Goat Spotlight: Mary Anne aka "Rapunzel"

Mary Anne is a beautiful young doe that was born on the ranch on March 6, 2019.

She is one of only a few goats in the herd that has long hair, which is a trait that is fairly uncommon in the Lamancha goat breed. Unlike most of our other does, she comes from a relatively new genetic line on the ranch and so doesn’t have many close relatives in the herd.

She currently shares the pasture with her mom’s twin sister, Wilma, as well as quite a few half-sisters and distant cousins. She looks very much like her recently-retired dam, Margaret, though her sire, Steve, certainly contributed his own luscious locks to this pairing!

(Mary Anne’s mom, Margaret, napping in the sun while her dad, Steve, poses for the camera) 

Although Mary Anne comes from a rather thinly represented gene pool on the ranch, that will likely change next year as we try to add more of her relatives to the herd due to her quiet temperament and prolific capacity for milk-production.

Even though she is only in her second year of milking, she is already putting some of the older does to shame; over the last 3 months she produced an average of 1.7 gallons per day! To put this in perspective, our herd average is just under a gallon a day, so Mary Anne is one of our highest producing outliers! 

She is a very quiet and friendly young doe who seems to most like to keep to herself while she grazes in the field. While the other does are busy squabbling amongst themselves and vying for rank within the herd, she can generally be found snoozing in the sun or scratching her long fur on the bark of her favorite walnut tree.

She loves being scratched on the side of her face as she departs the milking stand, and is always eager for a bit of affection. We love this little doe and can’t wait to see what next year brings for her (hopefully a daughter that we can add to the herd)!