Ranch Happenings

Charlie Sheen said it best.  "IM WINNING!"  No..Im not on drugs or running with porn stars.  But I have been on a winning streak and it feels really great!  It started with the purchase of my new herdsire  Show Me Boers Expert Marksman.  Last September I entered the Oklahoma City State Fair for the first time and he ended up winning his class.  I was stunned.  I was also very pleased because one of my dearest friends got 2nd right behind me.  She also purchased an outstanding buck and its great when I see my friends do awesome as well.  Then came Tulsa State Fair.  I have to say that the competition was tough but I was pleased with a 2nd place.  Then came a show at Pauls Valley in December.  I never haul goats to shows in December but I was shooting the show anyway and decided what the heck.  I grabbed an almost 8 week old kid,and my buck and they were my only two entries.  (I was working after all.)  My dear friend Lacie Deans buck sired the baby and she needed some percentage points on him so I agreed to haul her if she would clip and show her for me. 

Lady Ashley wasnt even being fed out for show.  Just being fed my main herd feed twice a day alongside her mother.  We started out under judge Anton Ward and I was stunned when she won division, but then to turn around and win Overall Grand on 2 out of 3 judges blew my mind!  I ended up selling her that day and sent her with the new owners to Louisiana.  A few tears flowed, but soon I was smiling again. My buck, Expert Marksman facing his biggest competition at that point (a buck that had won best pair of buck kids at Nationals and had several recent Overall Grand finishes) ended up winning his class under Anton Ward again.  I was stunned by the success of my day.  It's nice when you can actually not only BUY winners, but also BREED winners!  Sometimes we look at our animals and think "I really like him/her" but when a judge does also, it just makes you feel like you are on the right path.  This will be XM's (as we like to call him) first kid crop due in March and I'm pretty excited to see what we get! 

As far was whats new on the farm, I recently acquired two bottle babies who come from amazing bloodlines and also puchased a Bingo daughter who Im anxious to see what she can produce for me.  I also purchased a doe sired by 2DOX Reserve Crown and TRJ/2DOX Fancy Free. She's too young to breed now, but she will be going to the breeding pen as soon as age permits. I now have a hospital grade ultrasound machine which will be my next project to see if I can teach myself to use it. We are blessed to be having such a mild winter at this point and let's pray it keeps it up.  Good luck to everyone with their kidding in 2012!

As a goat owner, things constantly change.  Sometimes its acts we put in place..other times its Gods will.  Lately I've had a bit of both.  It started with the first week of July when our beloved herd sire Chics Crave Me went to his new home at West Bay Marina Owner Walter Covington in Azle TX.  It was a bittersweet day, but I couldnt have asked for a more perfect home.  You see, Walter is the man who gave me my first bottle baby which resulted in what is now Pima Ranch.  I couldnt have selected a better home if I tried.  Walter still has his original 3 wethers who are now 14 years old!  AMAZING!

I also welcomed a new buck this week.  Bred by Show Me Boers in Neosho MO, Expert Marksman came to us and is adjusting quite nicely and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does in the show ring and in the breeding pens this fall!  He has an amazing hip and chest front and a ton of bone.

The heat has been another challenge to deal with.  With that has been a lack of pasture, changes in feeding and challenges to keep animals cool and not stressed.  This week I lost one of my sweet does, Liberty Bell - an AK-47 daughter who I had the pleasure of having long enough to have a great set of kids with and one wonderful show where she was Reserve Grand Overall doe both days.  It started with her being reluctant to stand.  I immediately loaded her as soon as she tried to lay down again after wanting to lay down again when I was dispensing breakfast for everyone.  By the time we got to the vets office, she didnt want to load and I was afraid that she was going to crash quickly.  I immediately asked the vet for thiamine as I feared it could be goat polio.  However, the drooling disturbed me.  I brought it up to the vet who didnt know if it was muscular or neurological.  On the way home, I called my friend Lori Peterson at Show Me Boers and she diagnosed Listeriosis and told me to get 20 ccs of Pennicillin in her immediately.  I tried to make her comfortable and wait to see if the thiamine or Pennicillin did anything.  When she began to crash harder, I contacted OSU vet hospital and to see if there was anything beyond the treatment already administered, but there wasnt.  She was dead within 20 minutes of contacting their goat expert.    It was a cruel death and I truly miss my beloved LB. Im just incredibly grateful that I have an amazing daughter who is a deadringer for her mother.

I'm having to sell off some of my veteran girls here to be able to control numbers so that I can feed everyone this winter as hay is expxected to be scarce.  Let's all pray for rain and good health for our animals.