Miniature Alpine Dairy Goats
Sarabi and her last kid 1/2008 at 13 years old.
We are Jehovah's Witnesses so I have put a few of our favorite Scriptures here as we are to take care of His animals.
Psalm 83:18 That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth.
Proverbs 27:27 And there is a sufficiency of goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household, and the means of life for your girls.
Revelation 21:4 And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”
From the left: Boots, Esther(white), (above)Silly, Carloine, (front) Bit-O-Honey, Bama, Country Queen, Maui, Becca, Armond, (behind high) Chevre, Jr, Nikkie, Arwen, Fancy Girl, (front) Love me True, Aruba, (behind Aruba) Love Me Tender, (above Aruba) Brice, Bucky(the deer) and Carol King, not in photo is Montego Bay who was way off to the right.
Welcome
Check out the double rainbow on the "Going to the Birds" page. And check out our new office employee of the month, Checkers the Mini-Lop rabbit!
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 Roo & Buck have always gotten along. Some day soon, Buck will leave for
the life he should have. He is not a pet
& has been leaving at night to do deer
things. Photo taken 5/9/12. | |
Here at Milk Maid Ranch in Stephenville, TX, we are joining 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. I have put a few doe's for sale. They are on the Goats 4 Sale page.
For us it happened with a few "OOPS" in the herd. I had bought some Nigerian Dwarf doe's and a buck in 2002 and they were in a pasture by themselves. 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. I figured they'd get along and put the kids in with them. NEVER did I think the Alpine doelings would start to cycle along with the Nigerian doe's. This was when our "OOPS" happened. I noticed 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 2 weeks later I changed my thinking. Both doelings had twins & there was the beginning of our Mini-Alpine herd.
We have changed our kidding season to December. Kids seem to grow better without bugs around. The "Kidding Schedule" page will be updated as doe's are confirmed pregnant. Our breeding season starts in July every year.
I have 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 had 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 is one of his daughters). He now lives in Virginia. In the Nov/Dec issue of Countryside magazine(2010) on page 35 is an article about raising goats.
The doe on the top of this page is Sarabi, 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 how to raise goats. Sarabi was born in Feb, 1995 and on April 9, 2010 she 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 the site with pictures throughout her life. 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 what direction to head in. She also was an adoptive mom to many a baby deer(Rock Star has this job now), 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 free. I can't say this enough, I DO NOT SELL MILK, OR MILK PRODUCTS!
Updated 5/9/12
