Time to Catch Up

It's been too long since I've updated this blog!  Sorry to all of you who have been watching and waiting. I will try to do better.

2012 has been a year of changes and lots of new things. Mostly for the good and some very sad.

We started the year making a commitment to host our first ever Boer Goat show here in Chehalis, WA. We set the date for July and called it The Big Top Boer Goat Show. Many shows have several buildings or areas assigned for the goat pens and the show ring. Communicating between these buildings during the show can be challenging. The Big Top was all under one roof.

Here is a picture of the goats in the show ring. We brought an IBGA show in, maybe a first for WA state, and many great farms agreed to show with them. The feedback says they liked it so we'll repeat that again next year.

Our farm was also invited to the Four Star Boer Goat Production Sale this year. We brought seven goats to the sale - 6 does and 1 buck. All but one doe was sold! It worked out well for us and gave us a new perspective on production sales. Every experience is a good when you can learn something.

The doe we brought home as unsold happened to be the one that Joe didn't want to sell. I think Someone was looking out for him. Her name is Snowdrop. She is sweet and definitely one of his favorites. Her sire is a beautiful spotted buck we owned for awhile this year so she should give us colorful kids in 2013.

We got out to a few shows this year. We showed at the Wild West Show in Yakima, WA; Red, White and Boer in Ridgefield, WA; The Big Top Boer Goat Show here in Chehalis, WA; and Joe hauled our Jr. buck and his sister to Walla Walla, WA for the Octoboer Fall Finale.

Overall our biggest winner was a buck born here in January, Kindlehope Mojo Blitz.

This picture is of him at the Octoboer Fall Finale at 9 months old. He placed 4th at the first show and 3rd at the second show in a class of 15 competitive bucks.

Earlier in the year, he placed 2nd in a class of 18 great bucks and earned his first ABGA points.

We're pretty happy with this boy.

We filled our pastures again this year with 60 jumbo Cornish Cross meat chickens, 16 holiday turkeys and 2 Hereford steers. We have many repeat customers and selling the poultry and beef is easier these days.

On the sad side of the year, we lost a very dear friend in October. Valerie Witt was my farm Mentor, especially when it came to the goats. When I first started buying Boer goats we joined forces. She was putting her herd together at the same time. Spending hours in the truck driving up north past Seattle or down south into Oregon in search of our starter herds gave us time to talk and share and form a valuable friendship.

In all honesty, she felt as close to me as a sister. To say I am going to miss her is a huge understatement. Valerie was a very special woman and friend to many people. Her family is dear to us. It feels tough to move on without her and hard to think I can't pick up the phone and call her. She is and will always be deeply missed.

This picture is one of those times when we were goat shopping. She bought this little doe and I bought my first buck. My grounding in farm life came mostly from her gentle guidance and long phone calls.