Lots of updates

Well, I haven't kept up as well as I would have liked. It has been eight months since I last updated the blog. A lot has happened around the farm in that time.

First the rabbits. 
 We added two Jersey Wooly bucks to the herd at the end of August. Geise's Rocky Road, a broken chocolate otter, and Geise's Snuggles, a Siamese Sable. Rocky Road was to be a pet for me, but has become one of our herd bucks. He was bred to our black self chin doe, AngoraMoon's Ebony. Who had 5 wonderful babies, 1 buck and 4 does. The buck is a black otter (AngoraMoon's Midnight Clear) and the does are a a blue silver marten (AngoraMoon's Silver Bell), a broken blue otter (AngoraMoon's Sleigh Bell), two broken black otters (AngoraMoon's Chinook and AngoraMoon's Black Ice). Snuggles has become a pet due to being to small to breed to our does.

We added a black chinchilla German/French/Satin/Giant Hybrid angora buck, Cloud, to the herd. He came from a breeder in Colorado and has settled in very well. He brings the agouti gene to the hybrid line and also produces wonderful fiber for us. He was bred to our chocolate English Angora doe, Candy. She had 6 babies, 4 does and 2 bucks. The bucks are a chocolate agouti (AngoraMoon's Jasper, who died at 4 weeks) and a red-eyed white (AngoraMoon's Ammonite). The does are a lilac (AngoraMoon's Amethyst), a red-eyed white (AngoraMoon's Beryl), a blue (AngoraMoon's Quantum) and a black (AngoraMoon's Jellybean). We have sold all of the ones that were for sale, except Beryl and are keeping Amethyst for our own use.

Now for the goats.
We had 4 kids born this spring, 3 does and 1 buck. First was AngoraMoon's Liberty Penny out of AngoraMoon's Lucky Penny x AngoraMoon's Valentino, a chamoisee F2 Nigora doe. Second was AngoraMoon's Gale Force Winds out of AngoraMoon's Mariah x AngoraMoon's Valentino, a light buckskin F2 Nigora doe.  Third was AngoraMoon's Hidden Treasure out of Flat Rock's Sapphire x AngoraMoon's Valentino, a tri-color (buckskin and white) F1 Nigora doe. Fourth was AngoraMoon's Merlin out of CF Ravenwing x AngoraMoon's Valentino, a partially belted black F1 Nigora buck. All but Gale are natural polled and all will be retained to help rebuild the herd.

We bought a F1 Nigora doe, Susan, and a F1 Nigora buck, Ricochet, from a breeder in the Albuquerque area. The doe is a dark buckskin with a white face and the buck is a light buckskin with white. They are both out of good milking Nigerian does and a NAG buck. We are hoping that they will help to improve the dairy traits in the herd.

I also have a gold and white Nigerian doe on hold with CBF Nigerians in Bosque Farms, NM, while I pay for her. She is out of good bloodlines and should help increase the milk production of the herd.

I am now milking the three senior does (Sapphire, Lucky and Mariah) twice a day and getting about 3/4 gallon a day from them. To see how I'm using the milk, check out Mysticklobo's Workshop, where I'll tell about my adventures in learning to make cheese and maybe even soap with the milk.

Now on to other news.
We got a new puppy for the farm, a male tri-color Australian Shepherd. We named him Duncan and he is being raised to live with the rabbits and poultry in the backyard. He will be a guard/herding dog for us.

We have also added 5 ducks and 16 more chickens to the farm. The ducks were a birthday present to my son from us. The chickens are so that we can have more fresh eggs. :)