After a busy and successful summer, fall has slid into winter almost without warning. Snow and below freezing temps the past few nights have given us due warning that summer days are gone! We had a lovely long summer though, so we can't complain. With all the unusually plentiful moisture all season the grass was green right up to the end here, and that was great! Better pasture and better growing for the second crops. Now, all that is ended, and all that hay that we were blessed with is coming into its time!

I still miss all the little goats that went to their homes in late July, but breeding season is upon us again! The little girls will be coming back for breeding around December, they went to a (nearly!) local fellow, and couldn't have a better home! The new herd sires we sold went a little farther away, but we made some great new friends of goat keepers we hadn't met before. That's one of the great things about goat-keeping, the people you meet while involved with them are so nice!

Anyway, we are pleased to be using our new buck, 'Sterling', from the Bethel herd in Iowa, and anxious to see his babies in the spring! He is a beautiful fellow, and keeping that great workable disposition that we require in our girls, so his offspring will be a lot of fun to see on the ground! Sort of no-holes...
One of their does, Bethel Mur Rhapsody Rhonda, has been the top producer in the Alpines for two years, and last year she outdid the top producers from all other breeds, though they don't have an award for that! So we are pleased to be maintaining our high production with this guy, and are looking forward to freshening out his daughters, and taking a look at their udders. Sterling's first kid crop is sure to be exciting!

I just hope that we didn't keep back too many '09 doelings, because I have a feeling we'll be wanting to keep a lot of 2010 kids!