Miniature Alpine Dairy Goats
Sarabi and her last kid 1/2008 at 13 years old.
Welcome
Here at Milk Maid Ranch in Stephenville, TX we are helping other breeders across the country develop the Miniature Alpine dairy goat. This is done by breeding a Standard sized Alpine(French or American) doe with a Nigerian Dwarf buck.
For us it happened with a few 'OOPS" in the herd. I had bought some Nigerian Dwarf doe's and a buck back in 2002 and they were in their own pasture away from the Alpine's. When weaning time came for the Alpine kids I didn't have a small pasture to put them in as the Niger's were in it. So, I figured they'd get along and put the kids in with the Niger's. NEVER did I think the Alpine doelings would start to cycle along with the Nigerian doe's. This was when our 'OOPS" happened. I notice 2 of the Alpine doelings were starting to get udders when they were 7 months old. I just thought they were getting good feed. But in 2 weeks I was changing my thinking. And there was the beginning of our Mini-Alpine herd. I have also written a few articles on developing the Mini breeds of dairy goats. If you get the Ruminations magazine, the Nov/Dec issue of 2009 with the Nigerian buck on the cover has an article of mine in it for developing the Mini breeds. The buck on the cover is Reed's Golden Elvis that I used for some 1st generation kids(Montego Bay and Sonnet are his daughters). He now lives in Virginia.
If you notice, there is a doe named Sarabi on most of the pages headlining them. She was an Alpine/Nubian doe that was my first goat ever. She was born to Bea Wells in Lincoln, Calif. I got her as a weanling from Dana Hixon, who taught me about goats. This past April 9, 2010 Sarabi died of old age. She will forever be in my heart and taught me so many things in life. I was sitting with her as she took her last breath. I am giving her a spot on here with pictures throughout her life. She was the best goat anyone could have asked for. Whenever I wanted to know what direction to head in to see where the herd was on our 40 acres, all I had to do was yell for her and she'd answer me back which told me where they were. She also was an adoptive mom to many a baby deer, and countless kids that needed an extra boost in life. She took each kid and fawn with grace as if they were born to her. She is missed with many tears.
I do like natural photo's of animals, out doing what they do, not when they are in my garden though. So some pictures of them are out in the pasture. My herd is CAE, CL, Johnnies & abcess free.
