share in helping an interested party get started.

No photo description available.

Here's the little man and mama:


Saturday, July 14, 2018

Buck For Sale

Mr. Tumnus is for sale:

Due to the fact that we want to keep Odin, the son of Mr. Tumnus and a wonderful buck kid born here this year, we are going to sell Mr, Tumnus.  He's a 4 year old first generation 50/50 buck.  He's nice and wide with straight, strong legs and feet and a nice level topline.  He comes from good milking lines.  
His sire's dam (Starlight, pictured below) was a Nigerian Dwarf who peaked at 4 pounds her second freshening.  His dam was a full Nubian doe who also peaked at 4 lbs. her first freshening at 14 months old.  
We have spent a lot of time with this guy, so he's friendly and loves attention.  He's been very healthy and an easy keeper all his life.  His kids are mostly an improvement over their parents in breed character.  Here are some photos of him and his son, Odin.  Please contact us by leaving a comment or via the contact button on your screen.  We will get back to you and answer any questions you may have.  This page is a work in progress, but we have Mr.Tumnus, his son Odin and his sire's dam Starlight pictured below.  













Sunday, June 24, 2018

INTRODUCING GREEN GABLES MOONSTONE (aka Sunny)
(3rd gen.)



Green Gables Moonstone (3rd gen 59.04/40.96)
     Sire: Echo Hill's DO Goldstone (5th gen 55.58/44.42)
          SS:  Echo Hill's Dominator (5th gen 55/45)
          SD:  Echo Hill's Black Opal *2P (4th gen 56/44)
     Dam:  Green Gables MB Lovely Luna (2nd gen 62.5/37.5)
          DS:  VMCH Green Gables SS Moonbeam (4th gen 50/50)
          DD:  Green Gables CB Lucinda 1*P (1st gen 75/25)

Go to North Forest Farm on Facebook to see more.  Sunny has been long awaited!  I don't know how many years I've been looking at Green Gables' website, hoping to one day own a buck from Eliya.  We're so happy to finally have him here on our farm.  He is sure to add great things to the milk production, udder conformation and ears of our kids to come.  We hope that by late fall, he will be ready to breed a few of our girls.  It's going to be a long wait for spring next year, let me tell you!  I'm still trying to figure out if the percentages I have question marks after are correct.  Will update when I know.


Also introducing North Forest Farm Odin
(2nd gen 50/50)




North Forest Farm Odin (2nd gen 50/50)
     Sire:  North Forest Farm Mr. Tumnus (1st gen 50/50)
          SS:  North Forest Farm TR Aspen (Nigerian Dwarf)
          SD:  French's Dream Girls Latte (Nubian)
     Dam:  North Forest Farm Enchanted April (1st gen 50/50)
          DS:  North Forest Farm MX Shamrock (Nigerian Dwarf)
          DD:  French's Dream Girls Twisted Sister (Nubian)
          
He was such a delightful surprise for us!  We haven't had this color combination yet, and his breed character is the best we've gotten as well.  He was the largest kid born on our farm as well, weighing in at 7.5 pounds.  He's so sweet and fun!  We're enjoying him as much as we can while he's small...and clean. :)  We plan to breed him to Freyja this late fall/winter.  They have the same base coloring, which is my favorite; sundgau or black and tan.  Odin's base color is so broken by the white that it's hard to realize it's there.  He's such a flashy little guy.  I hope we get some more kids with his and Freyja's coloing.  I guess I'd better hope for the good conformation to pass along over the coloring though! :)




Friday, March 16, 2018

Breeding Plan Update

Hey all,

We have a busy year this year, and some changes to the does we currently own.  This has lead to our choice to breed only two does to kid this season.  Moon is due mid May and April is due mid June.  Moon is showing evidence of having a belly full of kids already.  April not so much, but I'm hoping. :)  These kids will be F2 Experimental and 50/50.  Please feel free to contact us if you're interested in purchasing a kid from us this season, and we'll keep you posted as to the progress of our does and the kids they have.

I finally got all of my registrations completed, and all papers sent off to new owners of our 2017 kids, and that feels pretty great too.  Now all of our mininubians are registered with the Miniature Dairy Goat Association (MDGA).  It's great to see a little herd of mininubians developing under our patient and thoughtful care.

We have a deposit on a Green Gables Mininubian buckling this year, so we should be able to update on who we get sometime this summer.  It's very exciting!  I've been looking at the Green Gables herd for years, and I'm like a kid at Christmas waiting to see him myself.  If all goes well, we should have four does ready to be bred to kid for Spring 2019, at least two of them sired by our new buck.  Some of the resulting kids next season will be F3, and should be American.  I expect some really nice breed character with them.  Some of the kids will be F2, but if their dams are bred to the new buck, I believe we should have improved breed character with more roman noses and longer, less controlled ears.  It's all so exciting to think about!

