The first goat on the farm, Ethel, was a French Alpine. She was the only goat for about 8 months and bonded with us to the point that it was almost impossible to leave her alone. She learned to open the back door of our house and recognized our voices on the telephone. It was necessary to get her a friend, although she did not see it that way initially, and it was some time before Liza and Ethel became friends. Ethel died in 1994, but Liza, a strong, healthy grade goat, is still alive at age 15, though she has arthritis in her knees. The breeding of Liza and the milk-laden udders revealed the mysteries inherent in milk to Della, who was forced to milk her when one of her kids died. From that time on, goat milk was a welcome addition to the farm menu in the spring.
We bought two bred Obies (Oberhaslies) in 1995, and 4 new kids in the spring of 1996. Most of the females came from those two and Liza. We leased males from several other herds in Virginia and North Carolina for many years until the ‘new genes' were imported from California. Colleen Monahan (Red Tail Ridge) had brought semen back from Switzerland and added new blood to the breed which, having been inbred in the US for 40 years, had developed some limiting features (comparatively small udders in some of them, for example).
There were 22 babies in the 2004 season -- 9 females and the rest males. We have kept 4 of the males and all of the females to enhance the bloodlines of the herd. We hope to have at least as good a mix of males and females for the 2005 season as for the 2004 season; this will bring the herd to about 19 milkers for 2006 and the full complement of about 50 for 2007. At that point, we hope to see the results of our breeding program: improvement in udder attachment thus size and milk production.