Thursday, July 20, 2017

If You Came Here From Goat Finder...

I appologize for the improper listing on goat finder.  We used to raise Nigjerian Dwarf goats.  They are lovely little cuties with big persinality, and we still have one sweet little doe who we plan to keep for all eternity. :)  However, we now raise Mini-Nubian goats.  They're a little taller, which makes milking easier.  They are a powerhouse animal, on average putting in the milk pail 2/3 the amount of milk that a full size Nubian doe does on 1/2 the amount of food required by a full size Nubian doe.  They have crazy fun personalities, and it's super exciting (albeit a slow kind of exciting waiting game) to see the goats develop breed character over time when developing a new line.  We're up to second generation, and positively looking toward a future of ears for days and awesome roman noses.  Just in a smaller, more manageable package.
Goat Finder should be listing our farm under the mini-Nubian breed soon, I hope.







Friday, May 5, 2017

Kidding Season 2017

I apologize wholeheartedly for not updating this site more frequently.  I really wish I had it in me to do so...

However, I will take care of that now.  We started out the fall of 2016 with:

mini-Nubian does
April
Moon
Francine

mini-Nubian buck
Mr. Tumnus

Nigerian Dwarf Doe
Johannah

Nigerian Dwarf Buck
Trevor

Our 2017 kidding season was hugely successful in every way, and I'm super thankful to God for the wonder and amazement of it all.  The kids, both goat and human, have had a blast, and so have I. :)

Francine, our lovely black and white mini-Nubian doe, kidded March 13 with buck/doe twins.  I immediately fell in love with her doe kid, named her Freyja, and am keeping her here.

Lovely Francine

Freyja











Next was April, who kidded on March 16 with triplets, one buck and two does.  She rejected one doe kid, so we have a bottle baby.  This is our first ever fully bottle fed kid, and has been quite an experience.  Because she didn't need her goat mama, we got to take her to the hospital, nursing home and elementary school in our community.  It was wonderful fun!  She and her sister will be going to a pet home later this month.  Brother will be herd sire for a lovely bunch of does and leaving this month as well.

doeling, Quin
doeling, Harley


















Third was Johannah, my daughter's 4H doe.  She's a precious little girl, and going to be a fine milker as well.  She also had triplets, two bucks and a doe.  She didn't even look pregnant, though I several times felt a hard baby body part sliding along her side, and the signs of her impending delivery were unmistakeable.  She had the tiniest little triplets!  Two of them were  under two pounds.  The third was just over.  She shot them out so quickly that we couldn't get to the barn before they were all born, though we ran out there as soon as we heard her pushing on the baby monitor.  I had just been out checking on her and doing the chores less than half an hour before, and there was nothing going on at all.  She surprised us in every way. :)

Johannah and one of her buck kids

another buck and a doe kid


My kid and the doe kid

Fourth and last, Moon kidded with triplet does!  They are all so adorable.  Two of them have completely white faces, and blue eyes that look like they're wearing heavy black eye liner.  Those eyes!  I want to keep them all!  However, they'll all be for sale instead.   These are sure to be some lovely family milkers.  Moon is my favorite milker ever, and as a first freshener she milked for 14 months before I decided to take a break from milking and dry her off.  She milked half a gallon a day for much of that lactation.  I can't wait to see what this second freshening brings!  These girls will hopefully have some nice individual photos added to our for sale page soon.  Be sure to inquire by using our contact button or leaving a comment if you're interested.

Moon and doelings
pretty Moon

Moon just before giving birth to the triplets
Moon's first born doeling

Moon's second and third doelings




Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Welcome Donald!

Moon kidded on Friday, July 10th, on day 145.  It started out as a normal kidding, and then stalled out completely.  She stopped contracting and pushing, and just lay down for a rest.  It seemed she was saying, "Please just make this go away."  I went in for a feel, which made her contract, but there were a number of parts that didn't match all jumbled up, and I couldn't seem to sort it.  A dear friend went in with the same results.  So, it was off to the vet, another dear friend and my boss as well (we'll call her K), for some help.  Here's Moon with her new little buckling just after his birth.



  Donald (named after K's 98 year old father, who passed away the next day) was the first baby pulled, followed by a stillborn doeling.  The doeling was all broken and twisted inside the doe.  So strange.  I imagine she got hit by another doe some days before the birth.  Because it was so tangled up, it's back end as well as it's front were presenting at the same time.  Hence the confusion with all the body parts.
It's sad to have lost one, but I'm thankful Moon seems to be doing so well, and little Donald is such a friendly, quirky little guy.  We're enjoying him a lot.  Here are a few more pics from K's yard after Moon was all finished up.  She went straight for the raspberry bushes. :) Smart girl.